Saturday

8 out of 10 based on 20 ratings

156 comments to Saturday

  • #
    John Hultquist

    Japan: “growing issue of vast numbers of its aging population who live, and die, alone. ” {BBC}
    40,000 people died home alone in Japan in the first half of 2024. Of that number, nearly 4,000 people were discovered more than a month after they died, and 130 bodies went unmissed for a year.
    To me, this indicates a serious breakdown of society. I could not find similar data for the USA.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      It’s tragic.

      Also, Japanese aren’t marrying and reproducing enough to maintain their population. It is shrinking.

      They don’t allow any significant immigration and have elected to maintain a monocultural society. That’s perfectly fine and admirable because it means social cohesion and a low crime rate but the downside is a shrinking population in the absence of them not having enough children.

      It is suggested Japanese aren’t having children because of the high costs of living in Japan and raising a family and the high commitment to extensive work hours. Plus there is less interest in marriage.

      Apparently South Korea which has a similar culture is in an even worse situation than Japan.

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      • #
        CO2 Lover

        Karoshi (Japanese: 過労死, Hepburn: Karōshi), which can be translated into “overwork death”, is a Japanese term relating to occupation-related sudden death

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      • #
        Dave in the States

        A lot of Japan’s problems stem from the collapse of the “bubble economy” during the early 90’s. With the collapse of the bubble economy, there ensued a decades long recession. The malaise just went on and on, year after year. A whole generation passed who could not afford to get married, buy a house, or have kids. Now they have an population segment approaching retirement age who have nothing. No pension. No insurance. No real estate. Renters not owners (of everything). No families.

        Their sad plight tells what “you will own nothing and be happy”, Build Back Better, the Green New Deal, Nutz Zero, really are: Hell.

        So here in the west we are rushing head long down the same road that led to the bubble economy and its collapse.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      There is a forest in Japan called Aokigahara where people go to commit suicide. There are a number of depressing YouTube videos about it.

      At least those poor souls do it voluntarily.

      In the West, the Left promote euthanasia, especially in Canada where people are often strongly encouraged to do so.

      In fact, 4.1% of all deaths in Canada are medically-assisted killings.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      The falling birthrate is a universal problem, associated with a burgeoning middle class. Children interfere with quality of life, so they stop having them.

      Cast your eye around the world and you’ll find a few places having baby booms, underpinned by religious dogma.

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      • #
        el+gordo

        ‘The country with the highest birth rate according to the data is Niger. The fertility rate in Niger is 6.8 children per family. The next countries on the list with the highest fertility rate are Somalia and Chad, both located in Africa.’ (wiki)

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Like I covered recently, the Japanese youth have a group called Hikikomori, who live their lives alone typically never leaving their rooms. No socialising or dating, just internet surfing and stupid computer games.
      Ditto China, plus China’s youth (and adults too for that matter) have largely given up on finding work (as the economy implodes)and expecting remotely like a worthwhile future ahead if them.
      Bye bye births.
      Ditto the west.
      The Muslims will be all that’s left the way it’s going – the great replacement.
      Under Sharia law, vaccines may not be considered Halal due to the use of pork products like Trypsin or porcine gelatin, so the unvaxxed (with no vaxx reproductive damage) can pop out sprogs no problem.
      Interestingly, also under Sharia law, muslims are prohibited from entering any region or country affected by disease or plague (ie Covid).
      Not exactly what we’ve been seeing in recent years!
      Interesting times.

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  • #
    tonyb

    Lightweight Harris likely to beat Trump

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13796959/kamala-harris-interview-cnn-dana-bash-ANDREW-NEIL.html

    WE have become used to shallow and lightweight US Presidents but Harris is setting new standards. She is the right sex. An ethic minority. She smiles a lot. She is calm. She can read from a tele prompter.

    Trump shouldn’t underestimate her nor the number of people who would vote anyone but Trump.

    This election is for Harris to lose

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    • #

      This bothers me a little. Has it changed?

      A well-respected climate lawyer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also been in the spotlight for his controversial environmental statements.

      ,…

      Last year, for instance, he said that global warming skeptics should be treated as “traitors,” which garnered the ire of Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, whose deep skepticism about the causes of climate change is well-known.

      https://www.politico.com/story/2008/11/rfk-jr-too-controversial-for-epa-015403

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      • #
        Mike Jonas

        Here’s an article from well before RFK switched to support Donald Trump:
        Opinion | RFK Jr.’s surprising pivot on climate change should have Trump worried
        The article is the usual mish-mash pandering to left-wing propaganda, but it does say “Kennedy’s framing — that addressing climate change is a Trojan horse for totalitarianism – …“. There seem to be plenty of other articles saying that RFK has pivoted on climate change.

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      • #
        Graham Richards

        Trump must be really careful with this RFK Jr Democrat plant.
        As the saying explains “ Leopards, never change their spots”.

        They’ve tried to knock Trump out with charges of treason, general “law fare” incitement of sedition, election interference & even the recent old mafia method of silencing. That goes “bang”. All methods, well tried & often successful, practised by the Democrat / Marxist machine!

        I wouldn’t allow Kennedy to have any more involvement than washing dishes!

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        • #
          TdeF

          He is anti war. So is Tulsi Gabbard, another top level Democrat.

          Climate Change is a leftist fantasy, but many people believe it is real. And no wonder with saturation coverage for 36 years. Someone under 40 years old has never known a world without rapid CO2 driven Tipping point Global Warming. The fact that is all a lie is unbelievable. And the head of the UN says the seas are boiling. And people think he is telling the truth? That is unbelievable.

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        • #
          el+gordo

          Donald wants Kennedy in his Administration because he likes his ideas on stopping the drug epidemic. On other issues like climate change he has to shut up, until he talks with Will Happer.

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    • #

      Also concerned about:

      Reaching 100 percent renewable energy as quickly as possible is required to save our planet from the worst effects of climate change.

