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
Tanks in the tiny town street celebrating America:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/07/05/dubois-one-of-a-kind-military-tank-parade-celebrates-americas-250th/
Good article too. Says a lot.
121
Thanks David, I notice your country only waves one flag, I wish we had that pride in Australia.
211
Apples and pears, we are cousins, similar but different. American Exceptionalism is in their mindset.
‘Jingoism is an extreme, bellicose form of nationalism characterized by an aggressive foreign policy, a belief in national superiority, and a readiness to use threats or military force instead of diplomacy. It describes a mindset that values blind, fanatical patriotism over peaceful international relations.’ (AI Overview)
213
Very well said EG, I don’t know why you got those red thumbs, it describes Trump to a T.
“I notice your country only waves one flag, I wish we had that pride in Australia.”
Hey, you get the pride flag! I see it popping up everywhere, all the colours of the rainbow..
12
Yep. All the colours of the rainbow.
Totally gay.
00
The Democratic Socialists of America are now officially the largest socialist party in American history …. at a whopping 120,000 members.
https://x.com/DemSocialists/status/2073858007017164832
It boggles my mind that the Democratic party with it’s 49,000,000 registered voters is letting these idiots lead them around by nose.
There is no reason whatsoever for them to allow the DSA access to their primaries and their nationwide campaign apparatus and fundraising. They can and should tell them to kick rocks and force them to run as an independent party (the same way the Green party and Libertarian party and Bernie Sanders do every election). But they won’t, because it would mean losing control of a handful of congressional seats in deep blue districts. Instead, they are opting to keep those seats nominally under Democratic control while losing control of the party itself.
Their worst fear is losing what little power they have over Trump, but in the process of trying to ensure that power in 2026 they are risking the same kind of takeover that Trump pulled on the Republican party. Or total destruction of the party itself when it’s moderate voters decide en masse to go independent and become free agents rather than ‘vote blue no matter who’ robots.
Are there no long-term strategic thinkers in the Democrat party who can see beyond the next two years after the Bad Orange Man is gone and what unintended consequences their embrace of the DSA might have after 2028?
190
https://x.com/canarymission/status/2073885328109085043
If the Democrats want to throw in their lot with seditious communist filth, many Republicans won’t complain under the theory of ‘never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake’. For me, it is terrifying. Even though I lean conservative and vote mostly Republican, I never voted straight ticket (only one party) prior to the Democrats going insane post-2016. I voted for Bill Clinton twice, Obama once, and have voted for multiple Democrat congressmen over the decades. America is not served well by having only one sane party. We need the yin and yang of two strong parties waging a battle of ideas, with each sharpening the other through that battle. Alas, you cannot have a spirited debate between lunacy and sanity. Women don’t have penises, climate will change regardless of what humans do, no country can exist without enforced borders, you cannot run a social safety net run at a deficit forever, public sector jobs do not generate wealth and should be kept to a minimum, taxing wealth destroys wealth, etc.
200
‘We need the yin and yang of two strong parties waging a battle of ideas, with each sharpening the other through that battle.’
Those days are over, there are a lot of Americans who never vote because the majors have nothing to offer. The DSA give them hope that democracy is alive and well in the land of the brave.
Yin and Yang can also work in a multiparty environment, the DSA splinter groups will eventually settle down. The Democrats should absorb the DSA and then modify or possibly adopt some planks.
Should the US cut back on military spending to fix the bottom line?
05
“there are a lot of Americans who never vote because the majors have nothing to offer”
The reason Australia has compulsory voting is that in one year in WA only 16% of people voted. People don’t like governments. We’re from the Government and we are here to help you? So how much is this going to cost me?
30
And 5% of the Australian “vote” is regularly “a spoiled ballot”.
