Wednesday Open Thread

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104 comments to Wednesday Open Thread

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    David Maddison

    This is a 13 min video about Planet 9, a hypothesised rocky planet, 10 times the mass of the earth, 600 times dimmer than Pluto and in an 18,000 year orbit. It is thought to be at its most distant now, but 9,000 years ago it was at its closest approach to earth and the Ancients may have seen it. It explains the unusual orbit of a number of Kuiper Belt Objects. It may have been captured from a nearby passing star.

    https://youtu.be/Stmc-lUKCRA

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    John Connor II


    Extreme rainfall hits Taiwan, causing huge agricultural losses

    Extremely heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm “Nesat” over the weekend hit parts of Taiwan, causing huge agricultural losses. The worst affected were farmers in the northern and northeastern parts of the country.

    Rainfall totals over the course of 72 hours reached astronomical levels as a result of Nesat, according to data from the Central Weather Bureau, Taiwan’s weather service.1

    Shilin District of Taipei City recorded 1 818 mm (71.6 inches) of rainfall from October 14 to 16. Over the same period, dozens of other stations in the northern portion of Taiwan recorded rainfall amounts from 700 – 1 000 mm (28 – 40 inches).

    https://watchers.news/2022/10/18/extreme-rainfall-hits-taiwan-causing-huge-agricultural-losses/

    MOAR taxes!!

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    John Connor II


    The Real Anthony Fauci – The Movie


    The film, produced by Jeff Hays, exposes Fauci’s influence on government policy, the pharmaceutical industry and medical research.

    It also examines the relationship between Big Pharma and the military, the outsized power of the news media and the concentration of technology companies.

    A few highlights of many showing several key takeaways from the film:

    Fauci’s criminal behavior stems back to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In order to understand the strategies that were employed during the COVID epidemic, the answers can be found at the beginning of Anthony Fauci’s career, when he became director of the NIAID [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] in the year 1984.

    Once Fauci partnered with Bill Gates in 2000, profiteering, gain-of-function experimentation and the amplification of vaccination in Africa, India, America and beyond really accelerated dramatically. Starting in 2001, there was a new epidemic scare almost every other year — whether it was a bioterrorism threat or of zoonotic origin.

    https://www.therealanthonyfaucimovie.com/trailer

    Watch/download here:
    https://seed171.bitchute.com/am4cU3aD3CVl/7HP3s5C4iYud.mp4

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    • #
      Grogery

      The Real Anthony Fauci – The Movie

      Yes John, I watched it today – it’s only part 1.

      Well presented information, I hope it gets massive exposure.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Majority of Tory oarty want Liz Truss to resign

    The majority of Conservative Party members want Liz Truss to resign now – just six weeks after voting her in – and former PM Boris Johnson topped the list of who would be best to replace her, a new poll has found.

    A YouGov poll of Tory members found 55% would now vote for Rishi Sunak, who lost out to Ms Truss, if they were able to vote again, while just 25% would vote for Ms Truss.

    As her position as prime minister hangs by a thread following a major U-turn on the majority of the mini-budget, Tory members are largely unimpressed with Ms Truss.

    https://news.sky.com/story/majority-of-tory-party-members-want-truss-to-resign-now-and-want-boris-johnson-to-replace-her-12723609

    At this stage, you might as well pick Mr Bean.
    It won’t change what’s coming…

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      Peter C

      At this stage, you might as well pick Mr Bean.
      It won’t change what’s coming…

      They should get fracking!

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      • #

        Yes. Get fracking, build more Nuclear Power Stations (the small modular ones), dig up coal again and explore the coastal waters especially the North Sea. Australia take note.

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    • #
      Sceptical+Sam

      Majority of Tory oarty want Liz Truss to resign

      That tells you all you need to know about these toffee-nosed pseudo-conservatives. They haven’t the ticker to sack her.

      They voted her in just a short time ago. They knew what she was proposing. They couldn’t handle the heat and the pressure when she did what she promised.

      The remainers are having their day. Vengeance: “drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies” Nelson Mandela

      Stick in there Ms Truss. The alternative is just about as bad as the Albanese option.

      We’ll all be living the Communist dream if this keeps up.

      Get fracking, indeed.

