Sunday

8.9 out of 10 based on 8 ratings

104 comments to Sunday

  • #
    Skepticynic

    >100 January 6 Political Prisoners Launch Historic $50 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Against Weaponised DOJ

    This historic legal action seeks to compensate these individuals for the extensive harm inflicted by what they describe as a weaponized justice system. From the loss of generational family businesses, homes, and careers to the irreparable emotional and psychological damage suffered during years of wrongful incarceration, the plaintiffs are demanding accountability for the Federal Government’s actions.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/january-6-political-prisoners-launch-historic-50-billion/

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      TdeF

      The blatantly illegal destruction of all records of January 6th events and testimonies by the committee made it abundantly clear that they had a lot to fear from the truth coming out. Embedded FBI/CIA agents previously denied. And hidden video records which freed Jacob Chansley as having clearly committed no crime as he was under police escort the entire time and led a prayer for congressmen in the chamber.

      Plus the role of Liz Chaney in the committee and the prior actions of Nancy Pelosi who was in charge of security in deliberately creating the situation of conflict in the first place. The subsequent mass incarceration of people who were little more than tourists in effect was appalling and unprecedented in modern times. Many were freed since because roughly half the charges were found to be invalid, interfering with the business of Congress, which was simply not true.

      And of course the role of the Democrat party members and leaders including Pelosi and others in creating the whole situation. Notwithstanding the fact that voters had real reason to doubt the legality of the election with widespread reporting of what seemed to be fraud. The extremely partisan January 6th committee had all the aspects of fairness of the Spanish Inquisition.

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        Ian

        “Notwithstanding the fact that voters had real reason to doubt the legality of the election with widespread reporting of what seemed to be fraud. ”

        Have you any of the”voters’real reasons to doubt the legality”?

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        • #
          TdeF

          Yes. Many. More importantly the people who marched on the Capitol to protest without a single weapon had every reason to believe they had been cheated. There were hundreds of complaints. And you cannot have insurrection without armed people. In a time of ‘largely peaceful’ ultra violent BLM and AntiFA protests’ it was only a double tour of duty veteran woman who was killed in the Congress at point blank range by a police officer. She was on her knees. No policemen were harmed. And what were the FBI/CIA undercover people doing in the crowd? Who brought the pipe bombs conveniently found?

          But the Republicans moved on. Cheating is accepted as widespread in the US. And in this last election 200,000 Republican volunteer lawyers and scrutineers kept the elections clean. Every attempt to have unsigned ballots, anonymous voters, illegal aliens, vote harvesting and a thousand other frauds were litigated and observed and prevented. Only in California did it continue with bomb threats emptying buildings. And weeks of counting.

          While Donald Trump in 2020 achieved the highest vote in American history, Biden beat it, which is beyond explanation without cheating.
          This time in 2024 the Democrat vote was down an amazing 5 million! Explain that without fraud, especially when the Democrats spent an extraordinary $2.5Billion getting out the vote.

          And the gates of the Congress were opened on the orders of Nancy Pelosi. She stopped the deployment of the National Guard who were ready to move. It was a trap. She has yet to answer for her decisions. Or even be questioned.

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          • #
            Ian George

            I followed the 2020 election closely. Trump was up 13 points in Pensylvania after the ‘walk-ins’. Scrutineers were sent home at 1:00am as counting was stopped. Next day, after a technical hitch which supposedly held up counting of mail-in votes, suddenly Trump was only 1 point ahead. Make up your own mind.

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            • #
              PeterPetrum

              In Maricopa County in Arizona (I think) at midnight the graphs of the vote counting showed Trump pulling ahead of Biden on the steady graph curves. At about 2:00am Biden”s graph shoots upwards in an almost vertical line and then, when “official” counting began again in the morning, Biden’s graph stayed just ahead of Trump’s to the end of counting. Statistically impossible.

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          Mike Jonas

          The Democrat claim was that the late surge in Biden votes was a natural effect of Democrat voters using postal votes more than Republicans. So I watched the 2022 mid-terms carefully – and there was no late Democrat surge. None. Then I looked back at the 2020 election and the Democrats had been really heavily urging their supporters to use postal votes, which I think they did not do in the 2024 election or in the 2022 mid-terms. There was also no late Democrat surge in 2024. My interpretation is that the Democrats were planning to cheat via “postal” votes in 2020, and their call for postal voting was for cover. The various “enquiries” into the 2020 election seemed to be mostly an avoidance of actual enquiry. I would like to see a full and proper enquiry next year, but things are now so bad that there are more important issues.

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  • #
    TdeF

    And in bankrupt Victoria, Australia, one way of reducing the massive debt run up in the ‘big build’ is to undo the Victorian government order against the export of brown coal. Coal is one of Australia’s two major exports. And when compressed, brown coal has the same thermal energy content as briquettes as black coal. It is irrational for Saudi Arabia,Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, USA, Venezuela, Russia and more to be able to profit massively from energy output but coal is to be kept in the ground in Victoria and searching for gas is also banned. As is picking up sticks for firewood.

    The very idea that Victoria alone is supposed to reduce world CO2 output by self impoverishment is absurd. In 2006 the Brumby government stopped a $400Million sale of brown coal to India. Because as “The Age” reported, the removal of water made the brown coal ‘blacker’. An incoming Conservative government should enable coal sales which would quickly restore the budget and enable the removal of the new and onerous Land and Covid taxes.

    Across Australia, carbon hating is killing our society, impoverishing us and making no difference at all to CO2. Federally the 35% CO2 tax to be buried in all our purchases, another example of how illegally hidden Government theft is crippling our economy and doubling energy costs and travel and shipping costs.

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    • #
      TdeF

      But for the avowed Communists who run our country Anthony Albanese (Trotsky), Adam Bandt (Lenin) and China agent and Foreign Minister Penny Wong it’s business as usual, wrecking the joint and attacking Israel and pushing anti Semitism as government policy. No criticism of China is tolerated by Wong. They do not want us using our own coal. We must use the income to buy Chinese windmills and solar panels and thousands of transmission towers. Obviously. Even if they crumple in a strong wind.

