Wednesday Open Thread

8.2 out of 10 based on 6 ratings

167 comments to Wednesday Open Thread

  • #

    Thank goodness for Wednesday. Now, where is that G I Bloke? He never seems to know what day it is…………..

    60

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Don Lemon Suggested Royal Family Should Pay Reparations. What Happened Next Is the Stuff of Legends.

    Recently demoted CNN host Don Lemon was caught like a deer in the headlights Monday night when he asked British royal commentator Hillary Fordwich whether the British royal family should pay reparations, claiming that some in the United Kingdom ā€œwant to be paid back.ā€

    ā€œEngland is facing rising costs of living, a living crisis, austerity budget cuts, and so on. And then you have those who are asking for reparations for colonialism, and theyā€™re wondering, you know, $100 billion, $24 billion here and there, $500 million there,ā€ Lemon explained. ā€œSome people want to be paid back, and members of the public are wondering, ā€˜Why are we suffering when you are, you know, you have all of this vast wealth?ā€™ Those are legitimate concerns.ā€

    Her response was epic. After initially giving the impression that she agreed with Lemon, she schooled him royally.

    ā€œWell, I think youā€™re right about reparations in terms of if people want it, though, what they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain,ā€ Fordwich replied. ā€œWhere was the beginning of the supply chain? That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British. In Great Britain, they abolished slavery.ā€

    She continued, ā€œTwo thousand naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them on cages waiting in the beaches. No one was running into Africa to get them. And I think youā€™re totally right.ā€

    The look on Lemonā€™s face was priceless. Fordwich succeeded in agreeing with him, although for different reasons than he was obviously suggesting. And she wasnā€™t done with the lesson.

    ā€œIf reparations need to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ā€˜Who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages?ā€™ Absolutely. Thatā€™s where they should start. And maybe, I donā€™t know, the descendants of those families where they died at the, in the high seas trying to stop the slavery, that those families should receive something too, I think, at the same time.ā€

    After she was done, Lemon sat there, stunned for several seconds, before responding, ā€œItā€™s an interesting discussion, Hillary, Thank you very much, I appreciate it.ā€

    430

    • #
      Earl

      Yes and they should include US based black slave owners who thrived in the business too and get some compensation out of their estates. One Nat Butler was a particularly mean one who would convince slaves on another plantation to escape with the promise of hiding them out on his property. If the reward for the run away offered by the slave owner was high enough Nat would ship them back but if it was too low he would just transport them down south and sell them off.

      150

      • #
        Will

        Not to mention those freed slaves who desired to “go home” and find their “Roots” to Liberia and IIRC Sierra Leone and promptly set themselves up as slavers of their own people (not quite as most American black slaves came from areas further south (*Nigeria and Ghana etc.).
        Without even thinking of the pointless handouts that only fill the coffers of the African elite, the so-called “cradle of mankind” has had far longer than anywhere else to “get their act together” and still fail. Watch them all hit the fan when the West collapses from Green Disease. But it still will be written as the fault of whitey as most historians are blatantly Leftist.

        60

      • #
        Curious George

        Didn’t the slave owners organize in a “Democratic” party”?

        70

    • #

      I saw that on a Twitter post and he looked like a poor old Rabbit in the headlights. He never said a word until that English Lady stopped smashing him……….So funny or what !!!!!!

      100

  • #
    OldOzzie

    UP NEXT: GREEN STARVATION

    As has often been noted, environmentalism is, for many, a religion. It now appears that it is a religion that demands human sacrifice.

    Agricultural productivity depends on fertilizers. The world cannot be fed without them. Yet, when it comes to a tradeoff between carbon dioxide and mass starvation, the ā€œgreenā€ left is OK with starvation. Reuters reports:

    At a summit of EU leaders later this week, the EU was planning a new initiative that would structurally decrease poorer nationsā€™ reliance on Russian fertilisers by helping them develop their own fertiliser plants.

    But at a meeting with EU envoys last week, the EU Commission explicitly opposed the text, warning that supporting fertiliser production in developing nations would be inconsistent with the EU energy and environment policies, officials said.

    The production of chemical fertilisers has a big impact on the environment and requires large amounts of energy. However they are crucially effective in boosting agriculture output.

    Yes. See: Sri Lanka. Green zealots threaten the lives of millions.

    161

    • #
      OldOzzie

      THE EUROPEAN DISASTER YET TO COME

      Germany has long led the ā€œgreenā€ parade, touting its alleged transition to wind and solar energy and encouraging other nations to follow in its footsteps. The ā€œgreenā€ pretense has always been exaggerated if not downright fraudulent, as Germany has never managed to meet more than a small percentage of its energy needs with wind and solar.

      But now, the chickens are coming home to roost, as German manufacturers are seeing their costs explode:

      German producer prices rose in August at their strongest rate since records began both in annual and monthly terms, driven mainly by soaring energy prices, raising the chances that headline inflation will surge even higher.

      Producer prices of industrial products increased by 45.8% on the same month last year, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday.

      45.8%! It is hard to see how German manufacturers can remain competitive in world markets.

      The cause of the problem is not a mystery:

      Energy prices in August on average were over double the same period last year, up 139%, and 20.4% higher than the previous month, the office reported.

      Producer prices for electricity rose 174.9% compared with August 2021 and by 26.4% compared with the previous month.

      Despite the investment of billions of dollars and years devoted to an alleged transition, wind and solar energy are utterly unable to power a modern economy, as the Europeans are learning the hard way. Letā€™s hope we can learn from their example.

      170

      • #
        RickWill

        The ancient mariner waiting for the wind to blow to give some relief:

        Day after day, day after day,
        We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
        As idle as a painted ship
        Upon a painted ocean.

        Needs a revision for modern Germany. The resident poet has not been around for some time.

        110

        • #
          Ted1.

          150 metres from the bedroom of my youth stands a magnificent 21 foot Southern Cross windmill on a 45 foot tower, mounted over a 210 ft x 6 inch bore. When the wind blew it delivered 600 gallons per hour into a high tank, ample for that part of the farm.

          In a January heat wave in from memory 1957 that mill didn’t turn for a fortnight. We had to fit a pumpjack and petrol powered motor to get water for the livestock.

          For many years now that bore has been connected to the mains power. The windmill is still there, not connected.

          180

      • #

        The EU disaster is already here now.

        80

    • #
      Terry

      Steadfastly opposing Colonialism and Slavery by keeping their jackboots firmly upon the necks of the poor. How very noble and just.

      In fact, they love the poor so much they intend for there to be many, many more of them; at least until starvation and malnutrition intervene to solve the poverty problem.

      130

    • #
      Sambar

      Where are all the critical thinkers in those alledged bastions of knowledge the EU and the UN and just plain bloody stupid observers that can simply stand back and note.
      Every developed nation on the planet is in population decline.
      Increased wealth, food security and energy are a primary cause of population reducton simply because people can AFFORD not to have large families. Yes there are other material things that gives people alternative choices to having a quick s–g and sleep to day break, so what. If the aim of the globalists IS population reduction, raise people from poverty. Rapidly reducing birth rates were a feature of every country as hunger was reduced, energy security was assured and television was introduced to the masses
      Population decline is obvious,measureable and ongoing from the first generation of life improvements.

