JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
We in Ontario will never know if they cut our fuels after May 13 until we have shortages as it is not in our mainstream media and governments best interests to let us know.
Our media never reported on the US gas shortages and only told us that fuel prices will be rising due to natural inflation and a we bit of Carbon Tax.
120
Jojodogfacedboy will the Michigan Witch cause problems for you in Ontario, since the crude is shipped from Canada, if she gets her way.
‘Colonial on Steroids’: Refinery Reveals Economic Catastrophe if Gretchen Whitmer Kills Michigan Pipeline
A company that owns several refineries in the eastern United States broke down the economic catastrophe that would unfold if Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) successfully kills a crude oil pipeline that has been in operation for over 50 years.
Whitmer has ordered Enbridge to cease operating Line 5 by May 12, a pipeline that runs from Canada through Michigan. The company refused to comply with Whitmer’s demand. She has threatened to seize the company’s profits and claimed the pipeline is now “trespassing” on state property in the Straits of Mackinac.
Brendan Williams, a spokesman for PBF Energy, told Breitbart News the fallout from Whitmer’s attempt to end Line 5 would be “Colonial on steroids,” the pipeline recently knocked off line by hackers, sparking gas shortages along the eastern seaboard.
“It would be devastating for the region,” Williams said. The volume of crude oil that moves through Line 5, he said, is “the equivalent of 40 percent of the crude capacity of regional refiners. That’s not going to come from anywhere else.”
Williams said the crude is shipped from Canada to one of PBF Energy’s refineries in Toledo, Ohio, and then provides gasoline, diesel, and propane to significant portions of the Great Lakes region.
According to Williams, the Toledo area refineries alone supply:
30 percent of Ohio’s gasoline,
42 percent of southeastern Michigan’s gasoline,
35 percent of Ohio’s diesel,
14 percent of southeastern Michigan’s diesel, and
100 percent of Detroit Metro airport jet fuel.
“If folks think that the gas lines and the pictures they saw from Colonial were bad, you’ll have that on steroids with the shut down of Line 5,” he said.
210
Once the gas burners stop working and power no longer comes out of the wall socket people begin to make the connection.
My father-in-law had two daughters who liked long showers and had never made the connection that their long showers were impacting on his electricity bill. At certain times when he felt they had occupied the bathroom for long enough he would turn off the water inlet to the water heater, hotwater pressure would drop and shower would go cold. The daughters thought they had just used all the hotwater. As they grew older they realised what was going on and thought him miserly but it did make them realise that hotwater was not free.
330
Does anyone besides me think this is a test run on how to exercise a controlled demolition of the US economy. First day of office and Biden shuts down the Canadian /US pipeline , extinguishing thousands of jobs. Then Colonial pipeline gets ” hacked”, it is assumed that Colonial paid a $5 million ransom.
Whitmer now wants to shut down pipeline 5 because it may pollute the lakes. Enbridge has said their contract is with the Federal Government , not the state so they are ignoring her.
I don’t believe in coincidences anymore.
230
The perennial problem with these arm-waving conspiracy theories, is no-one ever provides a good explanation as to why President Biden – or anyone else in power – wants to have a controlled demolition of the US economy. None at all. I think you all watched far too many spooky shows as kids, and think that SMERSH is in a techno-cave somewhere.
Even if there were a Deep State of sorts (I remain deeply sceptical), no-one gains from an economic collapse. Which is the same reason that all the Covid-19 conspiracy theories are wrong … it’s a real virus causing a real pandemic, and it occurred accidentally, not deliberately.
Any contrary opinion is tinfoil, I’m afraid.
And it is a virus that either occurred naturally (bat-civet-human), or it was some gene-manipulated virus that escaped a bio-lab. But we are not talking about a ridiculous theory of a bioweapon launched by China.
China has three-four trillion dollars of US Treasury Paper … they have not the slightest interest in seeing any collapse of Western capitalism.
118
I bet the Senators in the last days of Rome didn’t want to see it collapse either.
150
Yeah but – the last few centuries of the Roman Empire were basically a monarchy, with essentially autocratic control by a long succession of mad emperors (insert Trump or Biden jokes here).
Anyway – I can’t buy that Biden (or anyone else – not George Soros, Bill Gates, or even the Illuminati) want to deliberately “exercise a controlled demolition of the US economy”. That is my point … the claim is not credible to my mind; no-one has provided either evidence or motive.
I’m not convinced that the US (or anyone else) should wind down fossil-fuel use until there is a seriously reliable renewable source in place, but that’s a long way from intentionally wrecking the economy. The Dems will need every bit of good news if they wish to hold their ground in the 2022 Midterms.
28
I agree. I don’t know about Soros, but most of the main actors in the public sphere probably think they are being useful while they seed daft counter-productive actions.
The left, and many teenagers think “obvious” shortcuts are the answer and Utopia really exists. They don’t see the tradeoffs and long run losses.
140
Soros is hostile to the nation state as he tells us in his ‘Open Society’ manifesto. His funded programs are directed to the Gramsci long march through the institutions, capturing the educational system, the media and judiciary, and corrupting democracy by constraining free speech and critical debate. Soros’ funded activism invokes attacks on a democratic pluralist media, and corruption of the constitutional electoral process and legal system of non-arbitrary rule of law for all. His Open Society Foundation and underground network seek to bring down the United States and other western democracies by promoting illegal mass immigration, mostly hostile to democratic values. Other programs include environmental activism demonising atmospheric CO2 and promoting costly intermittent energy sources to affect productivity. Further to weakening society, activists seek to legitimise illicit toxic drugs and provoke hatred of police action that protects the populace against violent drug offenders or political acts of hostility by migrants. Herewith links to organisations directly and indirectly funded by Soros Open Society Foundation and link to OSF top 150 grantees of 2011.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1237
http://sorosfiles.com/soros/2011/10/open-society-institute-top-150-grantees.html#axzz56y1hZ5Z5
80
Wow – you seem to have bought the whole package! You don’t think American capitalism has any role to play in the bad things affecting the US? Like the loss of millions of jobs to low-cost countries, and the resultant unemployment among millions of Americans who turn to opioids and other solace?
I think you need to look a little wider, and not blame everything on poor old George.
05
Tilba, you seem confused. What’s American Capitalism got to do with slavery in communist China?
60
Jo… you don’t think that more than a few companies/people in the US are getting very rich manufacturing the American brands in China… Apple’s share price tells a story.
14
The above links used to come up on the internet showing how Soros’ Open Foundation money was spent. (I have hard copies of the expenditure list,) now the internet says’no,’ to seeing the data. I have also read his Manifesto.
30
I would have thought absolutely everything, Jo.
Hundreds – thousands – of American corporations are having their products made in China (or India / Bangladesh / Vietnam / etc) at virtually slave-labour rates. So are Australian companies like Rip Curl, Country Road, and Billabong. The whole point of globalisation is to make your products in the lowest-cost place, and sell them in the highest-wage place.
The way the world works. American capitalism is intricately tied to Chinese slave labour.
02
“. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, a price system, private property and the recognition of property rights, voluntary exchange and wage labor. “
Ask those Chinese slaves if they volunteer or work for wages?
Would free people in the US buy Chinese slave goods if they knew what they were supporting?
Where was the media.?
20
Jo
There are very worrying parallels of the collapse of the Western Emprire centred round the period 376AD when the Barbarians seriously attacked Rome and the final year of the Western Roman Empire in 476 when the then nominal ruler sent the purple vestments of the Emperor to Constantinople to signal the end of the West, although in the hope it could be resurrected, as it was for a few decades after it was sacked in 410AD.
The common factor is that the Romans wildly overspent, lost control of their tax base, were lax on security, became soft and accommodated numerous groups of people from outside the Empire aiming to gain the benefits of being a Roman citizen but unwilling to integrate themselves in and follow the rules.
Sound familiar?
110
The Climate Etc. commentariat begs to differ: as surely as ice ages arise from galactic cosmic rays, Covid 19 is the Mark of the Beast
https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2021/05/unmasking-beastly-galactic-covid-co2.html
01
That is dead-set the most crazy website I’ve seen in a long while … there are some unusual dudes out there, that’s for sure. Galactic bulges indeed!
03
Tilba Tilba says:
Incorrect.
Those on the short side of the trade gain.
The PRC gains.
The Anarchists gain.
50
Those on the short side don’t gain from a collapsed economy with poverty and social collape. What would you do with all that devalued cash?
00
classic time to scoop up cheap assets, nobody gains just means they havent thought it through. Just like war, there all kinds of winners and losers, short term and long term.
00
Tilba the real conspiracy theorists believe the government cares about them and that the media would never mislead or lie to them and that the Pharmaceutical industry that makes Billions off sickness wants to cure them.
80
Personally I don’t think they planned it to go wrong. I just think they have did not make the connection between their uptopian decisions and the outcomes.
I was going to say that it requires voters to make the connection, but that won’t work anymore since the Nov 2020 presidential election was stolen so outrageously. The scale of cheating was outrageous, yet it worked. So they don’t care any more what voters think.