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      • #
        TdeF

        One thing is certain. There is no connection between CO2 emissions and total CO2. Even total CO2 ’emissions’ have just reached 1% of what is already in the atmosphere which is itself 2% of what is in the ocean, so 0.02%. Inconsequential, as can be seen from the straight line.

        Henry’s Law gives two reasons atmospheric CO2 goes up. Firstly if sea temperature goes up, as seen in Maona Loa summer and winter oscillations. Secondly if the concentration of CO2 in the upper ocean goes up, something which is pushed as effect, not cause. And absurdly called acidification when no ocean is acid. The oceans are all alkali, the same pH as very fresh drinking water from concrete pipes, apart from the salt content. Deceit and outright lies.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        They do not want us using our own coal. We must use the income to buy Chinese windmills and solar panels and thousands of transmission towers.

        It’s bizarre isn’t it?

        Selling coal to other smarter countries to produce cheap steel and electricity just so we can continue to destroy our electrical grid and replace it with a fundamentally defective, inefficient and expensive weather-dependent system. Plus we also sell gas at world’s cheapest prices on a bizarre 30 year contract, still running, with no provision for inflation or market price. https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/how-australia-blew-its-future-gas-supplies-20170928-gyqg0f.html

        There’s a very good reason the world rapidly abandoned wind power (and animal and human) after 1712 when Newcomen developed the first commercially viable steam engine. James Watt improved the engine even further in 1764 to make it more fuel efficient.

        Now stupid countries like Australia are regressing several centuries to before that. Other countries are industrialising and progressing out of the Third World while Australia is deindustrialising and becoming Third World, an exporter of rocks, food (until the Government finally destroys all the farmers) and “education” of fee paying foreign students who come here to be “educated” to get university degrees where “academics” are told that they’re not allowed to fail such students, even when the educational content has been totally dumbed-down.

        At what point should politicians responsible for this be charged with treason?

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        • #
          OldOzzie

          There’s a very good reason the world rapidly abandoned wind power (and animal and human) after 1712

          Europe: The Fall of the Holy Renewable Empire

          Solar and wind power production falls drastically during unfavorable weather conditions. It happens, in fact, every year. This condition, however, now has far-reaching economic and environmental repercussions, revealing the flaws in an energy policy based on intermittent renewable energies.

          Why does Germany, while having one of the highest carbon footprints, now consume the most expensive electricity in Europe? How did the country lose its energy autonomy?

          For the last fifteen years, Germany invested massively in solar and wind energy, while sabotaging its own nuclear power stations. By 2023, renewable energies accounted for 55% of electricity production in the country. In 2022, it was only 48%.

          The main contribution to renewable energy has comes from wind power, at 31% of total production, followed by solar power at 12%, biomass at 8%, and other renewable sources such as hydroelectricity for the remaining 3.4%. In 2024, renewable energy accounted for almost 60% of German electricity production in the first half of the year. This production level, however, is smoothed out over a given period and does not reflect moments of crisis such as the “Dunkelflaute.”

          Dunkelflaute

          Renewable policies would be bearable if they were based on a sustainable energy source — indifferent to the weather — such as nuclear power. In 2011, however, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Germany abruptly decided to phase out nuclear power, and gradually shut down fully operational plants. This decision reduced the country’s capacity to produce stable, predictable electricity and instead made heating, cooling and so on cruelly vulnerable to fluctuations in renewable energy sources. In short, when there is neither wind nor sun in Germany, the lights go out.

          The phase-out of nuclear power has left Germany incapable of being self-sufficient in energy, especially during Dunkelflaute. The country imports electricity on a massive scale from France, Denmark and Poland, and has to use coal and lignite to produce electricity. Germany’s massive imports of electricity also lead to colossal increases in electricity prices for its neighbors.

          But this is “for the planet”, right? Not even close.

          Despite its commitment to so-called green energies, Germany still has a high carbon footprint due to its increased reliance on coal and lignite to make up for energy shortfalls.

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        • #
          OldOzzie

          Energy Policy Is Key to Peace and Prosperity

          Since the dawn of the industrial age, nations have required an ample supply of affordable and dependable energy in order to thrive in the modern world. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many wars were fought over access to vast oil, coal, and natural gas deposits.

          Unlike many European powers of the recent past, the United States has been blessed with an abundance of coal, oil, and natural gas deposits.

          During World War II, when the United States was dubbed the arsenal of democracy, American industry produced prodigious amounts of planes, tanks, weapons, and other war materiel thanks to the massive amount of coal, oil, and natural gas in places like Texas and West Virginia.

          Most Americans have probably never heard of the Big Inch or Little Big Inch pipelines. Both were built during the Second World War to bring Texas crude oil to the Northeast for refining because it was too risky to transport the oil by ship up the East Coast due to the threat of German U-boats. Without these pipelines and the enormous amount of oil pumped during the war, perhaps the United States would not have been able to tip the scales in favor of the Allies.

          Unsurprisingly, Trump’s American energy dominance plan produced abundant and affordable energy for the American people.

          The price of gasoline plummeted, as did the cost of electricity. Moreover, under Trump, the United States became a net exporter of oil for the first time in 75 years.

          Tragically, President Biden has gone in the complete opposite direction, which has cost the average U.S. household more than $2,500 in direct energy costs.

          Meanwhile, Biden has put America back into the Paris Agreement, subsidized EVs, and spent tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on absurd climate change programs.

          With Trump back in the White House and climate realism replacing climate alarmism, Americans should have high hopes for the years ahead.

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      • #
        TdeF

        I asked Adam Bandt after his talk as he was looking to get a seat on the Melbourne City council, why his views were straight communism. His answer was shocking “we tell them what they want to hear and when we get power, we do what we want”. This he learned from his PhD on communism on the Victorian waterfront and Lenin in the military Putsch in St. Petersburg. It was before Comrade Bandt discovered the Greens were his natural home. He does not believe a word about birds and bees and trees. It’s all about power.