      80

      • #
        Ted1.

        Yes, but! Well fed scholars have their prejudices.

        There’s a new factor at play here. Same sex marriage.

        I predict that the initial uptake for this activity will be higher than expected. With populations already in decline it will not take very long for the accelerated decline to become an obvious problem.

        I won’t be here to see it, but I predict that SSM won’t last more than 20 years. In the meantime a lot of damage will be done.

        60

      • #

        QE2 is no more and God has left the World to it’s vices. Here endeth the Lesson………………..Good Luck the World.

        40

    • #

      There is nothing wrong with organic farming. The thing is though it takes years and years to build up to it. You cannot just flick a switch and go organic. It just doesn’t work like that. Anyone told the UN yet?

      71

      • #
        PeterW

        Johnny…
        Even allowing for the years to build to peak production using organic systems, they still lag roughly 30% behind best practice farming In production per acre.

        That’s the reason you don’t see more of it. If you saw the size of my fertiliser and chemical bill, you’d know how deeply I wish that it was equally effective, but it isn’t. Organic practitioners typically compensate for lower production by selling branded product at higher prices into niche markets

        50

    • #
      yarpos

      “But at a meeting with EU envoys last week, the EU Commission explicitly opposed the text, warning that supporting fertiliser production in developing nations would be inconsistent with the EU energy and environment policies, officials said.”

      In the next breath they would say they are opposed to colonialism and white supremacy. I’ve seen some pretty stupid things done because of “policy” but never creating starvation.

      10

  • #
    John Hultquist

    Don Lemon never progressed passed checkers.
    Hillary Fordwich was playing chess.

    140

  • #
    OldOzzie

    THE DAILY CHART: OPEN BORDERS

    Letā€™s look at whatā€™s on everyoneā€™s mind at the moment, especially on the mean streets of Marthaā€™s Vineyard. Vice President Harris says ā€œthe border is secure.ā€ Maybe her best nonsense word salad ever. Hereā€™s what ā€œsecureā€ looks like:

    Like Bonus for Our First Day

    50

  • #
    • #
      Terry

      Uber to ban petrol and diesel cars

      Must keep the competition high to ensure unilateral notice of company closure does not become an industry-wide thing.
      Cya Uber. You were a thing for a while.
      Just another self-inflicted woke death.

      90

    • #
      Leo G

      The CEO of Uber says drivers in the US, Canada and Europe who donā€™t switch to electric cars by 2030 will not be able to contract to the ride-sharing giant.

      I expect by 2030 that Uber will be Unter.

      90

    • #
      tom

      Turning to the Amish?

      20

  • #
    John Connor II

    Biden Declares ā€˜National Emergencyā€™ After Creation of New DOJ Task Force to Combat Domestic Terrorism

    The Biden administration has quietly perpetuated the state of ā€˜national emergencyā€™ that was initiated after the 9/11 attacks, which were carried out by Islamic terrorists twenty-one years ago this month. On Tuesday, the White House declared the alleged ongoing state of national emergency by referring to the 2001 terror attacks:

    The actions of persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, as amended, and the measures adopted to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 23, 2022. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism declared in Executive Order 13224, as amended.

    That means is kicks off on the……..24th!
    Could that be it?
    Nope!šŸ˜†

    30

  • #
    RickWill

    A lot being planned for Aldoga.

    If you have never been there then you have not missed much. It is scrubland northwest of Gladstone that I know for its bauxite processing residue dam.

    The Queensland Government has opened this area for their green energy aspirations. At this point in time there are big plans in the making.

    Stanwell

    https://www.stanwell.com/energy-assets/new-energy-initiatives/stanwell-hydrogen-project/stanwell-hydrogen-project/

    When built, the proposed renewable hydrogen project will be the largest in Queensland, scaling up to over 3,000 MW by the early 2030s.
    At its peak, the proposed project will provide more than 8,900 new jobs. The project will also deliver $17.2 billion in hydrogen exports and $12.4 billion to Queenslandā€™s Gross State Product over its 30-year life. It will also benefit construction, utilities, heavy manufacturing, and a range of local service industries.

    FFI/GEM – Green shovels and Twiggy.
    https://ffi.com.au/news/construction-commences-on-world-leading-electrolyser-facility-in-gladstone-queensland/

    Stage one is the A$114 million (US$83 million) electrolyser facility, which will be expanded as current demand indications crystalise. The GEM has several growth stages already planned into its factory footprint which includes green manufacturing technology such as cables, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
    The GEM will adopt world leading technology and manufacturing practices and will help transform Queensland into a green energy superpower.

    If they get enough subsidies and the world continues along its insane path then Aldoga will be a major energy centre.

    Just to put some perspective on the scale. 1GW of continues generation will produce around 350tpd of hydrogen or 2200tpd of ammonia. Ammonia currently sells for USD950/t. So potential revenue for each 1GW of continuous capacity could earn around USD2M per day or say USD700M per year.

    Lets say USD5bn for solar panels for each GW of steady output. Then same spend on batteries USD5bn. Then the process plant say USD2bn. So say USD11bn to get USD0.7bn per year. Excluding any labor costs, maintenance costs, cost of capital and shipment costs around 17 years to recover capital.

    There is potential to improve energy efficient in the process but I have doubts about any of this reaching planned scale by 2030.

    Please frac on.

    90

    • #

      Mind you, I do like this…………….With Hydrogen.

      A JCB Power Systems –

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfS012FC8yM

      00

      • #
        RickWill

        The Stanwell operation is planning to ship hydrogen. Current price is USD400/t so hard to see them making money at the price.

        The best current projections are in USD2,000/t for green hydrogen. But this will likely prove unrealistic.

        All the capital costs are based on China continuing to get low cost coal to build all the stuff needed. Most of the stuff cannot recover the energy into it over a practical operating life. So it is an illusion like the German energiewande that has total reliance on low cost Russian gas to keep the lights on.

        50

        • #
          PeterW

          If I recall my chemistry, Hydrogen is less than 20% of NH3 by weight.

          So if a tonne of ammonia is selling for $950, then the H2 derived from it will cost $4750/tonne.

          30

      • #

        Yes but it works…………………..

        10

      • #
        Chad

        It works, ā€¦
        ā€¦but how well ?
        Try this to get a better understanding..
        https://youtu.be/gu1v7d7-Wh0

        10

    • #
      GlenFromAus

      This is a losing proposition because the Giant Batteries will need replacing in 10-15 years and the solar panels in 20 years.

      However, once you factor in all the government $ub$idie$ (subsidies) supplied by the tax-payer, its a win-$$$-win for the billionaires, but a lose-lose-lose for the ordinary Australian.

      60

      • #
        RickWill

        The subsidies comes first and foremost. The proponents estimate cost and subsidy then build it to get the real cost before settling on the required subsidy to cover the losses as well as provide a fair profit margin. That is how woke works. The government just enforces rules needed to make it profitable w=either through subsidies from general revenue or mandated theft.

        40

      • #
        Ted1.