      Tulsi Gabbard

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Jack Smith Makes Me Think Trump Won in 2020

      Vote early and often

      ROGER SIMON

      I used to be agnostic on the victor in the 2020 presidential election.

      I simply didn’t know since our system is so botched and riddled with holes in almost every state it’s difficult to determine the winner in any of our elections that are even relatively close.

      It is not for no reason that the French abandoned voting machines in 2008 in favor of verifiable paper ballots.

      They feared, as have Americans of both parties in the past, the machines were too open to sabotage.

      The opportunities for corruption abound. And that’s not to mention the early voting (before debates are held), ubiquitous mail-in ballots (something even Barack Obama originally opposed), pervasive ballot harvesting with reams of envelopes dumped anonymously in the middle of the night, non-citizens automatically registered to vote when they get driver’s licenses, no ID necessary in various states, no real signature verification in various states, people voting from non-existent addresses, people voting in the wrong state, dead people voting and so forth.

      All this when the French, with their paper ballots, are able to declare a winner in one day.

      Which brings me back to Mr. Jack Smith.

      Mr. Smith continues to do a disservice to America on multiple levels. Let’s hope the electorate continues to react negatively.

      And for goodness sake, let’s finally reform our elections.

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  • #
    tonyb

    Germany’s disastrous switch away from Nuclear

    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/study-quantifies-germanys-disastrous-switch-away-nuclear-power

    It is difficult to know what was going through the Governments heads when they canceled nuclear and ramped up renewables. Their recession is unlikely to end whilst they have such expensive energy but most of the West are in a similar boat.

    The US has power that is around one third as expensive as the EU and their economy has done quite well despite all the talk of recession.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      tonyb:
      It’s the belief of the bureaucrats that they know best, and can defeat reality by a political decree. In this case it was a joint belief by the EU and the German counterparts, which they got away with due to the public’s distrust of the Chernobyl disaster.
      Then they decided that they didn’t need cheap Russian gas, which has lead to burning wood in winter and the Chemical Industry (once Germany’s pride) to go elsewhere (e.g. BASF). And the moronic idea that they needed (by decree) motor vehicles powered by intermittent and unreliable wind.
      And the same applies in Britain where the belief in “renewables” leads to weird ideas such as relying on wind to keep electricity going, while also producing hydrogen as a clean and ‘safe to store’ backup. The Labour Party has fallen under control of Whitehall Wafflers. That means hardship for many in Britain (none: I cannot use Great) and unfortunately you cannot emigrate to Australa (unless you claim to be HAMAS sympathesers).

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      It was Angela Merkel.
      The East German communist who drove that decision.
      As a good communist she always sought to bring Capitalism to its knees.
      She failed.
      Instead she brought her country to its knees.
      And it’s not over yet.

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  • #
    tonyb

    I am sure no one here would dream of using such non inclusive terms as son, daughter, husband, wife.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vermont-health-department-terms-son-daughter-gender-neutral-terms

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    • #
      Mike Jonas

      “The health department says the term “white” is “a social and political, rather than biological, construct” “. I have some black ancestors but I identify as white. Biology definitely plays a part in that, social and political isuues not so much. Well, none actually
      PS. If someone wants to idenify me as black, that’s fine by me. I respect all my ancestors for their contribution to my existence.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Humans are either one of only TWO genders.

      If you are an XX karyotype you are female, XY you are male. There are rare chromosomal abnormalities but you are still either male or female regardless of external appearance (e.g. someone with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome is XY but externally can appear fully female).

      Any thing else is a delusion or mental illness.

      And so what if terms are not “gender neutral”. If you say “son” or “daughter” then what….? Nothing happens, the world doesn’t end…

      The Left need to get over it and follow the actual science.

      BTW another reason for Americans to vote for Trump is that he believes there are only two genders.

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      • #
        Eng_Ian

        David,
        The majority may be in the same belief system as you but soon those words will have you before a judge pleading for clemency. You won’t be judged by your peers, you’ll just be sentenced for committing a crime, whether you speak it, write it or soon, just think it. And then, if ‘they’ think you had ‘thunk’ it.

        And that’s the world we live in. It started with medals for participation and ends with jail time for offending anyone for any reason, (excepting of course you and I can never be offended).

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      • #
        another ian

        DM

        Check #33

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  • #
    Mike Jonas

    The BBC ripped into Kamala Harris for a lacklustre interview on CNN: “It was not a strong start.

    Initially, Ms Harris struggled to lay out what she would do on day one of the job, talking in sweeping generalisations about creating an opportunity economy and trying to lower the cost of living.
    []
    Throughout the interview, which she did along with her vice-presidential pick Tim Walz, Ms Harris appeared calm and confident. And, crucially, didn’t score any own goals. []”.

    I expect the BBC to treat Donald Trump a lot more gently. Although, of course, they will definitely pick up on any own goals.

    Hmmm. When was the major criterion for selecting the next president the ability not to score an own goal in an interview with no goalposts.

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    • #
      TdeF

      “And, crucially, didn’t score any own goals”

      The questions were known, the answers scripted, the response was edited. Presumably own goals were removed. And given that, why did she need a chaperone?

      Trump is giving vast numbers of interviews, podcasts, free form presentations of over an hour.

      This is not Kamala coming out of hiding. This is hiding.

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      • #
        TdeF

        What you have is a very ignorant woman avoiding exposing her ignorance. Especially on international affairs.
        For a woman born in America, grew up in Chennai and Toronto, how could she not know any geography?
        Living for 30 years in California, how could she not have been to the border at Tijuana? Or not been to Europe?

        And she speaks as to a five year old. Lots of flailing arms. Kindly tone. Excessive smiling. Nervous cackling laugh as
        if something was very funny.

