Saturday Open Thread

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122 comments to Saturday Open Thread

  • #
    Hanrahan

    It’s still hot up here. 32 deg and has been for nearly a week. A little Autumn would be nice.

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    • #
      RickWill

      SE Melbourne hit a scorching 14C at 2pm today. To balance that scorcher, we are told that we will have a comparatively mild 7C over night.

      I spent an hour this morning splitting some of my log pile into burner friendly size in anticipation of the temperature eventually getting cold enough to bother starting the burner. I am looking forward to the end of the global warming endured over the past few months.

      I believe the coldest town in Siberia hit a new minimum record recently; down to -63C. Lucky Siberia has a lot of NG and a government not concerned with the nasty pollutant CO2.

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  • #
    Mayday

    Don’t worry, help is on the way. The CEO of one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds stated this week in the Australian Financial Review (30th March) that Australia’s transition to net zero will cost us $5 trillion to $10 trillion dollars. Future generations can expect the temperature to be 0.01 degrees lower in the year 2100.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Did he say it was a good thing or a bad thing?

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      • #
        RickWill

        As long as governments are prepared to rob the poor to pay the rich, super fund managers can enjoy the rewards of investing in the transition. It all relies on China buying Australian resources at premium prices of course.

        Of course the poor get poorer and you end up with places like Los Angeles where the chasm between rich and poor gets ever wider:
        https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/02/americas-tent-cities-for-the-homeless/462450/
        https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/g29991527/most-gorgeous-celebrity-mansions/

        Porter Davis homes went into administration this week. Something like 1500 homes now not being worked on.

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      • #
        Mayday

        The AFR article said “its not going to follow a straight forward path.” “It’s going to jump around – and a big part of that jumping around is understanding gas is going to play a key role in the nations energy transition.”
        There was agreement by all participants that Australia was in an energy race with the rest of the world and the government needed to step up more to avoid falling behind…… the government has started to head in the right direction.
        A piecemeal approach wont work, we must go all in on converting the national grid to renewables.
        The Biden’s administration Inflation Reduction Act was described as “proving a massive game changer.”
        The article didn’t mention any effect this might have on the cost of living or where the money was coming from.

        My concern is if we are in “an energy race” to spend $5T to $10 Trillion dollars, all Australians will end up owning nothing.

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        • #
          Alex

          We will end up owning nothing…but we will all be happy, according to Chief Wizard Klaus Schwab

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      • #
        Bruce

        Such peopke may not actually care; especially if the “spillage” flows the correct way.

        A trillion here and trillion there; pretty soon we’re talking about REAL money, (even allowing for government induced Zimbabwe-scale inflation rates)

        This also applies broadly to poli-muppets, pubic serpents, wackerdemics and churnalists.

        32

    • #
      Broadie

      South Park on Aussie Super.
      I have invested your funds in an ESG approved growth fund.

      Gone!

      What?

      Sorry you no longer are a member of our fund, so you will need make an investment and open an account before I can speak to you. Good-bye.

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    • #
      Dennis

      Put in perspective: Current Account Federal debt as at May 2022 according to 2022/23 Budget papers was $900 Billion gross debt after 9 years.

      At September 2013 from Labor’s last 2013/14 Budget gross debt plus unfunded Labor Budget expensive commitments in budget $400 Billion after zero debt and 6 years of Labor Government.

      By end of February 2023 Labor had added $200 Billion and the Current Account gross debt amounts to $1.1 Trillion after 9 months.

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      • #
        Dennis

        The $1 Trillion “debt” Albanese Labor talk about is Forward Estimate of future debt in the 2022/23 Coalition Budget plan, gross debt Current Account was $900 Billion.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Also take a look at total Australian Government Debt for federal, state and local government debt at https://australiandebtclock.com.au/

        $1.683 trillion.

        That’s over $64,000 per person for every man, woman and child.

        But probably only about 20% of people are net wealth producers who are able to repay anuthing so for them it’s about $320,000 per person.

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        • #
          Dennis

          Add government owned public companies and debt accounted for off government budgets, hidden in the company accounts from we the owners via our elected governments.

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        • #
          Dennis

          David, as you would know, Australia has enormous unrealised wealth from assets represented by minerals and energy deposits that in compliance with UN treaties and agreements our State first and Federal governments wont release via prospecting and leases or mining etc. And to add to this economic vandalism the present governments plan to shut down coal mines and gas fields.

          During the Howard Coalition Government terms 1996 to 2007 Treasurer Costello sold a large portion of our gold bar reserves for a substantial profit, Labor based on hindsight claimed the sale should have been deferred until the gold price was higher, as it was later. Costello pointed out that Australia is one of the few countries with huge reserves of gold and silver not yet extracted and does not need a gold bar reserve.

          I believe that if our wealth was realised on a strictly commercial basis there would be no debt and no need for income tax.

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        • #
          RickWill

          That’s over $64,000 per person for every man, woman and child.

          I believe all government debt is now denominated in Australia currency. A significant portion of it is held by Australians.

          There are foreign holders of Federal and State bonds but there is never any problem repaying because the reserve bank just creates more money. The down side to that is inflation.

          The real concern for Victoria is what deals Dan is doing in China. He may be looking for China to build his massive solar farms and offshore wind farms on guaranteed income for decades that keeps Victoria poor for all those decades. Who can remember how long the CitiLink tolls were going to stay. Do Sydney siders still pay a bridge toll?

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        • #
          Graeme#4

          Somebody in the U.S. determined that Net Zero would cost each American household around A$450,000.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Thats stoopid. No one knows how net zero can be done, or when.

      How can he even guess how much it will cost.

      00

  • #
    RickWill

    I have been looking at the net radiation input to the globe since the CERES satellite data has been available.

    Most of the tropical Indian Ocean has absorbed 2E13 joules per square metre from January 2007 to January 2023. That is actually absorbed into the atmosphere over the ocean because the surface temperature is unchanged in all that time. Roughly every 3sq.m of the tropical Indian Ocean atmosphere has ABSORBED and TRANSFERRED the equivalent energy of the Hiroshima bomb over the past 16 years.