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      • #
        jelly34

        Ask the people of Broken Hill how”Renewables”performed.They have Solar panels,windmills and battery back-up which was found to be useless when they lost 7 transmission towers during a recent storm.They were with-out electricity for 24 days until they got some DIESEL generators.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Another possible use for Victoria’s brown coal is to generate hydrogen. There is/was a pilot plant in Gippsland that shipped some to Japan but no further comments in the media. Headed by a former Chief Scientist.
      Or they could use that brown coal to make other chemicals such as methane which could be used to overcome the shortage caused by refusing to use the known offshore reserves.
      Why we could make diesel which has uses such as running generators when renewables fail.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Hydrogen from coal involves the production of CO2 as a by-product which then has to be sequested forever according to the false hypothesis that CO2 is destroying the planet.

        The Gippsland hydrogen cluster is promoted here:

        https://www.committeeforgippsland.com.au/gippsland-hydrogen-cluster

        The Victoriastan “carbon” (sic) capture and storage project is CarbonNet, here:

        https://djsir.vic.gov.au/carbonnet

        Japan has withdrawn support for the hydrogen fantasy, no surprise there. They know its a stupid idea. That’s all the more reason to believe Australia will continue with it. Being a stupid idea is a prerequisite for Australian “green” projects.

        https://www.drive.com.au/news/japan-cuts-off-australian-hydrogen-supply/

        Japan cuts off Australian hydrogen supply – reports

        Two large Japanese corporations have withdrawn their support for Australian hydrogen projects within days of each other – amid continued investment into fuel-cell cars by Toyota.

        Ben Zachariah
        09 December 2024

        A multibillion-dollar deal to supply Japan with hydrogen appears to be in tatters.

        First reported by The Age, a trial to supply Kawasaki Heavy Industries with ‘brown hydrogen’ – created from coal using converted powerplants – has been abandoned, according to Japanese news outlet Nikkei.

        The plan involved converting brown coal to liquefied hydrogen in Victoria’s Gippsland region, to be transported via specially-built ships out of Hastings – providing Japan’s industry with a steady supply of clean-burning hydrogen.

        SEE LINK FOR REST

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    • #
      ianl

      … And when compressed, brown coal has the same thermal energy content as briquettes as black coal

      Nope. Lignite (brown coal) has an extremely high water content, in some deposits including Loy Yang up to 40%. Lignite is also very low rank coal, and typically contains high non-carbon (mineral ash) content, again in some deposits up to 35% … under the older definition of coal from the Joint Coal Board, material with such high moisture and “ash” content may not even be classified as coal, but rather carbonaceous shale or some such. The lignite power generators at Loy Yang and Yallourn are specifically designed and engineered for the characteristics of those individual deposits. Deliberately symbiotic.

      Lignite with high moisture and ash contents have no direct export market. Rather the smelted alumina is the indirect export. This worked (no longer, political interference) because the La Trobe Valley lignite deposits are enormous in thickness and volume and sub-cropped extremely close to the surface for many, many km.

      Briquettes of lignite are saleable at low, low prices if the initial mined material has been dewatered as far as economically feasible. This does not remove the low rank, high ash content though, so the SE (specific energy) is still way below much higher ranking thermal black coals.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Lignite with high moisture and ash contents have no direct export market.

        India was quite happy to buy Victoriastan lignite at one stage but the $1.5 billion deal was cancelled by the Government.

        https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/government-shelves-coal-export-plans/news-story/ba046c3ff1ef6aa4b10d4423c5f8fa9d

        December 10, 2009

        FEARS of a voter backlash have forced the Victorian Government to shelve plans to export Victorian brown coal to India.

        The Age newspaper in October revealed plans for Melbourne-based company Exergen to develop a $1.5 billon scheme to mine, dry and ship 12 million tonnes of Latrobe Valley brown coal to India for use in power generation.

        But Energy Minister Peter Batchelor has now ruled out the export plan.

        SEE LINK FOR REST

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        • #
          David Maddison

          Incidentally, Batchelor is another example of a simpleton given a professional job making multi-billion dollar decisions. His only job prior to politics was a trade union official for the Furnishing Trades Union.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Sure, lignite is usually around 60-66% water as in places like Germany and Gippsland. This is used to argue that Brown coal is the ‘dirtiest’ fuel by the metric of least energy per ton, which is deceit. You cannot count the water.

        And I did compare the thermal capacity of black coal and dry compressed brown coal and they were very close.

        Energy value (net wet) 5.8 to 11.5 MJ/kg
        Energy value (gross dry) 25 to 29 MJ/kg

        and Bituminous coals are the most common fuel in the power sector. Their colour is black or black with layers of glossy and dull black. Their heating values range from 24.423 to 32.564 KJ/Kg. They have a carbon content of 69% to 86%

        Apart from ash, its chemically all the same stuff. Rare jet black anthracite is higher at 35 MJ/kg.

        However a joint venture between a Bacchus Marsh company and Monash university had developed a way to remove the water, by compression. So you do not lose energy in removing the water by evaporation.

        Yes, brown coal is not usable as coking coal in demand by China for making high quality low impurity steel, but competitive with all thermal black coals as from Indonesia who have grown to equal our exports in tonnage. Our NSW black coal is particularly clean.

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      Yarpos

      I used to buy very nice brown coal based briquettes at Buunings. They were from Germany and were a very handy and long burning option if we got caught short with firewood. I would be very happy to buy a Latrobe Valley version.

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      Dennis

      As you would understand, Australia has an abundance of minerals and energy and should be today a far more prosperous and wealthy nation, but our wealth potential has been undermined (pun intended) by politicians who lean to the left as in centre-left to far-left, the latter now dominate Labor.

      During the late 1990s a small group of senior executives in a manufacturing business looked into income tax and goods & service tax and unrealised natural assets. For example Treasurer Costello was criticised for selling gold bar reserves for a profit, Labor said the profit would have been higher if the sale had been deferred, and that was true, but what if that market rise had stalled? Costello responded that Australia is one of the few nations with known to be enormous reserves of gold and silver and did not need a substantial gold bar reserve.