        This woman has not passed any test to be US President. Not a single Democrat voted for her as President. She has not been
        examined by anyone.

        Presidential nominees choose their running mate. Biden was Obama’s useful idiot. Harris is Biden’s useful idiot. That’s two levels down.

        And she has never been tested in public. Given PhD parents, she did not go to a top university or school. Why?

        Does she have a Jay Leno standard college education? In which case she knows no history or geography.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway is now worth $1 trillion, the first non-tech company to do so.

    And he has just sold another nearly $1 billion of Bank of America stock. He has also reduced his holdings in Apple by 50%.

    As of the beginning of August he now has about $276.9 billion of cash.

    I think he knows a stock market correction or recession is coming, at least if Trump doesn’t win.

    Buffet is 94 yrs old.

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    • #
      TdeF

      He is ready to pounce. TO have this amount in cash at a time of high inflation is very risky, but
      the gains to be made when going short on blue chip Bank of America and Apple means he expects an imminent market collapse
      is worth the loss.

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      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        He certainly hasn’t got it invested in the ANZ where he’d be getting 5.1% for a 12 month fixed term deposit.

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    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      Canadian Greg Abel is to be the new leader when WB goes. Abel has overseen Berkshire Hathaway’s non-insurance businesses. In any case, the individual companies seem to be self running.
      List of assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway – Wikipedia
      One of the small ones is See’s Candies; run by Pat Egan who joined See’s with 12 years of Berkshire Hathaway experience, having served as SVP of Customer Operations at NV Energy and VP of Customer and Community Affairs at Pacific Power.
      Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) is a big one; run by Kathryn M. “Katie” Thompson Farmer.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.

      – Warren Buffett

      The Buffett Indicator (aka, Buffett Index, or Buffett Ratio) is the ratio of the total United States stock market to GDP.

      Buffett Indicator =
      Total US Stock Market Value
      Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
      As of June 30, 2024 the ratio values are:

      Total US Stock Market Value = $57.50T
      Annualized GDP = $28.42T
      Buffett Indicator =
      $57.50T
      $28.42T
      = 202%

      This is why Buffet is switching to cash.

      The current ratio of 202% is approximately 63.27% (or about 2.0 standard deviations) above the historical trend line, suggesting that the stock market is Strongly Overvalued relative to GDP.

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    • #
      Forrest Gardener

      Then again a bit like a firestorm can make its own weather, Buffet can make his own luck.

      He is not a passive observer.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    I recently found a brochure I collected which must have been from the late 1960’s.

    It was issued by Australia’s Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) and talked about Australia’s first nuclear power reactor to be built in Jervis Bay south of Sydney.

    They started building that reactor but it was stopped by the Liberal faction of the Uniparty in 1971 with energyphobe Billy McMahon as PM. Nuclear power was again outlawed in Australia by the pretend conservative and energyphobe Howard in 1998, also of the Liberal faction of the Uniparty.

    I am happy to do a high quality scan of the brochure if someone would like to host it, perhaps Jo. I have also visited the site and taken pictures of the remains which is mostly cleared land and a car park.

    Australia once had a bright future.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Australia has a lot of the world’s uranium. Nuclear Energy is still illegal in Australia.

      We have a lot of the world’s coal, which we are not allowed to use. We share the market with neighbour Indonesia as the Greens try to stop export.

      Australian a lot of the world’s gas and we are one of the three biggest exporters but we are not supposed to use it ourselves and will run out soon.
      We have to import gas, often from ourselves via Singapore. But a gas import terminal at Geelong for Victoria has not gone ahead. And no one in Victoria is allowed look for more gas in Gippsland, even at their own expense.

      Victoria is not allowed to export brown coal. The removal of water makes it ‘blacker’. This is illegal apparently and exports to India were stopped by the Brumby Labor government after an ‘Age’ campaign. Briquettes are identical to black coal in thermal output, but too black.

      Now we are not allowed mine gold. Aborigines did not have metal and object to mining as disturbing sacred battle sites, which is odd given the complete lack of records. Besides with $42 Billion a year for aboriginal welfare, why allow gold mining for other people? All the gold is in taxes on invaders.

      We have half the world’s Thorium, sharing with India. This is 100% fissile not 0.5% like Uranium, but we are not interested in developing thorium power, no
      matter how safe it is compared to uranium and how cheap it is for us and which would make us the richest nation on earth.

      No, we are trying to export solar based electricity and hydrogen made from solar based electricity. All with Chinese made solar panels.

      And the government has introduced a 35% CO2 tax on every big company, which is already closing businesses like QENOS, driving them overseas. And pushes
      up all consumer goods and services, even burial and sewage and transport.

      This is what happens when almost all Australian politicians are technology ignorant lawyers.

      As Labor and the Greens compete for the activist vote, Australia is being driven into bankruptcy. Starting with Daniel Andrew’s Victoria. This is intentional.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        I am resigned to Australia becoming a failed state.

        My only concern now is how to preserve my personal safety as crime and terrorism* increases and to preserve assets in an unstable, highly taxed economy in which excessive taxes and regulations and economic destruction will continue to increase.

        *The Australian Government is the world’s biggest importer of people who legally elected a terrorist Government and for whom, according to the government, support for the prescribed terrorist organisation, Hamas, doesn’t invalidate their entry. The official terrorist alert in Australia is now PROBABLE.

        https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/national-threat-level/current-national-terrorism-threat-level

        ​Australia’s general terrorism threat level is PROBABLE — there is a greater than fifty per cent chance of an onshore attack or attack planning in the next twelve months.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      The Jervis Bay Territory was carved out of New South Wales in 1915. At the time, it was felt that the Australian Capital Territory needed access to the sea and a port. Given that creating a land corridor would involve ceding an unreasonably large amount of land, it was decided to keep the two territories separate.