270
Nah..the politicians who shut energy supplies appear to be fully signed onto the human hating Satanic religion of the globalists.
Likely they have been falsely promised a position under the N W O 4th Re ich as it rises, but they will find out they will be disposed of just as easily as those deplorables they hate right now.
The Word states the Devil invented lying, so hes rather good at it….
130
We have been collectively thinking like you Peter, with the exception of some who chose to follow the line of the party in power.
Clearly they don’t care. What we don’t know, because we are living in the moment, is whether or not we are living at an inflection point in history. It is possible the the remnants of free thought that remain are not remnants at all, but dominate the country outside the sinecures of academia, government, and the teeming masses of the dependent.
It is possible that enough soft left people riding the liberal train and not paying to much attention had their businesses closed, their children locked out of school, a relative nursing home inattentively infected, a love of an event arbitrarily canceled, owned a building whose rent was arbitrarily suspended, sat in a gas line, thought peace in the Mideast was a good thing, thought inflation had been brought under control, had kids who liked Disney just the way it was, faced being labeled in a way they knew in their heart was untrue, or were prey to any of the other multitude of indignities brought down upon us in recent months and final got to the point where they simple had to go to the window and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it any more”.[Credit movie “Network” for this last]
All politics fail when the story supporting the consent of the governed fails….even in a police state.
As long as everything happened somewhere else, and you read about it in a lying media, much illusion could be maintained. But the Pandemic the left rode to power, their plans having been long in place, also mean everything is happening everywhere.
For the left, their mask is slipping. Literally.
I hope historians see this as the inflection point back to sanity. Are you sayin’ there’s a chance….?
111
But unfortunately, it is not their political intention to do?
rationality, is not their strongest subject, for their subjects?
50
overview of the Colonial hack at the link.
bigger news i think is: ALL US vaccines against Sars 2 are NOT MANDATORY, HAVE NOT RECEIVED full FDA approval https://balance10.blogspot.com/2021/05/all-us-vaccines-against-sars-2-are-not.html
10
Did the sun not shine in WA earlier this week?
OpenNEM shows zero rooftop solar into the grid on Sun, Mon, Tues.
Or perhaps it’s simply a computing error, as different results are shown on the 7 day report versus the 30 day report.
70
It has been cloudy for days and we have had smoke haze for the week, so I imagine there has not been much solar power produced.
90
Looks like a calculation error. My system was about 3/4 of May expectation on Sun but meeting expectation on both Mon and Tues.
Those graphs show numerous errors , eg for Tues 12th @ 11am there is a total drop-out of everything but rooftop solar. Even funnier is that over night on the 12th rooftop solar is producing 20-22 MW or about 1.3% of the total.
30
My system was only 35% of its summer value on Sunday, back up to the expected 50% on Monday and Tuesday. Only 14% of summer output today though.
00
The IMF’s estimate of GDP by country: a window into our time in history
Bernard Salt
Every April, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund releases its estimate of the gross domestic product of 150 countries for the previous year. Now I do realise this kind of report isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But I want to convince you otherwise. This year’s release is a cracker! It deserves to be a bestseller, even though it’s free to download.
This year the report shows the impact of the pandemic on the world’s economies. And as such it isn’t a boring list of numbers; this is a document that tells stories of hope and aspiration and of utter devastation. It also hints at challenge and conflict. It is a window into our time in history and our place in the unfolding pantheon of global events. At least this is what I see when I read it.
We Australians may be barely 26 million in number – less than the cities of Tokyo or Delhi – but our economy ranks 13th largest on Earth. In terms of economic force we sit above Spain (14th) and below Brazil (12th) and perhaps more tellingly there is no country ranked above Australia that has a smaller population. We are very rich per capita. Now I do understand that Australia’s wealth is not equally or even fairly distributed, but I don’t think any country of a similar scale does much better on this measure.
The US, which heads the list, assumed the mantle of the world’s largest economy from the United Kingdom around 1870, although it didn’t really exercise that authority until 1945.
The second largest economy is China; its output increased by 3 per cent during 2020, while all others in the Top 15 went backwards, including Australia (by 2 per cent). According to the IMF, China’s economy is now 70 per cent of the size of the US economy, up from 12 per cent in 2000. At this rate China will become the world’s largest economy by 2030, if not earlier, depending on how the US recovers from the pandemic, navigates potential conflict and cultivates innovation. But even if China overtakes the US in economic terms, the latter will remain the world’s most powerful military force for at least another generation.
A year ago Australia ranked 14th but we overtook Spain, which has had a bad pandemic. Brazil’s economic output plummeted 24 per cent last year. Russia, now the world’s 11th largest economy, has almost six times the population of Australia but supports an economy that is barely one-tenth bigger.
There are few (if any) countries on this list that offer Australia’s quality of life and at a broad level the reasons are simple. We control the resources of an entire continent and we generate great wealth from exports. Compared with many other nations, we are a peaceable people. It takes a lot to get us riled. Not because we don’t see injustices but because we tend to have other priorities. Americans are united by their love of freedom; we tend to take freedom (and security) for granted and channel our energies and affections into housing and lifestyle. We are fortunate to have had military protection from the US, so we don’t have a culture of diverting excessive funds into defence.
150
Last year, there was a lot of debate on what was the most effective Covid strategy. The 2020/Q4 performance shows what worked best:
Effective quarantine – Taiwan up 4.6%
Nearly effective quarantine – Australia down 1.1%
Limited quarantine – Sweden down 2.1%
The lesson learnt is to be alert and wary of China and their puppets in the UN in general and UN/WHO in particular.
160
Mmm yes internal covid approach is only factor influencing those numbers. Nothing else at all.
60
Thanks Rick,
Taiwan has a very impressive record and so does Singapore.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
I am not sure what all their containment measures are but they are working. I expect that rigorous quarantine is part of it.
Our our efforts in Australia have been very successful but not as good. Quarantine is not very good. I don’t know why all of our governments have been so slow to establish adequate Quarantine stations.
20
Yeah well … I wouldn’t get too carried away with a lot of self-congratulation.
Australia is only high on the GDP list (a very dodgy measure anyway) because we are a huge quarry and a huge farm. We have a trivially small manufacturing sector, and in reality we are – in urban city terms, where real things are made – fairly unproductive. What really gets made here? A range of Akruba hats?
The whole economy seems to be based on making each other a few cappuccinos each day.
817
What’s wrong with mining and farming? They both require skills and knowledge and we are excellent at both.
You don’t like it here do you? I hear Russian girls are quite seductive.
201
Yet again the troppo one misses the entire point. I am entirely not surprised.
00
You know of course that I’m not saying there is anything wrong with mining and farming. But relying on those (plus a couple of other big-ticket items, such as wool, beef, wheat, tourism, and tertiary education) gives us a very distorted sense of our GD per capita, and our wealth.
The problem is that we do very little else … when did you last buy a product Made in Australia – outside of food or an Akubra hat?
315
We have this emerging sector.
‘In recent years, Australians have been at the forefront of medical technology with inventions including ultrasound, the bionic ear, the first plastic spectacle lenses, the electronic pacemaker, the multi-focal contact lens, spray-on artificial skin and anti-flu medication.’ wiki
83
I have worked in Australian technology companies that for many years were producing technology that was the best in the world in their particular field. Some of the guys were just brilliant, and the concepts they developed were fantastic. Don’t let anybody tell you that Aussies are not darn good at what they do.
140
Where people vote for the greens is unproductive. Who would’ve guessed?
130
The sad fact is that mining and farming are so highly productive that they a tiny minority of the population generating the majority of the wealth so government can be an inefficient rabble and the place still carriers on.
Miners are enjoying unprecedented demand for all the mineral production as brain dead governments squander the common wealth on weather dependent energy production.
At least Australia enjoys a natural advantage with weather dependent energy, particularly solar, so as all the woke countries go broke Australia will still be able to supply minerals to China, India, Taiwan and all the other wokeless countries.
90
What you say is true. But there’s a bigger issue.
If AU is not self sufficient in every aspect, then it is at risk.
Risk can be minimized, but how that is done is a good question.
Does AU have a functional, survivable, plan if China cuts off all trade? India? South Africa?
I’m just asking. It is a relevant question.
Bilateral trade agreements, yes, have a place. If and only if the partner is trustworthy.
I guess what I’m saying is that things get complicated. Dependency upon potential rivals is at best a risky gamble.
The “Global Market” isn’t worth much if it isn’t helpful to your own national security.
[Hear Hear! Says Jo]
90
Nice thought but you wont find many countries of 25 million give or take that are “self sufficient in every aspect”
20
With a population of 25 mil and decent wages and conditions, I don’t see any sense in us manufacturing lots of clothes pegs and nails to compete with China. Factories with lots of things poring along on conveyor belts look really impressive on TV, but Australia has found a nice spot in this big bad world as a supplier of quality food, energy and mining products. And for our size, I think we do well in biotech too. But we need to stop this suicidal obsession with ‘Towards Zero Carbon by….’ or we will price ourselves into oblivion.