      Right now natural gas import terminals have been constructed, importing gas would like importing coal to Newcastle.

      Our calculations and assumptions indicated that well managed natural resources, including the large potential agricultural irrigation farming from Kununurra WA across NT and NQ, an area the size of Western Europe, proposed by the Abbott Coalition Government in the 2013 election campaign based on CSIRO and other studies of the area and potential, including dams on the “wild rivers”, and other potential for wealth creation for the nation and nation building, there would be no need for income tax and other taxes could be reviewed.

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  • #

    People seem surprised that US electric power needs are projected to rise. They rose steadily for the 50 years 1950-2000 and likely before that:
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/188521/total-us-electricity-net-generation/

    Then they mysteriously leveled off for reasons I have never seen explained. Now it looks like that rising is resuming which I think is great news. Of course we once again need increasing reliable generating capacity. Fine by me.

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      David Maddison

      I think the main driver of increased consumption will be AI and cloud computing which use enormous amounts of power which is why Big Tech is entering into contracts with nuclear and coal electricity providers. You can’t run AI and the cloud on expensive, random wind, solar and Unicorn flatulence power.

      I doubt whether electric cars will increase market share under TRUMP, they will probably decrease and be seen as an expensive mistake or toys for rich people.

      As industry returns to America under TRUMP, that will also cause an increase in power consumption.

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      • #
        Yarpos

        5G as it proliferates is another increased energy sink vs 4G

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        The Data-Center Boom Eats Up a Lot of Land. Atlanta Says It’s Gone Too Far.

        Artificial intelligence race fuels a rush for big computing facilities that provide plenty of power

        Space to store and process data for everything people stream, scroll and swipe online is still in short supply.

        An artificial intelligence race among the world’s largest tech companies—the so-called “hyperscalers”—is driving a land rush for ever-larger computing facilities with plentiful power.

        Meta, Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Elon Musk’s X all operate Atlanta area data centers, or are planning new ones. X secured a $10 million local tax break for an expansion this year.

        By 2028, the Atlanta metro’s data-center inventory will grow to a power load of more than 4,000 megawatts, more than 30 times the metro’s data center load in 2012, according to real-estate data firm Green Street.

        Georgia Power, the top utility company in that state, said this month that the power requests of potential economic development projects, which are predominantly data centers, could total 36,500 megawatts by the mid-2030s. Today, the utility has a total capacity of 21,500 megawatts, generated and purchased. The utility plans to publish a report with more details on how it will meet future demand in January.

        “There isn’t a single utility provider out there that isn’t being overburdened by requests,” said Guarino, the Green Street analyst.

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        • #
          Tel

          Reminds me a lot of the build up to 2000 when they were investing heavily into Internet links, routers, firewalls, web servers … for that huge Internet boom that was just around the corner.

          Then Dot-Com bust hit, followed by major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, long arguments over browser standards, and very slowly services started showing up online.

          Same will probably happen with this AI data centre build-out … they will use about a quarter of it for what was originally intended and then figure out other uses for the remainder. I would not be throwing money into data centre companies right now.

          https://www.google.com/finance/quote/NXT:ASX?window=5Y

          The revenue goes up, but they don’t make any Nett Income and they don’t pay dividends, and price to book is about 2.5 … I don’t see a compelling argument that you can make money on what is essentially a utility by somehow growing it to a critical point where it suddenly becomes profitable.

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          • #
            Yarpos

            Go long squash courts and roller skating rinks.

            In ancient times we used to play dangeous form of high speed royal tennis with squash rackets and a superball in empty large scale equipment rooms. All fun and games till the flouros get hit.

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    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      It really isn’t surprising that energy consumption is rising, even omitting the rise of crypto mining, AI, etc.

      Not so long ago, we humans would use our muscles to do most of the work around the house. Today though, despite so many people apparently clamouring for lower emissions, pretty much all the housework is performed by powered devices. Virtually nobody washes dishes by hand – it all goes into the dishwasher. My memories of cutting grass as a boy at home was shoving a simple cylinder mower around the lawn, now they’re all petrol or electric. We used to ‘sweep’ the floors with brooms – now everybody uses electric vacuums. Even sweepers are powered. Done the washing? Into the tumble dryer it goes! When I watched TV as a child, we watched the one and only TV we had, in the lounge. Now we have three around the house, on top of three computers.

      I don’t even yank the garage door up myself; a motor takes care of that, and while I’m waiting for the door to rise I’m being recorded by our CCTV system. Three different cameras have picked me up by the time I get to the front door. Mixing dough? Out comes the big red mixer. Chopping onions? Whhzzzzzzz goes the chopper-upper. After coffee, I’ll get the battery-operated leaf blower out. It takes the same rechargeable batteries as the mower, tree lopper, hedge trimmer, impact drill and car vacuum.

      It seems the more we’re told to use less energy, the more we’re encouraged to use. Oh and all that muscle power we refuse to use at home? We’ll burn that at the expensive gym in town, and drive there.

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      • #
        OldOzzie

        Into the tumble dryer it goes!

        We have a 1972 Hoover Tumble Dryer, that is maybe used once in every 2-3 Years.

        Originally Hills Hoist in Back Yard finally broken by kids swinging on it, now all clothes, sheets, blankets etc, dried by Sun & Wind on external Clothes Lines.

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        • #
          KP

          Aha! Toss your clean clothes into it when they come off the line and give it quarter of an hour on cold.. Report back any differences.

          I’ve had my eye out for an old tumble dryer that still runs, I want to know if tumbling them gives them a different texture, and if it removes more cat fur and lint. It seems they all hit the dump years ago.

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        Ronin

        Then toss in two or three 65 inch TVs, an a/c in each room, a zillion downlights, a pool, and then the KW burner of them all, an EV, we are becoming energy hogs.

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      John F. Hultquist

      About 1980 the ‘service economy’ was growing while goods-producing firms became more efficient or left.
      https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2018/08/the-rise-of-the-service-economy/
      Example: the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company became the US’s largest machine tool builder but became defunct in 1970. The company splintered with parts going to India.