        Why do you need batteries?

        Hydrogen serves the same function as batteries. i.e. storage.

        If hydrogen isn’t cheaper than batteries that rules it out.

        20

        • #
          RickWill

          If the hydrogen was used to store the energy for continuous operation, it would highlight how ridiculous the concept is.

          Lets say they go with solar that achieves an outstanding 20% capacity factor. So 1GW rated hydrogen plant will produce about 0.66GW out in hydrogen energy. It will need 5GW of solar panels and say a 50GWh battery that gives two days of no sun operation. That will give high reliability.

          Without the battery, the plant now needs to be scaled up 5-fold to accept 5GW peak input. The electrolyses are able to ramp up and down without much issue apparently. So say sun shines at 5GW for 5 hours. That gives 25*.66GWh of energ out; essentially the same as the 1GW plant running continuously.

          The battery saves the scale up in plant size and I am making an assumption that the battery is a lowest cost option than a 5-fold increase in electrolyses based on some plant costs I have seen. There is no least cost optimum using the hydrogen as an energy store because the conversion efficiency back to electrify will be less than 80% even using very expensive fuel cells. Maybe 60% if using high temperature combustion.

          So the costing gets down to scaling up the hydrogen production and reducing the utilisation or using an efficient battery storage and operate the plant continuously.

          30

    • #

      Then they will need to blame the facility for destroying the Great Barrier Reef…………………..

      10

  • #
    John Connor II


    Australian Undertakers Rushed Off Their Feet With Abnormally High Numbers Of Deaths


    Undertakers in Australia are being kept extremely busy this year as people are dying in abnormally high numbersā€¦. and not from covid.

    Australian doctors are of couse baffled, saying they not sure why there are so many ā€˜excess deathsā€™ but say they are concerned because it mirrors whatā€™s also happening in the UK and Europe.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11133519/Undertakers-kept-busy-abnormally-high-numbers-Aussies-dying-not-just-Covid.html

    Lessee now…doctors baffled (again/still). Check.
    Not worried as it’s happening worldwide. Check.

    I wonder if they can get their money back on their medical degrees?
    Maybe they should all start following the Hippocratic oath rather than the hypocritical one…

    140

  • #
    RickWill

    Not sure if the numbers have been stated before for the electrification of FMG but paper today states AUD9.2bn. That to deliver fuel savings of AUD880bn per year.

    I consider these reasonable numbers because I have known for some years that solar was an economic diesel fuel replacement. Electrifying the Pulbara rail network is decades late. Queensland coal trains went electric in the 1980s.

    There are already plenty of mines using trolley trucks. Large convectional mining trucks usually use electric drive trains. So adding an overhead line and small battery would not alter payload because there is no fuel to carry around or diesel generator.

    The F1 team Williams is partnering on the truck development.

    43

    • #
      Ted1.

      In the 1980s Queensland had Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Les Thiess and no debt.

      The Pilbara lines might be all downhill when loaded. So a loaded train going to the coast would generate enough power to drive an empty train back up to the mines and more besides.

      Years ago there was talk of electrifying the line to Muswellbrook. It was said that if they did, the Ulan mine would electrify the line from Ulan to Muswellbrook for that reason. It wasn’t done.

      I read lately that Sydney’s electric trains don’t put much power back into the line. True or false I know not.

      10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Will the EV boom go BOOM!?
    Mercedes latest foray into commercial EVs

    https://youtu.be/jIVb3bxltDc

    I watched that last night.
    I can’t wait for about 1 month after 3-prong have sold a few here in Oz and the chaos and outrage to follow.
    Watch the vid to understand why…

    40

    • #
      RickWill

      Have not seen the T-short with Maxwell’s equations before but I like it. Apparently they are not uncommon:
      https://www.amazon.com/Maxwell-Equations-There-Light-T-Shirt/dp/B07QXGYG9W

      I have often pointed out the E-M field nature of light when people start calculating back-radiation. They somehow get the idea that matter communicates to other matter through the gravity field but are unable to grasp the same idea with EMR.

      50

    • #
      Graeme#4

      Classic John! Love that guy! And I was wondering about those equations Rick – thanks for their ID.

      40

    • #
      Ted1.

      Haven’t seen it yet, but I did see that EV owners are discovering that EVs are not cheaper than ICEVs to run after all.

      The loss leaders must be withdrawing from the market.

      10

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Ok, that was mansplaining.
      Understanding the actual technological engineering details is toxically masculine.
      If we had listened to Cis persons like this, our bright renewable energy utopia would not be unfolding before us as it is now.
      Math cannot be allowed to be an impediment to aspiration and advertising.
      We have a planet to save and centuries of colonialist guilt to nurture.
      Scientific and engineering literacy threatens commitment, aspiration, and the supremacy of the Party.
      A famine, or an iatrogenocide here and there, is just the cost of ideological purity.

      .

      60

    • #
      Scissor

      That guy knows his s***.

      10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Anyone else sensing the calm before the storm? šŸ˜

    50

    • #

      Yes and the storm will be earthquakes and Volcanoes going off. That should help with Climate Change………………..

      40

      • #
        John Connor II

        Now isn’t this amazing:

        Mexico got hit with major earthquakes ALSO on September 19th in 1985 and September 19th in 2017!

        What are the odds?

        30

        • #
          Greg in NZ

          Lake Taupo, that large caldera lake in the middle of the North Island, the big one that went BOOM 2,000 years ago, has been raised to Level 1 Alert after numerous (small) quakes rattled the region the past few days… pure coincidence I’m sure… tick, tick, tick…

          50

        • #
          el+gordo

          ‘What are the odds?’

          Surely its just a coincidence.

          ‘It is understood a large number of whales have stranded near the entrance to Macquarie Harbour, known as Hells Gates, on the west coast of Tasmania.

          ‘The event has happened in the same spot as another large whale stranding, two years ago to the day.’ (ABC)

          00

          • #
            John Connor II

            Earth’s magnetic field and pole shift playing havoc with animal navigation…

            20

            • #
              el+gordo

              ‘Marine expert Vanessa Pirotta said determining why strandings occur was the million-dollar question.

              “Whale strandings are a complete mystery,” Dr Pirotta said, “but what’s really unusual here is that this is the second stranding for this week.” (ABC)

              00

              • #
                Sambar

                Reported by News.com the first stranding was of Sperm Whales and the second stranding were Pilot Whales with scientists believing they were from
                “the same pod”. Who would have thunk it, two very different types of whales just simply hanging out together. It appears that “inclusiveness” has even reached into the oceans. Before we know it we will even have lions laying down with the lambs.

                00

  • #

    Ukraine war: West condemns Russian plans for ‘sham’ Ukraine vote

    “Western nations have condemned Moscow’s plans to hold urgent so-called referendums in parts of Ukraine that are currently under Russian control.

    The votes have been called by Russian-backed officials in four Ukrainian regions to ask whether they should become part of Russia.

    The US, Germany and France have said they would never recognise the results of such “sham” ballots.

    The Nato military alliance said the plans spelt an escalation in the war.

    Plans to run polls for five days, starting on Friday, have been announced in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk – as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.