    Any theory of Earth’s energy balance, surface temperature and climate that relates solely to radiative imbalance causing temperature change is away with the fairies. Unless the theory has a detailed explanation of the way advection works, it is pure tripe. The “greenhouse effect” fits the category of tripe.

    Earth’s climate system is primarily a heat redistribution system. Arctic Ocean in the region of 9N north of Europe has experienced the highest loss of heat; 2.2E13J/M^2 over the 16 years. That vast amount of heat entered the climate system in the tropics and was transported all the way to the Arctic Ocean.

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    • #
      • #
        RickWill

        The change in ocean heat content is trivial compared with the energy transport in the atmosphere and shallow mixed layer of the oceans that are driven laterally by wind currents.

        The net heat uptake into the equatorial Indian Ocean over the 16 years, going primarily into evaporating water, would draw off 23m of water. The heat that actually makes its way through the surface to deep ocean in the tropics is trivially small because it has to flow counter-current. In fact the evaporation in the tropics drives the ocean MOC that returns cold water from the Southern Ocean (in the case of the Indian Ocean) in a cycle of a few hundred years. Rainfall presently occurring in the Southern Ocean will find its way back to the equator in a few hundred years. Snow over Antarctic could take thousands to millions of years to return to the equator depending on where it falls.

        My point in the previous comment is that for all the heat input to the tropical ocean atmosphere, the surface temperature has not changed in 16 years. It highlights the difficulty of increasing the temperature of open ocean surface water.

        The place that has warmed the most is the Arctic region and it has a massive heat deficit over those 16 years. The actual surface temperature is not related to the local radiative balance but depends on the lateral heat transfer.

        It is interesting that the Amazon and Congo regions show very little difference in heat uptake to the oceans. By contrast, the Sahara has net heat loss. So the way the land responds to heat uptake or release is highly dependent on the abundance of the biosphere it supports.

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Hi Rick, thanks for your comments.
      For a couple of weeks now I’ve been hearing of the maximum ocean temperature of 32°C and have been interested in the mechanism that controls this.
      Sun hits the surface, heat can mainly just rise from there and some energy is lost in supporting evaporation.
      Can you give us an idea of the controlling features of the system.

      p.s. This morning a friend mentioned that his pool occasionally got up to 28C. I should have asked him a few questions but…
      Another friend has just come back from a big holiday in cold country up north: Finland or somewhere like that. He said they walked on ice 900 mm thick and the temperature was Minus 28 C. That’s cool.

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      • #
        RickWill

        Can you give us an idea of the controlling features of the system.

        The maximum sustainable surface temperature over open ocean water for a year is 30C. It can get above 30C for short duration of a few weeks before monsoon sets in. Land locked water ways can get well above 30C for a month or so.

        The limit of 30C is reasonably well known and I have found papers dating back to the 1970s on that observation. As far as I know, I am the only individual to use the moored buoys to closely observe the regulation process and then do the analysis of the atmospheric conditions to determine why it is 30C. Others have speculated on the role of monsoon or cirrus cloud. None have combined their role as I have.

        Once the surface of ocean reaches 15C it can support a level of free convection that results in convective instability. Above 22C surface temperature and 48mm of atmospheric water, the convective instability can lead to convective storms that cause intense rain. Afternoon convective storms over land can result in large hailstones.

        Once the ocean surface temperature reaches 30C, the altitude of free convection is very close to the level of freezing. That means ensuing clouds result in persistent ice cloud with infrequent period of clear sky.. Soon after clear sky appears, the convective potential is fully charged and the cloudburst recurs. At 30C, there is just enough sunlight getting to the surface to keep the convective heat engine running that depends on the surface evaporation on the hot end and the heat radiation t space at the cold end; separated by more than 6000m.

        Nullschool have been showing the atmospheric convective potential for a number of years now and it is ubiquitous over tropical ocean:
        https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=cape/orthographic=185.35,-12.08,367/loc=176.075,-12.580
        The point I have circled has CAPE of 2177J/kg. If cloudburst occurs there, it will produce an updraft of 65m/s or 234kph. Updraft over Brisbane can get over 300kph and result in large hail stones.

        I have produced two papers on the observations and regulating process. This one has the best detail on the process:
        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/23/ocean-atmosphere-response-to-solar-emr-at-top-of-the-atmosphere/
        This one has data from moored buoys in Section 2:
        http://www.bomwatch.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Bomwatch-Willoughby-Main-article-FINAL.pdf

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Thanks Rick, my original comment was in moderation for some time.
          So it seems that what you are saying, the ocean surface would get hotter from incident solar radiation but is kept at or below 30C by various heat removal processes.

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          • #
            RickWill

            but is kept at or below 30C by various heat removal processes.

            The process is much better defined than that description.

            The simplest way of stating the regulating process that limits surface temperature to 30C is that the surface heat flux is in balance at 30C. There is just enough sunlight reaching the surface to power the convective heat engine that results in persistent cloud preventing further temperature rise.

            To be precise, there is some surface cooling from the rain associated with cloudburst during convective instability that requires some sensible heat input from the sunlight but most of the sunlight goes into evaporation.

            And for more detail, the tropical atmosphere can be likened to a whole series of single cylinder Carnot cycle engines with water vapour/solid/gas as the working medium. The ocean surface is the evaporator and the region above the LFC the condenser (although it solidifies most of the water rather than condenses). The clouds are the governor that makes the process self-regulating. The other atmospheric gasses provide the water vapour containment and the LFC is the expansion nozzle.

            The reason for the precision of temperature control is the fact that the LFC approaches the altitude where water freezes so water left after the cloudburst is all ice that forms thick cumulus clouds that eventually become cirrus cloud. The period of clear sky is just long enough to keep the cycle going.

            The convective towers over the tropical ocean pump up the atmosphere with water vapour reaching as high as 14,000m. These towers are the predominant driver of the global air circulation. They absorb about 160W/m^2 in the column that gets transferred to neighbouring regions during the instability.