10
There are a lot of Americans who never vote … and there always have been. That is not new. If anything, turnout has improved over the past decade. Meanwhile, the DSA are winning local primaries in a non-presidential election year where turnout has always been perilously low (around 10%). Most of their victories have only secured tens of thousands of votes instead of the tens of millions of voters that are represented by the Democratic party. The next hotly contested district they win will be the first. So no, they are hardly an electoral powerhouse outside of deeply, deeply blue districts.
So why is the Democratic party funding and assisting them in their takeover of those districts from Democrats? The DSA’s party platform is anathema to what the Democratic party stood for as recently two years ago when Kamala Harris ran a Bidenesque campaign. For all the rhetorical crap Republicans throw their way, Democrats have never been a party that was fundamentally opposed to the American form of government, nor have they ever been opposed to capitalist principals. If anything, the Democrats were the party that embraced the American government a bit too hard and constantly wanted to expand it while Republicans fought to shrink it. They certainly would never have endorsed candidates who explicitly promised to destroy the American government from within. It is rank cowardice that they are throwing their lot in with these freaks now.
20
Eventually it might come to a split, but Trump’s polling numbers are lower than ever and the Democrats can smell victory in the mid terms so they don’t want last minute disunity … regardless of how much tension is below the surface.
Besides that, they were able to cheat Bernie Sanders quite easily and you can’t possibly tell me that Biden and Kamela were the organic choice of the party members. The establishment Democrats know they can thumb the whacky fringe anytime, so they don’t worry about how wacky it becomes. In a way, having the rabid dog on a short leash can also be used to advantage … I mean wouldn’t want that dog to get loose huh? Good thing you got me holding him back … eyebrow eyebrow.
00
Obviously, Kamala was not an organic choice in 2024, but IMO Biden was in 2020. Did the party put their thumb on the scale for him a bit? Sure. But even though he lost early primaries in New Hampshire/Iowa to Sanders/Buttgieg, it was clear from the South Carolina results that he was more than competitive in the larger and more diverse states that matter most in a general election.
00
https://www.thefp.com/p/my-former-colleagues-are-destroying-democrats-dsa?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics
————————-
20
Steve:
“Are there no long-term strategic thinkers in the Democrat party” – judging by our politicians in Australia I would reply that all politicians don’t think AT ALL about things beyond the next Voting Survey.
200
FWIW
“How American engineers unlocked the impossible beneath the Gulf of America
American drillships now operate at 20,000 psi, unlocking tens of billions of barrels once deemed unreachable”
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/how-american-engineers-unlocked-impossible-beneath-gulf-america
100
‘Some of the most compelling evidence of American exceptionalism today is happening thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of America, where our offshore industry has spent more than a decade solving one of the hardest engineering problems in the history of energy.’
30
FWIW
“UK Government’s Shocking Bid To Rig YouTube Algorithm To Force-Feed BBC Propaganda”
“In a brazen move that reeks of authoritarian control, the UK government is pushing plans to seize influence over YouTube’s recommendation system. Their goal is to prioritise content from the BBC, and other state backed propaganda machines, while burying independent journalists and creators who dare challenge the official narrative”
More at
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-governments-shocking-bid-rig-youtube-algorithm-force-feed-bbc-propaganda
100
Is this indoctrination by legislation?
70
The Director of the Free Speech Union, Lord Young of Acton, said “The reason the BBC now attracts fewer viewers than YouTube is precisely because people don’t trust it – and with good reason, given the misinformation it pumps out about the Israel-Gaza conflict, its fake-news Panorama documentary about Trump and its one-sided coverage of the ‘climate crisis’. Forcing social media platforms to label it ‘trustworthy’ is unlikely to restore its authority. More like the final nail.”
President Trump said that the BBC is clearly a “leftist propaganda machine” and “100 percent fake news”.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the purpose of the BBC lead ‘Trusted News Initiative’ was to prevent the publication of stories or events that deviated from government orthodoxy.