    The quartet represent around 15% of Ukrainian territory – or an area the size of Hungary, according to Reuters news agency.

    The suggestion that legitimate and fair polls could be run in the middle of a war were immediately scorned by the West.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz blasted the Russian plans for “sham” votes, while French President Emmanuel Macron labelled them a “parody” of democracy.

    “If the Donbas referendum idea wasn’t so tragic it would be funny,” Mr Macron told reporters in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly.

    US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US would never recognise the votes, calling them “an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

    Any referendum planned by invading forces contravenes international law and will have no legal force, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62976560

    This makes me really larf’ as the voting should have happened in 2014………………….

    60

    • #
      RobB

      Well the real larf is that what goes around comes around. When Kosovo separated from Serbia, the international court decided that a breakaway province was legally a country so long as it was recognized as such by other countries, in that case USA and UK. Therefore what Russia is doing now is the same thing, and is entirely legal according to that legal precedent. USA and Britain are hoist on their won petard, as they say.

      100

      • #
        PeterW

        The two things are not the same Eastern Ukraine is not a “breakaway province” . It is occupied territory, occupied by a foreign power which signed a treaty recognising it as part of Ukraine

        You are trying to argue that any territory occupied by an invader automatically becomes a new country…

        20

        • #
          RobB

          Russia did not invade the Donbas, Donetsk and Luhansk. Those are not occupied provinces. The Minsk accords, which would have given the Donbas autonomy within the Ukraine, and given security guarantees to Russia, were ignored for 7 years by the Ukraine and the West, including France and Germany, which were co-sponsors of the accords. Instead the West pursued the equivalent of putting nuclear missiles on Cuba, knowing full well that Putin would react in the same way that Kennedy did in 1962.
          And as for the occupation of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and the holding of referenda in those provinces, how is that different to the USA invading Iraq (under false pretences) and then holding elections? Or what about continuing illegal occupation of Syrian oilfields, and the theft of its oil, by the USA? People living there dont even get a referendum.

          50

    • #
      Dave in the States

      But.. but, but, elections can’t be shams or rigged can they? This must be a CT.

      I don’t think I need a sarc/ tag.

      20

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Bidenā€™s ā€˜60 Minutesā€™ Interview Proved Once Again He Isnā€™t Running The Country, So Who Is?

    Bidenā€™s Taiwan blunders and the White Houseā€™s repeated walk backs reveal what many Americans have long suspected: Biden is not running the U.S. government.
    [snip]
    While Bidenā€™s remarks about Taiwanese independence fall in line with the United Statesā€™ long-standing policy toward the island nation, his next comments almost assuredly left White House staff hopping mad. When asked by CBS Newsā€™s Scott Pelley if the United States would come to Taiwanā€™s defense in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden answered with an unequivocal ā€œyes.ā€

    ā€œSo, unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?ā€ Pelley asked in a follow-up, to which Biden replied, ā€œyes.ā€

    [snip]
    As has long been held throughout American history, it is the president that heads up and steers U.S. foreign policy, not unelected bureaucrats. Yet that is exactly the situation the country finds itself in today.

    At every turn of his presidency, Biden has abdicated his responsibilities to unknown White House staffers, who direct and carry out the governmentā€™s major policy initiatives while Americaā€™s commander in chief slinks away to his Delaware beach house at every available opportunity. In essence, Biden has become nothing more than a puppet, whose strings are being controlled by unnamed, high-level White House officials to shape America and her foreign policy through whatever means necessary.

    60

    • #

      In actual fact, a US President does not have a lot of power. The power resides in Congress. But the people in Congress are not doing their job in running the USA. Well they are of a sorts as they are running the USA into the ground………………

      20

      • #
        Dave in the States

        Regardless of either the Consititution or precedent, neither the president nor the Congress is running the country, although some of the people running the country may also be members of congress. It is the people who paid to have him installed, and the people who did the installing. Who were those people? It’s the same people who are so sensitive about questions about election integrity and who are persecuting those who asked questions, and who silence those questioning voices.

        20

  • #

    Just noticed the latest from NAB (National Australia Bank)
    “Climate action is everyoneā€™s job”.
    So I put them straight on that, but my complaint fell over for some reason. Probably some trigger words or just too many words. Actually, the stuff is a little bit cautious, and some of the things quoted as “good ideas” are good ideas anyway. Wondering if there are any banks that have not yet been swallowed?

    70

  • #
    RobB

    Dr John Campbell censored for linking excess deaths to vaccines:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjG3VoX3Ldk

    70

  • #
    Zane

    Woolworths is being quite shameless in its price rises on grocery products. Five bucks for a can of Pringles??? What the heck. Coles is not far behind. $17 for a single New York-cut steak, Mr Coles? I’m surprised more cattle rustling isn’t going on. Who can afford beef?

    Oh. Eat the bugs…

    60

  • #
    John Connor II

    Samsung and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announce new INCINERATION toilet that uses grid power to turn your toilet contents into ash and recycled water.

    In response to the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Samsung has introduced a new prototype incineration toilet with the capacity to turn feces and urine into ash and recycled water.

    The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) started working on the new toilet with Gatesā€™ crew back in 2019. The core technologies for it were recently completed, and the toilet itself has been successfully developed and tested using a prototype.

    http://www.stationgossip.com/2022/09/samsung-and-bill-melinda-gates.html

    Electric composting toilets have been around for decades…

    50

  • #
    RickWill

    Tesla makes the news again:
    https://www.montereyherald.com/2022/09/20/caltrans-highway-1-temporarily-closed-in-moss-landing/

    According to Jeff Smith, a spokesman with PG&E, officials became aware of a fire in one Tesla Megapack at PG&Eā€™s Elkhorn Battery Storage facility in Monterey County at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

    40

  • #
    Earl

    Where are they now? Including that almost every 60 minutes human experience headline whose recent chronology of 15minutes of fame grabs include 20Sept proud of hubbyā€™s funeral coverage, 8Sept struggle to feel sexy, 21Aug resentment toward Karl Stefanovic, 20Aug forgives one-time Today co-host.

    The sisterhood is in a life and death fight in Iran so where is the international support? Remember how on 1 February each year since 2013 everyone has jumped on the support bandwagon demanding the right for sisters to choose to wear a certain item of clothing without being subjected to vilification or abuse? Currently the sisterhood in Iran are protesting to have the right to not have to wear this exact same piece of clothing and to not be murdered or beaten for this freedom choice as was the fate that befell 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last week.

    Back in October 2014 the sentiment regarding the suggestion of banning any piece of clothing was summed up as:

    ā€œBut when it comes to banning a garment, that’s just ridiculous. The irony is people are concerned men are controlling women over how they should dress when it should be up to the individual, but by banning a garment, that’s just another group of men telling women what they’re not allowed to wear.”

    Now in September 2022 it still is very much a case of ā€œmen controlling women over how they should dressā€ however now it is by insisting what must be worn.

    30

    • #
      KP

      You don’t really think that Iranians deserve the same attention and concern as US do you?? I mean, if it was Western White Women we’d be horrified, but its only some of THEM.