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    • #

      La Liz has resigned.
      And 3rd favourite to succeed her as leader – and as PM – is one Boris Johnson.
      Could you make this up?
      I doubt if even Stephen King, excellent writer of novels about the undead, would go that far.

      We’ll see, I suppose, but any Tory voting for the entertaining – but hugely flawed – Johnson needs one of those jacket that button at the back – with help from large gentlemen in white coats.

      Auto – wondering if there is anywhere to emigrate to . . . .

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  • #
    Steve of Cornubia

    Looks like my plan to shoot a local hillclimb (motor racing) across the weekend is doomed, thanks to yet more rain in SEQ. I’m losing count of the number of events cancelled over the past year. It’s looking likely that this summer is going to be a washout.

    If the event goes ahead, it might be an opportunity for the WRXs, Evos and other 4WDs to beat the single seaters for a change!

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      Hanrahan

      Odd. The tropical monsoons seem to be absent. I doubt any northern river flooded last year [Bradford scheme failed :)]

      It was just some unseasonal late rain saved this city from water stress but that didn’t feel monsoonal.

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      KP

      Yes, they’ve just cancelled this weekend’s Armidale Rallysprint, all too wet in the gravel roads. Not the first this year by a long way, yet a few years ago they were cancelling them because of the fire risk in the forests…

      Anyway, Mr Long says October is the wettest month and then it starts to dry out. We move away from Jupiter/Saturn & the moon goes North of the equator.

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    Peter C

    Vaccination Outcomes continue to look bad!

    https://covidlive.com.au/report/vaccination-status/nsw

    NSW publishes these figures each week and the outcomes remain the same. The more doses of the covid vax you have the worse the outcomes in terms of hospitalisation, ICU admission and death.

    Meantime an Covid Ward nurse from SA has reported to a doctor friend of mine that the SA ICU treatment protocols are the same as in the USA; ie remdisivir, low dose steroid and ventilator. No chance of Ivermectin of Hydroxychloroquine, although in fairness it may be too late for that. Higher dose steroid would be preferable.

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      TedM

      That fourth shot really looks deadly. 57% of the deaths in the four or more times jabbed. Still safe and effective of course. It just depends what effect you are looking for.

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      yarpos

      Urgent action is needed.

      I guess that means reporting will stop soon.

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    Does anyone have tips on how a pensioner can get a credit card in Oz?

    Without extra income there is a blanket refusal, but if the m0ngrel banks paid proper interest on deposits I would have extra income.

    Catch 22.

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    • #
      GlenM

      The art of safe blowing is forgotten.

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    • #

      Don’t get a credit card. I am on the Age Pension and don’t have any credit cards or borrowings. Just live within your means and get food and other stuff from Charities. Simples.

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        Graeme#4

        Disagree. Use a credit card like a debit card by never going negative. Use the card to obtain frequent flyer points to either upgrade local domestic flights or grab international business award flights. Have used this technique for years, and have flown to quite a few places overseas in comfort without paying much. Last overseas trip was around-the-world business class that cost around $1200. Haven’t flown domestic economy for years, always with upgrades to business.

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        Hanrahan

        I didn’t come here for life advice. Why do you think you know more about life than I?

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      yarpos

      Imagine the outcry if they gave high interest credit cards to people with no income. They cant win either way.

      There are other options beyond bank deposits for investments. If you want the perceived safety of the banks then really this is one of the costs.

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        Hanrahan

        What’s with you holier than thou people? My credit cards have always been paid in full on the due date. I just want to part company from a bank is all.

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  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    Maybe worth considering a debit card?

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    What is the correct pronoun for the Bureau of Meteorology this week ?

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    Mike Jonas

    The Tory party MPs are an absolute shower (that means a hotbed of incompetence). They are the UK’s swamp. The Tory party (the whole party membership not just MPs) wanted to put Kemi Badenoch into the top job, but the MPs prevented it. Kemi could not possibly have done worse than Liz. Jeremy Hunt, who now runs the country, was one of the first eliminated from the Tory party leadership contest, and it would be reasonable to suggest that virtually no-one wanted him, yet here he is now, in charge. It seems entirely relevant that not only did the appallingly incompetent Theresa May vote Remain, but Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt both voted Remain too. The Tory swamp still hankers after control of the UK by Europe.