70
Yes – I agree with that pretty much.
We have traded away the capacity to make anything – a pair of thongs, a pair of jeans, a colour TV, a hammer, microchip, sedan or tractor – in order to get cheap stuff where we can’t compete (because of either labour costs or our small market) in return for shipping out vast quantities of (mostly) low-value bulk materials.
I just think it’s a pity that we export almost-perfect superfine merino wool rather than make beautiful suits and other high-value items. We (and NZ) have some great companies that trade internationally (Kathmandu, Quiksilver, Billabong, Country Road, etc) but they do not manufacture in Australia or NZ.
France is a country that has gone in a good direction over a century or so, I think. It has concentrated on high-value products, rather than trying to compete with the mass-production capacity in low-cost countries.
But even with all that said – I think we have been short-sighted in essentially the elimination of a huge slice of our manufacturing and technical / engineering capacity. We used to make a lot of proper things … not just clothes pegs, nails, and soft toys.
I trust we don’t have a really serious trade war with China … Bunnings and K-Mart would close down.
61
I seriously doubt it, re Bunnings and KMart, prices would rise though
One of the reasons I like shopping at the old Masters was that I could buy tools from Brazil, EU and the US not just cheapcrap from China that was Bunnings specialty. I notice lately they seem to have a wider range. I bought a handsaw from Sweden (Bahco) the other day the other choices were USA and CCP
10
Another Brexit aftershock
“They’ve lost all trust in the political media, they’ve learnt to look harder at bland political statements, they’re fed up of being non-people and being ignored, they’re tired of ordinary family life being rubbished at ever turn, they’re sick to death at their Christian faith always being presented in the mass media as something to be sniggered at and they feel …”
Read more at – https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2021/05/14/untitled-2/
Pointman
240
Two oceans temperature transects 100 degrees apart and both regulating to 30C over an annual cycle. The Western Pacific:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhDuLZY17V5Kk5-8y
The Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhDwyyPF-5k0DDa34
These locations are separated by a 1/3rd of the globe and yet the temperature is being controlled to the same precision around 30C.
This is not the result of some delicate global energy balance but rather powerful local atmospheric processes that regulate the maximum ocean surface temperature.
The only place on Earth where the regulating process fails is the Persian Gulf; the warmest ocean surface water on the planet in August every year:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNhD1Q-aWIZtcF9LOj
At some point scientists will realise weather models of ever increasing magnitude will never be useful predictors of climate until they stop using cloud parameterisation and come to grips with the actual physics of the atmosphere over the tropical oceans.
110
Looking at the Persian Gulf, the eddies are fascinating.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp_anomaly/orthographic=-293.81,27.94,1652/loc=53.025,23.508
41
The Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are primed for releasing the monsoon:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/ocean/surface/level/overlay=sea_surface_temp/orthographic=-293.81,27.94,762/loc=72.817,13.555
Forecast to be a normal year for India. They could use a good break with the weather to overcome some of the current Covid difficulties.
20
The regulatory processes may not be failing in the Persian Gulf. The surface temperature gets to only a few degrees warmer than the oceans. Other geographic features likely play a part, such as a small enclosed sea with adjacent very hot landmasses. I stayed 2 nights in Dubai and I can attest that the land temperatures were very hot, both day and night.
00
An interesting article in Thursday’s (May 13) Daily Telegraph. The headline, on page 25:
“A tonne of panel pain”; subheading “Junked solar parts cause recycling headache”.
Love it.
And this is rather well said also:
“Government commissioned research shows solar panel waste will hit 10,000 tonnes a year by 2025, fuelled by early systems reaching their end of life and the widespread use of shonky cheap panels.”
And the last paragraph:
” Australia has one of the worst problems in the world because of the solar boom of the 2010s incentivised by government subsidies. ”
No surprise to regular readers here, but I’ve not seen anything as forceful in MSM previously.
Cheers
Dave B
250
Still waiting for the frantic reports of a swirling Texas size mass of discarded face masks, visible from space, to be reported by MSM.
140
Good news; the truth and reality are always welcome.
30
Recently somebody was claiming in The Oz that a local company was recycling panels. As usual, another wanna-be startup company with big claims but nothing to show any actual process. Looks like they purchased a small crusher to crush panels for a press demo but that’s about all.
30
David…
..last year the MSM……ABC, (of all TV channels)…had a doco’ , maybe 4 Corners ?… that highlighted the issue of Solar panel recycling, with only i place in Oz actually attempting any recycling…which consisted of removing the Aluminium frame and crushing the glass panel for landfil.
It is simply unprofitable to try to recover the rare metals in the panel.
I will be surprised if it is only 10,000 tons/yr !
30
LOL,
Our council won’t take Solar panels as waste. They say return to manufacturer!
30
How much longer are Americans/US Congress prepared to keep Harris/Obama/Pelosi puppet Biden in power? It’s elder abuse and if he wasn’t US President he’d be in the dementia ward of a nursing home.
230
I don’t think it matters.
Who are whatever is running things now, will still be running things after he’s put in the home.
Please don’t confuse Congress with Americans.
(little joke … sort of)
180
If Biden is put in a nursing home then the cackling empty-headed Harris becomes President. I’ll take Uncle Joe over the Marxist Harris any day.
90
Susan Rice is said to have “unusual” influence. Who voted for her?
110
Yep, nobody, especially friends and relatives of the former ambassador to Libya. And the six outstanding Americans that tried to save him.
And then risked their lives a second time to tell the truth.
Trump arrived with the mistaken impression that he would be in charge.
Resulting in the DS Organism going into convulsions to expunge him.
To the point of turning on the half of the public that (at least by their own admission) voted for him.
120
Did you ask the same about Steve Bannon? Such has ot ever been with Presidents, and for that matter senior corporates. They surround themselves with trusted advisors/lieutenants
11
we’ve had our precious central bank for a bit over 107 years now.
Gain of Function, gene editing conference at Wuhan Institute Technology well represented with Americans
https://balance10.blogspot.com/2021/05/gain-of-function-gene-editing.html
00
NY TIMES: SLOW JOE GETTING SLOWER
The New York Times has a remarkable story out this weekend that offers its typical “behind the scenes” construction of how the White House operates—in this case, under President Biden. While the story tries to soften the blows with lots of fluff and filler, it paints a devastating picture of Biden for the careful reader. It explains he has a quick temper, takes a long time to make decisions, and needs to be heavily propped up by staff to function. It reminds us that Biden is indeed a creature of the Senate, where he mostly attended hearings, made speeches, fiddled with legislation, and seldom made any decisions that suggested executive skill (Quick—can anyone name a major piece of Biden legislation? The crime bill of 1994? Likely written mostly by the Clinton Justice Department. The bankruptcy reform bill of 2007? Likely written largely by Delaware-based banks. You get the picture.)
Here’s one early paragraph:
On policy issues, Mr. Biden, 78, takes days or weeks to make up his mind as he examines and second-guesses himself and others. It is a method of governing that can feel at odds with the urgency of a country still reeling from a pandemic and an economy struggling to recover.
One passage details weeks and weeks of meetings, briefings, and deliberations about how to confront Putin, culminating with this astonishing paragraph:
In the end, Mr. Biden called Mr. Putin directly and then delivered a public statement on Russia sanctions that lasted only five minutes and 49 seconds. For as much as Mr. Biden projects an aura of ease — with his frequent backslapping, references to Irish poetry and liberal use of the phrase “c’mon, man” — his aides say it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to prepare him to project an assured demeanor.
The subtext of the first sentence here is that Biden is simply not up to the give-and-take of a conversation with a foreign leader. No wonder Vice President Harris seems to be the person who is making personal contact with foreign leaders.
The timing of the Times story is interesting, as Biden’s “honeymoon” period looks to be over, his ambitious legislative and spending agenda is in trouble on Capitol Hill, and multiple self-induced crises are piling up in ways that bring back memories of the ineptitude of Jimmy Carter.
50
The process is becoming more public with the Dems MSM softening up the citizens a piece at a time
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/05/ny-times-slow-joe-getting-slower.php
30
What motivated this outburst?
Biden has been coherent and quite forceful the last few appearances I’ve seen, and his administration has been productively busy at work. Americans can have their say on 5 November, 2024. So I guess we’ll see … but I strongly expect neither Biden nor Trump will be a candidate – so an “open” election.
111
Forceful? good grief, we certainly have our bar for that set at different levels
20
That’s reputed to be an actor.
Rumor has it that Biden’s character actors have recently been given notice.
Maybe Kamala Harris is about to be promoted …
00
Biden’s America: Federal Government Agency Warns Against Hoarding Gasoline in Plastic Bags
Warning by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: “Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline. Use only containers approved for fuel. Follow the gas canister manufacturer instructions for storing and transporting gasoline. When using a gas canister, never pour gasoline over or near an open flame. Flame jetting is a sudden and possibly violent flash fire that can occur when pouring flammable liquids from a container over an exposed flame or other ignition source. NEVER pour flammable liquids from a container over an exposed flame.”
