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
Last month I wrote a piece on the mistaken concept of “harm” in the ESA regs.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/06/25/an-impossibly-vague-concept-of-harm-plagues-the-endangered-species-act/
They have now rescinded that bad concept:
https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2026-07/department-interior-restores-clear-esa-enforcement-rescinding-misguided-harm
Progress!
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https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/general/ai-caramba-data-centers-drive-up-public-electricity-bills-by-23-billion/ar-AA286Bma?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=6a5bde0b376e481480270a686c820331&ei=13
It wasn’t hard to imagine this happening here.
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Aussie Renewable Energy Retailer Collapse Blamed on President Trump
Essay by Eric Worrall
The collapse of the Ross Garnaut-backed renewable power retailer Zen Energy is set to have a contagion effect across Australia’s electricity sector, with several large clean energy developments left without a stable long-term buyer for their power.
…
In those documents, Zen blamed its troubles on wavering Australian government policy and a post-Trump world that was hostile to emissions reduction.
…
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/18/aussie-renewable-energy-retailer-collapse-blamed-on-president-trump/
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Wonderful news!!👏👏👏👏!! Let’s hope it’s a sign of the whole lot disappearing.
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Another is the planned Squadron Energy (Twiggy Forrest) 69 Turbine Wind Farm in the Tumut (NSW) area has been “paused”. Further cracks in the whole Renewables edifice. Twiggy has already taken quite a beating on his Green Hydrogen folly, one has to wonder how those solar powered electric Haul Trucks are progressing in the Pilbara.
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So the truth is out once again. Ross Garnaut must have had a huge financial interest in Zen Energy which drove his Co2 denigration & propaganda. I hope he loses a huge % of his dishonest investments!! 👏👏👏
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Pity Garnaut didn’t listen to Jo, Plimer et al a few years back.
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Mores the pity that successive governments DID listen to Ross Garnaut !
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I am quite sure that this claim of a business failure caused by Trump will be on the ABC shortly.
It suits all their beliefs.
A pity that I don’t watch the ABC (but I do contribute (involuntary) towards their operations).
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Yes Graeme, but I reckon “our” ABC will not mention the collapse of Garnauts Zen Energy, as Ross was a darling of the ABC during he whole AGW saga. There will be no stories of the whole renewables unravelling!
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Noticed outside too
“Aussie Renewable Energy Retailer Collapse Blamed on President Trump”
In there
“Think of hedging a portfolio as like poll balancing. If a person wants to balance on a pole, they need to continuously adjust their position to prevent the pole from toppling over. A hedged portfolio, a portfolio stuffed full of unstable but potentially highly profitable financial instruments which want to topple over, also needs to be continuously adjusted to stay balanced. But this strategy of continuous balancing goes to hell if liquidity dries up. If the value of some of the unstable financial instruments collapses to such an extent nobody wants to buy them, then your portfolio can no longer be adjusted, and the pole topples over.”
More there
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/18/aussie-renewable-energy-retailer-collapse-blamed-on-president-trump/
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Maybe not so good.
What do Leftists do with failing or failed businesses, especially those who are members of the corporate state or Stato Corporativo as Giovanni Gentile, the moral philosopher of fascism, of which National Socialism was a derivative, wrote about in their version of Leftism, La dottrina del fascismo, (The Doctrine of Fascism)?
Well, they give them subsidies or other gifts of taxpayer money.
Mussolini said that he preferred to let corporations retain their private boards as long as they obeyed state mandates.
And Gentile rejected the capitalist notion that there is a divide between public taxpayer funds and private corporate profits. To Gentile, all wealth belonged fundamentally to the Nation.
Gentile argued that if the state provided subsidies, protectionist tariffs or resources to a corporation, it was not doing so to enrich shareholders. It was a directive from the State ordering that corporation to fulfill a specific national duty such as achieving self-sufficiency or building public works or in this case “renewables”.
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“Mussolini said that he preferred to let corporations retain their private boards as long as they obeyed state mandates.”
..and THAT is the definition of Fascism! Communism where you allowed private property, which the State runs. Both philosophies believe their subjects are just chattels of the State.
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Russia and China are Fascist states, with state owned businesses as a counter weight to the free enterprise model. leaves the door open to corruption.