    The Tories need Kemi Badenoch now, but it’s too late. And yes she did vote Leave.

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  • #
    Serge Wright

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-19/bureau-meteorology-rebrand-cost-200-thousand/101552620

    Yesterday, the Bureau of Meteorology asked media outlets to update their style guides to stop calling it the “weather bureau” and the “BOM”, even though its own mobile app is still currently called “BOM weather”. Instead, it asked to be called the Bureau of Meteorology in the first instance and “the bureau” in subsequent references.

    The Adjustment Bureau would be more appropriate !

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      Sceptical+Sam

      That makes sense. Given they can’t seem to predict/forecast the weather with any accuracy it follows that a name change is the solution.

      They’re following the usual approach. Global warming became climate change. The Communist Party of Australia became the Australian Labor Party. The rainbow no longer sybolizes light through mist. Snow being a thing of the past is now a bumper ski season. It won’t rain as much (especially over the water catchments) become “unprecedented” flooding. Teals stand for personal interity by driving ICE SUVs. Etc.

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      • #
        GlenM

        Well, put it this way a person with a bit of interest in meteorology can access the data and make an assessment of upcoming weather events just as well. Most people are brain dead sheep and regard BoM as sages.

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    • #
      stuart

      the definition states A bureau is an office, organization, or government department that collects and distributes information. no mention of manipulating the information.

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  • #
    Fuel Filter

    We’re Coming For You

    Have you noticed, as the election looms, the Party of Chaos trips deeper into its own self-created chaos? Turns out that the effort to make Ukraine the fifty-first state is not going over so well with the voters. Nor is the campaign to convince children to switch sexes. Or the crusade to sell ever more mRNA “vaccines” that the CDC knows good-and-goshdarn-well are killing and maiming credulous citizens by the millions. Or the program for importing limitless alien “vibrance” across the open border with Mexico…. As the venerable Rolling Stones sang more than a half century ago: “Rape… murder… it’s just a shot away!” This is the kind of country that the Party of Chaos has been grooming you up for.

    There’s a lot of loose talk about some as-yet-unknown Party of Chaos’s ploy to stave off the November 8th reckoning — say, drag out the vote count for weeks and confabulate the results… declare some emergency to shut down in-person voting… or somehow postpone the vote altogether. Nothing like that will go over successfully this time around. The lamp-posts in the WalMart parking lots could be decorated with dangling local election officials who get caught churning phony ballots, tweaking Dominion machines, and taping-up the polling places’ windows with cardboard.

    As for your climate change hysteria, consider that human culture has gone through scores of climate swings since the Age of the Pharaohs; the main ones being the Bronze Age warming, the Hellenic cooling, the Roman warming, the Dark Age cooling, the medieval warming, the “Little Ice Age” cooling, and now the present-day warming — with evidence that we are slipping back into another cooling.

    Pls do RTWT. There’s so much more @ https://kunstler.com/cluster(YKW)-nation/were-coming-for-you/

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    • #
      another ian

      Remember Obama’s “57th state”?

      That included Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Kosovo, Lebanon

      So Ukraine is the 58th State

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    Fuel Filter

    New England Power Officials Warn of Pending Winter Crisis as Natual Gas Prices Skyrocket and Electricity is Likely to be Rationed

    New England consists of six states in the US Northeast, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.  The states have been warned by regional ISO electricity providers for several years about their vulnerability if the winter weather is harsh and there is a significant increase in demand for home heating.  Those warnings are now multiplied by the massive price increases for natural gas.

    Keep in mind as all these natural gas and LNG issues surface, the U.S. has been exporting natural gas to Europe as part of the Biden effort to subsidize the NATO effort against Russia.  Prices for natural gas have skyrocketed, and now shortages of the fuel source for energy production may create even bigger problems for New England.

    Consider that 43% of U.S. households use natural gas for home heating, and power suppliers use natural gas to create electricity.  With the massive 2022 exports of LNG to Europe (+17% in fourth quarter alone), that means lower domestic supplies and increased prices here in the United States for electricity and home heating.  We are seeing and feeling these massive price increases right now.

