JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Happy new year to our American friends.
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Many thanks. Same back to you. Onward!
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This will be a good year for America and much of the West with more years to come with TRUMP at the helm of America and leader of the West.
The beginning of the end of Leftism and wokism.
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For those living in the continental USA.
There are estimated to be about six million permanently resident in other countries (with different time zones).
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https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/space-weather Solar Activity: Moderate with three Moderate class flares during the past 24 hours, the peak flare originating from a relatively small and moderately complex region in the northwest. The most magnetically complex region on the disc, located in the northwest and approaching the limb, produced the majority of the flare activity, including a long duration M-class flare.
There are currently ten sunspot regions on the visible disc. The region in the northwest that produced the peak flare is the largest and most active region but has been relatively stable in terms of growth over the last 24 hours, possibly declining a little. Further complex groups lie in the southeast and the central northern hemisphere. Several initially small regions on the disc have shown recent development. The remaining regions are all relatively simple or only slowly evolving.
A possible filament lift off near the centre disc is undergoing further analysis to diagnose any Earth-directed material.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: The first Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) arrived at Earth at 31/1626 UTC with the second CME arriving at Earth by 01/0215 UTC. Solar wind speeds initially were at background levels around 350-380km/s soon increasing to around 450km/s with the arrival of the first CME, then the second CME saw winds increase again, this time to elevated levels around 520km/s. The Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) was Moderate quickly rising to Strong with the initial CME arrival, slowly dipping back to Moderate before rising again to Strong for the second CME. The north-south component was variable at times before trending strongly negative by the end of the period. Geomagnetic activity increase from Quiet (Kp1) to G2 Moderate storm (Kp6) by the end of the period.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: High energy proton flux (greater than 10MeV) at GOES18 remained at background levels throughout, well below the 1-pfu S1/Minor Radiation Storm threshold.
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Thanks MeAgain,
I was lucky to be staying on the south coast of Victoria .
I got up several times during the night with some glimpses of the Aurora, diminished by cloud cover.
I woke again at 0430. The sky was beginning to lighten with the approaching dawn, but the clouds had cleared. At the same time the Aurora must have brightened because I saw a beautiful Aurora. The red colour clearly visible to the naked eye and greens above the horizon, which show very well on an iiphone photograph.
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The sun is a violent place and also a variable star.
Just over an 11 year solar cycle the output might vary by 0.1% with much higher changes at different wavelengths.
Longer term I have seen figures quoted of up to 4%.
These variations are ignored in climate “models” as are variations in cosmic rays, responsible for much cloud formation.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/us/puerto-rico-power-blackout.html
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Also on the BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8782rvv5xxo
Mentions the August hurricane, Ernesto.
Auto
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Fortunately for Puerto Ricans only minimal power comes from “renewables” and among the renewables they actually count legitimate properly engineered power sources like hydro. Most of their electrical power comes from coal, oil and natural gas.
They do have an insane woke plan to go 100% renewables by 2050 though. Hopefully TRUMP will stop them going down that path of insanity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Electric_Power_Authority#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DThe_majority_of_Puerto_Rico%27s%2Creservoirs_that_produce_hydroelectric_energy.?wprov=sfla1
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There was a time when banks and rich nations loaned money to poor nations for nation building projects like dams. I can’t remember any of the nation building projects doing anything of the sort. In fact the most common outcome was financial distress for the target nations and their people.
History rhymes once again with the question about how the intermittent energy revolution is to be funded.
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The first part of a series on Climate The movie. Full film also available from here. Lots of good quotes in this summary
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/climate-the-movie-part-1-history-of-the-earth-and-co2/
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An interesting read although nothing that readers here would find new information. Knowing that this information has been freely available for a longer period than the AGW scam I am astounded that scientists have swallowed the fraud and continue to promote it. Like safe and effective drugs, when the evidence says otherwise, these people are denying science and prostituting themselves just to continue to be part of the “in” crowd. What is absolutely unforgivable is that, with a very few exceptions, politicians have not bothered to seek out the scientists in this film but have listened to the corrupted pseudo-scientists who inhabit the CSIRO, BoM and universities. Who will have the courage to stand up and say to the world that this climate business is just BS. Maybe Trump will and hopefully will encourage others to stop wasting taxes on chasing the Green dream and get us back on track to make the world better.
Dutton could start here by cancelling the subsidies to Green energy. Coal would be king again. If Trump can come back why not coal.
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Trump has already publicly stated that the Climate Change narrative is a scam.