Elon Musk said “The BBC is complicit in the destruction of Britain… you’re forced to pay for your own destruction, it’s insane, it’s unfair, it is wrong”
160
FWIW
One way I guess to help cool the planet –
https://x.com/TheBabylonBee/status/2073897253127803179
10
On the other hand
“Green War on Air Conditioning is Heating Up”
““We cannot air condition our way out of climate change” according to UNSW author Professor Mat Santamouris.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/06/green-war-on-air-conditioning-is-heating-up/
This goes with ancient Persian uses of wind
https://earthsci.org/mineral/energy/vertical_shaft_windmills/vertical_shaft_windmills.html
40
Ian, what are the odds this blithering idiot has AC in his house and also his car ???
70
He would rather push his dogma than see people make sensible, available and proven adaptions.
60
FWIW
Problem solutions by management style
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivl56EYbhzNzlKI3TD-CJwuPH4neaDwkbq9k6qE2smKDVDuwCKJXQhTbvthM5qEJjAxSe9NIqqNrJiu29W0-DQ8Gm9VrNbL-RMPR0HDWWHbdu0txkyU7EcU8izk4_5XTrBq2uQsk-4hQSYVUVweEqa1PG7LM0kQ4qI3rzcLanVz6gNgHVv6yvsW3nOdVw/w400-h375/Meme%20-%20corporate%20solution.png
10
FWIW
“Europe’s Crisis Is Energy Poverty, Not a Heat Wave”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/06/europes-crisis-is-energy-poverty-not-a-heat-wave/
51
What goes around comes around. History repeats. No-one can predict the future.
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ta3wrsg9OT1aezgup.mp4
Ronald Reagan in 1964 predicts the “Democrat” party.
Nothing ever changes as human nature doesn’t…
40
“No-one can predict the future.”
Of course they can JC. My mother in law predicted every thing of importance to her family, just after it happened. When I questioned her about why she didn’t tell us, the answer was always the same “I didn’t want to upset anybody but I knew last week that this gaining to happen”
I trusted her predictive ability implicitly.
80
Vitamin D threatens big pharma’s disease model
Vitamin D showed about a 60% effectiveness against the incidence of COVID-19 in randomized control trials.
For preventing severe COVID-19 cases requiring ICU care, vitamin D supplementation was about 70% effective.
https://x.com/VigilantFox/status/2073754956608274466
Australian govt- everyone should stay inside.
150
Thanks J C,
And I reckon they’d have nearly reached 100% if they’d included D’s cofactors and zinc in their trials.
Cheers,
Dave B
70
Imagine how much panic could have been avoided if they just recommended people go outside, exercise a bit, and maybe eat a multivitamin rather than treating Covid-19 like the second coming of the black plague.
10
Putin is preparing to scrap the SMO and bring on WW3, closing off the borders to stop people fleeing. Full mobilisation of the population is close at hand, this is a disaster.
06
Mmmm yes disaster, or, things will just continue.
50
Fuel is running out and the ladies of St Petersburg are not amused at the prospect that their sons will be sent to the front.
I reckon Putin will sue for peace within months.
14
A lot more to Russia than St Petersburg. Something may occur , and regardless of who says what to who it will be Russia suing for peace. Hopefully it happens but I really dont see it.
00
How about you provide citations with these “startlers” please so we can judge the “believability coefficient”?
50
I doubt that.
For all Ukraine’s success with their long and medium range drone strikes in Russia, on the Ukrainian front Russia is still slowly grinding away and making small gains. The biggest shift within Ukraine is that the strikes on Russia have given Putin reason to take off the gloves and step up his own bombing of western Ukraine (which was largely left alone prior to the long/medium range drone campaign).
https://unherd.com/newsroom/zelensky-is-in-denial-about-ukraines-war-hopes/?edition=us
Ukraine has definitely shifted the momentum from ‘things are hopeless’ to ‘maybe we have got a chance after all’, but they are a long way from forcing Putin to call it quits. I think the truth is somewhere in between your wildly optimistic take and the pessimistic take in the article above.