    [Thanx Biden for putting America Last… 2 min vid at the bottom of the post…]

    RTWT @ https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/10/18/new-england-power-officials-warn-of-pending-winter-crisis-as-natual-gas-prices-skyrocket-and-electricity-is-likely-to-be-rationed/

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      red edwards

      It depends where you are in the US. Texas is feeling no pain – it produces most of the export natural gas. . .

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  • #
    Fuel Filter

    Soldiers Training Globally for WWIII

    This is expanding beyond Eastern Europe. France announced that they are welcoming 2,000 Ukrainian troops. French President Emmanuel Macron was hesitant at first, and only permitted 40 Ukrainian soldiers to be trained on French soil since February. As Zelensky and those holding his strings beg for more aid and a full-on escalation, world leaders are folding to his demands.

    “It will not be in a belligerent fashion because we are not at war. We are helping a country that is at war,” French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu stated. They are directly involved in the conflict. The West has gone to war with Russia economically and now is directly contributing to the war effort in Ukraine. World leaders do not want the people to see what is unfolding before their eyes.

    [Short article with links. Hope everyone has already bought their iodine tablets…]

    @ https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/soldiers-trainings-globally-for-wwiii/

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    • #
      James Murphy

      Macron is an idiot, he was previously saying that we should negotiate, but seems to have given up on that. Meanwhile, his country is circling the drain, socially, and economically.
      His decisions are painting France as a legitimate target for Russia.
      I live in central Paris, so, with a bit of luck, I will be vaporised and wont need to worry about the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

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      • #

        James
        “I live in central Paris, so, with a bit of luck, I will be vaporised and wont need to worry about the aftermath of a nuclear attack.”
        Right.
        Given the rather ramshackle state of some of Poisoner Putin’s weaponry, and armed forces, that might be because the one that gets you was aimed at the rabble in Westminster . . . .

        Not very comforting, I guess.

        Auto

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    • #
      KP

      ” Romania is becoming a World War III training battleground for NATO. There are currently 40,000 troops on the ground throughout Eastern Europe, with more set to arrive…. France announced that they are welcoming 2,000 Ukrainian troops…. the UK has coached 10,000 Ukrainian fighters…. Ireland has been tasked with helping Ukraine learn to dismantle explosives and IEDs. The US has training facilities for Ukrainian soldiers in Germany, while the UK has opened up air bases for Canadian forces. Every nation is preparing for endless war. ”

      Are you ready for the speech that pivots the endless war to the next ‘enemy’? …”Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia…”

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  • #
    Fuel Filter

    Government reports prove COVID Vaccination is killing Hundreds of Thousands every week & Confidential Pfizer Docs. confirm your Government knew it would happen

    You may find some of the following claims initially hard to believe. But we can assure you that each and every one has been extracted from official Government approved documents.

    If you are willing to read on then you are about to stumble on the most comprehensive selection of evidence that proves Covid-19 vaccination is in effect causing mass depopulation, and your Government knew it would happen.

    We will reference each and every document for you to “fact check” the claims yourselves.

    [Extremely comprehensive with numerous charts and graphs. Long one, but I encourage you to read it all.]

    @ https://2ndsmartestguyintheworld.substack.com/p/government-reports-prove-covid-vaccination

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    Fuel Filter

    The Gaslighting of the Masses

    For students of official propaganda, mind control, emotional coercion, and other insidious manipulation techniques, the rollout of the New Normal has been a bonanza. Never before have we been able to observe the application and effects of these powerful technologies in real-time on such a massive scale.

    In a little over two and a half years, our collective “reality” has been radically revised. Our societies have been radically restructured. Millions (probably billions) of people have been systematically conditioned to believe a variety of patently ridiculous assertions, assertions based on absolutely nothing, repeatedly disproved by widely available evidence, but which have nevertheless attained the status of facts. An entire fictitious history has been written based on those baseless and ridiculous assertions. It will not be unwritten easily or quickly.