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A very gentle article to ease ourselves in to 2025. This links to a number of classic poems of which my favourite is probably Ozymandius, reflecting as it does the rise and fall of empires, this one reflecting the Akkadian empire-brought low by climate change
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/why-poetry-matters/
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tonyb,
I can guarantee that it wasn’t climate change. The 30-year averaging for climate means the weather will always get you first.
And on that note, even Wikipedia says the theory that Akkad’s decline was due to changing weather patterns “remains controversial”.
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There are big problems with many of the Met Offices recording sites. Jo will have found the same in Oz. Not only are relatively modern records not all they could be but they are increasingly taken in warmer urbanised areas so any link to their cooler rural past is lost
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/12/31/met-office-claims-to-have-been-recording-temperatures-at-stornoway-airport-30-years-before-aeroplanes-were-invented/
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Same here in America, well studied and documented especially by Watts et al. Ironically at a deeper level this does not matter. The area averaging of a convenience sample violates several requirements of statistical sampling theory so the result is junk even if the measurements are accurate. The satellites are the closest thing we have to reality.
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Regardless of the obviously invalid locations of many temperature measurement stations in the US, Europe and Australia plus fr#udulent “adjustments” after measurement (in Australia these adjustments are called “homogenisation”, a mysterious, undocumented, unrepeatable and therefore unscientific process), they are still accepted into the official record as “proof” of anthropogenic global warming.
The stations are invalid due to urban encroachment as was mentioned, other factors like fr#ud as I mentioned above, plus digital measurements instead of mercury which means a momentary blast of hot air, from a jet exhaust or motor vehicle, for example, goes into the daily maximum reading,
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Thee is also a Stornoway in Tasmania near Hobart.
Doesn’t have an airfield but the Hobart Penitenary, which should be suitable accomodation for Climate Fakers.
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In business, corruption, when discovered, is systematically investigated, prosecuted and punishment is usually severe. The reasoning is that the perpetrators are making money while depriving shareholders of dividends and customers of fair value. These mongrels at the Met, along with their corrupt mates at the CSIRO and BoM are making money while depriving shareholders (the taxpayer) and giving their customers, the populace, expensive energy, restrictions of trade and ruination of manufacturing. Every scientist who has signed on to this corruption should be prosecuted and suffer a severe penalty because of the harm they have caused. Sacking and loss of pension would be a good start. They cannot claim to have been following orders.
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A new mRNA “vaccine” is under development for bird flu fir those who haven’t yet been harmed or killed by the mRNA covid “vaccine”.
It’s not even a serious problem and not likely to be but never miss an opportunity for a compulsory injection of experimental mRNA substance.
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“It’s not even a serious problem and not likely to be . . . .”
Oh for goodness’ sake , will you just get with the programme ?
It’s from an “abundance of caution ” . . . .naturally.
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Re that “abundance of caution” –
Things you didn’t need government permission for 125 years ago
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTPh1BnF-dNAM2wmjYFqa8L_hyBiD8TTzJjMcXIh_AfX7Vp86bvXA4fWzRcSitNTbz6yziCvgDea1pbBYFDwFTkrHmlfx3vf_aTFTem3kMkmGX6oqHdc54RT8e0FEuS5yajopyeP3vkX0LvhA67onci8thHkFcZRhjm9XzUXVd1TefnHUbFecOVnXm6Aw/s16000/125%20years%20ago.png
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/01/our-job-for-2025.html
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The City of Casey in south eastern Melbourne want residents to apply for a permit to work on their own cars on their own property. $150 to apply and $250 for the “permit”
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/this-australian-city-wants-to-charge-people-to-work-on-their-cars
Get what? did I hear you say?
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Nothing a roller door won’t fix.
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An abundance of caution should also mean the bloody vaxxes are tested properly in the first place before being deployed at all.
Another phrase I think is misused is the precautionary principle which has been used to justify the wholesale replacement of reliable electricity generation with so called renewables. I think the probability that Earth with be hit by an ELE causing meteor is a lot higher than the prospect of man incinerating the world with carbon dioxide but you don’t see the world actively looking for that kind of threat much less preparing to defend against it.
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Avian flu virus H5N1: No proof for existence, pathogenicity, or pandemic potential
Title of a paper published in 2006
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7173052/
Now apparently we have the Lab-Created Gain of Function H5N1 Bird Flu
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There was an outbreak of peace and love in New Orleans.
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“was identified by the F.B.I. ”
A safe and effective organisation, they wouldn’t lie to you…
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BOM declares 2024 2nd HOTTEST EVAH!
ABC declares GLOBULL WARMING to BLAME!
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Under the IPCC Theory of Globull warming overnight minimums will increase rather than daytime maximums.
Nonetheless the ABC states that man-made climate change is observable where daytime maximum observation increases exceed nighttime minimum observation increases.