      In 1995, Jervis Bay National Park and Jervis Bay Botanic Gardens Annexe were granted to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council and subsequently leased back to the Director of National Parks, giving the Koori Aboriginal group ownership of the land.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Do you know how much taxpayers pay for the lease of their own land back?

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      • #
        Forrest Gardener

        Interesting. I always thought that native title did not include the right of alienation. In plain English native title land cannot be sold.

        The basis of all land leases is that the tenant has rights over the owner. That sounds awfully like alienation to me.

        Oh well. One more thing to add to my ever growing list of things I do not understand.

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      • #
        KP

        “At the time, it was felt that the Australian Capital Territory needed access to the sea and a port.”

        So even back then the politicians wanted their ‘own’ Customs and Excise control! There were obviously ‘things’ they wanted across a wharf they didn’t want the hoi polloi to know about.

        Nothing has changed, corruption and hypocrisy go hand and hand with politics.

        00

    • #
      John Connor II

      Interesting how pollies won’t allow nuclear reactors for power but wanted to buy nuclear weapons in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
      Maybe a big fat extension cable from a nuclear sub for power instead?
      FAR bigger things on the horizon to worry about than energy though…

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  • #
    David Maddison

    One big difference between Leftists and the Thinking Community is that Leftists are excellent at promoting and marketing their degenerate ideologies.

    E.g. they have no end of variations of the term “phobe” in reference to someone they wish to silence.

    At least when dealing with the anti-energy lobby, conservatives and fellow rational thinkers can use the term ENERGYPHOBE.

    Goolag has no record of such a word so I think I am the one who coined it. 🙂

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Brilliant US Election ad about Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), an extremely serious psychological disorder.

    The ad was made by RFK’s former VP pick Nicole Shanahan, not the Trump campaign.

    Outstanding! Under 2 mins.

    https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1829309603684950054

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    • #
      Graham Richards

      Some Democrat supporters do have a couple of ounces of that rare ability to apply common sense to the most cunningly ridiculous policies.

      Unfortunately it’s not possible to study for common sense qualification. It requires more brain power that around 50% of any given population have at their disposal.

      It’s more than likely that brainwashing during their formative years is responsible for the deficiencies!

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      • #
        • #
          OldOzzie

          You don’t get to insist Donald Trump’s private peccadilloes are a criminal matter while being silent about the corrupt relationships of Kamala Harris, the Clintons, and so many others.

          Setting aside Erickson’s crude imagery, I’ve covered Kamala Harris’ relationship history more extensively before, but here’s a summary of the facts as we know them:

          When Harris was a subordinate in the San Francisco DA’s office, she started dating Willie Brown, the most powerful man in California politics, who was 31 years older and married. After the current DA passed over Kamala Harris, a woman who failed the bar exam and is not exactly known for her mastery of the law, Brown was instrumental in alienating the existing DA, and was personally involved in raising money and running Harris’ successful campaign to get elected district attorney. Once in office, Harris let a number of Willie Brown’s friends off the hook when they were facing serious charges — including an egregious case where she let a city contractor and Willie Brown donor skate after endangering people’s lives after defrauding taxpayers by using cheaper, structurally unsound recycled concrete to build bridges and other important structures.

          [SNIP]
          I would have been more circumspect than Erickson, but 26 years after Bill Clinton’s “dalliance with an intern,” I’m supposed to believe Longwell and her colleagues are on their fainting couches because a pundit made a reference to oral s@x?

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        “Why Haven’t You Done That Already?”

        The Significance of the Passage of Time

        DANA BASH: “You’ve been Vice President for three and half years. The steps that you are talking about now, why haven’t you done them already?”

        KAMALA: “I’m very proud of the work we have done.”

        She was speaking, you understand, but the main thing you noticed was the musical quality of her voice: sonorous, resonant, like one of the more obscure woodwind instruments, an alto clarinet or a basset horn, producing a sound like unto creamy dressing over the familiar word-salad of iceberg lettuce.

        It would be ungentlemanly to bang on the particulars of Kamala Harris’s CNN interview performance, so I’ll proceed. The nocturne was 18-minutes long, all that survived from the 41-minutes CNN actually recorded, so you might wonder a little about the notes not played. The leitmotif throughout was “my values have not changed,” meaning, disregard any dissonance you might detect in the velvet honk of my voice. Mind the significance of the passage of time, not the music, Altogether, as nocturnes should, it had a soporific effect.

        And now candidate Kamala Harris will go back to hiding on her campaign bus, which makes a different statement than, say, hiding in the basement a la “Joe Biden,” 2020.

        [SNIP]

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        Ben Domenech@bdomenech

        Television is mostly about visuals.

        Whoever set up this visual is terrible at their job. Bad lighting, makeup, hair, color choice, Walz’s collar askew, angle making Kamala look small, water cup center shot, off the rack poorly fitting suit… this whole thing just looks bad.

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        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          A person of the people has to look like that.
          She did.
          The only problem is that she’s not a person of the people.
          She’s a puppet.
          A ventriloquist’s doll.

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  • #

    Just came across this link.
    https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2024/08/28/robertson-to-deliver-aberdeen-hydrogen-hub-project/

    Now, to be clear, this is Aberdeen, Scotland.
    Scotland, North of England, for avoidance of doubt.
    A solar hub to be built – at about here –
    https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hareness+Road,+Aberdeen/@57.1154223,-2.081739,939m/data=!3m1!1e3?authuser=0&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

    57 North.
    Ketchikan is about 55.4 North – so this solar hub is about 90 miles further north.
    Within 600 miles of the Arctic Circle – where the sun doesn’t rise at mid-winter.

    This can only be a subsidy-gouging operation. Shirley.