00
Bloody Russians
‘Jingoism is an extreme, bellicose form of nationalism characterized by an aggressive foreign policy, a belief in national superiority, and a readiness to use threats or military force instead of diplomacy. It describes a mindset that values blind, fanatical patriotism over peaceful international relations.’ (AI Overview)
20
The end of hegemony.
02
Careful what you wish for.
The alternative to hegemony is often chaos. Look at the decline of Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire, or of China after the collapse of the Mongolian Empire, or of the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, or what happened in India after the Brits partitioned the country by religion and scarpered. In the long historical perspective, perhaps those were all good things, but for the people living through them, they were terrifying and traumatic times.
20
Seems to me that NATO and/or Europe plus the US have been waging a war against Russia for some years already, even if they’ve only just declared it. So Russia is validly responding to an existential threat.
60
NATO is a defensive organisation and never a threat to Russia.
Crimea was annexed in 2014 and then the full scale invasion of Ukraine followed in 2022, all of this imperial grandeur is out of date and Putin quite mad.
05
Quite simple – he either declares mobilisation within days or he does not, in which case it was empty words.
10
They might be empty words, but he was well-paid to write them!
“NATO is a defensive organisation and never a threat to Russia. ”
Reminds me of the British Police article on ZeroHedge above, no-one is above the law, the Police treat everyone equally and protect the rights of British citizens…! Lol!
30
Castles were entirely ‘defensive’ structures.
And were usually built in contentious areas for purpose of projected offensive power.
Oh look, a ‘defensive’ structure right outside my house.
No worries.
Besides correctly labeling ‘Climate Change’ a hoax, Trump ended the fiction of the US ‘Defense’ Department.
That’s because in war, defensive and offensive action can change by the minute, even the second.
Fear not, the Globalist storytellers will return soon.
And solidify their fiction of ‘Global Democracy’.
That’s because they successfully waged their offensive blitzkrieg in the minds of Western children via education.
In a weird way the ‘progressive’ Globalists are returning humanity to fable based culture that we almost were able to overcome with the ‘scientific’ Enlightenment.
But the storytellers have managed to turn science into religion.
Follow it closely.
They’re not going allow you a choice anyway.
For the weather forecast a decade in the future, ask a wizard at the BOM.
40
For the weather forecast a decade in the future, ask a wizard at the BOM.
I seem to recall general such predictions based on earth’s orbital eccentricity being made here?
00
FWIW – another hand
“Steven Jermy: Russia’s War Objectives & Europe’s Downfall”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G9Y2pyhfqs
10
There is a pretty massive distinction between a cold war (what NATO has been waging against Russia since the mid 2000s) and a hot war (what Russia has been waging in Ukraine since 2022).
00
Awww, look at you.
Making sh#t up as you go.
Per the BBC, Russia has lost only 220 000 KIA to date, whereas Ukraine had 538 000 graves visible from space in DECEMBER 2024 then subsequently shut down the social media site publishing the count at 640 000 in April 2025, and has lost something North of 300 000 since. There are reasonable estimates of Ukraine KIA being upwards of 1.7 MILLION. It is mathematically impossible for Russia to have 710 000 on the front line with nearly 2 million under arms total(per Ukrainian Army Chief, Syrski) AND lose 30 k per month (per Ukrainian fake news)
Russia is winning, easily, and has imposed none of your fake restrictions. It has easily recruited sufficient volunteers to now have the largest (bar China) and (bar none) the most experienced Army on Planet Earth
Putin stated, just in the last few days, that Russia will continue until not only the Donbass, but also Novorossiya is back in Russian hands.
No capitulation, that’s just the wishful thinking of Ukrainian propaganda merchants.
“Work, brothers”
20
Agreed
Laughably inaccurate. If it were easy, the war would have been over four years ago. Nothing about the war has been easy for either side. Russia has seen what they thought would be a blitzkrieg-like regime change operation turn into a four-year long quagmire with no end in sight. As for Ukraine, after their heroics in the opening days to stop the Russians in their tracks, and the success of their first counter-offensive, have seen their decimated by a years-long war of attrition that has cost them dearly in terms of both blood and lucre. Their recent success in making Russia feel some small fraction of their pain with drone strikes has not changed that. The brutal math of the butcher’s bill remains against them.
