How Climate Change helped the Taliban — don’t blame Joe, blame fossil fuels

Apparently the Taliban were not waiting for a US President to gift them with helicopters and guns and then run away. What they really needed was climate change:

How climate change helped strengthen the Taliban

Rural Afghanistan has been rocked by climate change. The past three decades have brought floods and drought that have destroyed crops and left people hungry. And the Taliban — likely without knowing climate change was the cause — has taken advantage of that pain.

According to the CBS News article, titled “How climate change helped strengthen the Taliban,” “Rural Afghanistan has been rocked by climate change. The past three decades have brought floods and drought that have destroyed crops and left people hungry. And the Taliban — likely without knowing climate change was the cause — has taken advantage of that pain.”

Wake up to the new reality that Solar Panels can stop the Taliban. When you see the crying children in Kabul, feel guilty because you eat meat, drive cars, and heat the world! Then go make yourself a Fairtrade Organic cup of Cocoa and know that you’re helping.

According to CBS News, the farmers were destitute, abandoning their children to extremist influences. They didn’t have enough food to eat or enough water to put on their crops, so they turned to farming poppy seeds for opium. Not that they’ve ever done that before…

Thanks to James Taylor of Hearthland for finding a graph of just how much crop yields have fallen lately.

Crop yields Afghanistan.

Crop yields Afghanistan.

Clearly Climate Change causes better crops…

Or maybe climate change is irrelevant, and well, “follow the money”.

Lara Logan points out that the US  funds Pakistan which funds the Taliban and they could turn off the tap anytime:

Logan explained that the Taliban’s main base is not Afghanistan but Pakistan  … She said the U.S. helps fund a good portion if not all of the Pakistani defense budget in terms of military and intelligence services, like the ISI.

“For example, you could stop the money. You could stop the remittances of Pakistanis living in the United States. You could put on sanctions. You could have visas [withdrawn], you know,” Logan said of one potential action the U.S. government could take quickly to counteract the catastrophe in Kabul.

The three Taliban “Shura,” or councils, she added, are all in Pakistan – the Quetta, Peshawar and Miramshah. The Shura all benefit from the “warm embrace of the ISI”, she added.

“The United States has known this from day one.”

This disaster appears to be exactly what the US Swamp wants — they could stop it, yet they don’t.

9.7 out of 10 based on 82 ratings

258 comments to How Climate Change helped the Taliban — don’t blame Joe, blame fossil fuels

  • #
    tonyb

    A very sobering account of the ineptitude of the US govt in pulling out troops and not anticipating the surely obvious collapse of the Afghan army

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/08/20/biden-afghanistan-kabul-chaos-taliban-evacuation-505600

    The US marines are under orders to stay at the airport and not to go into Kabul to bring in nationals and Afghans at risk and must watch as other allied troops do just that.

    Biden has left its allies in the lurch having promised Nato they would leave enough infrastructure to allow things to continue but pulled the plug suddenly to the fury of Boris Johnson and the other Nato allies.

    I would hope this would show Biden for the dithering idiot he so apparently was, even back last November. How is this all playing in Australia?

    This is a significant moment in World History and probably signals the end of the American century as that country hands over the Baton to China..

    Perhaps a young, dynamic, tough President serving 2 full terms can retrieve the situation for the US and the West but I don’t see anyone like that on the horizon.

    China must be emboldened. Taiwan next? Israel? Ukraine? Does Australia feel threatened?

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    • #
      Craig

      If Australia was threatened, most likely Dan Andrew’s and his belt and road pact with the Chinese will be the start of our capitulation.

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      • #
        Ted1

        Of that there is no doubt.

        But, when you look back over the last 40+ years it has suited us to ignore the fact that China has a communist government, because we expected that in the longer term as society became more prosperous Communism would just fade away.

        Since COVID19 arrived on the scene our relations with China have deteriorated substantially. But I don’t believe that CV19 had much to do with that, although I believe that it was created in a lab and released accidentally, which is bad enough. I think the biggest burr under China’s saddle would be Australia’s calling out their “Belt and Road” program.

        That call in its turn was driven by China’s alarming military annexation in the South China Sea. How much more might they seek to annexe?

        In the event of any conflict with China there are already a lot of Chinese people living in Australia. There are a lot of Australian citizens with a strong Chines heritage.

        A lot of Chinese capital has been invested in Australia. A lot of Australian citizens clearly are not aware of our responsibility to honour those investments, and have not the slightest comprehension of the significance of the economic cost of the CV19 lockdowns in its effect on our capacity to honour those investments..

        Chinese scholars have almost open access, including capital invested in our universities. Many of our top medical doctors are Chinese, and practice both in Australia and China. For mutual benefit.

        Communism is showing no sign of just fading away. How much longer are we going to be able to live with it?

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    • #
      John in Oz

      Biden has claimed that none of the allies in Afghanistan (like Oz) have made detrimental comments about the US rout.

      It’s about time ScoMo raised his head above the parapets to tell us about his conversation with Biden and whether Biden’s comments are accurate (for once).

      I am receiving SMS messages for ex-servicepersons to contact mental health services if the withdrawal is affecting us. Our illustrious leaders are very quiet, as usual, regarding the affect of all of this on those that served over there. No lessons learned from the Vietnam days (my era of service).

      By the way, It’s NATO, not Nato

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    • #
      another ian

      “I would hope this would show Biden for the dithering idiot he so apparently was, even back last November. ”

      Even further back – see Analitik’s comment at #46 here

      https://joannenova.com.au/2021/08/weekend-unthreaded-374/#comment-2457212

      Seems bin Laden rated Joe more use to the Taliban alive than dead

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    • #
      dinn, rob

      Afghan debacle planned with China in July 2015
      https://balance10.blogspot.com/2021/08/afghan-debacle-planned-with-china-in.html
      ……………………………………
      DARPA granted Pfizer and Moderna $32.7 million in 2013 to research mRNA vax https://balance10.blogspot.com/2021/08/darpa-granted-pfizer-and-moderna-327.html

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    • #
      Binny Pegler

      The Taliban would have started planning this in November last year. They knew with Trump. If they crossed the line, a decision on the response would be made with-in minutes.
      With the Democrats/swamp back in charge. They would have time to take over the entire country. While the swamp was still holding meetings, to decide what meetings needed to be held, to decide who should be at the meetings, to decide what response (if any) might be best politically.

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    • #
      WXcycles

      This is a significant moment in World History and probably signals the end of the American century as that country hands over the Baton to China.

      Oh come off it, it was a minor insurgency and the USA decided it had enough of hanging around wasting money and is/was de-emphasizing all entanglements in the ME, including a confrontation with Iran, and is reorganizing forces in Europe, and the USA, plus is moving to consolidate in the Western Pacific between now and 2028, in order to serve longer-term US national interests which fortunately just happen to be very closely aligned to Australia’s national Interests, and are likely to remain that way for the next few generations in the Pacific.

      The Chinese get a free-pass from Islamic extremists for now, but that will absolutely be reversing at some point, the only question is when? These are not natural buddies any more than Moscow and Beijing are natural buddies. They are in fact strategic competitors and the Islam fanatics want to control every state, and turn them all into Islamic States, and China will be a major target soon enough.

      Endless hyperbolic predictions of the pending demise of the USA as a global power are just boring noise.

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      • #

        Wxcycles

        Hardly minor. There is actual power and there is the myth of power which together combine to forge a reputation that intimidates or impresses others and projects their culture, trade and political power on the back of the military

        We had a pax romana pax brittanica and pax Americana.

        The first ended as power and infouence declined when the barbarians first threatened the empire as they wanted to be part of it but we’re excluded and ended in the sacking of rome

        The belief in British invincibility faded after the fall of Singapore and that of America we are likely watching happen as American influence visibly weakens with the rout in Saigon the failure in Iraq and to be chased out of a country by nomadic goat herders.

        It’s difficult to respect a country who are visibly failing . A strong president serving two terms could probably arrest the decline but it has been happening since Reagan and there is no one on the horizon to rectify it. Is there the will to do so anyway? America has been tearing itself apart the last few years with wokeism challenging its history, BLM and climate fanaticism. It’s traditional values are crumbling.

        Hope for a strong leader.

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        • #

          Wxcycles

          This article explains more eloquently than I can as to why what we are currently witnessing in afghanistan has far more ramifications than you appear to believe

          https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17670/western-diplomacy-imploring-terrorists

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          • #
            WXcycles

            Like I need it explained to me by you, and your little link.

            Quit the concern-trolling about the status of the USA, no one needs to hear such garbage, people were saying the same rot in 1973, all of it was wrong, and it will be again, the USA has natural power advantages that are not going away any time soon, and China is in a terrible strategic position with no allies and no one who trusts them, with not a lot of good options. The only way they get anywhere from here is with a WWIII level global attack and forced global takeover, which they would be utterly destroyed by. Wake up.