    Still …
    “Once operational the hub will have the potential to deliver up to around 300 tonnes of green hydrogen a year through the initial phase of the project, enough to fuel 25 buses and a similar number of other fleet vehicles per day.”
    “Up to”
    Less than a tonne a day.
    About twenty kg of hydrogen per ‘bus and other fleet vehicle’ each day.
    That much diesel [so c. 23 litres] would get a car perhaps 150-200 miles.
    A bus – 8, even 12 tonnes [London double decker] – a LOT less.
    Especially stop-start, up hill and down dale.

    And this is hydrogen.
    About one third the energy density …

    No doubt the good burghers of Aberdeen are well aware of the very real drawbacks of hydrogen – embrittlement, flammability, ‘leakability’, low energy density and the rest – but still hope to make a shilling or two … I guess, before an accident occurs.

    I hope nobody is hurt.

    Auto

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      another ian

      FWIW

      “‘Mostly unusable’ | Existing gas pipes would need massive retrofit or crippling de-rating to carry hydrogen: study”

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/24/mostly-unusable-existing-gas-pipes-would-need-massive-retrofit-or-crippling-de-rating-to-carry-hydrogen-study/

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      Diesel to the Rescue

      Snowy Hydro will have to run the first unit at its new Kurri Kurri power station in NSW on diesel instead of gas for at least two months once it comes online, and has no schedule for introducing green hydrogen into the fuel mix, despite Labor’s initial stipulation.

      A commitment to run the fast-start 660-megawatt generator on green hydrogen was central to the Albanese government’s support for the project, which began under the Coalition and was initially opposed by Labor when the party was in opposition.

      https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/snowy-hydro-s-kurri-kurri-generator-to-run-on-diesel-for-months-20240826-p5k5b1

      Given the current shortage of Natural Gas on the east coast Kurri Kurri might need to run on diesel for a lot longer!

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Snowy Hydro will have to run the first unit at its new Kurri Kurri power station in NSW on diesel instead of gas for at least two months once it comes online, and has no schedule for introducing green hydrogen into the fuel mix, despite Labor’s initial stipulation.

        I think this is the beginning of producing much of Australia’s baseload power from imported diesel as we are running out of gas, despite being one of the world’s largest exporters, and “Green hydrogen” is never likely to happen.

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    • #
      CO2 Lover

      UK shelves 10,000-home ‘hydrogen town’ heating pilot until at least 2026

      H2 ‘may still have a role to play’ in residential heat but roll out will be slower than heat pumps, says government

      The decision comes after the government abandoned plans for two smaller “hydrogen village” trials – in Redcar, on Teesside, and at a village near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire – after months of strong opposition from concerned residents who feared they may become unwilling “lab rats” for a technology that would never take off in the UK.

      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/09/third-pilot-of-household-hydrogen-heating-shelved-by-uk-government

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        John Connor II

        Hydrogen haters gonna hate!
        Lemmee guess – chemical bonds, electrolysis, steel brittleness, NASA, costs and other OLD problems?

        Oh boy…
        Wonderful things, search engines.😆

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      David Maddison

      This can only be a subsidy-gouging operation. Shirley.

      Yes. Nobody can be that clueless. Shirley.

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      RickWill

      enough to fuel 25 buses and a similar number of other fleet vehicles per day.

      This reminds me of make work schemes like paying to break windows so you can pay to have them repaired.

      GBP40M seems an awful lot to supply 25 buses with fuel with some hydrogen left over for other uses.

      GBP40M would buy enough diesel to power the busses for a century or more.

      It would be far more sensible to buy 25 hybrid buses.

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      Chad

      About twenty kg of hydrogen per ‘bus and other fleet vehicle’ each day.
      That much diesel [so c. 23 litres] would get a car perhaps 150-200 miles.
      A bus – 8, even 12 tonnes [London double decker] – a LOT less.

      1 kg of H2 will yeild 24+ kWh of electricty from an average efficiency (60%) fuel cell.
      In a electric drive bus, that would be enough for at least 25 -30 miles
      So 20 kg of H2 would be enough for 5-600 miles !
      But…. Generating that 1kg of H2, requires 50 kwh of electricity into an Electrolyser.
      So just running the bus on electricity instead of H2,… the bus could travel twice the distance !

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    David Maddison

    As some of the world’s most uncivilised people who have a deep hatred for Western values and culture, move into Western countries across open borders, what do you think will become of the museums, art galleries, libraries and all other repositories of Western culture?

    They will be destroyed, of course. Our countries will be made like the countries these people are leaving, which makes you wonder why they are leaving in the first place.

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      Forrest Gardener

      I’m not sure there is much to save in modern museums, art galleries, or libraries as repositories of Western culture. That role was lost long ago.

      But to address your main point, if you were in the situation these people are leaving, would you stay there?

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      el+gordo

      ‘ … a deep hatred for Western values and culture …’

      That is Putin.

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        KP

        “‘ … a deep hatred for Western values and culture …’ That is Putin.”

        Lol! Have you started early EG? Putin is the only leader upholding real Western values! Men are men and women are gorgeous, work hard and pay taxes, invade anyone who doesn’t do as they’re told.. oops, no, that was America!

        Russia- men are men and women are gorgeous, work hard and pay taxes, have many children and help defend the Motherland against the destroyers of traditional Western values..

        Its the WEF’s UN and the Left that you are looking for to pin the hatred on, you won’t find a Western leader supporting traditional Western views anywhere now.

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    CO2 Lover

    Shocking photos emerge from crime besieged Alice Springs: ‘How long will it be before someone is killed?’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13795085/Shocking-photos-emerge-crime-besieged-Alice-Springs-long-killed.html

    Albo wasted $450 million on “The Voice” but had to be dragged kicking and screaming to visit Alice Springs to hear what the locals were saying.

    Albo quickly retreated to his private jet and headed off to the tenis in Melbourne.

    There was no plan developed as to how to solve the problem in Alice and no return visit by Albo.

    How many $ Billion of taxpayer money is spent each year by Canberra on “Aboriginal Affairs”?