            The Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea provide the best example of the process. There is temperature overshoot in late April before the monsoon sets in:
            https://earth.nullschool.net/#2022/04/30/1300Z/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp/orthographic=-286.43,5.96,363/loc=71.180,8.004
            But by the end May, the monsoon has set in and the temperature is being regulated:
            https://earth.nullschool.net/#2022/05/30/1300Z/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp/orthographic=-286.43,5.96,363/loc=71.180,8.004

            20

  • #
    el+gordo

    This political drama is worth watching, I’ll bring the popcorn.

    ‘Trump indictment to supercharge his White House campaign.

    ‘The former president will get a bump in the polls from the criminal charges over hush money. Why? Because this is America.’ (AFR)

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    • #
      Ian

      The AFR also published an article headlined:-

      “Judge sends Fox News defamation case to trial”

      A Delaware judge’s ruling Friday (Saturday AEDT) set the stage for a dramatic springtime trial on whether Fox News bears financial responsibility for airing false allegations that a voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.

      Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that it was “crystal clear” that none of the allegations made by Trump allies on Fox in the weeks after the election were true.

      Judge Davis said it was up to a jury to decide whether Fox acted with actual malice in airing the claims and, if so, how much money Dominion is entitled to in damages. Dominion has sued Fox for $US1.6 billion ($2.4 billion).
      Barring a last-minute settlement, the trial is expected to begin in mid-April.
      “The statements at issue were dramatically different than the truth,” Judge Davis said in a summary judgment ruling, which denied Fox’s effort to throw out the case as well as Dominion’s request for a victory without a jury.

      The Trump allies had falsely claimed after the election that Dominion’s machines and accompanying software had switched votes from Mr Trump to Mr Biden. Dominion claims it has lost millions of dollars in business because this belief spread across the country; Fox contends its claims are overblown.
      “The calculation of damages is a question for the jury,” Judge Davis said.
      Judge Davis ruled that the statements Dominion had challenged constitute defamation “per se” under New York law. That means Dominion did not have to prove damages to establish liability by Fox.

      It will be interesting to read the outcome.

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  • #

    I played cricket up until three weeks before my 41st Birthday. My best years were from 1972 till 1980. I was given the new ball and the choice of ends, and there’s nothing like watching stumps leave the ground. I gave something back in the form of coaching, both Senior and Junior teams in my later years, and that gave me the excuse to keep playing. The Summer following retirement, I itched to get back, but I knew I would be keeping a youngster out of the game, so I watched. All I had was TV, the radio (always the best really) and books, and now I have a collection of 23 mostly large coffee table books, and I prefer the history of the game, especially here in Australia, and I stay away from ex player memoirs etc, preferring historical books from a wide range of authors, hence each one with more aspects of the game. (Look up A.E.J. Collins)

    A couple of years back now, I wondered about the first cricket Club that I played Senior Grade cricket with, Raymond Terrace, so I looked back through those books for any early mention, and I can trace it back to around the 1830s.

    At the same time as doing that, I used search engine texts to track just how many people actually play the game. In fact, it is now close to (arguably) the second highest player participation sport on the Planet, and the game is now played in more than 100 Countries. Some of you might question that second highest fact, but it is what it is ….. because of one Country ….. India, where the game is more religion than anything else. It’s been said that perhaps 8% of the population plays the game there, and while that percentage may seem small, that’s probably around 110 Million people playing cricket, and that’s a conservative number, perhaps even on the low side.

    Now, back to Raymond Terrace. That club now may be just one club on the Planet when there are literally millions of clubs, but that club was one of the first hundred clubs in Australia, and as Australia was the second country to start playing the game, then that club is among the oldest on the Planet.

    All of that pales into insignificance when you think of the game in India.

    The Indian Premier League (IPL) started last night, in Ahmedabad, and at the biggest cricket stadium on Earth with a capacity of maybe 135,000 people, and it was packed, perhaps around 110,000 people. So now perhaps you get a scale of just how big the game really is there.

    There are ten teams, and they will play 74 games across the next 8 weeks, each team playing 15 games. The teams are franchises, and prior to the start of the competition, weeks back now, they had an auction for players and the highest prices paid for a single player were around $3.5 Million (and there was a number of players who received that amount) ….. to play 15 games in eight weeks.

    You see the following each franchise has, and you won’t question where the money comes from.

    And how big is the game?

    Mumbai (formerly Bombay) has a population of 12.5 Million people, and they have THREE INTERNATIONAL stadiums ….. just for cricket, and a number of smaller venues, also large as well.

    I’m a purist and I will always prefer the longest version of the game.

    However, when you see this IPL and the following it has, you can see why this shortest version of the game has become so popular.

    India has shown some intent to host the 2036 Olympic games, and with the ‘clout’ they will obviously bring, there is talk that they are wanting the IOC to include this form of the game as one of the Sports. I’m sure that when viewed as spectators at games, the IOC will probably, umm, follow the money, if you get my drift.

    You look around the game and right now, there are a number of Countries hosting their own T20 Leagues, and it’s the next big think in Sport is my guess.

    You see crowds at some of the ‘big’ Soccer games and they just pale into insignificance compared to what I saw last night in Ahmedabad. That was jaw dropping.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Sounds like cultural appropriation to me.
      Colonialism … uh, except in reverse maybe, but still bad.
      They, or true Ozzies, wouldn’t like it if their own cultures had been left intact to develop harmoniously.

      Once the Democrats here in America get rid of the Orange MAGA threat, they can team up with their WEF/EU allies and put a stop to it.
      Probably cricket altogether since it was created by non-POC.
      (We certainly can’t stop until every pinnacle of culture is dominated by POC and women’s sports are dominated by people the weren’t always women, which is hard because science can’t define woman anymore.)
      https://nypost.com/2023/01/20/norway-funds-research-to-find-out-if-white-paint-is-racist/
      Cultural purification and planet saving can be done simultaneously.
      (Cultural purification is essential to planet saving.)