            00

    • #
      Denny

      “ dithering idiot”

      Tony, aptly put. The problem is we have tens of millions of dithering idiots who would vote for him in an instant because he is not Trump. They are the same dithering idiots who have bought “the no MWP narrative” and consequently every weather and non weather event are laid on the doorstep of AGW.

      No amount of education Federal funding will help. The problem is a cultural phenomenon in a declining civilization.

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    • #
      MP

      Biden is not driving anything.
      Look at that circus, theater. They left 85,000 military vehicles, 30 aircraft including Black Hawks, stingers, enough equipment to arm an army with the latest military equipment. The Taliban are now flying around in Black Hawks cause they learnt to fly by riding Vespa’s.
      I do not think the local Vespa dealer is authorised to do repairs on Black Hawks, probably a warranty thing.

      You buying that, they had no experience at withdrawal, they can’t hold the line.

      The Taliban were armed for what comes next, the military industrial complex feeds on war.

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    • #
      cohenite

      Perhaps a young, dynamic, tough President serving 2 full terms can retrieve the situation for the US and the West but I don’t see anyone like that on the horizon.

      How about the best POTUS the US has had, Trump, with the current best GOP politician, DeSantis, as his deputy.

      2 years ago the US was the most powerful nation on the planet; it took 4 years of lies, treason and unbelievable corruption by the swamp, big tech and the vile msm to undermine Trump. These fools thought they could resume their parasitic behaviour with a demented liar as their front man. After 7 months of biden the US is a mess and the bad actors of the world, China, Russia, Iran and now the taliban are back in business.

      Biden is finished. The extent of the mid term losses to the demorats will depend on how long this despicable man hangs on. But the problem for the demorats is his replacement, camelia, is hated even within her own party.

      The problem for the GOP is stopping the inevitable cheating which lost Trump his presidency being repeated at the mid term.

      If the GOP win both houses the nonsense of alarmism will again disappear.

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  • #
    tonyb

    Of course this time round-unlike Saigon- the internet can be used to promote your victory

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9914793/Taliban-soldiers-MOCK-iconic-World-War-II-image-American-Marines-raising-flag-Iwo-Jima.html

    A mocking take on the famous Iwo Jima moment with the Taliban dressed in US military equipment, some of the $80 billion left when America withdrew.

    Hoe the Chinese must be smiling at the wests humiliation. There are rich deposits of lithium in Afghanistan and China is in pole position to get it

    When we further destroy ourselves by spending trillions on putting together a far inferior energy system in order to combat so called climate change that smile might become outright laughter.

    Mind you, the destruction of the Muslim Uighurs by China will surely not sit entirely happily with the ultra religious Muslim Taliban?

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  • #
    Zigmaster

    I agree that climate change has strengthened the Taliban because the policies surrounding it have weakened its adversaries. The whole green new agenda plays into the hands of the Taliban and China and Russia and any aggressors who wish to realign the social and economic landscape. With the help of the UN the use of climate change commitments has rebalance economic and global power from the west to the East. The Taliban and other have been gifted the moral high ground as socialists create a” better more equal “ society. Unless the politics of the west can be shifted back towards a more conservative right evil forces including the Taliban will wreak havoc.and Climate change policy is fundamental to allowing this to happen.

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  • #
    John F Hultquist

    The Biden/Harris/Pelosi Administration was never going to cut it in the real world. All they ever had was a hatred for The Donald and anything he was for. This was evident when Nancy Pelosi called on the international community to protect women and girls from the “inhumane treatment by the Taliban.” The President is clueless and Harris is incognito.
    There might be a few people in the Democratic hierarchy that know what is happening. We haven’t heard from them. They should resign.

    480

    • #

      l agree that their hated for the Don is all they ever had 😉

      even their MSM fan club is starting to turn on them

      150

    • #

      Yes, TDS is a horrible brain disease which seems to damage the part of the brain that makes rational decisions where choice becomes doing the opposite of what Trump would do.
      Unfortunately, the opposite of America first is America last.

      Either the left doesn’t realize it, doesn’t care or are purposefully destroying the American experiment in freedom and personal responsibility. If they succeed, it will harm more than just America, since it will embolden the anti-freedom forces in other freedom loving countries.

      This can easily get away from us since freedom is at a disadvantage and not guaranteed to win. Freedom allows anti-freedom ideologies to be freely expressed, even through the use of blatant lies, while anti-freedom ideologies can only propagate by suppressing dissent.

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  • #
    Tilba Tilba

    This disaster appears to be exactly what the US Swamp wants — they could stop it, yet they don’t.

    Isn’t it a bit late?

    Now that the Taliban have control of all Afghanistan, presumably they will have all the income they need – they can loot their own country, and make deals with other nations such as China.

    It’s hard to understand what the US Deep State is thinking and strategising … their level of incompetence, and incapacity to learn anything after decades of failure, is quite breath-taking.

    it’s really pathetic to see President Biden defend and even praise the “intelligence community” and the defence brass – buffoons in khaki suits.

    [Snip – LVA]

    244

    • #
      clarence.t

      ” their level of incompetence, and incapacity to learn anything after decades of failure, is quite breath-taking.”

      That’s the hard-left for you.

      Do you really want to be seen as being one of them ?

      202

    • #
      Chris

      All the Afghani money has left the country to places like America and Europe and I can’t see it being returned to the Taliban. China will step-in with all sorts of initiatives. Twenty years ago, American geologists quietly wandered the Afghan mountains and stated that there were billions of dollars of minerals ie iron ore. This was before the hunt for rare earth minerals began on a global scale.

      80

    • #
      Analitik

      I’m fascinated by what got snipped after such a reasonable start

      70

    • #
      Peter C

      It’s hard to understand what the US Deep State is thinking and strategising … their level of incompetence, and incapacity to learn anything after decades of failure, is quite breath-taking.

      See ABOVE: “Lara Logan points out that the US funds Pakistan which funds the Taliban and they could turn off the tap anytime”

      The rather sinister conclusion, as explained by Lara Logan is that the black hats actually want this out come. Not incompetence. They let it happen it this way.
      The next question is why would they do that?
      Likely reason is that a Crisis can be manipulated to suspend civil liberties and democracy. The 2020 Presidential election fraud is getting too close to the surface. Those pushing for a review are getting too close to success for comfort.

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      • #
        Klem

        Exactly right, Peter C. The suspension of civil liberties is already happening via the Covid bogeyman, and we’ve been seeing this recently with the protests in Melbourne. Eventually governments will introduce a version of Social Credit, and we’re seeing this as banks are already developing a social credit system, so if you want to own a home the bank will investigate your past texts and online comments.

        60

      • #
        Greg Cavanagh

        The results being as they are, could only have happened if they were being done intentionally. There’s no way this was an accident or miscalculation. Too many people know exactly what’s going down to mess up this bad. Impossible.

        30

  • #
    Jojodogfacedboy(A Collateral Damage Victim by Progressive Policies)

    The real fear in the Western Nations is that they have NO leadership.
    Come on, Prime Minister Trudeau phoned Hillary Clinton to try to get some information on Afghanistan.
    How is that for Emergency Contact in an actual crisis?
    Our politicians never admit their is any errors or mistakes and as a consequence will follow bad or incorrect policies to it’s conclusion.
    Lockdown countries that make no sense in what or politicians are doing…
    Hence our governments could take weeks or months to come to decisions.

    180

    • #
      Yonniestone.

      Trudeau phones Hillary for advice,

      Trudeau to Canadian embassy “Sorry you’ll have to fend for yourselves while I try to cover my ass”

      90

      • #
        Jojodogfacedboy(A Collateral Damage Victim by Progressive Policies)

        PM Trudeau can’t ask any of his military generals as their all being investigated for sex harassment charges individually.
        So, he staying away from any military advice.

        40

        • #
          Jojodogfacedboy(A Collateral Damage Victim by Progressive Policies)

          Sorry I meant allegations.
          I believe 2 are receiving charges.

          20

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    I’m old enough to remember when they tried this before …

    Oct 9, 2009: Taliban, al Qaeda helped by warming

    https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JustOneThing/taliban-al-qaeda-helped-global-warming-us-intel/story?id=8786346

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  • #
    Graham Richards

    President Joe Fraud was no doubt paid many $$$ millions to get out & leave all those lovely weapons & other “toys” behind. Deal negotiated by Hunter!

    260

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    HeathLand? I asked, sucking on a cigarette, also supported by the real institute, Heartland, behind this rubbish

    New readers please note the following – the graph shown in the post is not in the link, which talks solely about Africa.