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      David Maddison

      Alice Springs is a place I would have liked to visit but I certainly won’t be doing so now.

      As Australian society continues to degenerate, more Australian towns and areas will become like this.

      It’s all part of the Labor/Green plan.

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        CO2 Lover

        The Northern Territory’s tourism minister says “all Australians have a social responsibility” to visit the NT, as new figures reveal visitation is struggling at the territory’s famed landmark of Uluru.

        Fewer tourists = fewer job opportunities for locals

        Telling people (especially women) they are not welcome to visit Ayres Rock was not a smart move

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/nt-uluru-visitor-numbers-slump-post-covid/102947432

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          David Maddison

          Racist policies of banning climbing of Ayers Rock by non-native races was a huge mistake.

          It is hardly worth visiting (for most people) without that option because it is exceptionally expensive to visit (food and accommodation) and hard to get to (and expensive airfares).

          I visited in August 2019 just before race-based access was imposed as I wanted to climb it.

          When Bob Hawke (PM) gave this iconic Australian landmark away on 11th November 1983, the agreement was access to it would be maintained for all races. Nobody at the time had any problem with that.

          I won’t be visiting the NT for charitable purposes. GET WOKE. GO BROKE.

          I have some videos of my visit:

          https://youtu.be/GLJe4GJJeKM

          https://youtu.be/lgd-XJ_Vpx4

          https://youtu.be/2VSIp1zU6wQ

          https://youtu.be/6t2MIocDxv0

          https://youtu.be/JqAvwikr-p0

          https://youtu.be/2ywZseH_JPM

          https://youtu.be/pg8JKKCJ8Ww

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          Forrest Gardener

          Hint to the NT Tourism minister.

          I’ll be more likely to return to Ayers Rock when my culture is respected by using our traditional name of Ayers Rock.
          While you are at it you can use the traditional name of the nearby Olgas too.

          I wonder how (if) Kings Canyon escaped the ignominy of losing its traditional name.

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        Chad

        It’s all part of the Labor/Green plan.

        Honestly, i do not believe the Labor/greens have a “plan” at all. None of them are smart enough .
        Infact, i dont believe they are smart enough to even realise what they are doing or the consequences that will result !

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          Sceptical Sam

          Chad,
          I say you’re mistaken on that one.
          The “Aboriginal” situation that exists today has its antecedents in the Nugget Combs’ plan of the 70s.
          It’s since become an industry, staffed by left-wing socialists and Labor parasites.
          The Labor government’s “plan” is to keep it that way. It’s an employment program to keep the Labor activists happy and out of the way.
          Money is not a problem. They sincerely don’t care about the consequences. It’s all in the name of “bleeding heart” leftist ideology.
          That is: a fraud.
          A fraud on the Aboriginal people.

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      Kim

      Indulgences on a massive scale. Albo (and the left) are virtue signalling – that’s being charitable. Being not charitable – they want to deliberately divide and conquer – hence the racism and apartheid. They see themselves as being part of an international power structure (sucking up to it) and that they need to do their part. Thank God for the lame socialist corporatist attitude prevalent in Australia. We just don’t have the culture for extreme violent politics and I hope to God that we don’t go that way. I constantly fear for the tightening of the screw.

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        KP

        “We just don’t have the culture for extreme violent politics ”

        We might get saved by the same people we are immigrating in from the Middle East. They have a religion that stands hard against political interference and haven’t become emasculated soyboys as the whites in the West have. So while we might end up as another Pakistan (rather than Saudi Arabia) there is no way the WEF can force their one-world Govt onto the Muslims.

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          el+gordo

          Fortunately there is hope that the children of these new immigrants will become Australians and give up serious religion. It is what it is.

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            David of Cooyal in Oz

            I suggest there is equal probability that some children of the moderates will develop into extremists.

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              el+gordo

              Anything is possible, but on this big island, with ample opportunity to be happy and free, there is a tendency to conform.

              Which brings us back to the Alice, we need a two state solution.

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                KP

                A two state solution? South Africa had plenty of experience with that, and we are doing our best if you just look at the comments above showing how much of Australia is being given to a minority race.

                By now we should have experience of how well the recent immigrants of the post 1990s blend in like the immigrants did from the 1960s and 70s. If we can manage that then it only leaves the Aboriginal problem to solve. I’d like a completely transparent report on where the money that gets paid out of our taxes goes as it gets fed through various Aboriginal Govt Depts and tribes. There must be some very rich people in there who just ‘identify’ as Aboriginal.

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                Sceptical Sam

                KP,
                It’s, as I say above, an industry, controlled and run by the neo-Marxists, the socialists and the Labor parasites for their own benefit.
                It’s got nothing to do with Aboriginal advancement and integration into a productive Australian society.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    “Leftist judges shouldn’t touch climate policy”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/25/leftist-judges-shouldnt-touch-climate-policy/

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    CO2 Lover

    Hamas Terror Leader Calls for Suicide Attacks on Israel

    Confirmation comes in a report in Israel365News, which reported Hamas “leader abroad” Khaled Mashaal said, “We want to return to martyrdom operations.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/08/hamas-terror-leader-calls-suicide-attacks-israel/

    Remind me – How many “Tourist Visas” did Palestinian activist Albo issue to Gaza residients so they could ply their trade in Australia?

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      NZ Police arrest ‘the whole’ Comanchero gang in Christchurch yesterday, including the leader, a Maori fella who grew up and learned his ‘trade’ in Australia before being deported here.

      No link, not hard to find.

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        Forrest Gardener

        All 21 of them.

        Is there a new generation of commancheros? The old mob would be just about using walking frames by now.

        Sounds a bit like the Bold Gendarmes from Gilbert and Sullivan. We run them in. We run them in.