10
‘One Nation’s political surge will get its most significant test yet in Western Australia after a senior minister resigned from the Cook government, setting up a byelection in a suburban Perth seat Labor fears will be tight.
‘WA One Nation MP Rod Caddies said the party would use the byelection as a learning opportunity for a tilt at federal Liberal Andrew Hastie’s seat of Canning at the next election.’ (Fin Review)
20
I guess Victoria will the first jewel in the PHON Party crown, either as the Government or effectively controlling the Government.
Good on them.
I prey for Pauline really being good in her choice of people, because it is not the Labor Party they need to defeat.
It is Victorian State.
Lustration !
40
One Nation targeting a Liberal MP, and research the background of the tormentor James Ashby, Chief of Staff One Nation;
https://citynews.com.au/2026/one-nation-targets-hastie-over-roberts-smith-affair/
02
FWIW – UK
“SMMT Wake Up To Damage Caused By EV Mandates”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/06/smmt-wake-up-to-damage-caused-by-ev-mandates/
20
Somewhat sensible podcast: John Anderson interviews Steven Koonin.
https://johnanderson.net.au/climate-change-is-not-an-existential-threat-steven-koonin/
20
Koonin, like Bjorn Lomborg, is still a little bit too much of a ‘atmospheric CO2 is a problem’ believer for my tastes. But like Lomborg, it is refreshing to hear a rational and economically literate voice from that side of the debate. I may disagree with them on whether a warming world is a blessing (me) or a curse (them), but I am in complete agreement with them on their analytical and measured take on the issue.
00
FWIW
“THESE TWO GRIFTERS SHOULD RESIGN OR BE SACKED!”
“Climate Change & Energy Minister Chris Bowen has assembled an army of over 100 bureaucrats to support his role as president of negotiations for the COP31 climate summit.
This workforce, together with associated COP commitments, are projected to cost Australian taxpayers nearly $150 million.
Taxpayers have already been billed almost $500,000 in travel costs alone in just four months as Bowen builds a sprawling workforce for his new role.
He was handed this dubious role after his failure to win the conference location for Australia – Türkiye being chosen instead.”
More at
https://harryr.substack.com/p/these-two-grifters-should-resign
30
FWIW – USA
“A Coast to Coast Catch Up on Wasting Money on Wind”
“We’re two months out from the last update I gave you on the Vineyard Wind project, the wind farm just off the Nantucket coast, home to the infamous fettuccine split blade that nearly ruined summer along the New England beaches, and now embroiled in litigation between its two major players, the Vineyard Wind developers, and GE Vernova, the turbine and blade manufacturer who is trying to walk away from the project.”
More at
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/07/06/a-coast-to-coast-catch-up-on-wasting-money-on-wind-n3816674
“All the moaning and groaning in the world won’t change the fact that Trump had nothing to do with it.”
10
FWIW – USA
“Sen. Murphy Has a Terrible New Idea”
“Maybe it’s not fair to call it a new idea since it’s one that has been around for a long time. But Sen. Chris Murphy is newly pushing for it to become law as part of an effort to win over moderate voters.
The plan? Murphy wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour. Not all at once but relatively soon for big businesses.”
More at
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/07/06/sen-murphy-has-a-terrible-new-idea-n3816675
In there
“It’s not like any of this is new territory. The arguments against this idea have been around a long time.”
Like communism – just hasn’t been applied correctly?
10
California has done this (thought it ranges from $16-$24).