      🙂 You may think I joke, but I live next to a college, I hear this very logic daily.

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      • #
        b.nice

        “to-find-out-if-white-paint-is-racist”

        If it is, the so is black paint, red paint, yellow paint, and any shades between.

        Pink and blue paint are obviously sexist.

        Only grey can be permitted…

        So the grievance industry will even have to ban their own rainbow flag!

        And what is everyone going to use for paper when white paper is banned !?

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      • #
        David Maddison

        You may think I joke

        Honk, I’ve been dealing with the Left for too long to think that anything they propose, no matter how counterfactual, illogical or anti-scientific, is a joke.

        10

    • #
      Ted1.

      I played in the other end of the valley, out in the sticks. On antbed/matting pitches and tussocky outfields. In a team which was much more talented than I was. One of them had beaten Ken Rosewall at tennis at age 17, but his family couldn’t afford him to keep playing in those amateur days. There were seven men in that team that never dropped a catch. They were better fieldsmen than half those playing on the SCG. Which reminds me, the standard of fielding in the modern game has lifted.
      I never learned to bat, batted at 11, and bowled flat out and erratic. I knew that the first time I got plastered would be the last time I got an over, so didn’t dare try any tricks. I used to pick up a few wickets, often with a bad ball.
      Then we moved to another comp with better maintained grounds, even turf pitches, and the ball running true in the outfield. Next we rounded up the numbers to field a second team in the B grade comp. That’s where my real fun started. I dropped to B grade as the opening bowler and bought a pair of spiked boots. All of a sudden I could bowl accurately. I then learned to make the ball do the various tricks that a ball can sometimes do and had a lot of fun. I reckoned then I could have held down a place in the A grade had they needed me, but I bought a farm 20 miles further out in the sticks and moved back to the matting pitches. No more spikes.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    A look at Senator Lidia Thorpe’s latest performances.

    https://youtu.be/Gj7D2lUnwOc

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  • #
    John Connor II

    “Just stop oil” purple haired crackpot speaks

    https://youtu.be/8AbAurKzI48

    This is almost painful to watch.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      The purple-haired freak actually believes what it says although it can’t recognise the logical contradictions, and what’s worse, it votes. (Sorry, I don’t know its pronouns.)

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    • #
      another ian

      Anyone ask where that purple dye comes from?

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      • #
        David Maddison

        The typical woke Leftist has no clue about chemistry (or science in general).

        Hence absurdities like calling carbon dioxide “carbon” (sic). I bet most of them would have no clue of what the chemical compound to which they refer is.

        Similarly when they refer to “nitrogen” (sic) when they mean various nitrogenous compounds.

        Clueless.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    A somewhat scary test of GPT-4, challenging it to write a story about how it might take over the world. It shows quite advanced “thinking”.

    https://youtu.be/mGwtA46hEWk

    10.5 mins

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    • #
      John Connor II

      These systems are nothing more than publicly glorified database querying software packages with a pseudo-psychiatrist front end, presenting an illusion of what people think A.I. is.
      Trust me, when REAL A.I. hits you won’t need to ask it any questions.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    A question for Americans here – why do you believe that the USA won’t completely fall apart in the next few years?
    Is it just blind faith that what, decades ago, made the USA so great still exists, or is it sheer denial of the overwhelming evidence?
    Feel free to provide any evidence you have.

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    • #
      Mike Jonas

      Great question. Ask ChatGPT.

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      • #
        RickWill

        Me
        There is a common view that the usa will disintegrate economically in the next year. Can you verify this.

        Response
        As an AI language model, I cannot predict the future with certainty, and it would be highly irresponsible and unprofessional to make such a claim without reliable evidence and data to support it.

        Furthermore, the view that the United States will “disintegrate economically” is a highly subjective and controversial claim that is not supported by mainstream economic forecasts or indicators. While the United States, like any other country, faces economic challenges and uncertainties, it has a highly diversified and resilient economy with a strong track record of recovery from economic downturns.

        It is always important to approach such claims with a critical and analytical mindset, and to rely on reputable sources and data to inform our perspectives and decisions.

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Thermal Coupling, Western Pacific heat engine was connected to the Southern Ocean during deglaciation.

    ‘Our records reveal that La Niña-like conditions dominated during the deglaciation as a result of the more intense warming in the western Pacific warm pool. Both the subsurface temperature and ocean heat content in the warm pool rose earlier than the sea surface temperature, and in phase with South Pacific subsurface temperature and orbital precession, implying that heat exchange between the tropical upper water column and the extratropical Southern Ocean facilitated faster warming in the western Pacific.’ (Zhang et al 2022)

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Premier Dan on diplomatic mission to mend fences.

    ‘Dan’s back in town, after secret China trip.

    ‘Prime Minister Anthony Albanese endorsed the Premier’s mission to China almost two months ago — with both state and federal departments working for weeks to organise visas.’ (Herald Sun)

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    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘The Liberal party are a nasty, bigoted outfit and people have worked them out. That might be why they keep losing. They don’t want people focused on the persecution of trans people. They want people focused on the cost of living,’ said Dan Andrews.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    “I’m not sure why I’m being laughed at if I’m the expert in the room. … I have a PhD!”

    https://twitter.com/VinceCoglianese/status/1641428470155603968

    Gee I don’t know. 🤣🤣

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  • #
    Dennis

    Our Treasurer: Chalmers grew up in Logan City in Brisbane’s south. He attended Catholic schools before going on to Griffith University, where he completed the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Communication. He went on to complete a PhD in political science at the Australian National University, writing his doctoral thesis on the prime ministership of Paul Keating,] titled “Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia”.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      I object to the phrase “political science”. The study of politics and politicians is not science, it is the antithesis of science.

      It’s rather like the expression “climate science” as used by those involved in the promotion of the anthropogenic global warming fraud. It’s not science, it’s politics.

      (I’m not complaining about you Dennis, just the expression that’s in common use that you repeated.)