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    farmerbraun

    “We face very serious problems with agriculture organized at the gigantic scale, utilizing multi-million-dollar machines (usually mortgaged), giant loans to put in crops, huge “inputs” of chemicals and fertilizers.

    That is probably coming to an end, too, despite the current techno-narcissistic fantasies of Agribiz.

    We’re probably going to need more human beings working directly on farms, smaller farms, with fewer giant machines, less borrowed money for putting in crops, and fewer chemical inputs.

    Which is to say, we’re probably going to see a larger percentage of the population at work growing our food than has been the case for a long time.

    I suppose it’s hard to grok our society becoming reorganized so differently, of reviving ways of living and working together that are consistent with human nature, proven over time, but considered out-of-date now.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/world-order-dangerously-flux

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      Sambar

      Property in my district recently sold for just over $15000 / acre, nearly $40,000,000. for the block. Got me wondering who could possibly afford to get into agriculture any more.
      While this block is “flats” and all tractorable, it’s still grazing country. So even if you could turn off one cow /acre (highly unlikely even with supplementary feeding as its never been stocked at this rate in my lifetime) at $1500 / head it would take 10 years to recover the cost without any additional inputs. So take into account interest rates, shire rates, bad years, low cattle prices, fires, floods and drought you could never recover the purchase price. So, who has bought this place? Dunno but certainly not a local lad trying to get into agricultural. One would have to suspect international money without any return on investment being required.

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      Philip

      Hmmm. My parents were family farmers – genuine ones, not just did it a few years, quite big for the time and highly respected – and they never employed anyone. Couldn’t afford to. Farming is now a bigger operation, and farmers employ people, like me. You spend money to make money, if you dont you go broke. We would spend about $20k per month on fertiliser. These figures spook people, but it’s profitable.

      Biggest problem around here is the existence of small 30 acre properties everywhere, too small for profitable agriculture, so owners have their low quality mongrel cows mowing the grass basically, not productive ag and economy. My boss leases more than several of these properties to do real ag, top export quality beef and milk. A bull costs about $40k, he has several of them.

      The lifestyle money that comes into the area, makes land prices skyrocket and unviable for ag purchases. Having said that he just paid a lot of money for about 15 acres next to his farm. It has a house on it so he will rent that out, only way it was viable (and he was fearful of new greeny neighbour potential).

      In summary, my point is, ag is not what it seems to the outsider. Big money machinery and inputs isnt the end of the world, and not necessarily a bad thing. This idea of returning to a Massey Ferguson 135, pitch forks and people in the field of smaller ag is a bit of a green fantasy that doesn’t stack up in reality. (Even though we are still a small farm enterprise in relative terms, but much bigger than my prents were)

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    David Maddison

    JC II posted this on Friday. It is worth reposting.

    This is very good. I don’t know if it was made by RFK Jr or not. Very short, about one minute.

    https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sorqrcttbg1aqchyb.mp4

    I disagree with two statements in the video. 1) I disagree with the removal of fluoride in water. 2) I don’t agree that Teflon cooking ware is harmful.

    Other than that, it represents a wonderful world with people eating a healthy diet of mostly animal protein and few carbs (and certainly no insects as the Left promote for non-Elites).

    It’s all part of the TRUMP Revolution. America is about to enter the wonderful next phase of its Civilisation, having cast away Leftism and electing TRUMP. Hopefully the rest of the West will follow, but for most of Europe, they are too far gone. Australia might be too far gone also.

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      KP

      “I disagree with two statements in the video. 1) I disagree with the removal of fluoride in water. 2) I don’t agree that Teflon cooking ware is harmful.”

      Hmmm.. Your body runs on iodine and chlorine, I would expect some changes if you have fluorine interfering with that mechanism.

      Fluoride in water is just another mass-medication, and debunked by the drop in dental caries in places that don’t fluoridate.

      Teflon is a chemical the human race never evolved with, like the plastics and aluminium salts, and you can be sure no-one is going to spend large fortunes testing any of those for ill effects. I wouldn’t want to bet on them not interfering with cellular processes, they’d likely bind permanently to some enzyme as they replace something we need.

      There may be more of us, richer and living longer than ever before, but we are also sicker than we’ve ever been. So many things to blame…

      70

      • #
        John Connor II

        The anti-Fluoride group often quotes USA “excessive” water fluoridation levels saying they’re way above safe levels, but don’t mention that they’re naturally occurring, NOT added Fluoride.
        Studies will say there’s no evidence that fluoridation is harmful.
        Of course multiple factors may be at play when considering health outcomes and health strategies. eg the autism and vaxx debate.
        Is there an actual increase in autism or is it that we now have instantaneous transmission of information globally and superior processing technology making the figures look worse.
        Glyphosate was released at the same time as autism rates started climbing. Glyphosate in the food?
        How about we compare unfluoridated vs fluoridated countries, like Japan?
        Oh look at that!

        https://fluoridealert.org/studies/caries01/

        “During the past 40 years dental caries has been declining in the US, as well as in most other developed nations of the world… The decline in dental caries has occurred both in fluoride and in fluoride-deficient communities, lending further credence to the notion that modes other than water fluoridation, especially dentrifices, have made a major contribution.”

        Healthy food? Lack of tooth rotting sugar?
        Maybe they brush longer or use mouthwashes.

        Teflon? Jury’s out but as per always, err on the side of caution.

        https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-nonstick-pans-toxic

        I’d be more more concerned over the health risks from burnt offerings.
        ie cook your food at lower temperatures.
        If your food’s charred or your kitchen is full of smoke it’s time to cook at much lower temperatures.😁

        20

        • #
          Philip

          I wouldn’t even bother with the teflon frypan debate when a far superior product is a wrought iron fry pan from Solidteknics. These things are awesome. Solidteknics.com.au and will last a lifetime, probably 3.

          I don’t care about the health debate. Those non-stick teflon things are non-stick for about 2 months, then they’re high stick.