    Greening (which is just the increase in chloroplasts) is not in any way linked with better production of crops.

    The biggest crop increase in Afghanistan is opium, which the USA and its allies did nothing about in their 20 year pillage of that country.

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    • #
      clarence.t

      Argue with data.. no, not PF.

      Make up non-facts, un-backed by data.. that’s the better way for the leftist troll..

      Afghanistan gross rural agriculture

      https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/chart_thumb.png

      Get over it.

      And Heartland is a far more trustworthy source of real information , than the far-loonie-left CBS will ever be.

      And yes CO2 induced plant growth is indeed closely linked to increased crop production

      So PF is wrong on every non-point he attempts but fails to make. Its his MO. !

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    • #
      clarence.t

      Wheat, rice, barley, and maize are the main cereal crops grown in the country, with wheat accounting for 80.2% of total cereal production. Thus, wheat is the most important crop for the food security of the country (Ahmad, 2018). However, other than cereals, fruits, vegetables, and opium poppy are also important crops.”


      What is the most common crop in Afghanistan?
      Wheat
      Wheat is the most important crop in Afghanistan, followed by rice, barley, and cotton. Most cereal crops are utilized for self-consumption. Wheat is prominent in all of the major farming systems prevailing in the country and cultivated in every province.”

      Don’t you get sick of your infantile posts always being provably wrong, PF?

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    • #
      Peter

      Peter F, you don’t have a clue. Anyone with any nous can find the Crop Production Index for all countries

      By the way the global greening phenomenon has been widely documented, does increase crop yields because it’s associated with increased CO2 AND slows down global warming.

      Studies have shown that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide increase photosynthesis, spurring plant growth.

      CO2 fertilization isn’t the only cause of increased plant growth—nitrogen, land cover change and climate change by way of global temperature, precipitation and sunlight changes all contribute to the greening effect.

      Have a look and be educated PF or do us all a favour and GO AWAY!

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        according to Reuters
        “The estimated all-time high for opium production was set in 2017 at 9,900 tons worth some $1.4 billion in sales by farmers or roughly 7% of Afghanistan’s GDP, the UNODC reported.”

        That is way more than what the [SNIP] above are posting.

        As to your link about greening and I will quote directly
        “While our study did not address the connection between greening and carbon storage in plants,” So sad to be you then

        by the way for the [SNIP!} , carbon storage is sciencey talk for growth, increase the storage increase the growth.
        [No more insults from you either PF!]

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        • #
          clarence.t

          [SNIP insults]

          poppies..Only 7% of GDP.. 9,900 tonnes

          Whereas wheat is the main food supply 2.7 million hectares 3,000,000 MT in 2018.

          Does PF think the Afghan people live on opioids, like he does?

          And yes PF CO2 does increase plant growth.. well done.. you got something correct !

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        • #
          R.B.

          What are you arguing? Global warming helped a relative increase in opium production compared to wheat? Hence, the claim that global warming led starving Afghans to side with the Taliban is correct?

          Even without the large increase in wheat production in the past 30 years, such analysis was extremely rickety.

          10

    • #
      TdeF

      NASA says that greening means more vegetation. No idea about this chloroplasts concept. How would you even measure that and why?

      Greening of the Earth Mitigates Surface Warming

      Increased amount of leaves

      Increased green cover during the recent decades

      NASA satellites have been observing increased green cover on land, which is thought to be due to intensive agriculture to feed growing populations and ambitious tree-planting programs

      Short of saying Greening means more trees, what more can they do? Count them?

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      • #
        WXcycles

        Is this one of Willis’s positive thermal moderators and climate stabilizers? i.e. evapo-transpiration cools the lower-troposphere and provides consistently higher relative humidity, and higher potential for rain over more area, to produce more evapo-transpiration with time, and more biomass with time? Hence a greening world which does not get much hotter, because it gets wetter and more lush, and creates cooling in the process.

        Looks like the earth saving itself, completely naturally, no human intervention was required to moderate and restrain a slightly warming trend. Sans the need for self-appointed green ‘saviors’ with dumb exploitative parasitic legislation, plus tax imposts and a constant attack on production and jobs which defies all logic. As far as the earth is concerned growth is good, human growth is doing not net harm to the biota. The planet did evolve us, we are meant to be here, and to do the things humans naturally do, like build cities. Looking out side right now and the birds and other animals about seem to love our suburban life. I have healthy tropical coral reef growing only 5 km away from the city center. Finding it hard to see humans, cities and heavy-industry as unable to coexist with little problem. Some how 1.3 million people can live in mostly Eastern China, and it’s sustainable.

        What amazes me is greenies only see damage and degradation, they never want to acknowledge that damage or degradation are naturally and rapidly healing, and recovery is practically certain. Happens all the time.

        I was watching this home building show on TV recently and this sincere bearded hipster type was waffling about the environment and how his project needed to use manual traditional tools that take ~30 times as long to do the same job, and how bad it would be to make cuts with a chainsaw, as it creates so much, “nasty pollution”.

        It never entered his mind that the pollution does not accumulate endlessly, the earth is in fact self-cleaning, it de-pollutes itself, it’s a self-‘saving’ planet. No need for greenie hipsters, just go ahead and use the chainsaw, the atmosphere, water and biota are stubbornly healthy, it seems to like us. Most of what we do just provides a home or food for something else, and new opportunities for growth, and regrowth.

        We’re doomed!

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        • #
          TdeF

          “Looks like the earth saving itself, completely naturally”. Sure except as I point out so often, this group of mathematicians have predicted the past and the future with great accuracy. Simply by blind Fourier Analysis. Two cycles only were necessary and as confirmation they turned out to be well known and the biggest two. To me that is great science. A blind prediction met with established fact where the computer models have never been right and cannot explain the past let alone predict the future (which after 33 years of this is now the past)

          So this idea that we humans have any effect at all is close to preposterous, except on the very smallest scale for a short time. There is no evidence at all of our influence, volcanoes, bushfires, global shutdown on the graph of CO2. It is busted. Rather, I would suggest we are insignificant until proven otherwise. If we can see little seasonal bumps in CO2, why can’t we see anything else?

          The massive oceans and sun dominate our planet and the oceans do not release their energy quickly, so unlike the land. And at 3.4km deep, the great ocean masses are insulated by kms of water which rarely even comes in contact with the air and our world. So 1400x the heat capacity of he air and always above 0C, the oceans are the biggest solar battery on the planet and store thousands of years of solar energy. And they have well known cycles which dramatically affect our world. Surface effects like La Nina, the Indian Dipole, the PDO and Atlantic oscilations, Gulf Stream, Humboldt Stream and such. So we humans study the thin air, which can change 40C in one day. This is a water planet. It’s about time the upper atmosphere physicists like James Hansen realised they are almost irrelevant instead of being Climate Gods. We came from the oceans and they control this planet and its atmosphere.

          While the proponents of man made Global Warming and man made Climate Change are looking to tiny CO2 and a 50% increase in CO2 over 150 years, it is much more likely that warming oceans simply release a little more CO2 than that tiny CO2 produces any detectable effect at all. One is simple, obvious science and the other is completely unproven and unlikely, even outrageous conjecture.

          So it’s going to get colder quickly. And somehow the Global Warming will become Global Cooling, caused by Climate Change caused by a 0.3% increase in CO2 per year over 150 years, caused by man. Pull the other leg.

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    • #
      Lance

      Pleas note, PF, if you click on the link Jo provided, then look in the upper RH side, you’ll see a link dated 20 Aug 21, “No, CBS News, Global Warming Did Not Create Taliban Victory”.

      The graph provided by Jo is at that link. Same author.

      https://climaterealism.com/2021/08/no-cbs-news-global-warming-did-not-create-taliban-victory/

      Let’s be a bit more charitable, shall we?

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    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      The biggest crop increase in Afghanistan is opium, which the USA and its allies did nothing about in their 20 year pillage of that country.

      Indeed – and it’s worth considering who in the US Establishment might have benefited enormously from the opium/heroin trade that starts in Afghanistan.

      [Snip. LVA ]

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    • #
      Chris

      “Just an increase in chloroplasts”. Good heavens !!! Chloroplasts are where light energy is converted into chemical energy. This is where the molecules formed by photosynthesis provide food for the plant. The more chloroplasts -the more food produced -the more the plant grows.

      00

    • #
      Lucky

      PeterFitzroy is correct, in part.

      Afghanistan’s most significant crop is opium.
      The money receipts do not, did not go to the Taliban or any Afghani, they went to the US CIA, not the US government. It was a private venture run by and for staff only, off the books. The CIA ran the supply chain.
      That is why the CIA was so hysterically anti-Trump as he stated the intention to withdraw.