“We know this sounds simple, but when people get desperate they stop thinking clearly. They take risks that can have deadly consequences. If you know someone who is thinking about bringing a container not meant for fuel to get gas, please let them know it’s dangerous.”
And it’s Not Babylon Bee
140
That made me laugh out loud. I should no longer be surprised by the ignorance of some people.
The shortage of building materials in Australia is likely to fuel inflation in these materials and throughout the economy. All that new money poised to fuel inflation as the world recovers from the Covid funk.
Apparently a shortage of glass is holding up the much needed production of solar panels to save the planet. Who was predicting a glass shortage would impact on solar panel production?
Reality is a tough master and the Biden Administration will be in for big doses as they run into all sorts of hostility and real limits in their efforts to just cut CO2 and electrify the US economy. It is race between taxing fossil fuel out of use and just blindly shutting down fossil fuel production and distribution; a little stick with a thousand cuts or a big sword with a clean sweep.
100
Someone at Bunnings told me that the shortage of timber for building in Australia was a result of so much being exported to the American market, where their lumber shortage is critical. Capitalism has no loyalty – product (and production) go to where the profit is greatest.
07
Tilba!
Your Bunnings man has been sold a pup!
1. Timber shortage has increased due to the demand especially detached housing
2. The recent fires have caused a short term shortage of especially pine products
You say:
Ask him/her what we export to USA that’s causing a shortage!
The majority of the price increase is in structural timbers (beams, joists, headers etc)
But many of the manufacturers will be back in full production shortly!
60
“Capitalism has no loyalty – product (and production) go to where the profit is greatest.”
goodness yes, unlike employees who never gravitate to higher rewards (the productive ones, not public service drones)
10
New Zealand has similar shortages of building supplies.
Australia is not alone.
00
No, it’s not Babylon Bee.
If impatient goto 2:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhdr4f_cSTQ&t=1059s
50
Our daughter worked in a service station part-time while at uni. She attended a safety course where the students had to guess what was the stupidest container people had tried to use to buy petrol. None of them guessed it was a plastic shopping bag!
120
Wow.
Darwin Award material!
Some people seem intent to commit suicide …
00
‘Led by a lacklustre leader, a B-grade frontbench and crippled by a belief that it just needs to do a bunch of things differently to win, Labor is unsure of what it stands for or who it even represents.’ (Oz)
190
‘Led by a lacklustre leader, a B-grade frontbench and crippled by a belief that it just needs to do a bunch of things differently to win, Labor is unsure of what it stands for or who it even represents.’ (Oz)
“Murdoch rightwing rag attacks Labor” – hardly news … it’s been the lead story for over 50 years.
But I do agree that Albo is as unelectable as Shorten was, even with Scotty from Marketing being so bad.
27
Scott is a safe pair of hands through troubled times, drought, bushfires, floods, pandemic and now a trade war with China.
I think Albo’s social housing idea should be adopted by the government to dampen down our property bubble.
02
Totally F.ed, by two of the tech Giants,and remain powerless?
Currently I am being totally screwed by Google and YouTube.
I download of a very worthwhile application, an add-on to Fire Fox, called Tube mate, another YouTube down loader. It worked brilliantly to start with, then on sites I have subscribed to. Now I am unable to post comments to sites, This of course is the way you communicate with them. Not only that, this parasitic attack,has taken over my tabs. I cannot, communicate on the web, unless I open a new browser window. The first tab, will search-then,I can use the back arrow, to commence another search. All further tabs however -then revert constantly, opening YouTube.
This morning a YouTube short cut appeared on my favourites site. I eliminate a couple not required, I went to do the same, with the YouTube short cut, it could not be deleted.
This is severely affecting my ability to work, or view other content in a normal seamless fashion.
Demonstrating,Big tech and their rooting ability!
80
try using Brave.com browser…blocksmost adds and most poo.toob nasties ..
40
I’ve used brave for years. The ad blocker is in the kernel.
00
Large scale Ivermectin treatment in Mexico. Significant positive result.
“The main result is that the range of the effect of the medical kit with ivermectin is a reduction of between 52% and 76% in the probability of being hospitalized, with respect to identical people (symptoms, age, sex, comorbidities) without a kit, significant at 99%, ”
“…220 thousand observations were made among people who were positive for covid-19 and received the health kit with Ivermectin 6mg, in addition to acetylsalicylic acid 100mg, and those who did not receive it, but had similar health characteristics and comorbidities. ”
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proceso.com.mx%2Fnacional%2F2021%2F5%2F14%2Fuso-de-ivermectina-redujo-hasta-en-76-la-probabilidad-de-sintomas-graves-hospitalizaciones-en-cdmx-263935.html
180
acetylsalicylic acid AKA aspirin.
I heard on the radio that they are about to spend millions trialing mirtazapine to treat ICE addiction. This is a V common antidepressant that your GP might prescribe to help you sleep. Cheap as chips.
Mirtazapine is a low-cost drug already available on Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for those diagnosed with depression. Lead researcher and UNSW Associate Professor Rebecca McKetin said no medications are currently approved in Australia for ice addiction.
These cheap, safe drugs prescribed off label are slow to get approved. It is no one’s interest to do so.
70
there was a large scale ivemectin study done in canberra …clearly its safe.
https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/06/24/3252657.htm
“24 June, 2011 12:01PM AEST
Head lice – A pilot study finds a treatment that really does work
“By Alex Sloan and Katie LalorA pilot study in Canberra has found that dosing kids, on mass, with Ivermectin tablets could be the most effective way of treating nits.
The trial, run by a group of doctors from Canberra Hospital and the ANU medical school, involved screening all the students in two territory schools and then treating those affected with the antiparasitic agent, Ivermectin.
“”The children take a dose of tablets, dependent on how much they weigh,” Co-author of the report, Dr Marion Currie told Alex Sloan on 666 Mornings, “And because it doesn’t work very well – like all of the treatments – on the egg or nits, they need to take another dose in a weeks time to get rid of any lice that have hatched.”
“While many people might associate Ivermectin with a veterinary treatment, Dr Currie says it is a very safe medication for humans.
50
I brought up kids in Canberra in the 1980s … I don’t think they had nits.
01
Lice periodically appears here. Most times it can be physically controlled with comb, conditioner and cleaning pillow cases etc. Giving oral chemicals to developing people (ie children) does not seem to be a sensible or necessary thing to do.
10
Mann invented the AMO (according to this story) but after years of careful consideration he says its a myth. Obviously industrial CO2 is the true determinant of climate change and not cycles.
https://weather.com/news/news/2021-03-08-atlantic-multidecadal-oscillation-does-not-exist-michael-mann-says
51
Tucker Carlson interviews Dr Peter McCullough about Covid treatment and Australia gets a mention but not in a good way.
https://www.facebook.com/kmined.yourown/videos/442010037158627/
90
I didn’t know Qld had a LAW against HCQ.
We, the electorate, are so timid we allow socialists to care for us “because they are the only ones who care about US, conservatives only care about profit”.
80
Mythical god arrives safely on Mars.
‘The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said in a statement that its rover Zhu Rong – named after the Chinese mythical god of fire and war – had successfully landed on Mars on Saturday after “nine minutes of terror”: Nasa’s name for the time interval when engineers on Earth have no control or oversight of the rover because of a radio signal delay.’ (SCMP)
31
In a Chris Kenny article, something rankled with this sentence..
“Yet while governments grapple with climate and energy policy and how to reduce greenhouse emissions to various targets”
If you had said that in my lifetime governments would have to have a Climate Policy, I would have laughed at the absurdity of it, the idea that we control climates now. Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Everest in 1953. In 1957 Sputnik was the first satellite put in orbit.
Now in 2021 our government, our politicians believe we control world climates? How?
We have no detectable effect on rising CO2 levels. Not bushfires, volcanoes, a pandemic, nothing touches CO2 behaviour. But the argument is that CO2 is going up and its our fault and therefore we must control it. How? And the CO2 levels causes warming. Really? But temperatures are no longer going up even a little. So how does this all work? Politicians control physics. Amazing.
It is all such incredible fairytale fantasy. And our coal power is very clean and costs us nothing but our Federal government now needs an energy policy which controls the world’s climates? All of them?
And no one even mentions good old Global Warming and rapid sea level rise and the poor Polar bears have vanished from sight with sea ice levels back to normal. But it is all about controlling world climates by (Australian) government policy. Beam me up Scotty!
If there is an extinction, it is of common sense.
340
Rene Descrates introduced Rational science. We now have made a breakthrough into an era of irrational science divorced entirely from any facts.
140
G’day TdeF,
Overall I agree with you, except for the second use of the word science, which I suggest needs at least be written as “science”, until we can find a suitable term which is not obscene.
Cheers
Dave B
50
It was originally Philosophy but came to be known as Science.