    One of the most basic and effective techniques that cults, totalitarian systems, and individuals with fascistic personalities use to disorient and control people’s minds is “gaslighting.” You’re probably familiar with the term. If not, here are a few definitions:

    “the manipulation of another person into doubting their perceptions, experiences, or understanding of events.” American Psychological Association

    “an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control. Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true, often about themselves. They may end up doubting their memory, their perception, and even their sanity.” Psychology Today

    “a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind. Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and control over the other person, by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition.” Newport Institute

    RTWT @ https://cjhopkins.substack.com/p/the-gaslighting-of-the-masses

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      “When you can’t control facts, destroy facts.” – Honk R Tzu

      We have to admit, their Kung Fu is strong.
      Us in the Climate Geekdom have had a front row seat to this for years.
      Our TFHs weren’t thick enough to prepare us for the magnitude of what has transpired.

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    Fuel Filter

    Ex-RAF jet pilots offered £250,000 to train up Chinese armed forces

    British defence intelligence has issued a rare ‘threat alert’ warning after former RAF pilots are being drafted in to train up Chinese troops.

    Up to 30 pilots have secured annual salaries of £250,000 to teach Western flying procedures, the BBC reports.

    There is nothing the Armed Forces can do to prevent this due to a legal loophole which allows third-party head hunters to recruit the former pilots.

    Other top Royal Air Force pilots have been approached by people acting on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army, but so far they have declined the offers.

    Fast-jet pilots from Australia and Canada have also been lured to China on huge contracts.

    @ https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/18/ex-raf-pilots-are-drafted-in-to-train-up-chinese-military-17583785/?ico=related-posts/2022/10/18/ex-raf-pilots-are-drafted-in-to-train-up-chinese-military-17583785/?ico=related-posts

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      There is nothing the Armed Forces can do to prevent this

      In the US ex service pilots are automatically drafted for 20 yrs in the reserve. That means that during that time the services have the right of veto.

      You can’t retrospectively change terms of engagement elsewhere but you can, as of now, change espionage laws. It seems the two Aussies offered jobs have knocked them back. Get active and DO SOMETHING.

      But an interesting point: Why is a nation [seemingly] intent on confronting the West sooner rather than later so desperate for skills?

      I have made the point whenever I’ve had an audience that China can’t steal plans for aircraft carriers, fly aircraft that they have reverse engineered onto them and claim to have a navy/airforce. The Yanks have been the best for 80 yrs.

      It can pass unnoticed but a Nimitz class carrier, and the new Ford class, are twice the weight of the Bismarck. They never travel wothout enpugh escort ships to wobble the earth on its axis. 🙂

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        Steve of Cornubia

        “Why is a nation [seemingly] intent on confronting the West sooner rather than later so desperate for skills?”

        Just like the thousands of Chinese scientists embedded within Australian research institutions, supposedly engaged in ‘collaborative research’, they’re not actually there to gain skills but intelligence and IP. The Chinese want to recruit those pilots in order to ascertain exactly what the capabilities of US and Australian aircraft/pilots are, and how to beat them. Whether those pilots realise it or not (and being smart people, they most certainly should), the ‘training’ they will deliver is merely an excuse to covertly interrogate them over beer and banquets.

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        Graeme#4

        And the Gerald R Ford class of aircraft carriers have two 700 MW SMRs onboard.

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        KP

        “It can pass unnoticed but a Nimitz class carrier, and the new Ford class, are twice the weight of the Bismarck.”

        Bigger floating targets.. Their days are gone, like the Bismark battleships. Hypersonic missiles, satellite surveillance, orbital bombardment, high-speed torpedoes, swarm drone attacks… weaponry has moved on and the giant floating targets are only good for intimidation 3rd world opponents.

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    Fuel Filter

    Top NIH director admits Boston lab that created new Covid strain did NOT clear research with agency

    A senior US health official today admitted that controversial Covid manipulation research carried out in a laboratory in Boston was not authorized — despite being funded by taxpayer money.

    DailyMail.com exclusively revealed yesterday that a team from Boston University had developed a hybrid Covid virus — combining the Omicron and original Wuhan strains — which had an 80 per cent lethality rate.
    Public records indicate it was partly paid for using a grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the federal government’s main research agencies.

    @ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11327741/Top-NIH-director-admits-Boston-lab-created-new-Covid-strain-did-NOT-clear-research-agency.html

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      Lucky

      NIH claim that the research was done without approval from NIH. What seems certain is that research was paid for by the taxpayer (funded).