      Data on this is not in economic statistics compilations.

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      • #
        WXcycles

        Data on this is not in economic statistics compilations.

        In other words, you have no evidence supporting it, we must just take your word on this.

        The CIA is a strategic intelligence agency, that’s all it is. It runs intelligence operations in close relationship with diplomatic and military operations, a system of agencies tasked with getting Washington policies done. Pretending it’s something else doesn’t make it true. That’s what books and movies do, publish click-bait versions of reality. Best leave in in the Cinema.

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      • #
        clarence.t

        “Afghanistan’s most significant crop is opium.”

        If you want to say “export” crop. ok there may be an argument for that.

        But their most significant crop by far is Wheat, by a factor of some x 250 !

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    • #
      R.B.

      New readers please note the following – the graph shown in the post is not in the link, which talks solely about Africa

      Note new readers, Peter Fitzroy is trolling. The link is to the blog of the guy who came across this from a reputable source.

      https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Afghanistan/cereal_yield/

      The link is to the cereal yield plot as claimed. It’s a strong positive trend as claimed. Jo is not misinforming.

      20

  • #
    Beertruk

    How Climate Change helped the Taliban — don’t blame Joe, blame fossil fuels

    ‘The ride against the stupid never ends.’

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    David Maddison

    I have a rule when dealing with the Left.

    Never say “how more stupid can they get”.

    They see it as a challenge.

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      OriginalSteve

      Yeah but if they didnt have things with constantly moving goal posts, they would actually have to have to upstanding normal citizens….most of us grow out if the teenager stage and become mature.

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    OriginalSteve

    Solar panels can stop the taliban? Are they bullet proof?

    The British, Russians and Americans have all tried to tame afghanistan, all failed.

    I had this russian turn up one day back in 1995 to repair a computer. I asked why he emigrated to Oz. He said all his mates in the military had been killed in Afghanistan so he wanted a change.

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    David Maddison

    The opium crop is doing fantastically well. Too bad they don’t put the same effort into growing food.

    https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2021/May/afghanistan_-37-per-cent-increase-in-opium-poppy-cultivation-in-2020–while-researchers-explore-novel-ways-to-collect-data-due-to-covid-19.html

    Vienna (Austria), 4 May 2021 – The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was approximately 224,000 hectares in 2020, which is an increase of 37 per cent or 61,000 hectares when compared to 2019, the executive summary of the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2020, states. At 224,000 hectares, the area under cultivation was one of the highest ever measured.

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      David Maddison

      Note that is for illicit drug use, not legal medical use which comes from places like Tasmania, Australia.

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      Peter

      Too bad they don’t put the same effort into growing food.

      They do! Afghanistan produced more than double the total cereal crop in 2018 compared with 1961.

      The average value for Afghanistan during that period was 62.8 index points. The latest value from 2018 is 91.1 index points. For comparison, the world average in 2018 based on 189 countries is 102.0 index points

      However and according to Reuters last week:

      Three of the last four years have seen some of Afghanistan’s highest levels of opium production, according to the UNODC. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, poppy cultivation soared 37% last year, it reported in May.

      Illicit narcotics are “the country’s largest industry except for war,” said Barnett Rubin, a former State Department adviser on Afghanistan.

      The estimated all-time high for opium production was set in 2017 at 9,900 tons worth some $1.4 billion in sales by farmers or roughly 7% of Afghanistan’s GDP, the UNODC reported.

      When the value of drugs for export and local consumption are taken into account, along with imported precursor chemicals, the UNODC estimated the country’s overall illicit opiate economy that year at as much as $6.6 billion.

      The Taliban and public officials have long been involved in the narcotics trade, experts said, although some dispute the extent of the insurgents’ role and profits.

      The United Nations and Washington contend the Taliban are involved in all facets, from poppy planting, opium extraction, and trafficking to exacting “taxes” from cultivators and drug labs to charging smugglers fees for shipments bound for Africa, Europe, Canada, Russia, the Middle East, and other parts of Asia.

      Some of those shipments are hurled across the heavily patrolled border to traffickers in Iran with rudimentary catapults, reported David Mansfield, a leading researcher into Afghanistan’s illicit drug trade.

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    Peter

    Jo you’re always on the money with a timely article. Blaming the insurgent Taliban on climate change is all the alarmists thinkers have left in their tank. From a recent commentary in the Epoch Times:

    The United Nations’ latest climate change report sparked predictable hyperventilating. You’ve seen the headlines crying, “Code Red for Humanity” and clamoring about “extreme” and “unprecedented” warming likely to be “irreversible”—accompanied by fear-mongering images of raging wildfires and flooded towns.

    Fortunately, the true state of our climate is far from disastrous. In fact, both climate science and thousands of years of human history show this is the best time yet to be alive. The U.N. is continually moving the goalposts when its apocalyptic predictions fail to come true.

    The problem with climate science today isn’t so much the science as shoddy reporting that over-simplifies and over-dramatizes—and a toxic political climate (pun intended) that forbids deviation from the politically correct narrative.

    While activists march against fossil fuels and let their children believe their future has no hope amid rising seas and dying rainforests, they’ve turned a blind eye to the fact that humanity is better off now than it ever has been. Extreme poverty is at its lowest rate in recorded history, and people are living longer, healthier, freer, and more comfortable lives than ever before. Climate change or no climate change, the future is bright if we only look past the hysteria and seek to truly understand the world around us.

    As former Obama-era undersecretary for science Steve Koonin explains in his book “Unsettled,” climate reporting is like a game of telephone. The U.N.’s Sixth Assessment Report is a 3,949-page PDF. It’s easy to understand why reporters on deadline fail to meticulously comb through the entire document or the catalog of research it cites. They simply don’t have time to dig past the simplistic talking points, so they select the most shocking and click-inducing claims without delving into the methodology or scientific uncertainties. It’s understandable, but it’s also a disservice to the public. Something needs to change.

    The new reality is that more people are waking up to climate alarmism. The wilder the claims (like How Climate Change helped the Taliban) the worse it becomes for the alarmist cause. One of my friends has a son who worked in mining for years and made good money, investing in property. He met a girl who happened to be a climate alarmist and now he’s joined Extinction Rebellion and sports a wild black beard. He looks like a Taliban without the keffiyeh!

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    That one dynamically uprising graph of Crop yields in Afghanistan, on its own, is sufficient to undo the current Leftist ‘Climate Change’-Taliban lies. If the Leftists had any spare time, they could look into the real cause of violence in Afghanistan which is Islam. Islam came to Afghanistan between the 8th and 10th, Centuries and finally completed its hold on the country as late as the 19th. Century.

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    TdeF

    What is not being mentioned, apart from this transparently silly idea is opium.

    When Russia invaded Afghanistan, they did it to stop the opium, the major cash crop of Afghanistan. It is killing tens of thousands of young people every year. And supplies 80% of the heroin which is devastating countries throughout Europe.

    However America did not like Russian expansion, so they armed and trained the Taliban/Mujadaheen. Especially a young Osama Bin Laden. Much as four decades before they trained Ho Chi Minh to eject the French from Vietnam. And in every city in Russia there are poignant memorials to the Black Tulips, the transports which brought the coffins home from Vietnam. Young men often killed with American weapons. The Russians left and the Mujadaheen became a major threat, resulting in 9/11 which finally brought the wrath of the world down on Afghanistan. But slowing the heroin trade at its source remains a major motive.

    None of this is mentioned.

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      Peter

      TdeF this far more nuanced history is worth a read.

      “Opium cultivation, heroin production is more dangerous than the invasion and the attack of the Soviets on our country. It is more dangerous than the factional fighting in Afghanistan. It is more dangerous than terrorism — Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a speech declaring a “holy war” against poppies

      In the spring of 2002, British officials floated an irresistible offer. They agreed to pay Afghan poppy farmers $700 an acre — a fortune in the impoverished, war-ravaged country — to destroy their crops.
      Word of the $30 million program ignited a poppy-growing frenzy. Farmers planted as many poppies as they could, offering part of their yield to the British while selling the rest on the open market. Others harvested the opium sap right before destroying their plants and got paid anyway.

      Patrick Fine, who served as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission director for Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005, said these are just poor peasant farmers. “If we treat them like enemies then we are just making enemies. If we are trying to stabilize the country we don’t want to turn the populace against us. They’ve been growing poppies for a thousand years here and if we rip out their fields we are impoverishing them. ”

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        TdeF

        Yes, there is a lot more to the story, but opium poppies are the cause of the problem, not oil, not islam, not the people and certainly not Climate Change. And if Russia and America and the EU cooperated in terms of helping the people instead of fighting these proxy wars, the world would be far better off. Not least the Afghan people. The idea that the problem is Climate Change is tragically st*pid.