40
TdeF
It may cone down to survival by those of us who know “stuff” and the vast majority of ignorant, dumbed down and eventually dangerous population as they start to starve when the LIA gets going
Id suggest eventually its our knowledge of stuff like survival techniques and how to generate power from DIY steam engines that will help us stay alive.
30
Yeah well … I would keep paying the mortgage, be nice to your parents, be nice to your kids, enjoy life … I’m not convinced there is going to be an “End of World” catastrophe while our generation is alive, or even for a long time. The system is resilient and looks after its profits.
Go play golf or climb a mountain … stop worrying.
13
If you’ve seen OS’s posts before you’d know he wont take your advice. It is hard to believe that he believes all the stuff he writes.
03
Which would be right, except a lot of what Ive warned people about some years out, has come to pass, even what people called “way out” e.g. like a medically imposed police state etc etc.
But hey, talk is cheap.
60
In your dreams
03
“Good news: the attack on bitcoin by climate catastrophists is leading many advocates of bitcoin to question climate catastrophism — a notion that collapses under real scrutiny.”
Expectation: if we push climate narrative we can destroy bitcoin.
Reality: In trying to destroy bitcoin we destroyed the climate narrative.
The people who trade in bitcoin ask hard questions.
via Alex Epstein @ Twitter …
https://mobile.twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1393335690486632448
80
Competing with Musk in an artificial market is a mugs game.
40
Considering EVs are the worlds most pointless vehicle, the whole EV thing is a mugs game.
10
It would be a great talking point during casual dinner conversation (everyone knows someone with bitcoin), so its an opportunity to question the global warming narrative.
With real monies at stake, they’ll be all ears.
12
“Hullo Marjorie, my name’s Jeremy”
“Hullo Jeremy … pleased to meet you. The kale and feta salad is nice”
“Indeed – and may I ask, do you have any Bitcoin at all?”
“A few coins Jeremy – maybe 200K’s worth – why do you ask?”
“Do you know that Bitcoin takes a huge amount of fossil-fuel energy to be mined, and then used?”
“I didn’t know that Jeremy – I thought it was entirely a digital Internet thing. Not real”
“Well I’m sorry to advise you Marjorie, but the Bitcoin carbon footprint is enormous”
“Should I sell them then? What if my friends at the golf club found out?”
“I would definitely sell Marjorie – you can’t be too careful”
“But Jeremy, I think the whole global warming thing is nonsense – don’t you agree?”
“It’s not what I think Marjorie – it is what we are told to think”
“What should I do Jeremy”
“Sell your Bitcoin, or denounce Global Warming. It’s your call”
“Global Warming is bulldust”
“Nice … can you pass the salad again please?”
10
Bitcoin mining is expensive to manufacture, but it won’t dissuade punters who are heavily invested. The 50% tax when you’re cashing out is a hindrance to free market values.
00
Anyone still holding an artificial “asset” once billionaires start to play with it hasn’t been paying attention.
Down $3,000 or 6.34% today. I’ve been giving a warning about Musk and bitcoin but I’m not a financial advisor, DYOR.
10
A question for the experts:
Is Bitcoin still in the “speculators jumping on board to make a quick buck” phase? … or are we through that? … asking for a friend.
00
Nope, bitcoin will never pass through the speculation phase because the only rationale driving it is greed. There is no economic rationale, nor will there ever be. Also thanks to blockchain, bitcoin can only process 3 transactions per minute, meaning exchanges take days to complete.
10
The latest climate models show Greed will end in seven years.
50
If Nixon hadn’t led the move away from gold-backed money, we probably would never have heard of Bitcoin. People who don’t trust fiat money should be asking for a return of the gold standard.
Meanwhile the tech-heads who are into Bitcoin (I’m guessing they’re the ones) are merely rearranging their play money among themselves. A bit like a poker game.
I’m just gonna watch.
00
Really locked into, we have always done in that way , arent you? In todays world of increasingly worthless fiat and intrusive avaricious govts it not surprising that alternatives emerge.
00
My fruitcake of the week award goes to Christiana Figueres.
Christiana Figueres, head of the UN climate change response that led to the Paris Agreement said:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/post-covid-podcast/story/2018748032/after-the-virus-the-environment
Start at 11:50
This article is from May 2020 so, according to Christiana, the world comes crashing down by this November at best.
That gets me out of Christmas shopping at least. 😉
270
This is great news. The more these dills shrink the catastrophe timeline, the more it can be thrown back in their face when nothing happens, again eg Gore and Arctic ice, Flannery and dams and sea level, Prince Charles assortef climate deadlines.
120
and maybe she wont survive the end as she predicts it…there is an up side….
30
Perhaps she really said ” … by no more than 18 months” – then it makes more sense.
01
Either way it makes no sense.
10
Like CAGW …
00
“There are 94 million head of cattle in the US.”
“So the last time there were 100 million bovines in America, CO2 levels were very low and earth was experiencing the coldest period of the last 10,000 years – but this time they are causing out of control global warming.”
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/05/let-them-eat-bugs/
170
Grasses die every year anyway. Having cattle/bison eat grass changes nothing. But the argument is that not only are they 1 tonne animals but generate methane which is 30x worse as a greenhouse gas. Except nothing has changed, as you point out. Termites and wood, grass and grazing animals, fruit and monkeys, nothing has changed. The CO2 and methane output has not changed. And this whole nonsense is based on the idea that what happens on the dry surface of the planet and the air above it is far more important than what happens on the vast ocean surface and the massive heat sink below it. It is non science, based on an absurd notion that we humans control everything, which comes as a surprise to any real scientist.
150
Re “Spasmodic energy”
A couple of nice pie graphs here re EU
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/05/14/we-dont-need-no-stinking-giant-fans-48/
(Originally on Thurs Unthreaded)
80
THE WEEK IN PICTURES: GAS MASK EDITION
50
The lesson learnt is to be alert and wary of China and their puppets in the UN in general and UN/WHO in particular.
Very good advice.
80
“If you know someone who is thinking about bringing a container not meant for fuel to get gas, please let them know it’s dangerous.”
No no no, don’t tell them anything, the planet needs to be rid of these fools, let Natural Selection take its course, please.
90
Around that area
https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/140381-darwin-award-for-51221/
20
another ian,
I hauled 3 x 20l Black Rheem Containers, filled with Dunlop Mil Spec Foam, full of petrol inside Series 80
as per previous open thread
End Nov 1999 – arrive Birdsville with local mate plus Ex-Chairman from UK (Irish) for 3 Up Solo trip across Simpson in my 1994 Toyota Series 80 4.5l Petrol EFI – said will be no one here and we can stay in the Birdsville Hotel – Wrong, Eyre Creek Conservation Meeting in Birdsville – so ended up in Camping Ground but were invited to Evening Dinner in Hotel
Had planned on QAA-K1-Rig Road to Mount Dare for Petrol – National Parks Lady who had come up K1 to Poeppel Corner then QAA to Birdsville said “do you know Mount Dare is Closed for Season?”
Nope – carrying extra 60l Petrol in 3x20l Rheem Plastic containers filled with Dunlop Mil-Spec foam from SA, torn into pieces and stuffed into 3 containers (just like Ant Ansted with his Alfa 158 F1 build Fuel Tank) tied with straps with carpet on both sides to Milford Barrier
Changed track to QAA-Poeppel Corner-French Line (1100 Sand Dunes) to Oodnadatta – 588 Km
4 days from Birdsville to Oodnadatta – as the days got hotter, the sand dunes got softer – even with dual ARB Diff Locks had troubles getting over dunes with reduced air pressure in tyres – lost 1 wheel
From Birdsville to Oodnadatta saw not one vehicle or human – even no one at Dalhousie Springs
Carrying 210L 145l in series 80 tank and 65l in 3 x20l Rheem Containers, used 205l to Oodnadatta
30
Flew out to Dalhousie Springs from Alice, in about 1992 – wild country.
21
In the mid 60s when the Eyre Highway was mostly dirt, used to do the long overnight drives with a full 44 drum strapped to the tray of a Toyota ute, and a double-action pump.
60
I think I blamed doomsday global warming once or twice in the past for freezing cold, but this time I didn’t and I think I got away with it …
‘Winter is coming’: Snow and strong surf as cold front moves across the state
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/winter-is-coming-snow-and-strong-surf-as-cold-front-moves-across-the-state-20210515-p57s6r.html
If one hot day proves doomsday global warming, does a coming winter prove global cooling?
60
‘… does a coming winter prove global cooling?’
Focussing on south-east Australia, it would have to be significant.
‘Anomalously cold periods were also identified in 1835–1836 and 1848–1849, in general agreement with temperature reconstructions from other regions of the Southern Hemisphere.’ (Ashcroft 2014)
50
Very good video by Dinesh D’Souza and Prager U on whether Fascism is of the Right or Left.