      This relates to a comment made 2 or 3 or more times here by Joanne,
      Where are the universities and research institutions when it comes to important evaluation of medications? Not just ivermectin and HCQ, patent expired, good evidence for safety and effectiveness, but large scale trials are not (cannot?) be done. No one will pay, even the supposed non-profit sector, even the publicly funded (taxpayer money) institutions.

      Yet here we have Boston University researching, designing and making a lethal pathogen.
      There may be many things wrong with the ‘free market’ and the way resources are allocated. There certainly is something wrong with the way public money is lavished to produce public harm.

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      Honk R Smith

      The collection of taxpayer money is primarily for the purpose of controlling the taxpayer.
      NIH views citizens a lab mice.
      Symbiotic with social media in that the consumer pays to be the asset.
      Kind of like cattle forced to pay for BBQ sauce.
      The shepherd protects the herd from consumption by wolves to insure the herd is consumed elsewhere.

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      David Maddison

      Strangely (or not), even though the NIH admits this work was being done, “fact checkers” claim it wasn’t.

      That’s probably a fair indication that this lethal gain of function research really was being done.

      The lab should be shut down and all staff involved fired.

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    Fuel Filter

    The FBI’s Million-Dollar Men
    Julie KellyOctober 17, 2022

    Three high-profile trials are shining much-needed light on how the bureau uses highly paid informants as political hit men.

    Proceedings underway in three U.S. courtrooms are providing a coordinated view into the abuse of the FBI’s confidential human source (CHS) program, a cash-flush operation now primarily used to bolster Democratic Party narratives instead of detecting and preventing crime.

    As I’ve reported, the FBI spends an average of $42 million per year to pay informants and does so with absolutely no financial or legal accountability. Confidential human sources are paid in cash; they can offer their services for a variety of reasons including financial need or to obtain a change in immigration status. FBI agents are required to keep at least one informant on the books, an FBI whistleblower told me; successfully using a CHS to bust up a crime is one way to get promoted.

    But ongoing trials related to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, January 6, and the Whitmer fednapping case are once again shining a light on the way the bureau hires snitches to advance political goals.

    After numerous investigations over the course of more than six years—not to mention an obsessive fixation by the national media—the scandal known as Russiagate produced another bombshell revelation during the perjury trial of Igor Danchenko, the key source for the Steele dossier. The FBI offered to pay Christopher Steele, its author, up to $1 million in cash if he could verify the dossier’s declarations about Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. He could not.

    @ https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/17/the-fbis-million-dollar-men/

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      KP

      “Confidential human sources are paid in cash; they can offer their services for a variety of reasons ”

      Exactly how their military/CIA work as well. The informants in the endless wars America is invovled in just get rid of their opposition by putting their names forward to have them ‘droned’. Blowing people up leads to promotion, who cares who they were?

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    Fuel Filter

    Bidens’ $5M interest-free China loan part of ‘pay-to-play’ scheme: Sen. Grassley
    Victor Nava

    A $5 million interest-free loan the Biden family received from a Chinese energy conglomerate in 2017 should have been probed by the FBI as part of a possible “pay-to-play” plan, Sen. Chuck Grassley told top law enforcement officials last week.

    In an Oct. 13 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned whether the bureau is fully investigating corruption allegations against first son Hunter Biden and demanded a “full and unredacted FBI summary” of Hunter business partner Tony Bobulinski’s October 2020 FBI interview.

    According to Grassley, Bobulinski told investigators that Hunter and first brother James Biden were contracted to assist CEFC China Energy “with potential business deals and investments while Joe Biden was Vice President; however, that work remained intentionally uncompensated while Joe Biden was Vice President.
    “After Joe Biden left the Vice Presidency, the summary makes clear that Hunter Biden and James Biden worked with CEFC and affiliated individuals to compensate them for that past work and the benefits they procured for CEFC,” Grassley went on. “According to the summary, Hunter Biden, James Biden and their business associates created a joint venture that would serve as a vehicle to accomplish that financial compensation, and that arrangement was made sometime after a meeting in Miami between Hunter Biden and CEFC officials in February 2017.”