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          TdeF

          And what has been achieved in Afghanistan will not be forgotten quickly. Perhaps half the women were educated or in school and while still Muslim, saw what life could be like. This is also true in Iran, which is still a minority Arab controlled military dictatorship. The Persians in contrast were ultra sophisticated people whose religion and arts far predated even Judaism, as with the Hindu in India who begat Buddhism. And their brand of Islam is different again, Shiite, not Sunni. And Opium is a curse for every society.

          As with the 1960s cold war, people see that life is much better in Western democracies and consumer societies. The genie is out of the bottle.

          In so many Arab (male) dominated countries, the local people can see a better life than endless misery and eternal violence. It is hard to deny people their freedom forever, at least half the population. So I am optimistic that the sacrifices made have not been in vain. It will become harder and harder for violent dictators to maintain control with 6th century dark ages logic and the oppression of their own people. I hope.

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    Neville

    Time to look at the DATA of the real planet Earth AGAIN.
    Willis has begged the LW loonies to show him their EMERGENCY but no takers AGAIN. And Ditto Biden’s EXISTENTIAL threat.
    BUT they just love their fantasy planet and retreat again and again by yapping about more of their BS and FRA-d.
    BTW check out his crops etc and many graphs proves his case AGAIN.
    We’ve never been so well off than we are in 2021. Even with the annoying pandemic.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/25/wheres-the-emergency/

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    Neville

    And Dr Christy also puts their so called emergency to the test.
    Many graphs that show the actual data and a very thorough investigation of their so called HOT SPOT. Please WAKE UP.

    https://www.thegwpf.com/putting-climate-change-claims-to-the-test/

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    dinn, rob

    O/T 8-19-21 Then I found an article on an experiment done at none other than the University of California, which just so happens to include one Professor Robert (Bob) Hunt, who by pure coincidence is Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt’s brother and who receives funding through a foundation called The Hunt Lab, as does his other brother Professor John Hunt at the University of NSW.
    UNSW has coincidentally received millions in grants from Greg Hunt and the Federal Government.
UCI ‘grant funded’ experiments discovered they could remote control the heartbeat of a mouse, speeding it up or down remotely by way of graphene. https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Graphene_Biointerface_Optically_Controls_Heart/a63489
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26960413/
    …Google Mind Medicine a ‘foundation’ created by Greg Hunt’s other brother, Peter Hunt and Mind Med, a friend of big pharma.
    And his other brother Steven Hunt is the Director of graphene company Sparc https://sparctechnologies.com.au/about-us/directors-and-management/ and sits on the board of the ‘Graphene Enabled Industry….
    https://cairnsnews.org/2021/08/19/health-minister-hunts-family-involvement-in-graphene-and-vaccines/

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    David Maddison

    The Taliban have declared that the official name of Afghanistan is the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the same name it used when it brutally ruled the country in the 1990s.

    I notice the Left don’t seem to have a problem with the Taliban, especially with their treatment of women. Well, it’s because Leftists like Yasmin Abdel-Magid declared the religion of the Taliban “the most feminist of all religions”.

    It was pathetic watching a CNN reporter don a hijab and then stand to the side of the road because only men can walk in the middle of a road/footpath/sidewalk.

    https://youtu.be/W-omY20pMNM

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      Denny

      The left conveniently ignore the video tapes of stoning women buried up to their necks in Afghanistan.Yet they scream sexual abuse when an imagined verbal slight to women shows up on video in America.

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    Rod

    Crops? You’re all missing the elephant in the room, namely Lithium.
    Afghanistan has deposits worth around $1 trillion making them the #2 source on Earth or maybe even equal the #1 of Bolivia. And Beijing sock-puppet Biden just handed it all to China. So maybe the massive eff-up wasn’t one in reality…

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    David Maddison

    We can’t really complain about the Taliban too much. Australia is heading in the same direction, as is most of the West.

    This is an overseas report of what happened in Australia yesterday.

    As Australia descends even further into dictatorship, the police will progress from rubber bullets and tear gas to real bullets.

    https://www.opindia.com/2021/08/australia-police-tear-gas-rubber-bullets-thousands-protest-against-lockdown/

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    David Maddison

    When you see posts that inexplicably seem to support Dictator Daniel Andrews it is likely because he spends vast amounts of money paying people to write nice things about him (such as in the post above saying his personal police force didn’t fire rubber bullets).

    https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/daniel-andrews-spends-nearly-800000-on-facebook-pushing-cult-of-dan/video/08b54d4ed8b9b0827cd092bb4e77f307

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      Dennis

      Victoria taxpayer’s monies for a politically based public relations campaign preparing for the next state election.

      Reserve the usual union donations for the official campaigning period.

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      PeterS

      I think they were pepperball rounds not rubber bullets, using something like this: https://www.pepperball.com/products/vks/

      30

      • #
        David Maddison

        Ok, but they do have a number of projectile options.

        https://www.pepperball.com/product_cat/projectiles/

        Rubber was widely reported in the media.

        But whether it was rubber projectiles or some other type of projectile, they were still firing at people. It’s not what we are used to in Australia.

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        • #
          PeterS

          I tried to have a close at the video and the photos to see what they used. It’s impossible to tell for sure but it does appear to match closer a pepperball launcher than a firearm that fires rubber bullets. In any case, it’s not good. There is no excuse to use such weapons as there was no danger of a riot or damage to property. It’s another example of the states going overboard. The police are instructed by thugs in high office. If they did that sort of thing to a truckles blockade people would most likely be dead on both sides. Truckies don’t typically put up with that sort of thuggish behaviour from the police.

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          • #

            the pepperball rifle does shoot rubber bullets PeterS
            in fact the pepperball rifle even shoots projectiles that will break glass
            https://www.pepperball.com/product_cat/projectiles/

            a paintball gun shoots at a velocity of 180fps
            where these tactical less lethal pepperball rifles can shoot projectiles at 425fps,
            the pepperball shoots up to 20 shots per second up to 150ft accurately
            https://www.pepperball.com/products/vks/
            these are not toys that you would be pointing at peoples faces

            its quite funny reading the safety data sheets it explains how you should avoid breathing dust/fume/gas/mist/vapours/spray from the Live X tm pepperballs LOL
            as well as to wear a face shield and safety glasses, very amusing

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    Furiously Curious

    It’s hard to decide whether the Afghan situation is the fault of the left, or the far right. The only reason there has been a continuing war there since 2003, is it has been a wonderful money laundering facility, for the military-industrial complex. Few of those billions actually crossed the Potomac. Any that made it to Afghanistan were channelled into the pockets of the grateful local power elite. The 300 000 army was probably 50 000, who the commanders didn’t bother to pay. Billions went into Dubai banks from ghost soldiers, and rampant corruption. This could well be history’s greatest clusterf, presided over by rabid greed in both countries. This is capitalism at it’s most venal. Maybe the problem is not terrorists getting into the west; maybe the worse infection for us, will be the corrupt escaping?
    Afghanistan is the poster child of the US’s far right! Here is a country with no government, women are slaves, and everyone has a gun – utopia!

    And then we have the left’s welcoming arms, crying out for thousands to be allowed into our cesspits of racism, colonialism, greed, sexism and islamophobia. Why are they fleeing a regime and culture, that the left snuggles up to? (the enemy of my enemy is my friend)
    Why should young western men go and die, for people who are unwilling to help themselves?
    One of islam’s best hooks is :- you do what you are told, and we will give you control of the women. (also, you can keep some of the loot, and you can get your family to heaven!)
    Clusterf thy name is Afghanistan.

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    David Maddison

    One of the reasons China invaded Tibet was so they could control most of Asia’s water supply.

    I assume they will soon be building dams in or near Afghanistan to control its water supply and that of surrounding countries like Iran and Pakistan.

    There are already actual or emerging water disputes between Iran and Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    China is ideally placed to play one off against the others and gain control of all three.

    Also, the Chicomms are much smarter, better educated, more organised and more forward planning than the Afghans.

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    • #
      Chris

      And Pakistan and India. China has built a dam on the Indian side of the border for Pakistan. I suppose their aim is to gain Indian territory and control of the water supply. The belts and road show in Ethiopia is building a dam across the Nile for water conservation and electricity generation and stuff Egypt down stream. Countries along the Mekong are being starved of water by Chinese dams,Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are all under water pressure.