They finger the lingering impact of the 2023 El Nino oscillation – an El Nino that manifested itself with significantly abnormal rainfall resulting in the 8th highest rainfall in 125 years – for these temperature increases.
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For some reason (?) the ABC totally ignores the impact of the 2022 Hunga Tonga eruption and it’s expected 8+ year impact on climate and rainfall – preferring to attribute this last year’s result to the failed and ABC/BOM falsified IPCC theory.
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But, then – won’t someone think of the children, err … the narrative.
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They normally take a few days or weeks to make these “hottest eevvvahh” announcements.
I bet this one was prepared ages ago. Don’t forget, they are public serpents and most of them will be on extended vacation leave at this time of year.
I’m surprised they only claimed it was the second hottest.
It didn’t feel very hot to me, at least not down here in The People’s Undemocratic Republic of Melbournistan. I ran my air conditioning very few times last year but I did run the heating a lot. I aim to keep my house at 22.5C (72.5F).
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This is totally dependent on where the met recording are taken. I’ve downloaded the maximum and minimum daily temps ( yearly average) from both a coastal lighthouse and an inland site for Victoria, Australia. Data from both relatively unaffected by urban influence etc. At least 150 years worth. Inland – maximum temps increase but minimum temps actually decrease. For the lighthouse site it was the opposite. When you again averaged those max: min temps and then aggregated all sites it was almost flat line with a hint of an upward trend. Which is no biggie, because that aligns with end of LIA warming starting in the mid 1800’s. We’re being conned by creative use of data.
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Ross,
Clearly you are doing this incorrectly. You know that for guaranteed employment at the BOM you would have to use the inland temperatures for the daytime AND the coastal for the night.
And that’s how you homogenise the data in the eyes of the BOM, as a bouns, you delete both original sets of data and substitute the new combination for each location. You could of course added a third location, centered between the two and just used 110% of the values. That place gets really hot. Next year you spread that heat back to the originals, rinse and repeat.
You can’t have global boiling without some help. Do your bit.
/s of course.
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FWIW
“”The death throes of the university are upon us”
That’s the headline of an article by Joanna Williams. She writes from a British perspective, but precisely the same issues are visible in American tertiary education, with a trans-Atlantic flavor.”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-death-throes-of-university-are-upon.html
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FWIW – Fact checking a fact checker
“A NewsGuard ‘Fact Checker’ Sent Me Some Questions. Here Was My Answer.”
https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2025/01/01/a-newsguard-fact-checker-sent-me-some-questions-here-was-my-answer-n4935584
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There is an article on WUWT discussing the latest findings on Earth’s greening. It is not easy to isolate the contributions of the prime factors:
More CO2
Higher Temperature
More atmospheric moisture
More precipitation
Less Evaporation but more transpiration
The thought passed through my mind of time spent in Dampier when I fished in a tidal creek during a neap tide. I baited the line for my wife and told her what fish I did not want – no long toms, gar, sharks or turtles. We were fishing in 2 to 3m of clear water with mangroves within reach on both sides and pulling in mostly reef fish up to 5kg. She landed 30kg of fish in a little over 1 hour. The creek was warm, probably above 30C due to the unusually small tidal range and bright sun maybe in June.
I then cast my mind to what is termed “pond zero” at Dampier Salt. I never fished there but I had colleagues who had been invited to fish there and they talked about the size and abundance of the fish in this pond. It was slightly warmer and saltier than the surrounding Bay where the water was pumped from.
There are stories on Pond Zero at Dampier like this one:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/214542282
And this one goes into some detail on the ponds and fish productivity at Port Hedland:
https://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/research_reports/frr133.pdf
Open ocean surface cannot exceed 30C but more of the ocean surface in the northern hemisphere is reaching 30C and I expect that will be increasing ocean productivity similar to what is being observed on land.
So the immediate future of warming is good for biomass. At least until the permafrost starts increasing again.
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When working up north was invited to go fishing in Broome. Went to the local shop and asked what breaking strain I should purchase to fish in Broome. Gent looked me in the eye and said, “ mate, the biggest and the heaviest”, and sold me a 130lb hand line. Have a photo of somebody walking down Broome jetty with each hand in a fish’s gills, tails dragging on the jetty, and saw folks hauling in big fish continuously. Only time I ever caught a big fish. We took a full Esky of fish fillets back to Derby that weekend.
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“So the immediate future of warming is good for biomass. At least until the permafrost starts increasing again.”
The current solar cycle seems to be producing more sunspots than predicted on a reliable basis, the predicted solar minimum may not appear. The warmists will love that of course..
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Queensland household air conditioners turned off remotely on ‘sweltering’ day.