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“When you’ve got complex structures with multiple parties and cross-party arrangements, you can easily get a contagion problem,”
Self full filling prophecy, I cannot think of a single example where making something more complex, for no good reason, turned out to benefit the outcome.
Remember the SEC in Victoria, one producer of electricity and essentially the only retailer (not quite but near enough) when everyone new what the product cost.
Then voila, the SEC is wound up and we are told that multiple retailers will provide competition and therefore lower prices. The first thing out of this was “complexity”.
It was impossible to compare one retailer with another because they all offered different plans, some had cheaper electricity but dearer daily supply charges, different off peak rates etc. In the end the consumer just threw up their hands and said “who ever”. Duplications of administration automatically meant dearer prices without any additional skullduggery , prices have gone one way ever since.
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Sweden’s Vattenfall halts giant Vidar offshore wind project over lack of profitability. Unlike many other countries, Sweden doesn’t subsidise wind power.
https://www.bairdmaritime.com/offshore/renewables/offshore-wind/swedens-vattenfall-halts-offshore-wind-project-over-lack-of-profitability
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May not directly subsidise it but just adding wind generators into the system without the ability to guarantee output adds to system cost. So it is an indirect subsidy.
Then coal generation is penalised to the point of extinction across Europe.
10
Of the renewable projects that are active, it seems that the government who came up with the Future Made in Australia concept a couple of years ago can’t make up their mind on appointing an administrator for recycling solar panels. We can’t flog off used solar panels to poor countries any longer as China has flooded the market with cheap panels, so they are going into landfill.
Labor’s lack of foresight and inaction means we are wasting valuable materials as well as creating a risk of lead and cadmium leaking into water tables. It is also evident that the service period of the solar panels isn’t matching up with their projected life expectancy.
https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/millions-of-solar-panels-go-to-landfill-why-aren-t-they-recycled-20260717-p60gah.html
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Another article Chris Bowen should read.
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FWIW
About 10 minutes in here
“Russia Obliterates Odessa Ports Ursula Hides Russian Kiev Strikes; Zelensky Crisis Worsens; US China”
https://rumble.com/v7cvj9s-russia-obliterates-odessa-ports-ursula-hides-russian-kiev-strikes-zelensky-.html?e9s=src_v1_upp_v
I haven’t seen mention of the tit-fer-tat going on in the Black Sea grain trade that is outlined here and the Ukrainian own goal
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I prefer Alex Christophorou’s daily podcast myself, and I like them when they broadcast together. Alexander Mercourois’ reports are a little too long for my liking. Also I like Alex’s walk and talk. You can see places and if they look interesting you can go and visit later on. Sometimes he visits places that I have been to and I recognize where he is!
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I hope you get a much broader spectrum of thought than just the Duran, Russia tr0lls.
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Where would you suggest for a balanced view H?? CIA News?
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Why would CIA news be worse than the Duran? I merely suggested broadening references.
I could list over twenty names but WTF. you would dismiss them all.
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If you get a “broad spectrum of thought” the true situation might be somewhere within that envelope –
Might be
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We are on the frontline of the information war and Kremlin propaganda is clunky.
The political situation in Ukraine is wonderful, the people have come out onto the streets in large numbers to express an opinion, the Butcher must go. Who are they talking about and why is it so?
Putin won’t be happy with this exhibition of a vibrant democracy.
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FWIW
“Have Nurses Nothing Better to Do Than Discuss Climate Change?”
“If you wanted a snapshot of why so many nurses feel increasingly disconnected from their professional bodies, you could do worse than read the minutes of a recent meeting of senior nursing figures. I am referring to the Fellows meeting of the Royal College of Nursing held on June 18th in London. I have the privilege of being a Fellow, but I was not, thankfully, present at the meeting.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/07/18/have-nurses-nothing-better-to-do-than-discuss-climate-change/
More “in-expert experts”
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Yes they do have better things to do and so do doctors.
Unfortunately the AMA is also all in on climate Change to the general detriment of themselves and society generally.
When they are asked to explain their climate change beliefs they simply point to the IPCC, the Climate Change Authority and other government institutions, which are all self reinforcing. The AMA has not conducted an independent analysis of the evidence for climate change.