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    • #
      Sceptical+Sam

      So, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia has no qualifications in finance, accounting or economics.

      Hopefully he can count to 100; and knows his 10x tables.

      Can’t complain, I suppose, Australians voted for him. It’s a democracy.

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      • #
        KP

        Looking at the mess that economists have made of the world, he’ll do us well!

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      • #
        yarpos

        How many Ministers in any of our recent Governments (say 50 years) have any real subject matter expertise in the portfolios? or even any actual senior level work experience? or non Arts degrees; they would be a small club I think.

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      • #
        yarpos

        How many Ministers in any of our recent Governments (say 50 years) have any real subject matter expertise in the portfolios? or even any actual senior level work experience? or STEM degrees; they would be a small club I think.

        10

        • #
          el+gordo

          Politicians in democracies rely on public servants for advice and it works moderately well, a bit like Yes Minister.

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        another ian

        As the joke has it that makes him perfectly suited for the job.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      How old would he have been by the time he left the university environment?

      At a guess I had probably done a stint in the services learning a trade, run a business, bought a house and spawned a family by that age.

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    • #

      Our Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers was senior adviser to New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma in 2006 & 2007. I wonder what our Treasurer could recall about Premier Morris Iemma’s concerns about the rampant corruption and influence peddling by Eddie Obeid if he was called to give evidence. Iemma resigned in Sept 2008 (around the time of the Obeid MacDonald coal EL crimes) and he was succeeded by Premier Nathan Rees. Then Rees was succeeded by Premier Kristina Keneally ~December 2009. Rees always claimed the Obeid forces were involved in his sacking. When it was claimed by many that Premier Kristina Keneally owed her promotion to the Obeid faction – remember her famous response in Parliament –
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-14/what-kind-of-premier-was-kristina-keneally/9148572
      Ms Keneally defiantly declared to Parliament “I’m nobody’s puppet, I’m nobody’s girl.”
      So to recap – our Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers (unless he has defective memory) must have interesting things to say about his once boss Premier Morris Iemma and Eddie Obeid – but of course our GeenLeft media are way too polite to even think of going there. Dr Jim is safe.

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      • #
        Ted1.

        Mentioning some of the names that defined a period in NSW politics.

        It was Nathan Rees’s union which gained control of the Rylstone Shire Council and ran it on the Soviet system into bankruptcy and oblivion.

        The staff had a fun time, but it didn’t last for long.

        I didn’t know that Jim Chalmers was part of that scene. Somebody should ask him about it.

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    David Maddison

    Remember to think about a Melbourne meet up for participants on this blog.

    The last one was 6th December 2019 BC*.

    *BC = Before Covid, but only just before because the Wuhan patients were only announced to be sick with a “mysterious” illness on 12th Dec.

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      Scott

      Hi David,

      I am near Moorabbin Airport in the South East if that helps.

      Jo has my permission to share my email address with you.

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        David Maddison

        Thanks Scott.

        SE is good for me too.

        If people agree to a SE location I am thinking of either a Wed or Thu night at the Arcadia Hotel at South Yarra.

        They have good steak meal specials Wed night for $18 or $20 depending on steak type or Thu night either fish for $20 or steak for $24. Of course, everything else on the menu is also available.

        https://www.arcadiahotel.com.au/

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          David Maddison

          Also there is a tram right outside plus it’s about 300m from South Yarra railway station.

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    David Maddison

    The Victorian Premier, Comrade Dictator Dan of Vicdanistan is in China now, on a secretive mission on which he refused to take any journalists.

    Now, nearly all Australian “journalists” are of a Leftist persuasion and uncritical of Dan so it’s not as if they’d write anything bad about him, so what on earth is he doing there?

    And I haven’t heard any complaints from the Liberal Party, the pretend conservative arm of the Lib/Lab/Green Uniparty.

    See video and report at the following link:

    https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/dan-andrews-mediafree-trip-to-china-is-highly-unusual/video/5ca06c28d2eaf7b101a3b791ea282dda

    Dan Andrews’ media-free trip to China is ‘highly unusual’

    19 hours ago

    Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ trip to China is “highly unusual” as he refused to bring any journalists along for his seventh visit, says Sky News host Caleb Bond.

    “It is highly unusual, extraordinary even, for a Premier or Prime Minister to go overseas on official business and not take journalists,” Mr Bond said.

    “It is an insult to the people of Victoria and an affront to free and fair reporting.”

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      Sceptical+Sam

      He’s probably negotiating with the CCP for the release of the Australian journalist who has been imprisoned in China for reporting the news.

      The journos will see him as a hero if and when she is released.

      He’s nobody’s fool that Dan. He’s the band-aid man.

      His Belt-and-Road acquiescence has got to be worth something surely?

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      Mike Jonas

      re: I haven’t heard any complaints from the Liberal Party, the pretend conservative arm of the Lib/Lab/Green Uniparty“:

      “On March 30, David Davis, spokesperson for Victoria’s Opposition, said an enquiry by the state’s upper house’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee into the premier’s China visit was “important.”

      “Without proper transparency, without proper accountability, we can’t be sure that we are getting the best outcomes that Victorians would expect,” Davis said on March 30, reported The Herald Sun.

      “This would be an opportunity to interrogate and question the secretary of DPC (Department of Cabinet and Premier) about what has been achieved and ask what else would have been achieved if the trip had been more open and transparent.

      … Karen Percy, Media President of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said that scrutiny was important for overseas trips, especially when Australian journalists have been kicked out of the communist country.

      “Australia’s relationship with China is sensitive at the moment, and you would think that would actually mean there’s more scrutiny, not less,” Percy told AAP.

      “The decision by Andrews not to take journalists with him to China is deeply disappointing. A visit to a crucial trading partner at a crucial time needs media scrutiny. Govts across Oz pay lip service to press freedom & the public’s right to know,” Percy wrote on Twitter.

      … Meanwhile, opposition leader John Pessuto has also criticised the premier’s China trip.