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    Neville

    The Chinese communist party is getting away with ZIP reduction in co2 emissions until 2060.
    Amazing that China and all the so called DEVELOPING countrie’s emissions have SOARED for at least 20+ years and will for decades to come.
    But Aussies’ emissions are just 1.1% of the TOTAL and YET WE’RE HOUNDED by the corrupt, clueless MSM + pollies all around the world. JUST UNBELIEVABLE but TRUE.
    And China is against any emissions changes to COP 21 via COP 26 in Glasgow in NOV.
    Of course Aussies are already NET ZERO and so is the ENTIRE SH. So why fall for their BS and FRA-D?

    https://www.thegwpf.com/cop26-china-warns-it-wont-accept-changes-to-the-paris-agreement/

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  • #
    Neville

    DON’T FORGET that even the KERRY DONKEY understands the FUTILITY of their so called NET ZERO.
    EVEN IF the USA and CHINA went to NET ZERO it WOULD NOT CHANGE ANYTHING.
    And the Royal Society + the US NAS report tell us it wouldn’t make any difference for climate or temp if EVERY COUNTRY changed to NET ZERO today. FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
    SEE the Zickfeld study and even maths guru Nic Lewis partly agrees with the Zickfeld study.
    And the very LW Conversation also agrees that it wouldn’t make any difference. WAKE UP and of course their definitely is NO CLIMATE CRISIS at all. DUH?

    https://www.climatedepot.com/2021/04/21/john-kerry-again-admits-u-s-china-cuts-do-nothing-to-solve-climate-crisis/

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    another ian

    H (“Henri” continued from last unthreaded)

    This one must be super serious!

    “Hurricane Henri Silences New York City’s Star Studded COVID Comeback Concert”

    https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/08/21/hurricane-henri-silences-new-york-citys-star-studded-covid-comeback-concert/

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    Travis T. Jones

    No Climate Catastrophe- Travis T. Jones & the Missing Heat

    https://travistjones.bandcamp.com/releases

    It’s a protest song.
    I suffered for my music, now it’s your turn.

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    Flok

    Money being changed for money for another side. All are laughing all the way to the bank. Not so the tax payers and those innocent lives lost.

    This is nothing more than a weak diversion by the left to a critical error made by the administration.

    Well trained operatives will gain access to American soil which is the continues plan of the IS to use the chaos as means to infiltrate.

    Give it few years IS will rise better organised in our own backyards. No war ever ended, it just keeps rolling and oppression of any kind is just the subtle hint that it still exists.

    Death by “the science” if you haven’y noticed yet.

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    Serge Wright

    There is something fundamentally wrong with the troops withdrawal strategy. Why on earth would you pull the troops before evacuating the civilians, unless you wanted to risk the lives of civilians and end up with a giant cluster F…?.

    And then we see the Democrat’s MSM propaganda-arm pile on Biden, instead of asking what ice cream he’s eating and Kamala Harris running away to Vietnam. The only sensible conclusion anyone can draw is that the Dems have decided to pull the trigger on old Hidin Biden and made him sign off on the flawed withdrawal strategy to then use the fallout as justification to replace him with Harris. As we have seen, the CNN lead MSM only write what they are told to write by their political masters and to see them pile on is a sure sign that his use-by-date has arrived. Setting him up for failure was all too easy but needed to justify moving him to the nearest nursing home to full time care and moving Harris to the ‘Woke House’.

    Watch this space, because I’m betting he’ll be gone by Xmas.

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      Serge Wright

      I forgot to add..
      The only thing missing from this saga was for Joe to offer free art works to the Taliban leaders, from his son’s reserve collection – in exchange for their cease fire and retreat back to their caves.

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      PeterS

      One theory is the US had arranged for the Taliban lords to have an orderly exit for the US and civilians. Then those lower down the chain either didn’t get the right instructions or were too zealous so they took over Kabul sooner that they were supposed to.

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        another ian

        The way this is collapsing – which bit of the US (dis)organisation, did they tell other parts and did those listen?

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      PeterS

      One thing is for sure. If this was under Trump’s watch he would have either made sure the withdrawal was done much better and even if the same thing happened he would have re-invaded Afghanistan to protect foreign personnel at all costs with all guns blazing. I wonder how many US and other country innocent men, women and children have already been raped and murdered thanks to Biden. I suppose we will never know.

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        Analitik

        Absolutely. Trump and Pompeo had a detail plan laid out to first withdraw US civilians and SIVs and then pull back troops and equipment in a controlled withdrawl while maintaining airstrike capability to ensure the Taliban kept back.

        https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pompeo-trump-admin-afghanistan-taliban-biden-1619968

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          PeterS

          I hear there are thousands of Americans still over there. Only time will tell what will happen to them. I also see that Trump had a plan but Biden terminated it. Biden has blood on his hands, and possibly PM Morrison does too for not following Trump’s plan alone instead of trusting Biden.

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        Serge Wright

        Yes agreed !!!
        Trump would have ordered a final strike to weaken the Taliban before the exit, to make sure the new forces had a head start and also to ensure a smooth exit for civilians, which would be removed before the troops.

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      Tel

      Malicious compliance.

      The plan for Afghanistan was that the war should go on forever, and to this end they want to ensure greatest pain for whoever wants it to stop.

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    another ian

    Pre- and Post-Covid I guess

    “When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
    And the women come out to cut up what remains,
    Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
       An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
        Go, go, go like a soldier,
        Go, go, go like a soldier,
        Go, go, go like a soldier,
             So-oldier ~of~ the Queen!”

    Last verse of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Young British Soldier”

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    PeterS

    Hasn’t anyone noticed how Trump was banned from Twitter for allegedly leading an insurrection yet the Taliban who successfully conducted an insurrection have their own Twitter accounts and are permitted to keep them. I suppose that’s just another example of where companies like Twitter hold their allegiance. I wish I could say we will one day have Nuremberg 2.0 and see leaders of companies like Twitter and all Western political leaders brought to trial (yes including our PM Morrison in spite of his likely excuse “I’m just following orders”) for crimes against humanity for perpetrating two of the biggest scams ever started and currently in play but somehow I doubt that will happen given the power these people have.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Yes, unbelievable that President Trump had his Twitter account cancelled but some of the world’s worst terrorists and most evil people are allowed to keep theirs.

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    PeterS

    Anyone know if this is for real? If it is then we better take his advice.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Dv5TCXf_g
    Date of event

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      David Maddison

      I don’t know if it’s for real but I have seen much “chatter” to that effect on social media.

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    Furiously Curious

    Charging in to Afghanistan sounds great, rescue westerners. Yeah!
    What happens when the Taliban start taking hostages??
    Some media person reckoned 95% of American people will be happy getting out. And 95% of the media hate it. He’s taken on the establishment, and is copping it, like Trump did. The establishment is happy sending poor people to wars.
    Good luck with doing ‘getting out’ better. This conflict has been a shambles forever, with those running it, just bare-faced lying to the public.
    There’s a new book – The Afghanistan Papers – that proves the commanders knew what the situation was, and they just lied to keep it going. That’s what the outcry is about now. They wanted another 20 years. How many young Americans do you think should die, fighting for people whose main interest is ripping them off?

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      PeterS

      How many should die? Not enough according to the way Biden is handling the crisis. He must be so mentally sick he wants thousands of them to die now. If anyone is to be impeached, it has to be him.

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    UK-Weather Lass

    Judge Jeanine Pirro not mincing her words in eight minutes of powerful truth telling which can be extrapolated to cover just about anything that has gotten worse rather than better in this century.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQCOMrgD2lg

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    Tel

    It’s articles like this where Climate Change is blamed for anything from hangnail to global terrorism that have completely undermined my faith in journalism and most of the people calling themselves “science”. There’s astoundingly little pushback and if you mention to people how ridiculous it all is, they act like you farted in the elevator but then won’t even try to discuss the problem. Telling big lies has become a kind of social and religious activity, a bit like singing hymns or ritual cleansing.

    This disaster appears to be exactly what the US Swamp wants — they could stop it, yet they don’t.

    Probably a mix of factors … Biden isn’t the most competent leader right now, and it would not surprise me in the least if the military brass deliberately made the messiest withdrawal they could think of in order to make civilian leadership look bad.

    There’s a Scott Horton interview here Matthew Hoh explains that a heck of a lot of the military command knew perfectly well that Afghanistan was a failed strategy but shrugged and went along with it anyhow. In private they didn’t even bother contradicting him, but in public they kept right on waving the flag and sending in their reports where everything was going great. Classic political corruption … only the “Yes Men” get promoted.

    https://scotthorton.org/interviews/8-17-21-matthew-hoh-on-the-systemic-failures-behind-americas-loss-in-afghanistan/

    I think that big organizations attract that kind of jobsworth style of evil banality where disasters just happen and it’s no one’s fault. The military is one such example, but our medical system is not a whole lot better.

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    Dave in the States

    So who fills the vacuum? Is that not the real reason? Its not incompetency, it’s “what the swamp wants.”