Broadcaster and wordsmith Kel Richards discusses how over 8,000 Queenslanders had their cold function on air conditioning turned off remotely.
(7m 14s video)
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I hope they enjoyed the experience.
The technology is called DRED. Demand Response Enable Device.
I wrote an article about it.
https://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2017/April/DRED%3A+they+can+turn+your+aircon+off%21
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Would closing and then opening the a/c circuit breaker reset the system.
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Does it remember its off if you power cycle the whole unit?
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TDef
A dig into the 1993 WTC bombing by the Corbert report.
https://corbettreport.com/qfc-wtc93/
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James Corbert interview with JoNova (2020) 23 mins
https://corbettreport.com/interview-1514-jo-nova-on-the-australian-bushfires/
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The foreign-backed terrorist insurgency in Syria has finally accomplished the globalists’ objective: regime change in Syria. But how did we get here? Who was behind this decades-long plan for reshaping the Middle East? And what does it mean for the world? Today on The Corbett Report podcast, James dives through The Corbett Report’s 13-year archives on the Syrian war to bring these events into focus.
https://corbettreport.com/a-brief-history-of-the-war-on-syria/
58mins
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..and that, children, is why the economies of the West’s welfare states collapsed and the Asians took over the world.
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I could not for the life of me make an Economics lecturer fail me. I left a three hour written exam after perusal time and he passed me in a masters level course. He passed me on the basis he felt I understood the content of his course.
I decided this MBA at a top Australian University would be worthless to my education that is aside from the excellent teachings of an industry based Accountant. The course appeared be a parking lot for Political operators whose team was currently out of government. They made money by recommending the 8th correction of a mate’s text book in exchange for that mate reciprocating and recommending the 11th correction of their own.
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A Tesla Cybertruck blew up at Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
I am no fan of EVs but this doesn’t look like a battery failure, but more like a bomb.
Video at:
https://x.com/Back_2TheMiddle/status/1874539660254622069
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One person killed and multiple injuries.
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Elon Musk Tweeted:
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So, does Tesla monitor every Tesla vehicle continuously?
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This is a later story of that incident, with questions being asked about any relationship with the New Orleans one:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-02/what-we-know-about-the-cybertruck-explosion-in-las-vegas/104779002
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The TRUMP Revolution comes to Australia, and he’s not even President yet.
Australia now has some additional time before NUT ZERO and the completion of total economic destruction.
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The UN was originally established to save generations from the “scourge of war”.
Having failed spectacularly in that primary role, it shifted its focus to the demon molecule CO2. For more than 3 decades now, the UN and like minded globalists have been milking this bogey man for all they can get from it.
When it comes to the important matter of defence, no country, including Australia, relies on the UN to protect them. They build and manage alliances.
However when it comes to economy destroying climate ambition, Australia just complies with the UN dictates. That has to change for Australia to be prosperous again.
It is encouraging to see Australia’s climate ambition in the waste basket in line with Trumpism in the USA. It will surely embolden Battin and Dutton.
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“The UN was originally established to save generations from the “scourge of war”. Having failed spectacularly in that primary role” …is reason enough to disband it and fire thousands of useless drones.
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Batten down!
“UN’s new mission: ‘Fight the climate-related disinformation running rampant on social media’ – ‘Debunk myths & put an end to the narratives of denialism’ – ‘Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change’ ”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/01/uns-new-mission-fight-the-climate-related-disinformation-running-rampant-on-social-media-debunk-myths-put-an-end-to-the-narratives-of-denialism/
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Not sure what the fuss is about. In reality it was never going to happen , and if they claimed it happened it would have only been in a spreadsheet, which they could still do and look good to their buddies. I guess this way they can kick the can down the road, blame someone else and never have to explain why it was all BS in the first place..
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Labor betting our economy on green energy pipedream
TED O’BRIEN
Labor has launched its most bizarre argument yet against the Coalition’s energy plan, claiming its own higher energy costs are good for economic growth.
Reframing the energy debate to be about economic growth is crazy brave for a government overseeing Australia’s slowest economic growth in 30 years, outside the pandemic.
But it’s also fundamentally flawed. It makes no economic sense to assume an economy is better off if it’s forced to consume more electricity, especially at an extraordinary cost for households and businesses to switch away from other energy sources. But more on this in a moment.
A few weeks ago, independent analysis by Frontier Economics showed the Coalition’s plan for a balanced energy mix of renewables, nuclear and gas to be $263bn, or 44 per cent, cheaper than Labor’s renewables-only scheme. In triggering Labor’s latest attack, Treasurer Jim Chalmers didn’t take aim at Frontier’s modelling.