          40

        • #
          KP

          “If your food’s charred or your kitchen is full of smoke it’s time to …find another wife..”

          Grilled/fried food tastes so much better! We have evolved to seek it out I reckon, there’s no queue for boiled zucchini!

          30

    • #
      MP

      With teflon cookware you have a choice and many other options, but you have a choice.
      With Fluoride/Fluorine in the water, you have no choice, government mandated mass vaccination. It’s for our teeth health they say, it works by contacting your teeth, how much in a mouthful of water actually contacts your teeth? (safe and effective)
      You cook, wash your clothes, car and water your plants for your teeth health?
      Your gastric system is Hydrochloric acid, Fluorine and HCL form Hydrofluoric acid, this extremely nasty acid will migrate to your bones and consume the calcium. The amount added to government water sources is small but over your lifetime, lots of small equals?

      This is a medication based on studies funded from the mining companies, who had warehouses full of this toxic material and were unable to dispose of it due to it’s toxicity, unable to sell it other than for rat poison and unable to store it in steel drums for any length of time as it ate the steel. A saying I learnt in the industry is “dilution is the solution to pollution” . This is the fluoride addition to your water.

      You want your wonder medication, you have options, you can buy this poison over the counter and add it to your own water for your own consumption, you have that option. As a side you can even bump off a few rats.

      The condition of other people’s teeth is no business of yours!

      There must be choice, with all medications, not mandates.

      50

  • #
    David Maddison

    Where have all the resident Lefties gone?

    They have been silent.

    They must be on summer vacation. It seems they only mostly post when they’re at work in their Government (public “service”) jobs.

    270

  • #
    David Maddison

    By what mechanism can Australia reduce electricity prices back to how they were before fake conservative Howard initiated the destruction of our electricity grid and how soon can this happen?

    It seems subsidy-harvesting contracts are too heavily embedded for this to happen any time soon.

    Even if the contracts were cancelled, there would be huge taxpayer-funded compensation payable to the subsidy harvesters so what might be saved on electricity bills will be taken by higher taxes.

    100

    • #
      TdeF

      The fear of cancelled contracts is misplaced. The only real repercussion is the change in view of Sovereign risk and the impact on future investment.

      But as all the ‘Clean’ energy contracts are ripoff, where people get paid by the consumer without their knowledge, it is all illegal anyway. Cancel all the Clean Energy laws and let people howl about all the free money lost. ‘Investment’ would stop overnight.

      Why should people who own windmills be paid twice? Let them argue it in a court. Once for the fact of generation and then at the retail price which is itself doubled because of the ripoff. Twice as much as coal electricity. There is no logical or legal basis for it.

      As for home solar, half the cost was paid by the people who do not have home solar. They can pay that back first.

      200

      • #
        TdeF

        And for coal, dig baby dig. Frack and frack, also illegal. Exploit that vast Queesnland shale. All the Gippsland free ethane. All the brown coal.

        There would be so much money we would be Saudi Arabia. And we could afford a decent defence force. Plus a few nuclear power stations. And a lot of HELE coal power stations.

        Yes, filthy money from dirty, dirty carbon dioxide. The same stuff output by every living thing. And a bigger threat than nuclear war? Unbelievable rubbish.

        240

        • #
          TdeF

          And Daniel Andrews cancelled multi billion dollar contracts so he could support his Chinese and Union friends. The money has flowed to China like a river.
          Who cared about laws mandating Australian steel? What has been done about it? Nothing. Liberals need to grow a pair.

          230

          • #
            KP

            ” Liberals need to grow a pair.”

            NEVER going to happen! Uniparty rules… A distraction for the peasants to make them believe they have a choice.

            71

            • #
              TdeF

              The defenestration of extremely woke Liberal leader John Persutto in Victoria is a great start. Hat tip to the amazing Moira Deeming he tried to utterly destroy, as the judge agreed.

              Replaced by an ex policeman who owns a bakery. Perfect. Someone who has had to make his own living and been exposed to life outside parliament.

              What puzzled me is not just the Uniparty idea, but the fact that Persutto was not interested in winning the Premiership. It’s as if he didn’t want to win.

              One way to ensure your team wins every time is to make sure they are not challenged by the opposition.

              Which is odd as Victorians are wild about massive State debts, Soaring electricity prices, booming Land Tax, COVID tax, rents, potholes, collapsing services, soaring interest costs of debts and parliamentarians and councillors paying themselves more and more to cover inflation they have created. Labor party Tax and Spend is totally out of control at every level. And Persutto was making himself unelectable?

              What has been built for $200 Billion is not worth having. While what Victorians wanted, like the East West Link was abandoned by Daniel Andrews at a cost of many billions. It would have been long finished. We have an unfinished train line to nowhere. And a ‘tunnel’ under a creek which is many kilometers of above ground flyovers. Why? It all seems complete waste, even when it opens.

              Meanwhile the public service employment in Canberra and around Australia has absolutely boomed. Endless QANGOS like Clean Energy. As Argentinian President Javier Milei correctly says, this is the danger in all democracies, a booming socialist public service which was the death of Argentina. He has already fired half of them and the place is booming. Inflation has nearly stopped and they have a positive balance of trade at last.

              But John Persutto may as well have been Andrews’ lackey. Or China’s. How else could he afford to fight using QCs and lose millions and not care?

              No Conservatives could vote for a man who called Moira Deeming a NAZI and held that women did not exist. On $400,000 a year, why fight for the premiership?

              Otherwise why didn’t he back down long ago? That would have cost nothing. I don’t buy this story that he was terrified of Daniel Andrews who is long gone. He had a reason to fight to the death to remove Deeming. Or make himself and his team unelectable. Victoria is key to Labor. And Federal Labor is key to China’s success.

              150

  • #
    Honk R Smith

    A good discussion about the probably criminal Pandemic.
    An epidemiologist science type guy.
    https://www.bitchute.com/video/Tc1mQZZcpAjq

    Excess death data show zero pattern evidence of infectious respiratory outbreak.
    Definitively indicate all excess mortality the result of ‘public health’ actions.