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    blip

    You’d have to be living under a rock to think that US occupation in Afghanistan would change a thing with their culture. It was in response to 9/11. That’s all. It was not a war for ownership, far from it, the US doesn’t do that. Any country we would take over would be 75% welfare state recipients. No thank you.

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    blip

    What are they feeding the poppies with? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
    Those evil white men … Irony, as it is a key ingredient in explosives, WWI might not of taken place without this discovery which was plant food for the masses.

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    Travis T. Jones

    At first they came for the dogs …

    Rescue dogs shot dead by NSW council due to COVID-19 restrictions

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rescue-dogs-shot-dead-by-nsw-council-due-to-covid-19-restrictions-20210821-p58ksh.html

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    Travis T. Jones

    Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honored distinction with indicated efficacy against a new global scourge, COVID-19

    “Since March 2020, when IVM was first used against a new global scourge, COVID-19, more than 20 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have tracked such inpatient and outpatient treatments.

    Six of seven meta-analyses of IVM treatment RCTs reporting in 2021 found notable reductions in COVID-19 fatalities, with a mean 31% relative risk of mortality vs. controls.

    The RCT using the highest IVM dose achieved a 92% reduction in mortality vs. controls (400 total subjects, p<0.001).

    During mass IVM treatments in Peru, excess deaths fell by a mean of 74% over 30 days in its ten states with the most extensive treatments.

    Reductions in deaths correlated with extent of IVM distributions in all 25 states with p<0.002.

    Sharp reductions in morbidity using IVM were also observed in two animal models, of SARS-CoV-2 and a related betacoronavirus.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2052297521000883

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    blip

    A twofer, stops covid, worms, and microscopic mites that lay eggs under your skin.

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    blip

    Ever had acne @40? Huh?

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    blip

    Must be an allergy to dairy products …

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    blip

    What were the circumstances pre-1944 Rachael Carson?

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    blip

    Or how about Russia or Napoleon’s time pre 1900?

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    blip

    Get me off here Jo

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    • #

      there is no one better at telling the truth through comedy than JP Sears 😉

      l especially like the speaking “Bidenese” language comment LOL

      thanks for posting

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    blip

    Off of here Jo

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    David Maddison

    Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen talks about Afghanistan, China and lithium. (10.5 mins)

    https://youtu.be/5FlTfuMapFE

    It’s all coming together for the Left.

    The Chicomms provide the means of the West complying with the Western Civilisation destroying anthropogenic global warming fraud such as solar panels and windmills.

    In Afghanistan the Chicomms will soon get control of two important elements to do it such as lithium for batteries and cobalt as used in many permanent magnets for windmills and also used in batteries.

    Plus the leader of the West, the United States is further degraded and humiliated to the benefit of aspiring super power China.

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    blip

    Are Lebron, Oprah, and Michael
    Jordan emigrating to China soon?
    Remember that billionaires in China don’t last too long. Crying victimhood there has a different cadence.

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    Furiously Curious

    Biden has taken the Military Industrial Complex’s toys, and thrown them out of the sandbox, causing the Establishment to go into a grand mal seizure. If Trump was a real man he would be supporting Biden, having experienced years of that backlash. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t a lot in the actual military, happy to have that gangrenous limb amputated?

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      Travis T. Jones

      “Biden has taken the Military Industrial Complex’s toys, and thrown them out of the sandbox …”

      Fact: Biden incompetently abandoned all those “toys” for the taliban to control.

      “If Trump was a real man he would be supporting Biden, having experienced years of that backlash.”

      Just like Biden supported President Trump?

      Uhm … President Donald Trump | “Everything Woke Turns to SH!T” | Live Cullman, AL | August 21, 2021

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJyBs9XbYDc&t=78s

      Trump is correct. See Afghanistan.

      “I wouldn’t be surprised if …”

      Surprise, surprise.

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        David Maddison

        Travis, I’m not sure Biden, or more correctly his handlers since he is incapable of independent thought or action, did it due to incompetence.

        It was done as part of the organiaed strategy Obama accelerated to bring America down and greatly reduce and ultimately eluminate the power, prestige, wealth, technological superiority and the mostly good social harmony America once had.

        It was malice rather than incompetence but disguised as incompetence.

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    blip

    Billionaires whining …

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    blip

    Take your bride to Yankee stadium

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    blip

    Hammond Organ 7th inning stretch

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    Neville

    Ken Stewart has been checking historical temp data for decades and his latest data are from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores.
    Many graphs from his last 3 essays and he also finds no climate crisis today, but he still wonders about the next full glaciation.
    Certainly billions of people will die if the temp dropped to levels experienced between the end of Eemian inter-glacial and the start of our current Holocene.
    Anyone NOT understand how billions could NOT survive for 90,000 years with very low temps and ongoing crop failures?
    And Ken reminds us that co2 always FOLLOWS temp in the ice core records. And sometimes the LAG can be thousands of years.

    https://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/2021/08/17/climate-change-in-context/#comments

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    Furiously Curious

    These are the toys I’m talking about, get over some rusting hardware. Afghanistan was shite long before it was woke.

    “How the CIA ran the Afghan drug trade.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vOtB46ncyU&t=190s

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    David Maddison

    The Taliban are hostile to vaccinations so it may make Afghanistan a useful test case of the efficacy of covid vaccines vs no vaccines if decent statistics can be obtained.

    https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210820/Experts-fear-rapid-spread-of-COVID-19-in-Afghanistan-given-Talibans-hostility-to-vaccinations.aspx

    Given the Taliban’s hostility to vaccinations, WHO and medical experts fear a rapid and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan will await the formation of a new government led by the ‘Islamic Scholars’.

    The WHO recorded 152,411 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 7,047 deaths in Afghanistan between 3 January and 19 August. On 15 August, the Taliban took over the Afghan capital of Kabul, signifying the collapse of the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

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    • #
      Analitik

      Iran is doing that already. Hospitalisations and deaths appear to have increased as a result but they also are not using FLCCC Allliance style preventatives and treatments with ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine etc.

      The Delta strain will cause more hospitalisations and deaths in Australia if we continue to ignore the preventatives and treatments that have been clinically proven, although not proven by the RCT standards due to lack of interest/funding by drug companies and western governments.

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    Neville

    Willis once again shows the BS and FRA-D behind their so called Green Steel lunacy.
    More wasted trillions of $ for a SFA return on their so called GREEN INVESTMENT.
    And of course ZIP change on temp or climate. Will these idiots, politicians, MSM and so called scientists ever WAKE UP?

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/08/22/the-real-cost-of-green-steel/

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    Travis T. Jones

    This is probably what they said to the people being loaded into those train cars …

    “Your children will be perfectly well looked after” …

    24,000 children will be vaccinated in a stadium in Australia next week. No parents will be allowed access – Brad Hazzard

    “When they arrive they will be literally “ushered.”

    We’ll have nurses, we’ll have some of the Youth Command, we’ll have the youngest police officers …”

    https://twitter.com/YouKnowMares/status/1427667193915969543

    >> The Youth Command? Do they wear brown shirts?

    https://vymaps.com/AU/Youth-Command-Pcyc-Nsw-Police-Force-636034963110367/

    Italian student, 22, who tattooed Covid certificate barcode on ARM becomes TikTok star after scanning into McDonald’s.

    https://www.the-sun.com/news/3515655/tattooed-covid-certificate-barcode-arm-tiktok-star-mcdonalds/

    >> It’s been done before in Europe kid, trust me.

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    David Maddison

    Polio will make a resurgence under the Taliban. I expect that will soon spread world wide.

    https://theprint.in/health/why-taliban-takeover-of-afghanistan-is-bad-news-for-global-battle-against-covid-polio/717250/

    Why Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is bad news for global battle against Covid, polio
    Afghanistan is one of just two countries in the world where polio remains endemic. Also, only 0.6% of adults are fully vaccinated against Covid, as compared to global average of 23.6%.

    ABANTIKA GHOSH

    18 August, 2021

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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    sophocles

    Monday 23 Aug. 2021

    Day 5 of our sliding 7 day lockdown. (More info this arvo, I think.)

    Now 107 cases of Delta. Definitely in Wellington.

    Haven’t had any update on the state of play yet, but my guess is it will go on ad infinitum … maybe until Covid dies out for lack of victims.
    (/sarc)

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    another ian

    “Australian Police Beating More People in the Streets Than the Taliban
    August 22, 2021 | Sundance | 8 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/22/australian-police-beating-more-people-in-the-streets-than-the-taliban/

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      PeterS

      Not to worry. NSW Police have told service stations they will be fined and shutdown if they serve truck drivers.
      It’s as obvious is can be. Our state governments have gone one step closer to shutting down the whole economy. So who are the real terrorists? Even the Taliban wouldn’t be going as far as what our state governments are doing. Where is PM Morrison in all this? Supporting all this of course. They are all evil.