Nor has the national science agency, the CSIRO, or the market operator, AEMO, criticised Frontier’s work, which is notable given Labor’s reliance on these organisations for advice on energy economics.
As the CSIRO and AEMO say in their GenCost report on the levelised cost of energy, their work is “not a substitute for … electricity system modelling”. Full electricity system modelling is precisely what Frontier did. Frontier also used CSIRO and AEMO’s cost assumptions, but modelled nuclear even more conservatively at $10,000/KW.
No wonder Labor is struggling to find a line of attack.
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Liberals warn 10,000 firms at risk of bankruptcy
GREG BROWN and JACK QUAIL
The Coalition has forecast an extra 10,000 businesses will go under by the time the next parliament sits as economists say neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton have credible plans to address the nation’s economic challenges.
In an attempt to shoot down Jim Chalmers’s claim that the economy will perform better this year than in 2024, the Coalition has released analysis claiming the nation was on track to lose 10,200 businesses between December and June, which will be the month the next parliament first convenes if the election is held in May.
The analysis assumes business insolvencies will continue at the same rate since July last year, which was on average 50.8 per cent higher than the year to June 2024.
The Coalition prediction would see more than 35,000 businesses fail since the Albanese government was elected – the most in any parliamentary term.
Several economists on Monday backed former prime minister John Howard’s warning that Australia was at risk of eventually losing its AAA credit rating, although part of the blame was put on the states.
Combined federal, state and territory net debts are expected to reach $881.9bn in 2024-25, according to forecasts released by the Parliamentary Budget Office, with KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne saying the AAA rating was at risk if the “current level of government spending and deficits continue along (this) path for a sustained period of time”.
“There’s a disconnect between our spending and our taxes and revenue – that can’t continue,” Dr Rynne said.
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““There’s a disconnect between our spending and our taxes and revenue – that can’t continue,” Dr Rynne said.”
Someone should tell that to the Yanks..
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Green Electricity Costs a Bundle
The data make clear: The notion that solar and wind power save money is an environmentalist lie.
By Bjorn Lomborg – Jan. 1, 2025
As nations use more and more supposedly cheap solar and wind power, a strange thing happens: Our power bills get more expensive.
This exposes the environmentalist lie that renewables have already outmatched fossil fuels and that the “green transition” is irreversible even under a second Trump administration.
The claim that green energy is cheaper relies on bogus math that measures the cost of electricity only when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.
Modern societies need around-the-clock power, requiring backup, often powered by fossil fuels.
That means we’re paying for two power systems: renewables and backup.
Moreover, as fossil fuels are used less, those power sources need to earn their capital costs back in fewer hours, leading to even more expensive power.
This means the real energy costs of solar and wind are far higher than what green campaigners claim.
One study shows that in China the real cost of solar power on average is twice as high as that of coal.
Similarly, a peer-reviewed study of Germany and Texas shows that solar and wind are many times more expensive than fossil fuels. Germany, the U.K., Spain, and Denmark, all of which increasingly rely on solar and wind power, have some of the world’s most expensive electricity.
The International Energy Agency’s latest data (from 2022) on solar and wind power generation costs and consumption across nearly 70 countries shows a clear correlation between more solar and wind and higher average household and industry energy prices.
In a country with little or no solar and wind, the average electricity cost is about 12 cents a kilowatt-hour (in today’s money).
For every 10% increase in solar and wind share, the electricity cost increases by more than 5 cents a kilowatt-hour.
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The Argentine Miracle
Javier Milei’s administration in Argentina provides a blueprint for politicians looking to uproot entrenched left-wing interests
“You’re my favorite president!” Donald Trump reportedly told Javier Milei.
Milei was the first foreign leader to meet the president-elect in person after the election and is one of Trump’s most dedicated allies, despite the fact that in many ways their political philosophies are nearly as divergent as can be.
The Argentine maverick, who shares with Trump a distinctive head of hair, has accumulated an international fanbase for his almost miraculous accomplishment of pulling Argentina back from the brink of hyperinflation and complete economic devastation.
Go back just a few years and few people would have ever expected Milei, the eccentric, chainsaw-wielding libertarian economist, to be a person of any political importance—let alone end up getting chummy with Trump and snapping photos with Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago.
Now, he’s not only the chief executive and head of state of his own country of Argentina, but a prophet and harbinger for libertarians, conservatives, populists, and enemies of the “zurdos de mierda” (literally “shit leftists”) everywhere.
[snip]
His most striking accomplishment is, without a doubt, his effective rescue of the Argentine economy from hyperinflation.