    @ https://nypost.com/2022/10/18/bidens-5m-china-loan-part-of-pay-to-play-scheme-sen-grassley/

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    Fuel Filter

    That’s all for today, folks! Thanks to Jo and all (well, almost all) you guys for your time and attention! I really appreciate it. More than you know…

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    NOAA has a rulemaking to reduce ship speeds in order to protect a Right Whales. To justify it they say these whales are in great need of protection. This strongly supports our claim that offshore wind is too dangerous to these whales.

    NOAA says Right Whales are “desperately endangered”

    By David Wojick
    https://www.cfact.org/2022/10/18/noaa-says-right-whales-are-desperately-endangered/

    The beginning: “Okay “desperately endangered” is not their words, just my interpretation of them. NOAA has a major rulemaking in progress to reduce the speed of small ships in order to protect the North Atlantic Right Whales. NOAA’s description of the whale’s dire straits is given in carefully couched techno-legalize.

    Here is their arcane warning: “NMFS has determined that the Potential Biological Removal (PBR) for the species—defined by the MMPA as “the maximum number of individuals, not including natural mortalities, that may be removed from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population”—is 0.7 whales. This means that for the species to recover, the population cannot sustain, on average over the course of a year, the death or serious injury of a single individual due to human causes.”

    So NOAA says we cannot afford to cause the loss or serious injury of even one Right Whale a year. That is what I call desperately endangered.”

    The ending: “The huge question is why NOAA Fisheries has not spoken out against the planned massive offshore wind development? This OSW threat is vastly greater than speedboats.”

    Lots more in the article. Please share it.

    Save the whales from OSW!

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      Breaking news! The AtLantic OSW folks may have unwittingly stopped themselves. They have commissioned a huge scientific research enterprise to do the research needed to figure out the likely impacts of all the Atlantic OSW projects. On everything, not just whales.

      The plan alone is not due until mid 2023. I cannot imagine the research taking less than 5 years or so. Presumably no project can be approved until the research is in. My next article will be on this friendly fiasco.

      Of course the research result may be another IPCC like nonsense. Then we will fight that. In the meantime Atlantic OSW may be dead in the water. Woohoo

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    David Maddison

    It defies imagination that Boston University has been doing gain-of-function “research” on the coronavirus.

    And getting an 80% kill rate in mice.

    What are they trying to achieve apart from increasing its infectivity and/or lethality?

    And even with a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) lab, humans still make mistakes or commit crimes so that is no guarantee the virus won’t escape as we saw in Wuhan.

    THEY really are trying to kill us all.

    And “fact checkers” lie. Even the NIH and Boston University admitted this work was being done but the university claimed the results had been “misinterpreted”.

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    another ian

    Another FWIW on thge risk of a different infection –

    “Are you, or will you soon be, dependent on pension income? If so, READ THIS.

    Epsilon Theory has published an in-depth review of Britain’s financial crisis over the past couple of weeks, as its major pension funds were pushed right to the brink of bankruptcy by a liquidity crunch that threatened to take the entire British banking sector down with them. The crisis was averted – for now – by some very rapid fancy footwork from the Bank of England, but it’s still looming, and may rear its ugly head again at any time. What’s more, the British financial crisis was no more than a foretaste of what might happen in many advanced economies at any time – including the USA.

    Epsilon Theory concludes:”

    More at

    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/10/are-you-or-will-you-soon-be-dependent.html

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    cadger

    This means then, that the region was inhabited by humans at a time when the harsh climate of Central Europe would have required remarkable physical and cultural adjustment.

    https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/40561/20221018/stone-tools-discovered-poland-cave-50-years-ago-reveal-clues.htm

    What do they know about the “the harsh climate of Central Europe” 500,000yrs ago?

    http://www.climate.gov/media/11332

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    another ian

    “Update: Climate Debate in London! – Effort to halt Morano & Monckton from debating FAILS at London ‘Green Davos’ conference”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/19/update-climate-debate-in-london-effort-to-halt-morano-monckton-from-debating-fails-at-london-green-davos-conference/

    With links to Mark Steyn

    https://youtu.be/NXPHzTWiQFc starts about 4:30 in

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    another ian

    Monkton and Morano about 48:00 in

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    b.nice

    MUST SEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXPHzTWiQFc&t=3246s

    Mark Morano & Lord Monckton with Mark Stein about their debate at “Green Davos” in London

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      b.nice

      Seems someone doesn’t like the fact that a couple of climate worriers dared to debate Morano and Monckton..