    Don’t know who to believe.
    Fairly confident who not believe … the official government ‘public health’ narrative and version of events.

    210

  • #
    David Maddison

    Melania Trump is sueing “The View” hosts over things they said about her son Barron, 18 years old. The View is basically the viewpoint of Far Left Elites of America.

    Unlike President Trump, Barron is NOT fair game as he is not a political player. And even Donald has successfully sued for malicious lies told about him even though the standards for defamation that apply to politicians or other public officials are much higher under US law than for civilians.

    Video: https://youtu.be/VSwFARpoUZQ

    190

    • #
      TdeF

      As Trump demonstrated with a $15Million win against Stephanopolous at ABC, you cannot tell repeated lies with malice. You can call him Hitler. Fine. Everyone gets called Hitler. Liar and fraud too. You can have a very negative view of his character, his friends, his veracity and his motives and even his morals. These are all subjective. And related to the nasty business of politics.

      But the crime of rape was absolutely decided in a New York court room, so the host knew it was a lie. And repeated it four times, even when immediately contradicted. Public figures are fair game for exaggeration and very negative opinion, but known lies with malice and repeated simply to destroy someone’s character is defamation. And the subject is not the business of politics.

      80

  • #
    David Maddison

    In Pierre Kory’s book The War on Ivermectin: The Medicine that Saved Millions and Could Have Ended the Pandemic there is a chapter titled:

    Big Harma

    (referring to Big Pharma).

    Just sayin’.

    90

    • #
      Ross

      Great book- read it at least 2 years ago. Couldn’t believe the antics that big pharma blob got up to in order to discredit IVM. The fact that they contracted sabotage trials to discredit IVM was remarkable. But a strategy often been used in the past. You still get people quoting those trials saying IVM had no efficacy vs COVID. They do a lazy Google search and those trials feature in the sources of info.

      90

  • #
    Yarpos

    An interesting summary of the failure of German energy policy. Its interesting to see what they think is a “staggering” MWh cost. The AEMO says hold my beer!

    You can bet Bowen will learn nothing from their real world experience.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/europe-fall-holy-renewable-empire

    60

  • #
    RickWill

    Norway is considering cutting power line connections with Germany because they are realising that Germany’s intermittent power generation is a net negative for the country. It enables Germany to export their high electricity prices.

    South Australia burdens Victoria in the same way. If Victoria disconnected from South Australia then the cost of electricity in South Australia would skyrocket while the cost in Victoria at retail level would fall a little.

    The only reason that SA can get such high penetration of intermittent generation is because it relies on Victoria to be their big battery without any benefit of price arbitrage..

    First job for Victoria’s new Premier is to disconnect from South Australia or for Victoria to be properly compensated for the services supplied.

    South Australian wind and solar generators have been robbing Victorian electricity consumers for most of this century.

    130

    • #
      RickWill

      On this topic, it is likely that the Victorian Premier could waive the need for electricity retailers in Victoria to act as bagmen for the consumer theft (RET) established by the Howard Federal government. I believe States have retained the right to legislate in the electricity retail arena.

      The current “national” law was established through the South Australian legislature as the coast jurisdiction. I do not know how the other States signed on to this arrangement.
      https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/__legislation/lz/c/a/national%20energy%20retail%20law%20(south%20australia)%20act%202011/2024.03.06/2011.6.auth.pdf

      Recall how the States controlled their borders during Covid days. Look at how Tasmania limits import of biomatter. There is still fruit bins at the Victorian/SA border and in the airports.

      The new Premier should call in the owners of the coal generators in Victoria; ask them how much they will charge for power if scheduled 100% of the time then set this in motion. Shut down all other generation that interferes with their 100% output. Wind and solar should only be used to reduce the demand on gas plants. Remove the semi-scheduled category and treat wind and solar higher marginal cost than coal, any CCGT and hydroid there is excess water. Wind and solar can only serve the load not served by coal working at 100% of available generation..

      It will take bold moves to undo the current mess and get back to a rational source of generation.

      I wonder how much money the coal generators spend on gaming the wholesale marketing system to maximise their profits.

      The cost of intermittency has been underestimated by orders of magnitude.

      80

      • #
        Ronin

        “I wonder how much money the coal generators spend on gaming the wholesale marketing system to maximise their profits.”

        Any power company that owns a power station can game the system by shutting down a unit for ‘urgent repairs’, it could be a boiler tube problem or tube fouling or any number of reasons, pull 600MW out of the system on a high demand day and watch the prices skyrocket, they then run the remaining units 100% and laugh all the way to the bank.
        Remember what happened when Callide failed spectacularly, what did prices do.

        70

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – one way of doing it

    “Shot Down?”

    https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/shot-down/

    30

  • #
  • #
    John Connor II

    Contemptible fools?

    https://www.axios.com/2024/12/27/elon-musk-contemptible-fools-maga-doge

    Everyone’s favourite saviours and 2025. Interesting times.😎

    00

    • #
      KP

      Musk was right, as discussed yesterday- people in the West don’t work as hard as immigrants, and expect a lot more money for the work they hardly do. That all counts as a Union success…

      00

  • #
    John Connor II

    “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

    JC2 – “Ha ha. Yeah, right.” 😁

    20

  • #
    John Connor II

    Sunday freebie: Death by Food Pyramid : How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health

    The phrase Death by Food Pyramid isn’t shock-value sensationalism, but the tragic consequence of simply doing what we have been told to do by our own government—and giant food profiteers—in pursuit of health. In Death by Food Pyramid, Denise Minger exposes the forces that overrode common sense and solid science to launch a pyramid phenomenon that bled far beyond US borders to taint the eating habits of the entire developed world. Denise explores how generations of flawed pyramids and plates endure as part of the national consciousness, and how the ‘one size fits all’ diet mentality these icons convey pushes us deeper into the throes of obesity and disease.

    https://ufile.io/7t7nfmds

    Like I said 20 years ago, the food pyramid is wrong and if anything needs to be inverted.