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Can Musk rein in exorbitant national debt? America’s economic future is at stake. | Opinion
Donald Trump has handed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy the critical task of reducing the size and reach of the federal government. It’s in the best interest of all Americans that they succeed.
President-elect Donald Trump thinks highly of Elon Musk. That’s enough to make Trump’s detractors cringe and run for the hills.
Yet, Trump’s instincts are good with Musk, the world’s richest person and Tesla CEO.
Trump has handed Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy the critical task of overseeing the newly formed DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. It won’t be an actual department but more of an outside advisory arm. Some have labeled them the “DOGE bros.”
I think there’s a strong possibility they will come up with good ideas. Musk and Ramaswamy have said that they want to focus on not just cutting the number of government employees, but also on reducing onerous regulations, which have grown exponentially in recent decades.
To understand why Americans need DOGE to succeed, look at the national debt, which has surpassed $36 trillion.
Here’s how the U.S. Treasury explains the debt: “Simply put, the national debt is similar to a person using a credit card for purchases and not paying off the full balance each month.”
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WI levies new tax on public EV charging stations
A new law begins January 1: tax for charging electric vehicles
An excise tax of 3 cents per kilowatt per hour will be charged by those using EV charging stations.
Officials say owners, operators, managers, or lessees of a charging station must register with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue prior to use of the station.
At the moment, this tax will only apply to EV stations that are accessible to the public, but just wait for the inevitable increase, and the inevitable creep to private at-home chargers.
We’ve been told that the switching to a car powered by electricity makes you immune to high prices at the gas pump, but how does that work when the electricity is generated by “fossil fuels”?
If you were wondering, most of Wisconsin’s energy needs come from coal and gas:
That’s right, almost all of that electricity at the EV “pump” is provided only through the consumption of those energies which shall not be named—it’s not even coming from the wind and solar sector that they promised it would!
Labor/Greens/TEALS – Death and taxes my friend, death and taxes.
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Ahh Wisconsin. I went there once for a conference. All I got was a T Shirt that said “Wisconsin: Beer, Cheese and a few Weirdos”
All this Wisconsin talk made me look the place up to see what their generation make up is. The population is only 6 million ish (Sydney and environs)but they have a staggering number of players and generation capability. I guess you have to be serious when you have a serious winter.
https://www.gridinfo.com/wisconsin
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Re: The Frontier Economics report here is a link I posted last week for the interview with the author Danny Price. About 1.5 hours but worth the watch
https://www.nuclearforaustralia.com/frontier?utm_campaign=video&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nfa
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How to add costs with no return onto a business-
“Following the European Union’s lead, Australia requires big companies to submit an annual climate statement to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, which includes a comprehensive emissions budget. Significantly, the budget must include scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions – that means pollution generated by their businesses as well as by their customers when using their products. For example, a miner would report the emissions caused in other countries that burn their coal.”
..and what happens to the reports?? Do the companies get fined? Get taxed on their downstream CO2? Are the reports hidden away and forgotten?
This is another make-work scheme by Labor to soak up the unemployables that the public service haven’t absorbed. Thousands of people passing bits of paper around for no gain at all. Its in the SMH along with the new vehicle taxes-
“the rules … limit the average emissions of a carmaker’s overall fleet of vehicles sold each year, measured in grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. Companies must pay a penalty of $100 for each gram per kilometre the caps are exceeded. Every developed economy around the world except Russia has similar rules in place…”
Which is why Russia will boom while Europe dies.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/new-rules-to-bring-more-and-cheaper-evs-to-australia-20250101-p5l1i5.html
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“Every developed economy around the world except Russia has similar rules in place…”
or
Others are being stupid, we should be stupid too!
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Gain of Fauci@DschlopesIsBack
Let me get this straight – a white FBI Director (Chris Wray) gets fired and replaced by a brown minority Director (Kash Patel) and members of the FBI’s DEI office are now protesting and threatening to resign? 🤡
The irony is ALMOST too good to be true. 😂
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FWIW
“Scientists Report A ‘Striking Global Greening Trend’ Over the Last 42 Years”
“The greening of the Earth’s vegetated areas is “attributed to CO2 fertilization, climate change, and land use changes.” ”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/01/scientists-report-a-striking-global-greening-trend-over-the-last-42-years/
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Aged Care Minister Anika Wells’ live press conference interrupted to put the Australian, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander flags behind her
A senior Labor Minister’s press conference has been bizarrely interrupted to ensure the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags were visible behind her after Peter Dutton sparked debate when he vowed to only stand in front of the national flag.
James Harrison Business Reporter
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells’ press conference was interrupted on Wednesday when one of her staffers realised the MP was not standing in front of the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
It comes weeks after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in December announced he will not hold press conferences with the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags on display if elected.