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    • #
      PeterS

      It’s a test of resolve on both sides. The more angry the people get the more viscous the retaliation from our governments. There is no turning back. The question is whether it’s like a dam ready to burst or will it hold and things remain under some semblance of control using spillways. If the former then civil war is on the cards.

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      • #
        PeterS

        Oh, and if the latter then expect a slow grind towards a Naz1 Germany style rule where resistance fighters will form.

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        PeterS

        I wonder which side the Taliban would take in either case if given the opportunity.

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        another ian

        A test for you –

        Which side do you reckon is more familiar with Eureka Stockade?

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          Serp

          Speaking of sides, respectfully, what polygon do you have in mind?

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          PeterS

          The truckies obviously and people like Aussie Cossack. In a strange sort of way Putin would be a far better ally right now than Biden.

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            PeterS

            The reason I say that is at least Putin is a converted Russian Orthodox Christian and I know their beliefs very well as they are very similar to the Greek Orthodox, which I am part of. I don’t agree with everything the churches stand for as no church is perfect but they are certainly by far closer to the Apostolic and Early Church Fathers and disciples of Jesus than most Western churches.

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          Kalm Keith

          I really think that they would all be in it together and we, the voters/workers, would be on the outside again.

          When you look at the collapse/invasion of Europe over the last 30 years it all makes sense.
          Now both Britain and the United States are stuffed and Australia is on the precipice.

          Not looking good folks.

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      David Maddison

      In Vicdanistan the police just announced they had yet to deploy other more terrible, but supposedly non-lethal weapons they have on their arsenal.

      I was surprised they used the term non-lethal because I didn’t think any professional used that any more.

      “Less lethal” is the preferred term as these weapons can still kill and likely will kill if misused as they will be by VicPol who are now no more “the people’s police” but Dan Andrews’ private army.

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        Serp

        There is an abundance of psychopathic malevolence behind this procurement program our beloved vicpol is pulling the curtain back on. Is the police minister still on sick leave at holiday resorts for a disease she has been managing for over a decade?

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        PeterS

        It goes to show they are megalomaniacs. It will only make matters worse and the whole show crumbles as the nation crashes and burns. I sometimes wonder if the vaccines have something to do with it to drug them into some sort of insanity.

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        Yonniestone

        See my link above David, the state governments and police are corporations do an ABN lookup and ask them for your contract of compliance, you’ll get a blank stare.

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    • #

      Australian refugees are going to Afghanistan LOL

      Australia is a joke to the world

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    blip

    please excuse me for playing songs once in awhile, just the way i am, can’t stop it but mean no harm.

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    David Maddison

    In history, a number of rulers have been mad, or in psychological terms they have suffered psychosis with delusions or hallucinations. But how many have suffered dementia at or before the time of their installation as Biden does?

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    • #
      TdeF

      He had a clear understanding that he was not to speak to the public or make decisions and he could spend most of his time at home, in his basement or on holidays. His minders will not be happy that he has combined these ideas. He is clearly out of control, but that happens with senile dementia. And he could have his dog, which has also become a problem.

      And Kamala Harris is in Singapore. Then off to praise the rulers of Communist Vietnam. It is unfortunate she is not in Washington either. People keep calling and the White House is on holidays. Permanently.

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      PeterS

      What’s interesting is it’s widespread to varying degrees. For example, all our state premiers and certain officials are already showing clear signs of megalomaniacal tyrannical attributes. No need to mention who are the worst as we all know. Let’s see how far they go before someone snaps. To be honest the best thing that can happen now, and I know it won’t happen, is for PM Morrison to step in and take control over the states in the name of national security. He won’t because he’s part of the evil scam.

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        Serp

        And there was I thinking that the PM was coordinating the show through the national cabinet weekly round table; seriously PeterS he’s more likely he’s giving hoppy badges to the most repressive each week than pulling them up for their excesses.

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          PeterS

          That may be so but the real culprits are still the state leaders and their cohorts. PM Morrison as far as I’m concerned is just a m0r0n, perhaps as you say worse.

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    Neville

    ENSO looks to be negative until Jan 2022 and probably a moderate la nina. Should mean more rain for Eastern OZ.

    And IOD looks to be negative until mid Nov this year. This should mean more rainfall south of the line drawn from Broome to Wollongong.

    http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/#tabs=Pacific-Ocean

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      another ian

      In case of any confusion

      “Blip” is the name of our pup. She is definitely not a keyboard warrior.

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    Neville

    More idiocy about how to lower the temp and fix the climate. GM has had to recall their Chevy Bolt disaster and fix the batteries at a cost of 1.8 billion $. And ditto for the Tesla TOXIC disasters as well.

    These Lithium Ion batteries burst into flames in garages while charging in family homes or on the freeway and require 100,000s of litres to douse the entire TOXIC mess, EVENTUALLY.
    And little kids live brutal short lives in the Congo Cesspits making a few $ a day so that wealthy loonies around the world can drive their TOXIC EVs.

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/08/21/gm-recall-of-chevy-bolts-will-cost-1-8bn/#comments

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    another ian

    Maybe this will help the CAGW lot find their missing heat?

    https://www.ise.ufl.edu/capehart/darksuck.html

    (Via a comment at SDA)

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    CHRIS

    If it wasn’t so serious, it would be hilarious. I recently read an article which stated that, in Victoria, you can drop your mask if you are drinking coffee, but not if you are imbibing alcohol. The sooner society places less importance on non-expert public servants (who don’t have to worry about where their next paycheck comes from), the better for everyone. Would the snout-dippers who earn more than $150K p.a. be willing to take a 20% pay cut? LOL

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    another ian

    “With Pfizer Likely to Get FDA Approval Monday It’s Worth Remembering Pfizer and Moderna Lost The Clinical Trial Control Group Testing Vaccine Efficacy and Safety
    August 23, 2021 | Sundance | 67 Comments”

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/23/with-pfizer-likely-to-get-fda-approval-monday-its-worth-remembering-pfizer-and-moderna-lost-the-clinical-trial-control-group-testing-vaccine-efficacy-and-safety/

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      another ian

      That would be “Dog ate our homework” on “vaccine”!

      And yet they are demanding “gold plated control data trials” for HCQ and IVM etc!

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    Philip

    People seem upset because the taliban are nasty. I dont care about that at all. I dont care about the Afghan people one bit. We should pull out, its just how hopelessly it was done and the loss of all that equipment. Got nothing on the Anzacs.

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    Neville

    Interesting death stats for Australia from the ABS for year 2020. This could change but some interesting data to try and understand. This is from 1st JAN 2020 to 29th DEC.

    Here’s some of their summary and 2020 0.2% below the baseline average and winter deaths lower than normal and summer deaths higher than normal. Deaths from normal flu + pneumonia were down by 36% and some heart disease deaths down by 10.7% and 7.8%.

    Cancer, diabetes and dementia deaths were higher than normal.

    https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/jan-dec-2020#australian-deaths-by-week-1-january-to-29-december-2020
    2020 in review

    Numbers of deaths throughout 2020 by month are shown in the table below. This table provides counts of deaths for all of 2020 (rather than only to 29 December), for deaths that were registered by 28 February 2021. Some deaths that occurred in 2020 may not have been registered and reported as yet.

    Key points relating to 2020 deaths include:

    141,116 doctor certified deaths occurred between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 and were registered by 28 February 2021. This equates to an average of 385.6 deaths per day, in line with the baseline average of 385.8.
    The seasonality of deaths in 2020 was less pronounced, with numbers of deaths being higher than historical averages in summer and lower in winter. There were also substantial differences in numbers of deaths for some causes when compared to historical averages.
    Deaths due to respiratory disease were 16.2% lower than historical averages. Decreases were recorded in both chronic and acute respiratory diseases.
    Influenza and pneumonia deaths were 36.0% lower than the historical average with this result heavily influenced by a particularly mild flu season.
    Deaths due to ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases were below average for every month of 2020, and were 10.7% and 7.8% below average for the year respectively.
    Deaths due to cancer, dementia and diabetes were above historical averages by 4.0%, 7.3% and 9.1% respectively. Numbers of dementia deaths did not reach the usual peak during the winter months but higher counts of deaths between January and April contributed to the increase overall for 2020. Diabetes deaths were above average for most of the year and particularly high in April with 33.7% more deaths than average.

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    tom0mason

    CBS News: It is not the Taliban’s fault – It’s Biden’s Change of Political Climate!

    There CBS I fixed it for you!

    20