      I’m surprised it made it to the Dailymail, so there may be hope yet! Although really its a way to embarrass the Iranian Govt, which the USA is always keen to do.

      10

    • #
      another ian

      For some reading on what the sisterhood is up against in Iran try

      Betty Mahmoody “Not without my daughter”

      20

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Hi Jo

    Hasnt WA just finished building a new concentration camp recently for freedom lovers?

    40

    • #

      Yes, and you may not like this but if we’d had a real pandemic plan we would have built them years ago. Scientifically — microbiologically — the hard borders are the cheapest and only feasible solution to stop or delay new bioweapons, and China has thousands of other bat viruses. But of course, our lack of democratic accountability, transparency, and censorship makes the idea of quarantine centres scary. For sure. It makes everything scarier. But the problem is not the quarantine center, it’s the Pravda media, the weak Opposition, the captured Education system, the pointless Universities full of parasitic professors of Western vandalism.

      In a tyranny, the absence of quarantine centres will not save us from the tyranny. What we need is free speech.

      151

      • #
        KP

        …although you wouldn’t let them go to waste between pandemics. I’m sure re-education centers are in the plans for people in power who can see that those refusing vaccines just need re-educating. We might all meet up there in the future…

        30

        • #

          KP, and we might indeed. But the solution is to fight the root cause of the tyranny. Ideally we want freedom from bioweapons AND the freedom to speak. We want to live in a world where the government can build quarantine facilities and we know and they know that if they are ever abused the Minister will lose their job.

          The threat of a biotech war is a real thing. The solution is like the cold war. If we are well prepared we hope we never need to use those defenses because adversaries will realize they are less likely to score a hit that causes damage and very likely to be cut off from travel and trade if they are seen to be reckless with “accidents” or worse, deliberately malevolent.

          50

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            A discussion I’d heard in a podcast from an ex-US journo went along the lines of many US police are in effect federal govt funded.

            The comment the journo made was that militarization of some of US police basically led him to speculate that the cops may no longer be for citizens, in fact may become a paid paramilitary force that would become what appears to be an extension of the WEF.

            If this is the case, then could we see the same in Oz, where the police just become in effect WEF “brownshirts”, with the expected response from normal citizens?

            Speculating further, it appears that
            govt at many levels are poised, or possibly may consider declaring a form of conflict with their own populations?

            In some ways, seeing the brutal treatment of populations by gifts in QLD and Victoria during heavy handed COVID lockdowns gives pause for thought,especially with use of rubber bullets around the Shrine in Melbourne.

            I suspect the next round of lockdown could be energy lockdowns, not sure whether the people will tolerate them though….

            60

      • #
        PeterW

        Jo.
        We had a “real” plan…
        It was designed for very much this kind of disease, and recognised that there was little or no benefit in doing much more than protecting the most vulnerable sectors of the population, while letting the rest of us make our own decisions.

        For your proposal to work, we needed an effective, instant test – which we didn’t have at the time – or a disease with obvious symptoms and no asymptomatic transmission…. none of which fits C19.

        To maintain anything like normal rates of international travel, we’d need more accommodation than our entire prison system, complete with staff, sitting ready and waiting but unused, potentially for decades

        We went through this before…

        20

        • #
          PeterW

          What we also need is a government that doesn’t panic and is prepared to consider all the factors. Instead, they ran on opinion polls and reacted by trying to appear “strong” on what people most feared, while ignoring good data on rates of infection, lethality and stratification of vulnerability.

          40

          • #

            Once the virus was in and spreading, the stratified-vulnerable often chose to stay home, for many it was a voluntary lockdown, but without end for months. Business suffered terrible losses anyhow and states which had no virus had to close borders. There was still pandemonium. And many families couldn’t spend time together anyhow.

            We do have a choice and 98% of our quality of life was the same with the border shut. Though the elites missed their flights, the average worker just wanted to visit friends, play footy and go to the beach, birthday parties and the pub.

            In polls most young western Australians wanted the borders shut, even though they were at low risk, because they had jobs in hotels and restaurants.

            30

        • #

          We had an old pandemic plan for the Spanish Flu 100 years too late. We were unprepared. If we had stopped the flights three weeks earlier we could have avoided the entire national March-April 2020 lockdowns in every state. We had no serious quarantine plan, though we stopped people bringing in cut flowers they could fly in a CCP-NIH Bioweapon. We didn’t rescue the Australians on the Diamond Princess. Nor did we have a plan to repatriate the rest of our citizens. (No quarantine plan). We didn’t need a test.

          Who says we “need” normal international travel during the spread of a novel likely bioweapon? And if NZ and the UK shut their borders to infected countries we could have had normal travel with them. We did with NZ for a while, until we infected them.

          My proposed plan was not only tested, it worked near 100%. See the data. After the first incompetent mistake, for nearly two years Western Australia had virtually no cases, no deaths, hardly any lockdowns, a booming economy, schools were open nearly all the time. No one wore masks. No one needed a vaccine. We lived like Covid didn’t exist, because it didn’t (for us). Then incompetent quarantine in NSW meant Scott Morrison and Gladys let the virus into Sydney in June 2021, and that’s when the horror of mandatory vaccination and extended lockdowns began on the East Coast. Only 8% of Australians were vaccinated at that point. No virus = no problem.

          By the time WA opened the borders Omicron was here and we had missed the worst variants. We could have missed the entire vax mandate too. Damn shame. If the FedEx guy in Sydney in June had worn a $50 hazmat suit the whole of Australia could have lived like WA until after Christmas. Borders could have stated open between states. No need to vax. That’s freedom.

          If you want to avoid lockdowns, you need a plan.

          *+*

          60

          • #
            PeterW

            Jo.. Regardless of what we think of the politics, using emotionally-cjarged terms like “bioweapon” puts you in the same category as the politicians and media whose primary strategy was to put everyone in a panic.
            Reasonable people look at cost-effectiveness across the whole system, nor one aspect of it, regardless of cost or effectiveness.

            Secondly, everything that keeps us healthy and comfortable has a cost. That cost is paid for by the economy, the effect on which I am nor seeing you address.
            We depend on trade and we depend on tourism to a large extent, both of which depend on people entering the country and leaving it. Every dollar that comes into the country goes through an average of 8 pockets (or bank accounts) before it leaves again….
            Poverty reduces longevity, that is as firmly established as anything in economics. You cannot talk about saving lives without looking at the lives you cost.

            ..and no, the existing plan was NOT just based on the Spanish Flu – which was far worse than C19 anyway. – it was based on research over the 80+ years SINCE that epidemic, which you would know if you’d done your homework.

            Yes, the elderly could Shelter In Place, or self-isolate in some cases. It’s part of the reason why countries with limited or no lockdowbs did not fare as badly as the panic-merchabts predicted. BUT, we are talking also about the care facilities to which some well known leaders SENT covid-casrs, instead of quarantining them and letting the rest of us go about our business.

            Do the maths. Quarantining as entire nation is not a free lunch, and is not effective in more than delaying the inevitable, as has been demonstrated. But we are paying through the nose, in both economic and political terms.