      “For Daniel Andrews to go to China and drip feed Australian media, particularly Victorian media and the Victorian people, with very basic information that doesn’t tell anybody what the real purposes of the visit are, is a real slap in the face when it comes to transparency,” Pessuto told reporters on March 30.

      “I don’t find it acceptable at all that these types of trips can be conducted to the exclusion of the media.

      “We are all entitled to know the full details of the trip.””
      from Epoch Times Australia – but note that at least some comes from a report in The Herald Sun so at least this time some of it has been reported in the MSM. Daniel Andrews normally makes sure that simply does not happen – but this time he was away in China.

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      el+gordo

      Dan is already back home. While away he hosed down speculation that we’ll be going to war with our biggest trading partner in three years.

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      Gerry

      I’d say he was “renegotiating” the tunnel project which is seriously over budget and badly behind schedule …..by negotiating I mean asking for more money. He is keeping it quiet I presume because he will probably also be delving into “belt and road” now that Labor is in federally.

      Btw….contrast the infrastructure efforts of China in Indonesia – over budget, behind schedule and Japan in Indonesia – ahead of schedule and on budget.

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    David Maddison

    With the Left having just about completed their takeover of the world, we are not much different from this situation now. We are very close and getting closer every day.

    If you disagree and think our situation is different, please comment.

    https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/nyregion/the-message-for-today-in-orwell-s-1984.html

    ”IN a free society,” wrote the French philosopher Montesquieu, ”it is not always important that individuals reason well, it is sufficient that they reason; from their individual thought, freedom is born.”

    Exactly two centuries later, in his futuristic novel ”1984,” the English political novelist George Orwell gave a tragic illustration of what the world would be without the freedom to think. Orwell had the intention to call his book ”The Last Man in Europe,” as a tribute to the essential quality that distinguished man from the world around him, namely his ability to think for himself.

    Winston, the main character of the novel, lives in a country where individual thought is banned, where only the leader, Big Brother, is allowed to reason and to decide. Prodded by his natural need for reflection and critical analysis, Winston finds it hard not to make use of his inborn talents. He starts questioning the wisdom of Big Brother and moves hopefully toward his own liberation. But in his struggle for emancipation he stands alone. The large mass of common people do not find in themselves the need to think independently, to question or to investigate what they have been taught. His fellow intellectuals have sold their inalienable right to think freely for security and a semblance of physical well-being. Winston is the last man in Europe, the only human being who wants to use his independent mind. He can not believe that he is alone, that he is the last man in London to resist Big Brother’s conquest of the minds. He trusts the wrong men and is doomed to fail. When he finally is ”converted” to believe in and to love Big Brother, another slave is born, another cog is placed in the machinery of the State, the last man in Europe is dead.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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      Mike Jonas

      Yes, we are very close and getting closer every day. The typical wealthy Londoner has no concern whatsoever for the poorer citizens currently being crushed by ULEZ (London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone).

      A relative of mine recently took an Uber ride in London, and the Uber driver told him that their ULEZ fines averaged 780 pounds (about $A1000) per month, because the signs were so poor that it was impossible not to make mistakes. Another friend said they were called by a daughter in another part of London for help, and were fined 540 pounds (about $A700) for the trip there and back.

      Can you imagine what it must be like for lower-paid workers in London trying to make a living but not being able to afford an electric vehicle (EV’s travel for free throughout ULEZ). When my London relative asked a wealthy EV-owning neighbour that question, the reply was “they should pay more”.

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    David Maddison

    Here is an amazing video from Vietnam.

    This guy picks up a highly corroded engine from a sand near the sea and rebuilds it and makes it work from a highly degraded condition.

    https://youtu.be/grdXZSLMido

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    This is a 13 min video illustrating someone’s thoughts on the next 180 years. It’s thinking that AI just may be a little more important than climate!?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63yr9dlI0cU&t=23s

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      David Maddison

      Much of it seems plausible and has been explored in movies such as Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) and The Terminator franchise.

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    Big news!

    Proposed House Resolution calls for offshore wind moratorium
    By David Wojick
    https://www.cfact.org/2023/03/31/proposed-house-resolution-calls-for-offshore-wind-moratorium/

    The beginning: “A proposed Resolution in the US House calls for the Congressional investigation of a comprehensive list of potential liabilities arising from offshore wind development. Offshore wind work is to stop as the probe proceeds. The broad scope of the inquiry is clearly stated in the resolution’s summary statement:

    “H.Res.239 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that offshore wind projects along the Atlantic coast require more comprehensive investigations examining the impact to the environment, relevant maritime industries, and national defense before being leased or constructed.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/239/all-info

    The long list of offshore wind liabilities that the Biden Admistration ignores is well worth investigating.

    Please share this article.

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    KP

    Caitlin Johnstone gets right up Penny Wong about her hypocrisy over Julian Assange.. The journos arrested in China and Russia get full-time attention and foot-stamping from Ms Wong, but Julian never gets a mention, even being an Aussie.

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/04/01/australia-isnt-a-nation-its-a-us-military-base-with-kangaroos/

    Seems our Penny just wants to get the Assange case finished up and hand him over to the alphabet Depts for a Guantanamo holiday of waterboarding..

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    Kalm Keith

    Hi Rick,
    My response is also in modulation above.

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    I’ve made a video that show how Rockefeller together with politicians within the UN created to climate scare. Comments welcome!
    https://youtu.be/LEAGu2RKX-0

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      David Maddison

      Great video Per.

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      Graeme#4

      Good video, but I think more could have been made of the efforts of Maurice Strong and how he deliberately overloaded the (initial?) Rio conference with green activists, blindsiding the many scientists who thought they were attending a scientific conference.

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    Lance

    Hey Dude, Don’t Take The Jab.

    https://rumble.com/v2fi4c4-hey-dude-dont-take-the-jab.html

    Apologies to the Beatles.