It resulted in low-skill employers like fast food restaurants making huge investments in automation and eliminating low-skill jobs. This in turn has led to California having one of the highest teen unemployment rates in the nation.
https://minimumwage.com/2025/06/new-data-california-among-top-5-states-for-teen-unemployment/
Low skill entry level jobs used to be the first step in teenagers gaining some degree of financial independence and learning about work ethic and grinding through a workday. Minimum wage laws have largely eliminated those job opportunities from the economy. Why employ a teenager with no job experience when you can employ a 23 year old with a sociology degree and a work history, or invest a few bucks in a checkout kiosk and some kitchen automation?
20
Speak of the devil … this just popped up in my feed this morning.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/06/summer-job-summer-work-brandon-johnson-teenagers-first-job/
10
Very powerful TC heading for China. Central Pressure 936hPa.
This the one that pummelled islands in the Pacific.It has lost some intensity but lots of ocean heat and convective potential to build strength before landfall again.
This could be an historic storm event.
30
headed to China or the Philippines or Taiwan?
Or all three?
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=mean_sea_level_pressure/orthographic=-226.73,19.90,976/loc=136.464,16.812
00
FWIW – remember way back when about egg prices in USA?
“The Results of an Eggstraordinary Investigation”
“Well, thank goodness the DoJ cared because you’ll never guess what their little nosing around the egg industry – which was no doubt characterized in many quarters as theater for Trump not getting prices down – turned up.
A corporate shell game, if you will, and the cost to consumers of that collusion was no yolk.”
More at
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/07/06/the-results-of-an-eggstraordinary-investigation-n3816664
00
A great piece hyping AI for Australia with Anthropic potentially spending millions of $ and Albo showing his business cred. All smacks of the early days of Suncable and Twiggys hydrogen hub. Apparently the DCs will be self powered and even contribute to the grid.
I doubt much homework has been done on either side.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/tech-giant-anthropics-huge-data-centre-plan-for-australia/news-story/0f5dabe0b894a8107bd03c5e028c053a
20
For those of us who firmly believed Russia was stealing washing machines to get missile electronics, Simplicious has a particularly telling article on Kiev’s woes.
“Shockingly, the article states that each single Pac-3MSE missile takes over two years to build.
Granted, there are many being built at the same time, but the total lead time for the manufacture of all the different parts, and then final assembly—which itself takes six weeks—apparently totals over the two year mark.
The main reason is that there are over 400 different companies supplying parts to this single missile type, which all manufacture their various components at different rates and scales. The components themselves then all have to be individually tested before final delivery. This entire complex process explains why expanding the supply chains all at once is nearly impossible, and why the ambitious goal of 2,000 per year will likely never be even remotely approached.”
So Ukraine now has no way of stopping Russia’s missile attacks on military equipment stored around the country, or on infrastructure if its valuable enough to use a missile on.
..and why does it take two years to build one Pac-3 missile? “Missile parts are made in hundreds of baby factories scattered across Congressional districts. We have a Congressionally-optimised supply chain that can’t win a war“.
..in the country who’s war budget is larger than the next 5 countries combined!
In the video you can see Ukrainian missiles shooting up out of the Russian explosion, careering across Kiev and plunging back down to explode in the residential suburbs… Don’t store explosives in cities!
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/ukrainian-authorities-panic-as-patriots
10
…and unsurprisingly.. ‘The woman who murdered Yermaev in Monaco reportedly returned to Ukraine (unhindered by any EU authorities, surprise, surprise) and has now been found dead in Kiev.’
” The main SUSPECT in the Monaco attack FOUND DEAD near Kiev – just days after Interpol issued a red notice for her arrest.
She was wanted for the bombing that targeted Ukrainian oligarch Yermoleyev.
They’re covering their tracks.”
https://x.com/GlobalDiss/status/2074449955142467617
via
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/07/ukraine-open-thread-2026-143.html/comment-page-3#comments
00
Idiot.
Why would you attempt to assassinate a Ukrainian oligarch and then return to Ukraine where it is easiest for them to reach you? She should have hopped a ship to South America and found herself a nice little hovel in Suriname or Guyana to spend the rest of her days.
00