Very relevant now more so than ever because a basic element of Leftist propaganda is that conservatives are Fascists when in fact Fascism is much closer to what the Left believe via philosopher Giovanni Gentile.
https://youtu.be/m6bSsaVL6gA
40
Yes. The State is central to Fascism as in German National Socialism. Right-wing political parties, like conservatives and classic liberals, want small government so that individual liberties can flourish.
100
NAZI was an insulting acronym for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the National Socialist German Workers Party. The German conservatives were never fascists but once Hitler had power, he banned all other political parties.
The German Fascists never called themselves NAZIs but Hitler modelled them on Mussolini’s Fascist party. German Fascism was an unholy alliance between giant businesses like the Krupp family steel works, the world’s biggest business who funded Adolph and his Socialists. Very much like today’s Democrats and the Silicon Valley trillionaries and Hollywood and the University crowd.
So it’s simple reversal. AntiFA are the fascists. BLM are the racists. The black supremacists call everyone else white supremacists. And the 13% black minority who commit over 50% of all murders and burglaries blame the police for their crimes, claiming they are being racially profiled. And the press go along with it all because they want to be popular with their friends.
130
Zali Steggall says Australia should lead the world in lithium batteries.
Why? I hear you ask. Simple, we have a lithium mine.
We have high quality iron ore and coking coal. Nobody tell Zali that we are not world leaders in steel production and that labor has occupied the treasury bench for much of that period of decline.
130
Zali seems prone to pumping out vacuous thought bubbles without doing much real homework.
90
Evidence for this? What period are you speaking of?
03
Are you asking for EVIDENCE that we are not world leaders in steel production?
Labor has had 5 PMs in 50 years. Our vehicle manufacture closed down during one of them. I accept the inevitability of that but you seem in denial.
10
I do not know if you can access this article in the Australian, but the story by Bernard Lane of Twitter darling Tatiana McGrath is astounding. Created by Andrew Doyle from
Northern Ireland, she epitomises Woke. Except she is fake. Try this one our cartoon Bluey. Or this on cancel culture.
110
Twitter – summed up by comment in The Australian Article referenced
Roger
53 minutes ago
Twitter is an ugly forum, the internet version of the Roman gladiatorial games where the public can enjoy the spectacle of a few being devoured by hyenas.
60
This is one of several stories I have read over the last week about war with China
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9579213/Missiles-fly-New-Chinese-threat-bomb-Australian-soil.html
The threat to Taiwan is great and whether Biden will stand up to them there is unknown. He backed down from confronting Russia in the Black sea by diverting some warships I even read that if China decided to sail into Sydney harbour and annex Australia no one could stop them
This is ridiculous but clearly the drumbeats of war are getting louder as China get more powerful and more belligerent and the US gets weaker and more unwilling to act as the Worlds policeman.
I see the UK aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth is to be largely based in the Far East with an associated strike force. I saw its sister ship the Prince of Wales yesterday sailing close to the shore locally. It is an awesome ship. I think we all need to ramp up spending on defence against both physical and cyber hacking
This is the time for the Anglosphere to renew their historic ties and work closer together which includes not allowing our historic cultures to be weakened even further
91
There are some 14 or so sovereign states that recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. Those countries represent about 30M people essentially all third world apart from Vatican City, which I doubt presents a credible threat to China. No member of the UN will stand in the way of China’s CCP taking direct control of its territory. Control of Taiwan was ceded to China decades ago. They simply have not bothered to step in yet.
China has long disputed territories with Japan. I expect Japan will press their side of any Chinese aggression at the UN. That will be the test. I expect China to become increasingly hungry for energy and mineral resources. Energy disputes are likely catalyst for conflict between China and Japan. Japan will get much more wary once the CCP takes control of Taiwan. Right now Taiwan is probably more aligned with Japan than mainland China.
30
It is worth noting how easily China doctored the US elections. It would not surprise me if China could reduce the whole US armed services to a static pile of hardware with a single switch. They have technology spread far and wide. Who would know if every computer that has been made this century does not have a single disabling routine that can be invoked through any one of a myriad of communication protocols.
The US voting machines were all Chinese controlled hardware and software. Why wouldn’t all the US military hardware have basic components like processors all made in China.
Think of the chaos if all the Chinese sourced switching gear and generating plant could be disabled with a single switch. All mobile phones dead. All banking systems dead. All media transmission dead. All aircraft drop out of the sky.
Look at the issues a few Russian programers caused by disabling a fuel pipeline. How much of the controlling infrastructure has China supplied to the US – who would know?
30
They would be annihilated, or at least get their hair seriously mussed up. Australia is not defenceless, not by a long shot.
03
Tilba decides what to write: Does whatever I say make China look like it isn’t a threat? Tick 100% YES.
Do they pay you Tilba?
60
Agreed, if, China would be so kind as to defer by twenty years so the first of our Turnbull Class subs can be fired up.
30
‘Australia is not defenceless, not by a long shot.’
No, but we should quit the American Alliance before they drag us into WW3. Strongly suggest we join the Non-Aligned Movement and become king of the kids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement#/media/File:Map_of_NAM_Members_and_Observer_states.svg
What we see now is old fashion brinkmanship, zero sum game, time to cash in while we are in front.
01
Give TT a rifle and point the Chinese out to him.
We’ll soon see if he can see them off or be seen off.
I do know who I wouldn’t bet on … 😀
10
The official report on WHO out earlier this week pales in significance to this one from front line doctors, laying out how consideration of Ivermectin for fighting Covid-19 has been systematically obstructed and interfered with for non-scientific ends. Don’t let the self flagellation of ‘independent’ reports fool you to what’s really going on.
.
“FLCCC Alliance Statement on the Irregular Actions of Public Health Agencies and the Widespread Disinformation Campaign Against Ivermectin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2021
Introduction
Awareness of ivermectin’s efficacy and its adoption by physicians worldwide to successfully treat COVID-19 have grown exponentially over the past several months. Oddly, however, even as the clinical trials data and successful ivermectin treatment experiences continue to mount, so too have the criticisms and outright recommendations against the use of ivermectin by the vast majority, though not all, of public health agencies (PHA), concentrated largely in North America and Europe.
The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) and other ivermectin researchers have repeatedly offered expert analyses to respectfully correct and rebut the PHA recommendations, based on our deep study and rapidly accumulated expertise “in the field” on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. These rebuttals were publicized and provided to international media for the education of providers and patients across the world. Our most recent response to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and others recommendation against use can be found on the FLCCC website here.
In February 2021, the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD), an international meeting of physicians, researchers, specialists, and patients, followed a guideline development process consistent with the WHO standard. It reached a consensus recommendation that ivermectin, a verifiably safe and widely available oral medicine, be immediately deployed early and globally. The BIRD group’s recommendation rested in part on numerous, well-documented studies reporting that ivermectin use reduces the risk of contracting COVID-19 by over 90% and mortality by 68% to 91%.
A similar conclusion has also been reached by an increasing number of expert groups from the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Spain, United States (US), and a group from Japan headed by the Nobel Prize-winning discoverer of Ivermectin, Professor Satoshi Omura. Focused rebuttals that are backed by voluminous research and data have been shared with PHAs over the past months. These include the WHO and many individual members of its guideline development group (GDG), the FDA, and the NIH. However, these PHAs continue to ignore or disingenuously manipulate the data to reach unsupportable recommendations against ivermectin treatment. We are forced to publicly expose what we believe can only be described as a “disinformation” campaign astonishingly waged with full cooperation of those authorities whose mission is to maintain the integrity of scientific research and protect public health.
The following accounting and analysis of the WHO ivermectin panel’s highly irregular and inexplicable analysis of the ivermectin evidence supports but one rational explanation: the GDG Panel had a predetermined, nonscientific objective, which is to recommend against ivermectin. This is despite the overwhelming evidence by respected experts calling for its immediate use to stem the pandemic. Additionally, there appears to be a wider effort to employ what are commonly described as “disinformation tactics” in an attempt to counter or suppress any criticism of the irregular activity of the WHO panel.”
.
It goes on … at:-
https://covid19criticalcare.com/videos-and-press/flccc-releases/flccc-alliance-statement-on-the-irregular-actions-of-public-health-agencies-and-the-widespread-disinformation-campaign-against-ivermectin/
It’s a long read but packed with evidence pointing to misconduct, in temperate language but pulling no punches. The Media should be all over this but don’t expect to hear a peep. These Doctors aren’t going away though. They’ve been around since the start of the pandemic but this is their first shot directly at the beast obstructing their work.
You may well have read it here first but if not: Good on you, for staying alert.
60
“The WHO’s recommendation that “ivermectin not be used outside clinical trials” is based entirely upon:
.
– the dismissal of large amounts of trial data;
.
– the inaccurate downgrading of evidence quality; and
.
– the deliberate omission of a dose-response relationship with viral clearance.
.
Consequently, these actions formed the basis of their ability to avoid a recommendation for immediate global use.”