            10

            • #

              C’mon Peter. You can do better than accusing me of using an “emotionally-charged” term when you know perfectly well that Bioweapon is a scientific term. I’m reading about FCS and GP120 and Gap gene sequences. They are commmon to both Covid and HIV, but may also exist in other viruses. Do they or don’t they matter? GP120 is in a prime position and may allow entry to CD4 T-cells. Will that affect our immunity five years from now? I’m still trying to get to the bottom of that and whether these sequences are still intact in Omicron. But “You’d know that if you’d done your homework…” šŸ˜‰

              It is the banal and obvious that there is a cost to closing borders. I very much look forward to when the conversation advances enough so we can discuss the cost-benefits. That’s not possible while people are still at the stage of thinking a bioweapon is an “emotional term” or that we must have international flights to have a life worth living. A discussion of cost benefits starts with the case of Western Australia or Taiwan.

              Did you read Greg Hunts 56 page “flu plan” of Feb 2020? Which part of it explains how to prevent losses to potential novel bioweapons? Is that with the same part that says we could rely on china to make our masks and PPE and antibiotics? That “Strategic Stockpile” ran out in February 2020. How good was that plan again?

              It’s sounds nice to say the elderly should “shelter in place” but it’s just a euphemism for “locking them away” from society. In WA our border went right around the whole community keeping us all together (with the exception of family in other states which had incompetent borders). In the “Shelter in place” plan the border winds its way through the middle of every family in the state cutting off the old from the young. You may like that, but I don’t.

              In WA the mines kept running and so did the hospitals and schools, and aged care was accessible nearly all the time. Would business in Vic and NSW be richer now if the virus hadn’t leaked due to incompetence in June 2020 (Vic) and in June 2021 (NSW)? Obviously…

              I realize this is not your area, and that you may not want to know. (It’s a dark new era in a cold biotech war). But Gain Of Function experiments which are 100% bioweapon are almost impossible to distinguish from Gain of Function experiments which have “some vague beneficial purpose”. It’s the Dual Use dilemma, and you can start reading about it here https://absaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ABSA2016_Session6_Kanabrocki.pdf. Or not as you may wish.

              Do the maths, giving potential bioweapons with a high hospitalization rate free access to our country is “not a free lunch” either.

              If there is no point delaying the inevitable we might as well just die today then, yeah?

              00

      • #

        We have Free Speech but it is not being listened to. As for a Bio Weapon well NO. If the ‘Virus’ was a true Bio Weapon then it would have killed at least 30% of the population. And it hasn’t.

        20

        • #

          Johnny, this is why I struggle in comments on microbiology.

          It would never even occur to me that someone would think the definition of a “Bioweapon” was a 30% case fatality rate.

          I couldn’t even imagine such tritely simplistic misunderstanding.

          Try this definition: A bioweapon is something that damages adversaries.

          It is well known in war that wounding opponents is often more effective than killing them. It takes another soldier out of action to care for the wounded one, then all the medical support and supplies, and perhaps ongoing productivity loss for decades.

          If Covid had a 30% kill rate we would have stopped it at the borders and it would have failed as a bioweapon. The west would have dealt with it easily. But if it had a 0.6% fatality rate with a high hospitalization and ICU rate, we would um and ahh, and let it in, then spend two years going through waves of restrictions and losses, and long covid. We might even stupidly use untested vaccines in a rush, and cause more damage with that, by taking the spike bioweapon and injecting our children with it.

          Hypothetically, the ideal bioweapon probably looks superficially like influenza, but actually causes a long term increase in cognitive damage, immune fatigue, ongoing higher rates of dementia, weaker immune systems, with long chronic fatigue possible. Unlike influenza we wouldn’t develop herd immunity it and would recatch it regularly (like RSV, norovirus and other coronaviruses).

          I’m looking for reasons to know for sure that Covid is not that. Let me know if you find them, especially with analysis of GP120.

          10

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      FYI, POTUS just declared the Pandemic is over.
      He’s really up on things.
      His beach house is surrounded by impenetrable fencing as well.
      There might even be a motte and bailey.

      30

  • #
    John Connor II

    The JC II GRETA factor again. Tesla Bursts Into Flames, Takes Over 25 Thousand Gallons of Water To Extinguish

    Western Journal reported that a Stamford, Connecticut, fire involving a Tesla took three times the normal effort to extinguish, according to the Stamford Fire Department.

    And this fire was perhaps an easy one ā€” the carā€™s batteries fell out of the vehicle onto the ground where firefighters had better access. The fire occurred Thursday morning behind a Main Street restaurant, according to the fire departmentā€™s website.

    https://waynedupree.com/2022/09/tesla-stamford-car-fire/
    GRETA factor – Global Rate for EV’s Turning to Ash.
    100,000 litres of water to put out one EV…
    Soon they’ll just let them burn themselves out and save the water.

    60

  • #
  • #
    John Connor II

    Wednesday funny. Liberal Chinese Covid disinfection procedure

    https://64.media.tumblr.com/6736952391712e4663a97dd135dcaa8f/aa31845dbf8df693-1b/s400x600/56ab34f533e90c30a6bcc81c63732667ce1184e9.gif

    His future career probably entails becoming a government health expert.
    šŸ˜…

    50

  • #
  • #
    John Connor II

    Carbon dioxide in air rose by 1 molecule in 10,000, in 2 centuries. This is almost entirely due to the natural world.

    https://twitter.com/PeterDClack/status/1572001114467504128

    šŸ˜Š

    30

    • #
      TdeF

      It’s not 89% from natural sources but 97% from natural sources. In fact it’s just the ocean.

      Very soluble CO2 is in rapid exchange and therefore rapid equilibrium with the oceans. Sure our fossil fuel CO2 increases the total of CO2 but given the ratio of 98% ocean 2% air, 98% of our CO2 just disappears rapidly into the ocean.

      70

  • #
    John Connor II

    Life without petroleum products

    https://youtu.be/winJj-1Q3uk

    Send this to The Greens and your favourite climate alarmist loony and ask them for a list of non-petroleum alternatives…

    70

  • #
    John Connor II

    The frogs vanished, then people got sick. This was no harmless coincidence.

    Since the global pandemic began in 2020, the world has become ever more aware that the health of our species is closely intertwined with other animals. Today, the conversation is mostly focused on birds and mammals, with amphibians rarely considered ā€“ but that may be a dangerous oversight.

    A newly published study on frogs and malaria illustrates how intimately human health may be impacted by these lovable ā€“ if somewhat slimy ā€“ creatures.

    In the 1980s, ecologists in Costa Rica and Panama began to notice a quiet and dramatic decline in amphibian numbers.

    Frogs and salamanders in this part of the world were falling prey to a virulent fungal pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), and they were doing so at such a rapid rate that researchers at the time feared a wave of local extinctions.

    Some scientists now argue this pathogen, called Bd for short, has caused “the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease” ever, being responsible for significant declines in at least 501 amphibian species, including 90 extinctions, from Asia to South America.