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    RicDre

    Chinese EVs catching fire:

    China’s Flagship EVs are Exploding in Huge Numbers

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOA7qKMcjcE

    50

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Adult Human Female”

    https://youtu.be/94HFMSm-JBo

    “This is interesting to watch, especially if you can last the distance.”

    https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/04/02/adult-human-female/

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “These angry Dutch farmers really hate Microsoft
    Tech giants want to build massive, “hyperscale” data centers in the Netherlands.”

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/these-angry-dutch-farmers-really-hate-microsoft/

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      KP

      Grrr..!
      “Nitrogen, produced by cars, agriculture, and heavy machinery used in construction, can be a dangerous pollutant, damaging ecosystems and endangering people’s health. ”

      Making people dumber in chemistry!

      “There are around 200 data centers in the Netherlands, most of them renting out server space to several different companies. But since 2015, the country has also witnessed the arrival of enormous “hyperscalers,” buildings that generally span at least 10,000 square feet [Editor’s note: The vast majority of hyperscalers are much larger than this] and are set up to service a single (usually American) tech giant. Lured here by the convergence of European Internet cables, temperate climates, and an abundance of green energy, Microsoft and Google have built hyperscalers; Meta has tried and failed.”

      Well, the tech giants seem to think Europe will have a stable electricity supply. I’m amazed they are not putting them in France, at least the nuclear power can be relied on. Just how much data can the human race spend its energy on saving?? Will data be our Easter Island statues?

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    Having watched 30 mins of the sky coverage of the Ashton byelection, I’m just a little surprised that no one seemed to think the libs could lose a blue ribbon seat? Is it an upper middle class, university educated, abc watching, public/private bureaucracy working, HR run, electorate?? I don’t know, but it could possibly be? Where we have the ‘Toxic Trinity’; university educated, abc watching, under the thumb of human resources, it’s a recipe for the explosion of wokeness (define wokeness –delusional hypocrites!) And the focus seemed to be, ‘how do we win back these people?’ Please. The libs maybe even too late to appeal to the lower class areas, with re education happening down to pre school level. Welcome to a victim led economy.
    Hypocrisy – the left love women, especially if they are men, and definitely not conservative; they hate black folk being killed by white folk, but happy with black folk being killed in large numbers, by other black folk; the blindness to renewable eco destruction; they are sweet loving folk, who spew bile at the enemies they are told to hate.

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      Ted1.

      How to win them back?

      By not missing the opportunity the second time their freezers thaw.

      They might not believe it the first time, but twice should be enough.

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    • #

      Economic suicide for Australia is what it is. And, the ‘intended consequences’ are obvious to anyone with half a brain. The ‘Pollies’ don’t even have that much of a brain or very much common sense.

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        Kalm Keith

        More than that Johnny, it’s a betrayal of the Australian people who expect government to represent them with integrity and wisdom.

        The UniParti has “put up” electricity/energy prices and now want to shift responsibility.

        Interestingly, they’ve now included an external party in the damage and failed to consider that there might be serious consequences.

        Australians are prisoners but foreign businesses are capable of calling a spade a spade and using it.

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      KP

      “”The consequence of these well-intentioned policies will be that the increasing energy demand in our region will be met by coal and not by natural gas,” Mr Ueda told MPs at private parliamentary function. “The result will be much higher global greenhouse gas emissions and will make net zero by 2050 an impossible task.”

      No surprises..

      Japan will ‘unfortunately’ have to buy gas off Russia if it is to survive, or invade Australia and take the gas fields over. Which would happen if it wasn’t still occupied and run by America! However, the world the way it is, America will be getting rich selling their gas around the world at twice the price of Russian gas.

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    OldOzzie

    Black Ball says:
    April 2, 2023 at 6:30 am

    In that context I bring you Piers Akerman:

    There is stupid and there is stupider. There is Labor and there are the Greens. Illogical and irrational parties rapidly running the nation into the ground with wishy-hopey policies sprinkled with fairy dust.

    Using the crudest fear politics on climate change – and as yet no one anywhere has produced scientifically valid proof that humans are responsible for changes in the weather –

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned the nation to economic collapse with his embrace of an impossible net-zero emissions target.

    The energy policy which Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen agreed with Greens leader Adam Bandt is environmentally and economically disastrous.

    Bandt’s boast that “in balance of power, the Greens have stopped many of the 116 coal and gas projects in the pipeline from proceeding, and now we’re coming after the rest” should set the klaxons wailing.

    The Greens, Labor and the green-left propagandists are fond of the hysterical prefaces “crisis” and “catastrophe” when mentioning the climate but it is Australia and the global environment which will be devastated by their policy to cap emissions by penalising gas producers and manufacturers reliant on reasonably priced, reliable energy supplies.

    By putting impediments in the path of further gas and coal use in Australia and phasing out future developments of these industries which have proved essential to our economy, these useful idiots will ensure a cascading disaster will unfold.

    It should be obvious to all but the most obtuse ideologues that the loss of export income will be truly catastrophic, as will job losses in regional areas of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, NSW and South Australia.

    “Shanghai Dan”, Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews, may believe his state doesn’t need natural gas to provide essential energy but already he is pleading for more gas from states which haven’t followed his lunatic lead and banned gas production.

    While the Greens plead an environmental case for their bans on both fossil fuels and nuclear energy which their European counterparts have already abandoned, sending Australian manufacturing offshore to countries with virtually no environmental safeguards will guarantee that any imports we can still afford will be made using far more environmentally dirty fuels emitting greater emissions than they would have had they been able to maintain production in Australia.

    It’s another case of the Greens defeating their own purpose as they strive to grandstand before their inner-urban acolytes.

    They and their Labor partners are the greatest environmental vandals in the nation.

    They can’t help shooting themselves in their feet either.

    ACTU president Michele O’Neil’s bald claim that the union movement was implacably opposed to “nuclear power, nuclear waste and proliferation” was met with undisguised contempt from Dan Walton, the head of the AWU, and a vice-president of the ACTU.