100
Eddie,
I totally agree that the WHO is hiding ivermectin for ‘political’ reasons. Who/What is pulling the WHO’s strings. What are we going to do about that?
https://freedomplatform.tv/plandemic-indoctornation-world-premiere/
Covid is a weapon which makes money for China and destroys economies. WHO are acting as if they are a fake independent organization that is controlled by China puppets.
The WHO is, however, only one player. The ivermectin evil requires global censorship. There has been a coordinated censorship by Google, Facebook, and the fake news outlets to hide covid effective treatments. Wny? Why now? Why are the news organizations fake?
It logically does not make sense that ivermectin is not being used today based on peer reviewed data and the fact that ivermectin has been proven to be a safe drug from other uses.
20
Aunty Pravda’s rolling news feed of unacceptable articles for the 15th May – https://thepointman.wordpress.com/rolling-headlines/ #freepointy
Pointy
20
It hasn’t been this hot in 16 million years.
https://scitechdaily.com/66-million-years-of-earths-climate-history-uncovered-puts-current-changes-in-context/
23
We are all so worried about the temperature in the year 2300. And it’s all our fault! Only 279 years to disaster! (if the IPCC are correct and when has that been the case in the last 33 years?)
60
The icehouse condition occurred following the opening of Drakes Passage and heat transfer from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
The forecast temperature rise is based on a fairy tale so simply will not occur. Until climate models incorporate the physics of clouds they will remain mediocre weather models good for a week ahead. They have no predictive capability.
30
That’ll get the grants rolling in.
20
Alexander Mercouris, who some may know, says the polls out of France indicate Marine Le Penn can win the second round of voting. That’s a lot harder than the first round. The French have been doing this a long time and know how to get results more subtly than the democrats.
As an aside: I am thankful we have preferential voting. Cuts this crap.
40
WALMART TO END MASK REQUIREMENT FOR VACCINATED CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES
FAUCI: UNVACCINATED STUDENTS ‘SHOULD WEAR A MASK’ IN SCHOOL IN THE FALL
Trader Joe’s to End Mask Requirement for Vaccinated Customers
Show me your papers!!!
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The End of The Mask”
”
If there was ever a surer example of the perversion of the Power of Experts than the Covid Mask Mania, I am unaware of it. I doubt that there is a single self-aware person in the world that does not know what the Covid Mask Mania means, even most of those who have been stanch supporters and promoters of The Mask are aware that it is, in fact, a product of a world-wide Mass Hysteria that grew out of the unknowns surrounding the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China in late 2019.
Those of you who still have the ability to remember the recent past, despite endless propaganda aimed at making you forget, the original CDC Guidance on Face Masks for Covid-19 was this:”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/05/15/the-end-of-the-mask/
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Brunch at Jellyfish Manly Beach Friday – no patrons wearing masks only some Jellyfish Staff.
No masks on anyone walking along the beachfront.
Tuesday Cancer Centre fully occupied and back to having to wear masks, and masks handed out as you check in to RNSH
40
We are so smart but we can’t duplicate the beauty and functionality of hardwood or bird feathers.
30
Yeah … but … synthetic meat is gonna be great.
So there.
20
Summertime and the living is easy…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcK446vD80A
Has anyone written a song [other than Jingle Bells etc] about how great it is to be cold?
What’s this crap about a little warmth being doom n’ gloom? I got married in a suit 57 years ago. My last. My dry cleaning bills – zero. Seriously a denim jacket is IT for weddings and funerals in the tropics [in winter].
51
That was a great rendering of an old classic.
50
A recent (30 min. ago) yahoo.com item:
> https://banyanhill.com/exclusives/the-12-million-mile-battery-shrt/?z=1783651
>
> “The 12 Million Mile Battery”
>
> Tesla recently announced the coming “1 million mile battery” shocking the
> world.
>
> But … that battery is already here.
>
> Thanks to a former Tesla employee, one of the company’s “Original 7” beat
> Tesla to the punch.
>
> His energy innovation is so powerful it can send a Tesla cross country
> without charging — FOUR TIMES.
>
> Imagine a “superbattery” that:
>
> Charges in eight minutes — not hours.
> Lasts 9,200 miles between charges.
> And has a lifespan of 12 MILLION miles.
>
> It’s not a fiction. This technology already exists, and it’s rolling out to
> manufacturers at this moment.
>
> The one company behind it is on the cusp of a potential 20,300% market surge
> over the next decade.
——————————————————————————–
So, a Tesla, which gets, at most, 2 miles per KWh would need a 4,500KWh (4.5GWh) battery to achieve the alleged range and it can be charged in 8 minutes? Does the charger have a flux capacitor?
30
I’d believe it after one is actually demonstrated.
The article is ultimately drawing upon information from this paper:
A Wide Range of Testing Results on an Excellent Lithium-Ion Cell Chemistry to be used as Benchmarks for New Battery Technologies To cite this article: Jessie E. Harlow et al 2019 J. Electrochem. Soc.166 A3031
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.0981913jes/pdf
They used charge rates of C/20 and discharge rates of C/3 to C/150.
I wish them well, but will not be investing heavily at this time. 🙂
50
Also, see this article for other information
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-09-21/the-million-mile-car-battery-what-is-known
10
Interesting article Lance. Jeff Dahn is worth listening to. A couple of years ago he produced a presentation that explained a lot about how lithium batteries were designed – worth watching.
40
From Catallaxy Files
Are we supposed to care?
Posted on May 15, 2021 by currencylad
Israeli air strike hits Gaza building housing international media outlets.
From the Comments
duncanm says:
May 16, 2021 at 7:36 am
I tell you what – I’m very impressed with Israel’s demolition skills from a distance.
Yesterday’s building collapse was surgical.
You can just imagine the IDF (drone?) laser-operator radioing “Uri, we need one more here, and here”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEm3AuEaaU
First Minute of video – superb accuracy!
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Owner of Al-Jalaa tower, #Gaza City negotiates with IDF on the phone to postpone the bombing of the building. The building has already been evacuated but he says one of the teams of journalists left some equipment inside. #HamasTerrorists
https://t.me/MEnews1/21148
40
This is not from an aerial attack. It was a controlled demolition like in New York building 7.
00
Billions of reasons to doubt Treasury’s Budget forecastsTerry McCrann
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
This is the fundamental policy and even ideological underpinning of the Budget, spelt with a big, big-spending capital-B.
How come I don’t find that instantly and persuasively comforting and convincing, even coming from a Treasurer in a supposedly small-government party dedicated to leaving your money in your hands, as you are the better judge of its spending?
Aged care? Did someone say $10bn? Heck let’s make it $18bn. Infrastructure? How does $15bn sound, for starters? Then there’s $13bn on disability; $4bn on women — the mindless Treasury exactitude said $3.4bn; trust me, it will be $4bn and indeed billions higher — $2bn on childcare.
After that you get down to the “a billion here, a billion there, you’re no longer talking real money” territory; with apologies to the brilliantly named senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, who would be turning in his grave, if he hadn’t already long since spun himself right out of it with the even bigger spending in his own good old US of A.
All-up Josh Frydenberg laid out $68bn of new spending. But let me make the really fundamental point that was certainly not spelt out in the budget and not in the media reporting either.
The bottom line
That’s $68bn over the forward estimates out to 2024-25. It doesn’t then end; we don’t suddenly go back to the lower spending levels of before that; no, the extra spending is baked into future budgets forever.
Indeed, the $68bn is the very minimum added for every four years, pretty much forever; baked in as the base, on which you get slippage and expansion.
We know the net debt is heading for — at least and only for starters — $1 trillion; but the annual, every-year spending will be following.
The second big overarching feature of the budget’s presentation and, worse, the discussion was a seeming acceptance of the credibility and even “accuracy” of the numbers out to 2024-25 and, even more ludicrously, out to 2031-32.
No, they are just very dodgy fiscal forecasts based on a, first, whole range of very dodgy and simply unrealistic economic forecasts from a hopeless and utterly discredited Treasury; and, second, the assumption that governments won’t initiate a penny of new spending over the next four years and indeed the next 10.
Just let that double expression of utter cluelessness sink in; such yawning lack of self-awareness that it makes our duo of twittering prime ministerial twerps, Malcolm and Kevin, look like the very models of introspection and self-learning in comparison.
In a budget that reveals — nay, that celebrates — getting a forecast made nearly six months into the current fiscal year — some $37bn wrong; this same Treasury purports to tell us what the deficit will be next year, in four years’ time, and indeed in 10 years’ time, down to the usual utterly inane decimal points.
Let me whisper quietly into the collective treasury ear: the deficit in 2024-25 will not, repeat not, be the $57bn you projected on Tuesday. Indeed, this year’s deficit, with just one month to go, won’t be the predicted $161bn.
50
Using shopping bags to carry petrol?
What about the four Catholic Nuns who were visiting a Sydney Convent and were given permission to take a very old chamber pot with them that matched the decor at their own far western NSW home base.
Driving home their car ran out of petrol and two of them hitched a ride and took the chamber pot to the nearest service station and filled it with petrol, and the person who gave them a lift was good enough to drive them back to their car.