He declared the displaying of multiple flags was “dividing our country unnecessarily” and said Australia is better united “under one flag”.
Ms Wells’ flag mishap came during a press conference announcing $3.8 billion in wage increases for aged care workers.
After delivering her opening remarks, where she lauded the government’s cost-of-living measures and claimed the Coalition would slash government services, Ms Wells turned to reporters for questions.
But the minister’s request was quickly interrupted when a male staffer reminded her she was addressing the press without the three flags behind her which are typically featured at Labor media conferences.
“Sorry, can we just pause there, I’ll just put the flags in front if that’s okay,” the man is heard saying.
A taken aback Ms Wells then attempted to make light of the accident with her staff members.
“Oops,” she said.
“There’s even literally a photo of what I was supposed to do.”
From the Comments – 746
– Wells : I am here to talk about aged care, ohh hang on i dont have flags behind me so can talk about flags, hold on need the flags as we have election coming and we need to divide our nation.
Minutes later .. ohh where was i
– Anika Wells cares more about ensuring she has flags of minorities behind then her talking about aged care!
– Shows you their priorities and it’s not us taxpayers.
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Every time I see the Torres Strait Islander flag, it reminds me of a cat leaving the room.
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There was that old time NSW Agriculture Dept badge that was known as “The Flying Asrehole”
20
The outcome of creating useless jobs transitioning Australia’s energy sector to be fuelled fairy farts, pixie dust and the diversity fairy:
https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/e88684146ee3019633734b7e3187c12a?width=1024
From:
https://www.skynews.com.au/breaking-news/shocking-graph-shows-dramatic-falloff-in-australian-labour-productivity/news-story/da9296d1b20dfd66ec38c8de35a9902e
All those people working on wind farms, solar farms, bg batteries, synchronous condensers, power lines to everywhere and pumped hydro destroying a perfectly good but aging power supply system.
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““The surge in public spending is exacerbating Australia’s productivity slump with productivity down another 0.8 per cent over the last year… private market sector productivity is invariably higher than public sector productivity and as public spending squeezes out private business investment, it is likely exacerbating the weakness in private market sector productivity,” he said.”
Well, that report will be carefully read, discussed, and then actioned by no bureaucrat anywhere!
If Govt is about 30% of the GDP it means tax freedom day is about Easter, and after that you can keep the money you earn.
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KP,
thank you for your link yesterday to Andrew Dickson White writing about inflation during the French Revolution. Interestingly the French had an experience of enormous inflation 70 years before (blamed on John Laws who had run a successful bank but which descended into inflation once the State took it over and started printing banknotes willynilly) yet they continued printing money. The inflation went up 782% in 6 months.
Since then France has had several bouts of inflation as has Germany, Hungary, Austria.
Those who could bought goods, even by debt because the repayments would be so reduced. I wonder whether Australia’s wish for housing wasn’t boosted by migrants who remembered the disasters in Europe.
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Another slant to consider-
“The US will attempt to salvage something from its Ukrainian investment, but the benefit to the US has less to do with winning than with the vast movement of tax dollars from taxpayers in US and EU to the MIC, and with the chance to disrupt any signs of competitiveness in its EU vassals. The EU is in recession, Germany has been decimated as an industrial state, and cheap energy is semi-permanently unavailable across the sub-sontinent.
The problem for the US is that if the EU is rendered uncompetitive to avoid jeopardy to US exports, then the collective West becomes uncompetitive compared to the developing industrial states of China, Russia and India.”
Moon of Alabama-
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/01/ukraine-sitrep.html#more
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Toyota no longer #1
Consumer Reports’ brand reliability report for 2024 has been released. According to the survey, the brands that make up the top five remain the same as last year, but it is Subaru which now holds the #1 spot, becoming the single most reliable car brand.
That’s right, Toyota and its sub-brand Lexus are no longer the very top brands when it comes to reliability. The findings are based on the nonprofit research, testing, and advocacy organization’s statistics on over 300,000 automobiles, trucks, and SUVs that were sold between 2000 and 2025.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/who-makes-the-most-reliable-cars-a7824554938/
Idiotic design flaws, deteriorating quality control & major engine issues no doubt major factors.
Still WAY better than Hyundai/Kia, and run away from anything owned by Stellantis.
31
Subaru parts tend to cost a lot … so if you do need any work done then expect to pay a bit extra.
Toyota did run into some problems … they were early adopters of hybrid technology a d they probably have been the biggest influence in that sphere. Subaru only recently got into hybrids, and there’s often an advantage to being conservative with such things … especially on reliability.