    The findings, which were first presented in 2020, have now been peer-reviewed, and they show that Bd-driven amphibian losses led to a substantial increase in the incidence of malaria ā€“ a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes ā€“ first in Costa Rica in the 1980s and 1990s, and then again in Panama in the early 2000s, as the fungus spread east.

    https://www.sciencealert.com/the-frogs-vanished-then-people-got-sick-this-was-no-harmless-coincidence

    Enter B. Gates and his mosquito program…

    40

  • #
    John Connor II

    Well…the USA real estate market is melting down. Agents like Remax are shedding around 20% of their staff.
    RBA predictions here for house price downward adjustments of 30% are probably optimistic given looming events.
    Anyone who joined the cliff lemmings in the real estate bubble will regret it.

    I’m sure the lenders will adjust your principal amount down accordingly.šŸ˜…

    40

  • #
    John Connor II

    Putin’s delayed announcement

    https://youtu.be/RUfP1oZkMJI

    Nope. No WW3 today. šŸ˜‡

    10

  • #
    John Connor II

    World’s most handsome man new winner

    BTSā€™s Kim Namjoon replaces Henry Cavill as the worldā€™s most handsome man.

    https://culturacolectiva.com/lifestyle/kim-namjoon-replaces-henry-cavill-most-handsome-man/

    Maybe the women (genetic ones) here can comment on this?

    40

  • #
    John Connor II

    Australia’s new $5 note

    https://i.imgur.com/J8tZW1Sl.jpg

    A better idea than a WEF loyal king…

    10

  • #
    David Maddison

    Snowy Hydro 2 Big Battery questions.

    The tunnels are 27km long. Given the massive inertia of such a water column, how quickly will the hydro battery be able to change its output in order to follow load demands?

    Does the same consideration apply for recharging, thus pumping water in the opposite direction? If so, a stable source of power will be required. It won’t be wind or solar so and coal power stations are actively being destroyed so where will the power come from to charge the battery?

    60

  • #
    David Maddison

    Anyone stupid enough to vote for Dan Andrews once or twice is stupid enough to vote for him a third time.

    130

  • #
    David Maddison

    A GP (family doctor) friend told me that his practice is about to start throwing away vast amounts of covid “vaccines” as it approaches its shelf life.

    50

    • #
      Peter C

      That is because no one want to have the boosters anymore. Booster rates are dropping.

      I still meet lots of people who proudly say that they have had 4 jabs but I am also meeting some people who don’t want a 4th jab.
      When asked they say that they have heard that the 4th jab is associated with more frequent and more severe side effects.

      50

    • #

      Probably better than injecting it into patients and giving them a life of unknown long term side effects, or the lucky door prize…death.

      30

  • #
    KP

    “A cold hungry winter is about to show Europe the deadly dangers of listening to green dreamers. It is surely time for Australia to withdraw from foreign entanglements like the Paris Treaty, and chop Canberraā€™s green tentacles, limiting its duties to defence, foreign affairs and maintenance of free trade.”

    Nice idea…. On a NZ blog actually.

    https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2022/09/viv-forbes-ruled-by-fools.html

    30

  • #
    TdeF

    A very good response to the demand by CNN’s Lemon that the Royal Family pay reparations for slavery. It’s all part of this leftist woke nonsense. You wonder when the Chinese will want warming reparations?

    50

    • #
      PeterW

      When you count the loves lost through diseases acquired by Englishmen engaged in anti-slavery work in unhealthy areas…. the full casualty list is closer to 17,000 Englishmen, not the 2000 mentioned

      10

  • #
    David Maddison

    In Kaliforniastan human composting is now legal.

    The UN already have insect protein on the Leftist agenda. One thousand Aussie schools already serve insects.

    And bear in mind Soylent Green was set in 2022.

    https://redstate.com/jenniferoo/2022/09/19/human-composting-is-now-legal-in-california-leading-the-way-to-soylent-green-n629853

    Human Composting Is Now Legal in California, Leading the Way to ‘Soylent Green’

    TheĀ process of composting a cadaver, already legalized in Washington, Colorado and Oregon, involves placing the body in a reusable container, surrounding it with wood chips and aerating it to let microbes and bacteria grow. After about a month, the remains will decompose and be fully transformed into soil. Companies such as Recompose in Washington offer the service at a natural organic reduction facility.Ā 

    Unlike cremation, the process avoids the burning of fossil fuels and emission of carbon monoxide.Ā National GeographicĀ estimates that cremations in the U.S. alone emit about 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    20

    • #
      another ian

      Wasn’t that what those people in Qld were doing with the wood chipper?

      Courier Mail items on a current trial

      https://www.couriermail.com.au/ – Murdoch walled

      20

    • #
      John Connor II

      Actually it’s a better idea than just burying or cremating.
      The remains could nourish a tree that grows as a perpetual reminder of your loved one.
      Especially if the deceased was a keen gardener…

      10

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Logical progression, to me at least, says we should be be selling Dynamic Dumper at Bunnings first.

        20

      • #
        KP

        Better ask the Boss here if viruses go through the composting process. I see no reason why not, unless it is artificially treated as well, so we are back to eating stuff fertilised with human waste or cannibalism, both spread human diseases.

        I suppose the answer is to make sure that compost gets nowhere near the food chain.

        10

  • #
    David Maddison

    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%23woke

    Woke

    Umbrella term for individuals who are engrossed by social justice and thinks of themselves as saviors with a moral high ground, but remain willfully ignorant to the irrationality of their claims and the problems they create. These individuals give special treatment to certain minorities in hopes of ending racism and perpetuate mental illnesses as the norm.

    My son’s woke kindergarten teacher taught him that he’s actually a girl because he played with dolls.

    by sealcake May 27, 2022

    30

  • #
    John Connor II

    Tucker Carlson. Transgressive – the cult of confusion

    FOX Nation is offering a new special two-part series on their streaming service titled ā€œTransgressive.ā€ The first episode is titled ā€œTransgressive: Cult of Confusion ā€“ Part 1ā€. It examines the transgender movement in America and exposes the dangers and threats to our children. The show features people who have medically transitioned from one gender to another and later came to regret it.

    https://trusttheq.com/tucker-carlson-transgressive-the-cult-of-confusion-part-1/

    Part 2 at the above link.

    20

  • #
    another ian

    More conniptions coming up

    “Natural Oceanic Cycles Behind Heavy East Australia Rains, New Study Finds”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/09/21/natural-oceanic-cycles-behind-heavy-east-australia-rains-new-study-finds/

    50

    • #
      TdeF

      Natural ocean cycles and solar cycles are the ONLY drivers of climates. The oceans absorb the sun’s rays and they cover 73% of the planet and the sun only reaches the first few metres of 3.5Km. So they are huge energy sinks, 1400x the heat capacity of the air and moderate and drive every climate on the planet, by providing all the water on the planet by evaporation. Rain, snow, monsoons, tropical storms, cycles in temperature. Summer and winter do not exist for the oceans at depth and many climates like Britain are completely controlled by the surrounding oceans and long distance heat transfers like the Gulf Stream.

      But we are supposed to believe this malarky about invisible CO2 being even noticeable against the power of clouds. And if it was true, cold nights in the desert would be warmer from a blanket 1.5x as thick. And it’s not true.