As the four were struggling to pour the petrol from the chamber pot into the car fuel tank filler pipe two Presbyterian Ministers drove past, they looked in amazement and one turned to other and said ” we might not agree with their religion but we must admire their faith”.
70
There is the story of the Catholic presbyter (priest) writing a letter to the Presbyterian Minister. At the top of the letter the priest put 29th June Feast of STs Peter and Paul.
The Presbyterian Minister replied to the letter and put at the top,
Monday, Washing Day
30
Some good news from Germany
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/05/15/chancellor-merkel-rejects-cabinet-climate-change-effort-to-stop-coal-energy-use/
20
More on that
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/05/15/chancellor-merkel-rejects-cabinet-climate-change-effort-to-stop-coal-energy-use/
10
Could anybody give me the exact JoNova archive that presented a video describing the USA election fraud which presented a map of the world with a visual simulation showing the internet linking of the US voting machines from the USA to China etc. resulting in an alleged transfer of thousands of votes from Trump to Biden. It was part of a documentary I think. Possible in December of january.Thanks in advance.
00
Mike, it is getting so hard to find anything on my site, or on the US Election now that to blatant censorship by Google and Microsoft (even DDG).
I am increasingly using the Tags and Categories to find stories on my site. Until 2021 I could google any page and find it nearly straight away.
I think this is the post you are looking for:
https://joannenova.com.au/2021/02/chinese-cyberwarfare-attack-on-the-us-election-mike-lindell-video/
But there was another documentary in Dec as well. https://joannenova.com.au/2020/12/a-video-to-bridge-the-divide-the-plot-to-steal-america/
90
Arizona Senate considers expanding audit of Maricopa County ballots to all races
PHOENIX – The Arizona Senate is considering expanding its audit of Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 election to include all contests, not just for president and U.S. Senate.
Audit organizers said they want to test county voting machines by examining results from all of the races.
“We are looking with other companies to do a machine tabulation of all the races on the ballot to compare with the Dominion tabulation back in November,” said Ken Bennett, the Senate’s audit liaison. “We will be looking at the images of all 2.1 million ballots.”
The examination would not involve a physical recount like the one underway at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. It would be a separate audit using digital images of each ballot, Bennett said.
The effort would require a reexamination of the nearly 500,000 ballots that auditors have gone through since the audit began April 23.
Bennett said the Senate is considering hiring a California company to conduct the digital tabulation, but he declined to name it. He said the imaging would be done “in the time of the rest of the counting.”
State Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, said the results would not be used to attempt to overturn the election results but to ensure election integrity in future races.
10
Arizona Senate considers expanding audit of Maricopa County ballots to all races
PHOENIX – The Arizona Senate is considering expanding its audit of Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 election to include all contests, not just for president and U.S. Senate.
Audit organizers said they want to test county voting machines by examining results from all of the races.
“We are looking with other companies to do a machine tabulation of all the races on the ballot to compare with the D@minion tabulation back in November,” said Ken Bennett, the Senate’s audit liaison. “We will be looking at the images of all 2.1 million ballots.”
The examination would not involve a physical recount like the one underway at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. It would be a separate audit using digital images of each ballot, Bennett said.
The effort would require a reexamination of the nearly 500,000 ballots that auditors have gone through since the audit began April 23.
Bennett said the Senate is considering hiring a California company to conduct the digital tabulation, but he declined to name it. He said the imaging would be done “in the time of the rest of the counting.”
State Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, said the results would not be used to attempt to overturn the election results but to ensure election integrity in future races.
20
The Preliminary Results of the “Windham Incident” Forensic Audit Are Not Good
I believe the preliminary results of the forensic audit of the Windham, NH voting machines as configured on November 3, 2020, show the aging Diebold ES2000 Model A Voting Machines cannot be trusted.
And by extension… potentially the elections across the state of New Hampshire as well.
And based on the actions and demeanor of high-ranking government officials from the AG’s office over the first few days of the audit – I have a long list of concerns that I’ll share in another post.
But for now, let’s focus on the preliminary results of the vote totals that were produced by running all of the ballots from Windham’s November 3, 2020 general election, through all of Windham’s four voting machines as configured on November 3rd.
The first table and graph show some disturbing results of the Rockingham District 7 State Rep race. This is the race that triggered the recount that produced the largest unexplained numerical discrepancy in the state of NH.
The audit results of each machine are significantly different from the results produced on 11/3/20. Why?
20
Thanks a lot.
Best Wishes
M
10
Watch in horror!
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6253587554001#sp=show-clips
20
And FWIW
“Wuhan Flu: The Ivermectin Alternative
Particularly the second link
“Don’t mention Ivermectin; it’ll upset the vaccine rollout”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/05/16/wuhan-flu-the-ivermectin-alternative/
10
Goes with that
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11224-021-01776-0.pdf
00
But … but … the ‘science’ …
2021: 38 Australian cricket players in Maldives to land back home on Monday
https://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/cricket/2021/may/16/38australian-cricket-playersin-maldives-to-land-back-home-on-monday-2303278.html
The ‘science’:
1989: UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.
As the warming melts polar icecaps, ocean levels will rise by up to three feet, enough to cover the Maldives and other flat island nations, Brown told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
https://apnews.com/article/bd45c372caf118ec99964ea547880cd0
10
“Jordan Peterson Does A Devastating Critique Of The Communist Manifesto”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2021/05/16/jordan-peterson-does-a-devastating-critique-of-the-communist-manifesto/
And note how big isn’t necessarily better – so
“Too big – guaranteed to fold”
10
The Paris Agreement based on outdated modelling
The Climate sensitivity parameter used in IPCC modelling has been trending towards ZERO as shown in the graphs presented here.
https://notrickszone.com/2017/10/16/recent-co2-climate-sensitivity-estimates-continue-trending-towards-zero/
At the time of the Paris Agreement the “consensus” was a value of 2 (ie a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere would result in global temperatures increasing by 2 degrees C).
Now the “consensus” value is closer to 0.5 and with many papers having a value close to zero
This paper has much higher CO2 levels leading to “global cooling”.
https://notrickszone.com/2020/03/05/a-nearly-zero-climate-sensitivity-paper-finds-a-16-fold-co2-increase-cools-earth-below-pre-industrial-temperatures/
10
Something you mightn’t have known about plague – plus a few other things
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2021/05/15/when-the-cold-comes-the-world-changes/
10
Their ABC and the “slantendicular” again
https://catallaxyfiles.com/2021/05/17/repeating-a-stale-old-lie/
20
How many times have the ABC sat in front of the senate committee and denied left wing bias ?
30
Whenever they have been specifically asked. And they provide evidence.
01
“Evidence” you say ! Their charter versus their actions says otherwise and there have been many Threads posted by the host on the subject on this blog .
Science fiction writer for the ABC Nick Kilvert is a great example of just one radical green lefty in the organisation with Robin Williams not far behind .
If they gave equal weight to issues and and stuck to their charter fine but that just doesn’t happen unless of course your ideology says it does .
10
Such evidence does NOT include naming any even slightly to the right of radical left presenters.
Murdoch always gives the left a platform.
20
Unless the “evidence” Leaf speaks of is the evidence of their bias !
10
To get a rabbit out of a hat first you have to put a rabbit inbto the hat
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/05/16/epa-updates-its-climate-change-indicators/
10
It seems that the FIT gravy boat may be sinking !…….
..and i believe some areas in Victoria are already subject to this restriction.
10
To explain a little..
The Solar “FIT” ( Feed In Tarrif ).. is one of the main “hooks” used by Roof Top solar promoters to justify the investment cost of installing a system.
They suggest that the income from selling excess power back to the grid will repay the cost of the system within a few years.
That was certainly true when the FIT was initially set at $0.64 / kWh , but this has been progressively reduced for new installations to <$0.1 /kWh.
And now, if it is eliminated completely, let alone reversed to a negative amount, ..it destroys much of the busness case for the RT Solar industry.
Already the Aemc have initiated plans for some RT Solar users to have their systems remotely switched off completely at peak times, and forced to consume Grid supply power, in order to ease minimum load limits on grid generators that can cause major grid failures.
Solar creates more problems than it solves…..
..it is a “selfish” solution to a non existent (CO2) problem .
30
https://delingpole.podbean.com/e/nina-1621086702/
Excellent Delingpole episode … slightly terrifying but most things are these days.
00
ABC = Australian Biased Corporation. BMO = Biased Meteorlogical Organisation. UNPCC = Untrue Notional Principal of Climate Change. Where do the acroymns end? God knows
00
Ah those wonderful ruinable electricity generators in SA.
Yesterday at 6.30pm according to OpenNEM, to meet the SA demand of 1913 MW, solar deliverd 1 MW, wind 71 MW, the big battery 43 MW, while those emergency diesel generators supplied 123 MW.
The balance was supplied by gas. Spot price $931/MWhr, average price for the day $248.
10