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    CO2 Lover

    Good CO2 v Bad CO2

    While the IPCC acknowledges emissions from natural sources have an atmospheric residence time of only 4 years, they have simultaneously constructed model outputs that assert CO2 molecules derived from fossil fuel emissions remain in the atmosphere for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even several one hundred thousands of years.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/30/new-study-co2s-atmospheric-residence-time-4-yearsnatural-sources-drive-co2-concentration-changes/

    Burning Devil’s Rock “Coal” bad – Burning trees good!

    Must be teaching a different form of Chemistry in schools these days.

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    another ian

    FWIW – think about it

    “As the latest memes go, “Mark Zuckerberg sells people’s personal information, and he is a free man. Pavel Durov doesn’t, and he is in the jail.” ”

    In comments at

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/08/30/show-me-the-man-2/

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      Earl

      You sure they aren’t just destroying the evidence after the conviction….. a few ounces at a time. They all seem giggly.

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    David Maddison

    I find it remarkable that a lot of (naïve) people think politicians actually “care” for them. With certain extremely rare exceptions, this is never the case.

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      OldOzzie

      I inform Council of the death of the eminent former Independent Mayor and Parliamentarian, Edward Carrington (Ted) Mack on Tuesday 6 November 2018.

      As Elizabeth Farrelly wrote in a recent edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, Ted Mack was one of the “truly admirable Australian politicians ever to walk the planet”.

      What made Ted “truly admirable” was that he never set out to be a politician, and when he entered politics he was motivated by public service, not the trappings and privileges of office. Along with John Hatton, he provided a model for Independents who acted with integrity and were solely motivated by serving their communities and the public good.

      Born in Paddington on 20 December 1933, Ted Mack was educated at Sydney Boys High School and the University of NSW, graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1958. Following his graduation, Ted married a Rural Bank employee, Wendy Loubet, and the couple travelled to Europe, working in London.

      In 1981, he was elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly seat as Member for North Shore, defeating the then Liberal Opposition Leader, Bruce McDonald. He was subsequently re-elected with comfortable majorities in 1984 and 1988. Given North Shore had almost identical boundaries to North Sydney Council, this made him twice as effective serving his local community.

      During his time as state MP he did not accept the Mayoral allowance.

      Ted resigned from the NSW Parliament on 16 September 1988.

      Had he remained another two days he would have completed seven years parliamentary service and been eligible for a substantial parliamentary pension.

      In March 1990, Ted returned to public life when he was elected to the Australian Parliament as Member for North Sydney, defeating John Spender, the Liberal Opposition’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

      He continued to advocate for greater transparency and public participation and introduced a private member’s bill to provide for citizen initiated referendums based on the Swiss model.

      He resigned from the Australian Parliament on 29 January 1996, again to avoid being eligible for a parliamentary pension.

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        David Maddison

        Funnily enough, just yesterday I was reminiscing about him as he was my local mayor and later representative at the time.

        He also refused a mayoral car and drove himself, in his beloved vintage 1951 Citroen.

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          OldOzzie

          David,

          Ted Mack was Local Mayor for my investment properties and I met him on a number of occasions & loved that he would arrive in his Black Citreon LT15

          As mentioned above

          Along with John Hatton, he provided a model for Independents who acted with integrity and were solely motivated by serving their communities and the public good.

          Have not seen any like them since.

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          CO2 Lover

          Thanks to Ted Mack we got Joe Hockey!

          Hockey was preselected as a Liberal Party of Australia candidate for the 1996 election in the Division of North Sydney when aged just 29. He faced little preselection competition, since the seat’s incumbent independent, Ted Mack, was thought to be unbeatable. However, Mack did not renominate; had his intentions been known earlier, it was widely believed at the time that Hockey would have faced a more rigorous preselection contest for what has traditionally been a “blue ribbon” Liberal seat

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      el+gordo

      Democracy creates career politicians who are often well intentioned when they start out, but they are eventually crushed by the party machine.

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    David Maddison

    I wrote this four years ago:

    I think the main threat to President Trump’s re-election is fraudulent voting by the Left. This has been in preparation for a long time such as with the Obama “motor voters”, extremely suspect voter rolls, lack of anti-fraud measures in the voting system and most recently mail-in votes, not to be confused with absentee votes which the President fully supports due to built-in anti-fraud measures.

    The other threat to the President is the overwhelmingly Leftist Enemedia and social media. It’s of particular concern that Trump supporters and even Trump himself are censored on social media and their “reach” restricted. I am also concerned that Twitter might ban Trump’s account at a critical time before the election. Twitter is almost Trump’s only outlet where his words can be truthfully reported, by himself.

    This really is an insurrection against the United States and exposes the full evil of the Left.

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    David Maddison

    There will now be charges to discourage people from sending solar power to the grid. They are encouraged to store it in their own batteries instead.

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/madness-to-charge-people-for-sunlight-sneaky-sun-tax-slugged-on-solar-households-slammed-as-ripoff-amid-cost-of-living-crisis/news-story/c0c446f7a071dfa8e1f50eea26a4148a

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      Vladimir

      Which is another reason to buy an electric car.

      It is a tragic mistake to call green (openly or covertly) bureaucrats stupid. They know exactly what they are doing.

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      CO2 Lover

      Sign of the times.

      In 2023, state policymakers changed California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and weakened the incentive for companies to push rooftop solar by reducing payments to homeowners who sell back excess power the panels generate, according to CalMatters.

      Those changes negatively affected SunPower’s business, culminating in its bankruptcy filing, according to Bloomberg.

      https://stopthesethings.com/2024/08/30/totally-busted-californias-subsidised-solar-scam-implodes/

      Have they thought of running a cable from California to Hawaii to sell their excess solar power there? Australia has the technology just ask Chrissy Bowen!