    The “war on (dietary) fat” started in the USA in 1977 and people have been getting fatter and sicker since.
    Just like today, keep the lie simple for the mindless masses.
    “Dietary fat = body fat and illness”. LIE.
    “CO2 = global warming and doom”. LIE.
    Here we are today…
    Now, when do we ban Dihydrogen monoxide?

    40

    • #
      David Maddison

      When I clicked on the link with my Android phone and went to the 1MB/s download there was a scam message saying virus detected and a flashing background and it was hard to escape from the page. Danger Will Robinson!

      00

      • #
        David Maddison

        After that experience I scanned my phone as follows. (Not sure if this is 100% thorough.)

        From Goolag:

        Open the Google Play Store app Google Play.
        At the top right, tap the profile icon.
        Tap Play Protect and then Settings.
        Turn Scan apps with Play Protect on or off.

        I selected to Scan Apps which only took a few seconds.

        00

      • #
        John Connor II

        Works fine on Android for me, it’s a site I’ve used for ages.
        I’d say you don’t have ad and popup blockers or enabled them in your browser, and such “virus detected” popups are just marketing ads, and a lot of sites have them.
        Do you have any AV on your phone?
        Switch to Vivaldi. 😉

        00

    • #
      Hanrahan

      I have known the food pyramid to be [sort of] inverted for 20+ years. I could only have reached this conclusion because knowledgable people told me so. Why have these researchers been ignored until RFK Jr. comes to the fore?

      It looks to me that there has been a corporate shrug of the shoulders implying that Americans have such bad eating habits it’s pointless trying to correct them but that ignores the fact that people DO listen and adjust. All of the bad or pointless dietary habits are a direct result of obeying edicts from on high.

      The wars against salt, lard, butter, eggs, meat, cheese, coconut oil etc were not a popular uprising, they are all the direct result of faulty research promoted in the popular press.

      10

      • #
        John Connor II

        Cooking Oils Used By Millions Linked To Cancer In Second Study In A Week

        These findings are not just scientific footnotes—they are alarms ringing in households globally, where seed oils like sunflower, soybean, and canola are staples in daily cooking. As scientists dive deeper into the health consequences of these oils, they’re uncovering a hidden cost to convenience and affordability.

        In two groundbreaking studies released just days apart, researchers have spotlighted a concerning link between widely used cooking oils and cancer risks, specifically pointing to tumor growth in the colon and other organs. These studies raise critical questions about the health implications of seed oils, a staple in kitchens worldwide.

        https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/cooking-oils-used-millions-linked-cancer-second-study-week

        Seed oils = BAD! 😁

        00

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – more reading for “ElBowen”

    “Europe: The Fall Of The Holy Renewable Empire”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/europe-fall-holy-renewable-empire

    40

  • #
    David Maddison

    I just discovered that Goolag Gemini AI assistant has automatically installed itself on my Android phone without my permission.

    30

    • #
      KP

      The only way to fill those data centers, gather everything, everywhere… I have enough trouble blocking the popups that tell me my anti-virus can be updated, or I can enter an email for notifications on a website, or sign-up for an extra 10% discount… The web will be unusable in a decade.

      20

    • #
      John Connor II

      You’re not having a good run are you!

      Tip for Android users:
      Disable “Google wi-fi provisioner” from Settings/Apps if your internet is slow on wifi.😎

      00

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Putin near as damnit apologises for Azerbaijani jet shooting.

    Will any Russian apologists follow suit and admit error? Was it you KP? It’s hard to search and my memory is failing.

    11

    • #
      TdeF

      Agreed. but it’s still very odd, apologizing for something but not admitting it? There’s a message in there. He will wear the blame but effectively is claiming only indirect responsibility. All manner of strange weapons are being used in the war in Ukraine.

      So a rogue operator or an ally perhaps but for whom Putin does no have direct control. And the agent did damage to the aircraft but left it largely intact except for some critical control surfaces? That could be a small suicide drone, a consequence of Ukraine’s use of long range weapons as approved by Biden and the UK like Storm Shadow? I wonder if the aircraft was approaching over war torn Chechnya or the ongoing war in Armenia with Azerbijian? I thought it was a strange choice to have COP29 in Baku quite apart from being the original home of the world oil industry.

      And why wasn’t there any reported communication from the pilot or copilot? Or was there?

      10

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    There is a series on Youtube – I’ve seen some numbered up to 17 (not that Ive seen them all).
    For a little light entertainment.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WRDwCep25k Volume 2
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1u_S1ANsrA Volume 4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUrH4Sbgh8 Volume 11

    10

  • #
    Graeme4

    Our silly Prime Minister is now claiming the natural disasters are “becoming more frequent and intense”.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/anthony-albanese-flanks-natural-disasters-becoming-more-frequent-and-intense/news-story/c7dcbdc8ecb752b0ad8907a81138990e
    “We live in a country which has harsh conditions. It has always had fires, it has always had these extreme weather events, but the truth is they are becoming more frequent and more intense and that has been something that I have (seen) as Prime Minister for two and a half years and I have been to natural disasters and extreme weather events in every single state and territory of the country and that says something about this frequency.”

    10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Customer data from 800,000 electric cars and owners exposed online

    Volkswagen’s automotive software company, Cariad, exposed data collected from around 800,000 electric cars. The info could be linked to drivers’ names and reveal precise vehicle locations.

    Terabytes of Volkswagen customer details in Amazon cloud storage remained unprotected for months, allowing anyone with little technical knowledge to track drivers’ movement or gather personal information.

    The exposed databases include details for VW, Seat, Audi, and Skoda vehicles, with geo-location data for some of them being as precise as a few centimeters.

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/customer-data-from-800-000-electric-cars-and-owners-exposed-online/

    00

    • #
      Barry

      That’s gotta be intentional. US security agencies would have been slurping that data as fast as they could.

      Plausible deniability all round, but .gov gets what they really want.

      00

  • #
    John Connor II

    If the science is settled then it’s time to stop all their funding isn’t it?

    00

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