      … and got absolutely SMASHED !!! 🙂

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    Penguinite

    Wake up World! Covid Infection Fatality Rate For those Under 70s Confirmed At 0.1%
    https://principia-scientific.com/covid-infection-fatality-rate-for-under-70s-confirmed-at-0-1/
    If only our Premiers has listened to the science and the very elderly had been protected everyone else had carried on normally, COVID would have been defeated naturally within two months. Who knew? WHO KNEW!

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    el+gordo

    Germany’s nuclear power stations tp continue operating throughout the winter and wood theft is becoming popular.

    https://notrickszone.com/2022/10/19/wood-theft-skyrocketing-as-germans-try-to-keep-warm-firewood-tracked-by-gps/

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      another ian

      If the ancient Greeks had it right –

      “Those that the Gods wish to destroy they first make confident”

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    el+gordo

    MDB awash, where does that leave the Murray Darling Basin Authority?

    https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/this-murraydarling-basin-rainfall-map-says-it-all/877204

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    Graeme No.3

    Reports from England about big fires in London, Manchester and Leeds?
    Anybody know what this is about? Could it be all those lithium batteries?

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    el+gordo

    Hitchns takes a swipe at the BBC for their biased reporting on Covid and climate change. They have become the mouthpiece of a totalitarian state.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11334359/PETER-HITCHENS-refuse-celebrate-100-years-biased-media-monster-BBC.html

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    another ian

    “Late Night Schadenfreude”

    “Welcome to reaping and sowing. See bottom tweet.

    The quote tweets on the bottom tweet are a salve for the trials of our times. Read and laugh away.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/10/19/late-night-schadenfreude/

    A dawning realisation that gluing one’s self to something substantial generates a certain dependence on others!

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    Mr Nobody

    Wonder if the federal icac the greens were keen on would be interested in the activities of a certain member of their party?

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    el+gordo

    Alarming report on UK weather.

    ‘Citizens battle to keep warm and keep eating.

    ‘As Liz Truss battles for survival in Westminster, her constituents face a fight on the most basic level. A country famous for its keep calm and carry on attitude is battling to keep warm and keep eating.’ (Oz)

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    Rupert Ashford

    Can one of the smart people here on the forum please help us? Remember when the turbo diesel era dawned in the early 90’s and you could get identical specced cars like eg a Golf with a 2.0 petrol and another with a 1.9TDI – the diesel was normally a few thousand more expensive than the petrol? The smart people did calculations to show how far you needed to drive the diesel with better fuel consumption but higher service costs until you could reach break-even? I remember it was around the 70000km mark before the diesel would actually become more cost-effective. Can someone do a comparison of a EV with say a 1.6 petrol, taking into consideration manufacturing costs, fuel, servicing, battery replacement, charging costs etc?

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    MrGrimNasty

    Shetland demonstrates how everything in modern society depends on a cable that can easily be cut. Trawlers to blame, of course it was!
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-63326102.amp

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      Mrs. Fish’s Scottish Navy – aka CalMac the local ferry company, now state-owned, so providing sinecures for idiot nephews and nieces – might have had an outdoor job-creation scheme otherwise underemployed ferry have to anchor in an emergency – engine failure [no bunkers, no spares, no lube oil, maloperation, whatever]; or no direction from the Central Committee of the Party.
      If so, it may be simply misdirection, to obscure the efforts of a hostile power [And Mrs. Fish will say that that was the #!@X#* English, I guess].

      Auto, speculating, as I can’t rant about La Liz, as she’s quit. Not before time.

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    robert rosicka

    Liz Truss now holds two records –

    Shortest serving British PM

    Only PM to have served under two different Monarchs

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    another ian

    “Liz Truss resigns after long, illustrious reign of power spanning two British monarchs”

    https://thebeaverton.com/2022/10/liz-truss-resigns-after-long-illustrious-reign-of-power-spanning-two-british-monarchs/

    10