    Walton, whose members are found in the power industry and across a swathe of manufacturing and other sectors of the economy, has never hidden his disdain for the unpragmatic Greens and the Labor left. Unlike the pooh-bahs of big business, Walton preaches to his audiences across the nation that the green-left dependence on unreliable so-called renewable energy sources spells doom for such essential industries as cement and fertiliser manufacturing, as well as glass, steel and aluminium which require products derived from carbon or the energy fossil fuels or nuclear could provide.

    The current anti-nuclear power position the Albanese government and the Greens are wedded to categorically rules out the firming base-load power that would keep the lights on and keep industries in Australia rather than see them go to unregulated nations reliant on dirty energy.

    These klutzes also ignore the reality that most Australians will rely on one or more nuclear medicines in their lives, and that the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement will provide work opportunities for thousands of Australians in coming decades.

    Their incoherent energy policy effectively undermines the security of the nation and should be challenged on this basis as well as the obvious threat it poses to jobs and average household consumers faced with ever-increasing power bills.

    The government will find it necessary to pay for the vast fields of solar panels and the forests of wind turbines which have already removed immense areas from vital food production.

    So dumb are the proponents of these dangerous policies that they may not understand how they have failed the nation until blackouts force them to recognise the reality of their folly.

    Dumb and dumber – on display in Canberra. The electorate has been warned. (well yes Mr Akerman but these ars@holes were voted in regardless)

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    Lawrie

    Late to this party as usual but something of interest. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/poll-majority-of-americans-now-think-a-college-degree-isnt-worth-the-cost/

    If you come from a conservative background why would you pay $80000 USD to be harangued by some Marxist lecturer and end up with a worthless degree.

    I must admit to telling my grandkids that unless they want to be doctors or engineers they should get a trade because tradespeople will always be in demand as the elitists and woke types are incapable of tying a shoelace let alone building a dwelling.

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      KP

      “Students today would be much better off learning a trade or going directly into the workforce.”

      Yup! They should go back to all the politicians that pushed for everyone having a degree and take their pensions off them to pay the student debt! It was obvious from the start that they had to drop academic standards to get people in.

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      Hanrahan

      Hi Lawrie. If a young American wanted a science or medical degree would there be value in hopping the border north or flying the oceans to find a cheaper, less woke environment? I accept that couldn’t work for law.

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        another ian

        H

        Would most likely have to pass the hurdles of qualifying to practice in USA – i.e. another “big club”

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    Lance

    “The Ten Commandments”, Cecil B. DeMille, 1956.

    https://ok.ru/video/2184832813595

    https://ok.ru/video/2615262710288

    (only places found in full length. 3:51:38. )

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    Lance

    “Ben Hur”, 1959, English, 3:42:27 (only place found free streaming)

    https://ievenn.com/ben-hur-1959-ingles/2409206/

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      David Maddison

      I clicked on it from an Android phone and the link tried to hijack my Chrome browser and wouldn’t let me get out of the page. I had to shut down that window.

      So be careful!

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    Hanrahan

    Who will carry the guns when Trump is charged?

    The secret service has the sworn duty to protect the President. My understanding of that is that they SHOULD be the only ones armed near him.

    We’ll see.

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      Lance

      There are more guns in private ownership per citizen, in America, than any country on Earth. More than 423 Million legally owned private weapons. More than 8 Billion rounds of ammunition. The populace is well armed, well trained. Think about it. America has the most firearms per citizen in the world. For a reason. Read the 2nd Amendment. “The Right of citizens to Keep and Bear arms shall not be infringed”. The only time you need it, is when you need it. Otherwise it is a Sport or a Hobby.

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        Hanrahan

        No guns in private hands will be allowed within cooee of the proceedings. Does the number of guns indicate a wide distrust in government to you? Does me.

        My curiosity is whether deputies will be allowed to carry. I assume the Sheriff will be hurriedly checked and will be allowed a holstered handgun.

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    Reader

    Bowen’s Blight, Greens’ Delight, a Nation’s Plight
    https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2023/04/bowens-blight-greens-delight-a-nations-plight/

    nyone who has consulted the Federal Parliament’s website to find out what the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2023 is all about, now that it has been amended by The Greens, good luck. As with all legislation it will keep lawyers in business. I found explanations by so called journalists wanting. Perhaps they didn’t take the trouble to understand it. I have to say that I think the ABC provided the clearest explanation; at least that I found. Oh for the days when the ABC could be relied upon to provide objective factual commentary. Remnants remind us of what has been and what could be again, if the place were cleaned out and replenished with informed and self-reflective journalists and commentators.

    The Safeguard Mechanism catches any entity or company (“facility” in the Bill) whose operations emit more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2-eq) per year. CO2-eq theoretically converts all greenhouse gas emissions to the equivalent of CO2 in terms of their estimated global warming effect. Apparently 215 facilities are caught right now in the Mechanism, but this of course could change.

    Coming into effect on July 1, the Clean Energy Regulator will establish baseline emissions for each facility which they will have to better by at least 4.9 percent each year until 2030. Bear in mind that the 4.9 percent is a constant number deducted from the initial baseline. So a baseline of 100 kilotonnes becomes 95.1 in year one; 90.2 in year two; 85.3 in year three and so on. In other words, the percentage reduction becomes more burdensome as the years roll on….

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    JoNova just got rave reviews on Outsiders who scrolled through a story she has done on the long history of droughts – floods – fires etc across the Great Southern Wide Brown Land.
    Which I assume must be quoting this page –
    https://joannenova.com.au/2020/03/a-history-of-droughts-and-flooding-rains-from-1782-1865-in-australia/

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    Mr Robert Christopher

    The Green Agenda is only a means to an end, and it’s nothing to do with the Natural Environment.

    Here’s Sandi Adams, from just after 5:15, talking about Agenda 2030 and what is behind it at a Glastonbury Town Council, in the UK, meeting (17 mins):
    https://youtu.be/thwJhj93DI8

    And here she is talking to Richard Vobes (30 mins):
    https://youtu.be/h9VoOOMhVVQ

    00