      80

  • #
    Earl

    King Charles III certainly has given the gift that will keep on giving.

    Seems the faith space that he is going to protect within the community of communities is really heating up. The violence between Hindu and Muslim that started in Leicester has now spread to Birmingham with, as usual, the police made the (not pork or cow) meat in the middle. Gotta love a strong leading influencer and the strength in diversity.

    30

  • #
    • #
      PeterW

      It took a new study to “find” that?

      Not only have there been floods on the East coast since settlement (what “unnatural” phenomena would cause that? Witchcraft?)…. but we have known for decades that that a combination of pressure differences across the Pacific and Indian Oceans result in a lot of moist, rising air over northern and eastern Australia.

      It wasn’t scientists who named the Pacific component, “La NiƱa”

      00

  • #
  • #
    Hanrahan

    I quote from elsewhere:

    Appearing on yesterday’s Business Agenda on Sky. Twiggy was waxing lyrical how he was going to be the first in the world to produce steel using hydrogen to reduce the iron ore.

    Beyond my pay grade so I ask: Can hydrogen be used to reduce iron to steel or merely to heat it?

    How often can Twiggy’s hydrogen be burnt? does it need to be burned 20 times to be viable?

    30

    • #
      ozfred

      In direct reduction, the hydrogen (or at least a major portion of it) is not burned.
      It is used to “liberate” the oxygen from the iron in the ore, producing water and pig iron. The current use of coal (carbon) at high temperatures produces CO2 and pig iron.
      [quote]
      Towards the future of direct steel ore reduction, cheap and ā€œgreenā€ hydrogen sources need to be developed.
      []
      https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/8866

      20

    • #
      Dave in the States

      Hydrogen enbrittles steel. You don’t want any hydrogen compounds in steel. It must be about using it as a fuel to heat it. But that’s not a very good way. The state of the art for smelting steel is the Electric Arc Furnance. It replaced open hearth type furnances from the 1920s for producing high quality steels. EAF produces the temperatures required to burn off the umpurities, and to properly smelt alloying agents. Oh by the way, what makes plain old iron into steel is…wait for it…Carbon.

      100

    • #
      william x

      Hanrahan, In reply, you may need to ask 2 of Twiggy’s current board members of Fortescue and FFI.

      Dr Zhang:

      He serves on the Board of Stewardship for the Future of Mobility of the Davos World Economic Forum.

      Dr Zhang received his bachelorā€™s and masterā€™s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China.

      Ms Li Yifei:

      She is the President of the QiBin Foundation and currently serves on the board of BlackRock China.

      They may give you the answer.

      Re Fortescues Future Industries,

      If anyone thinks hydrogen is close to scale, think again:

      A report by the Motley fool Advisory, finance and stockbrokers on Fortescue Future Industries . (12th May 2022)

      “Are the Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) aspirations really possible?”

      https://www.fool.com.au/2022/05/12/is-the-fortescue-future-industries-hydrogen-dream-more-fantasy-than-feasible/

      “What does Fortescue Future Industries need to do?

      Scaling a nascent ā€˜fuelā€™ is not something that can be done overnight. By the International Energy Agencyā€™s (IEA) estimates, less than 0.1% of global hydrogen production is via water electrolysis.
      As such, going from zero to one will be a challenge for FFI ā€” but, how much of a challenge?

      Well, according to FFI New South Wales manager, Joshua Moran, thereā€™s a lot of work to be done.
      For production to reach the target of 15 million tonnes per annum, Fortescue Future Industries will need 450 gigawatts of renewable electricity generation.

      The above number may not have much meaning when listed by itself, but hereā€™s the kicker.
      The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that only 225 gigawatts of renewable energy were installed across the entire world last year.

      Furthermore, Moran shared that 150 gigawatts worth of electrolysers will also be needed to make the operation a reality. Remarkably, this would be equivalent to roughly half of the entire electrolyser capacity in the world by 2030, according to Jefferies.”

      Something to ponder, before we think of “green” steel becoming a near reality.

      Take care my friend,

      30

  • #
  • #
    • #
      KP

      If solar makes up more than half their dispatchable power, what happens at night??

      Ah- there’s 31GW of vehicle-to-grid storage in there! That’s taking over from our current 34GW of coal and gas generation. So they are working on enough Teslas hooked up at night busily discharging their batteries to replace coal and gas, then twice a much solar and wind as needed to charge the cars during the day. Too bad no-one told them we won’t be allowed cars while we live in our 64storey apartment blocks and eat insects.

      Beam me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here…

      70

  • #
    el+gordo

    Brick Bats to Net Zero.

    ‘Brickworks boss warns of net zero hit.

    ‘Land in western Sydney bought in the 1950s for as little as $10 a square metre is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, helping to deliver Brickworks a profit boom.’ (Oz)

    20

  • #
  • #
    Honk R Smith

    So POTUS Biden declared the Pandemic over.
    His press secretary walked it back, saying he was at a car show.
    We are definitely in some sort of post-Pandemic state.
    The main feature seems permanence.
    What shall we call this thing?
    Pandemica?
    Permademic?
    I know people that show no sign or desire of moving beyond it.
    They like, need, and identify with Pandemica.
    Masks are some sort of new religious symbol.
    To proclaim the pandemic over is like saying we’ve stopped climate change.

    50

  • #
    William Astley

    The Canadian Conservative party has a new common-sense, leader, Pierre Poilievre. Mr. Poilievre is called a ā€˜populistā€™. His common-sense solutions are ā€˜popularā€™ which explains how he won the nomination with 68% of the first ballot votes, losing only eight of more than 300 different constitutions.

    Popular politicians solve problems. Popular politicians reduce the cost of energy and do not push green scams that do not work. Popular politicians protect the population from dangerous, ineffective, inadequately tested Wuhan-1 spike producing RNA vaccines. Popular politicians do not spread hate and do not divide. Popular politicians balance budgets and grow GDPs.

    Trudeau PANICS as PATRIOT POPULISTS STORM CANADA!!!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ50YgcjbSQ

    60

  • #
    another ian

    “No, They’re Not Trying To Kill You”

    “IMHO, nope. Why? Because while those who think they’re your “betters” are indeed desirous of you all getting “out of their way”, such as not being on Martha’s Vineyard if you’re brown and from Venezuela, unless of course you’re already a servant (Want to see this in prime action? Visit Jackson Hole, MV, or any of these other places); if you are suddenly there and “in their face” they want those folks as actual people who expect to be treated on an equal footing about as much as a plantation owner wanted the black folks in his house sleeping in his bed.

    But even so all these people do fully understand that without plenty of roughnecks and “lessers” in the form of something as simple as a car mechanic they’re screwed. Their jet is useless without fuel and to get it to their airport it first must be drilled for, extracted, refined and then transported and none of these people will dirty their hands to do any of that. Never mind that effectively zero of them could replace a wheel bearing on their nice expensive car if it required it; without said replacement when it needs to be done, the vehicle is a 2-ton brick.”

    More at

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=247002

    [wee edit for language. – LVA]

    00

  • #
    another ian

    “Prison. Now.”

    A look at the latest Facebook shenanigans

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3891745

    10

  • #