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We have owned some kind of Subaru continually since 2001. About to buy another this year , unless Mrs Y has some kind of epiphany.
Until recently we still had 2007 and 2010 still in the family. The only one that has needed anything was the 2007 which was in the era that had head gasket issues (although it did wait till 2021 to have an issue)
They are nothing spectacular but they do most things well and in our experience very reliable.
They are joined at the hip with Toyota these days, with Toyota owning 20%+ of the shares and cooperative ventures and models coming out. Hope its a positive relationship.
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Shanghai, China: New year’s drone show
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_spdyvwReF61aax3bi_720.mp4
That’d terrify primitive cultures!
/like liberals and greens
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Beautiful! The future of entertainment looks entertaining! A 3D movie in the sky..
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War Ming? What war ming!
‘Summer 2024 was the UK’s coolest since 2015 despite brief spells of heat [magic tricks?]’.
Yellow Snow Warning issued for ‘vast majority of the UK’ this weekend, including Scotland, Wales, the Midlands, Londonistan & beyond [via BBC/BS].
3 January South Island NZ: Snow to 1600m
5 January North Island NZ: Snow to 1500m
[via MetService Mountain Forecast].
Yesterday, New Year’s Day, 1 Jan 2025:
-54C Oymyakon, Siberia
-40C Valkyrie Dome, Antarctica
-35C Greenland Summit
-28C Amundsen South Pole, Antarctica
-23C Arctic North Pole
41C W.A. (Meekatharra, Newman, Paraburdoo)
[via numerous ‘climate’ weather sites].
So not a lot of land nor sea ice melting anywhere – it’s still colder than it is warmer: oopsala.
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I don’t need a warning to avoid yellow snow. Just saying.
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500kg piece of rocket lands in Kenya
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has addressed the recent incident involving a metallic object that landed at Makuku Village in Makueni, citing that it was a separation from a rocket.
In a statement, the agency explained that such objects, measuring approximately 2.5 metres in diameter and weighing about 500 kg, are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere or fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans.
https://www.citizen.digital/news/space-object-that-landed-in-makueni-was-from-rocket-kenya-space-agency-n355216
Kenya has a space agency? 😁
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There are more viruses on Earth than stars in the universe
It is estimated that there are 10 viruses for every bacterium on Earth. Curtis Suttle from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver compared the number of viruses in the oceans alone to the number of stars in the Universe, which is estimated to be 1023. Viruses outnumber stars by a factor of 10 million. If you lined them all up, that line would be 10 million light years long! To put it on a more conceivable scale, it’s been estimated that each day, more than 700 million viruses, mainly of marine origin, are deposited from Earth’s atmosphere onto every square meter of our planet’s surface.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/there-are-more-viruses-earth-there-are-stars-universe-180974433/
And they have all done less damage than from a lab in China.😁
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DEI in Action: New Orleans FBI Special Agent with Nose Ring Says Two Improvised Explosive Devices “Not a Terrorist Event” (VIDEO)
Per CBS News: “Weapons and two potential improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were located in the vehicle, Duncan said. At least one other IED was found in the French Quarter, and was detonated by law enforcement, a person familiar with the investigation said. The number of IEDs left behind is a large part of why the FBI believes the man may have had an accomplice, sources tell CBS News.”
Earlier Wednesday morning Special FBI agent Alethea Duncan said this was NOT a terrorist event.
“This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there were improvised explosive devices that was found and we are working on confirming if this is a viable device or not,” Alethea Duncan said.
Of course it turned out to be a terrorist attack.
How does this woman still have a job?
WATCH:
An FBI Agent with a nose ring who can barely speak coherent English sentences told the media that a terrorist driving a truck with an ISIS flag killing 10 Americans is NOT a terrorist attack!?!
Seriously. listen to this
We need Kash Patel NOW!pic.twitter.com/v2sjeJ2bcH
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FWIW
Converting “Ye of little faith” into “Ye of littler faith”
See the UN’s latest mission statement at # 20.1.1.1
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FWIW
“Thank you Daily Telegraph!”
“Tennis Albo”
https://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d02c8d3c80c85200c-800wi
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2025/01/thank-you-daily-telegraph.html
10
In the job description of Ward Clark the author of
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/12/31/elon-musk-stirring-the-pot-as-always-changes-x-handle-to-kekius-maximus-why-n2183798
” along with being an author, novelist, self-employed small businessman, woods bum, and semi-professional bad influence. ”
Things one might say that appear evidenced in Jo’s contributors (IMO)
10
https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/diesel_prices/ The differences in prices across countries are due to the various taxes and subsidies for diesel. All countries have access to the same petroleum prices of international markets but then decide to impose different taxes.
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