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      KP

      Can’t they fit a diode switch so they export nothing between 10am and 3pm? With the strongest sunlight at those hours you would end up paying the electricity company for having solar on some days. That’s 3hrs at 4KW, 5hrs at 8KW or more, then 2hrs at 3KW, so unless you can use a lot in the middle, it will cost you to have solar! Those figures I just pulled off some commercial solar company selling the systems.

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    Earl

    The problems with corporate communications these days. Newly elected Labour MP in Britain, a shining light example to the impoverished and struggling honest working class that he will now champion, who also just happens to own 15 rental flats, is shocked to discover “failures in communications” between himself and his property management team.

    According to him the black mould infestation and other common area faults involving entrance ways and lighting are the result of such failures and go against his humanitarian efforts to provide excellent accommodation at lower than rental market prices.

    I hope that while they identify and correct this failure they also identify and correct the “failures in communications” that left tenants with a belief that if they complained they would be evicted.

    I see a lot of wiggly worms crawling out of their can over the next few weeks as information of just how much cheaper rents were, what the “relative” connection level between property management team and landlord was as in level and volume of communication/reporting etc.

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    another ian

    FWIW

    If you want to do rainbow serpent tracks you’ll need this –

    “Technical Guidelines on the Archaeological Assessment of First Nations Underwater Cultural Heritage in Commonwealth Waters

    Heritage Marine Environment protection
    Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

    https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/technical-guidelines-archaeological-assessment-of-fnuch

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      RickWill

      Wonderful news for wind farm development.

      I wonder how much it will cost to remove the rainbow serpent from Bass Straight.

      30

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      John Connor II

      At the beginning of the Dreamtime, the earth was flat and dry and empty. There were no trees, no rivers, no animals and no grass. It was a dry and flat land.

      One day, Goorialla, the rainbow serpent woke from his sleep and set off to find his tribe. He crossed Australia from east to west and north to south, stopping to listen for his people. He crossed every part of the dry, flat Australia but found nothing. After searching for a long time, he grew tired and lay down to sleep.

      The land he lay down to sleep on was not the same land he had set out to search for his people on, though. As he had looked for his people, his big, long body had cut great gouges into the land.

      Goorialla lay in the sand all alone until he decided to create more life in the world. He called “Frogs, come out!” and frogs rose out of the ground with their bellies full of the water they stored. He tickled the frogs until the water burst from their mouth and filled the gouges in the land. These gouges made the rivers and streams we see today.

      https://dreamtime.net.au/rainbow-serpent-story/

      I’ll see your talking snake in Eden and raise you one flying snake without wings.
      Still waiting for someone to find the km long snake skeleton…

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    CO2 Lover

    True depth of Blayney mine affair
    Tanya Plibersek has been accused of secretly overruling the Environment Department’s hand-picked Indigenous cultural assessor in her decision to declare a heritage order against the $1bn Regis gold mine in NSW.

    (From The Australian)

    Michael Coutts-Trotter’s journey from drug smuggler to head of the justice system

    He is one of the most senior bureaucrats in NSW, in charge of the state’s court system and prisons. He’s married to Tanya Plibersek, one of Labor’s most prominent and powerful figures. He is also a convicted heroin smuggler.

    Albo sure can pickem!

    The $1bn gold mine that was supported by local Aboriginals was halted by the Labor wife of a convicted herion smuggler due to “secret women’s bussiness” as promoted by a self-declared female “Elder”, which has to remain a secret!

    Just when we thought the Albanese Goverment (Circus) could not go any lower.

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    John Connor II

    Tucker Carlson: how Big Pharma keeps you sick

    https://youtu.be/mUH4Co2wE-I?si=9208llXKEOFHn0LY

    Big pharma whistleblowers.
    2.5 hours 😁

    20

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      David Maddison

      After the plandemic, I am absolutely certain that is what they do, in cooperation with politicians and senior public serpents and the ignorant, compliant Lamestream media.

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    another ian

    FWIW – the latest Kunstler

    “The Significance of the Passage of Time”

    “DANA BASH: “You’ve been Vice President for three and half years. The steps that you are talking about now, why haven’t you done them already?” KAMALA: “I’m very proud of the work we have done.” ”

    More at https://kunstler.com/clusterf*-nation/the-significance-of-the-passage-of-time/

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    John Connor II

    City of Columbus sues man after he discloses severity of ransomware attack

    Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said on August 13 that a “breakthrough” in the city’s forensic investigation of the breach found that the sensitive files Rhysida obtained were either encrypted or corrupted, making them “unusable” to the thieves. Ginther went on to say the data’s lack of integrity was likely the reason the ransomware group had been unable to auction off the data.

    Shortly after Ginther made his remarks, security researcher David Leroy Ross contacted local news outlets and presented evidence that showed the data Rhysida published was fully intact and contained highly sensitive information regarding city employees and residents. Ross, who uses the alias Connor Goodwolf, presented screenshots and other data that showed the files Rhysida had posted included names from domestic violence cases and Social Security numbers for police officers and crime victims. Some of the data spanned years.

    https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/08/city-of-columbus-sues-man-after-he-discloses-severity-of-ransomware-attack/

    When will the msm and govts stop lying?

    30

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      KP

      But it gets worse! The City sued Ginther for releasing the data showing they are incompetent and liars, and found a judge who readily issued ‘cease and desist’ papers before anything else was shown to the public. Now they’re trying to jail him for yelling out ‘the Emperor has no clothes on’.

      20

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    MeAgain

    https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/labor-party-launches-disinformation – “What this suggests is that politically-driven attempts to fight mis- and disinformation through mass-reporting operations are not capable of steering public discourse closer to the Truth.

    Rather, they are political tools to achieve political ends. They should be treated as such, and trolled relentlessly.”

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    MeAgain

    https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/ExcessMortality47/Report – ‘when COVID-19 hit’ – I mean, when exactly was that…. how did it hit, where?

    Are you sure it wasn’t usual flus + Vaping Acquired Lung Injury / Toxic Vapes …?

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