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FWIW
“THE THREAT POSED BY RETURNING ISIS TERRORISTS AND SUPPORTERS IS FAR FROM OVER!”
https://harryr.substack.com/p/the-threat-posed-by-returning-isis
Bumped from yesterday
“FWIW
Hiding in plain sight
“‘Diversity’ Is Not Our Strength if They Hate Us”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/07/16/one-of-the-many-reasons-why-diversity-is-not-our-strength-n3816999
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FWIW – Maybe?
“Britain’s New Prime Minister Follows President Trump’s Advice in His First Major Policy Move”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/britains-new-prime-minister-follows-president-trumps-advice/
Will Milibrand publicly tear up his copy of the announcement if that happens?
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FWIW
However – add to your form guide on that gent –
“Meet Andy Burnham, Britain’s soon to be new PM.
• Nobody voted for him
• Nobody asked for him
• He is haunted by allegations over his handling of the rape gangs
• His main concern seems to be that Starmer wasn’t enough of a tyrant
• He will make everything worse
• He will make Britain suffer even more”
https://x.com/NiohBerg/status/2078462475842818202
Via https://instapundit.com/810991/#disqus_thread
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FWIW
“CANADA’S NEW PLAN FOR “MISINFORMATION”: Let the government decide what is true, then punish citizens who disagree. What could go wrong?”
“What’s the (free speech) deal with Canada?
Canada is steadily transforming free expression from a right into a privilege — one that regulators, tribunals, and government officials can withdraw whenever they decide another interest matters more
Adam Goldstein and Greg Lukianoff”
https://eternallyradicalidea.com/p/whats-the-free-speech-deal-with-canada ”
Via https://instapundit.com/811017/#disqus_thread
“Elbow” probably “scrutenising with a very intense scrut”?
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“Police-reported hate crimes in Canada more than doubled between 2018 and 2024. Lawmakers did not invent these incidents.”
Lol! Not much they didn’t! Make a law against something and all those people employed to defend that law will go looking for new criminals.. Especially fuzzy laws like hate speech and protest speech and insulting speech and… All these people a little bit pregnant.
Seems free speech is dead all over the Western world, lets see how long this site lasts. Opposing global warming might even get its own set of laws carved out of the disinformation basket by a desperate Left-wing Govt.
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It seems the West’s civilisation is so poor that the State has to use the military to try and stop its subjects from using the drugs they want to block out the terrible daily life they lead. France has joined the USA in shooting up speedboats carrying drugs, there is not even a hint of arrests or legal processes.
This article talks about shooting the engines on high-speed boats at 100kph, from a helicopter, the most unstable platform you could have, but I expect killing those on board is not important. Now you need helicopter carriers 1000km out to sea, well outside your Territorial limit.
The War on Drugs, Govts have been losing it for 100years… What are they doing to destroy the normal love of life in their peoples?
“Fed-up Europeans use sniper fire to stop narco traffickers on new ‘cocaine highway’.. Among European nations, only France and Britain acknowledge authorising their militaries to use disabling fire in counternarcotics missions.”
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/fed-up-europeans-use-sniper-fire-to-stop-narco-traffickers-on-new-cocaine-highway-20260716-p60fzm.html
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Only the druggies will mourn them.
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I have to say those boats do not look like pleasure craft out fishing with 44 gallon drums and 3 or 4 huge outboard motors.
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At the same time they claim to be unable to stop the Third World fighting age males coming to Europe without restriction who are bringing nothing but misery, violence, misogyny and life-long welfare dependency.
Invaders who are beloved by the Left, of course.
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Well, I’m sure there are drug smugglers out there, and under current law they are criminals, but the question is, why do they have a market, and if people want those drugs, who is the Govt to stop them? This is a social science problem, not a military one.
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People that grow up within a shooting-sports environment can easily hit a “hugh” outboard motor. Folks in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern USA often start with a single-shot 22 to hunt squirrels and rabbits. Why single shot? The history goes back to the Pennsylvania Long Rifle. And, if you only get one shot, you learn not to miss. Plus, it is a safety thing.
I’ve seen practice shooting at a carboard insert in a rolling tire down a bumpy slope.
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This news is about as frightening as you are going to hear today! I’ve been wondering for a while when the first political drone assassination was going to happen? It looks like it probably already has. With the money they have, it is impossible to stop the cartels using this technology, and once all sides get hold of it, there is going to be total mayhem. 20mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV2-9DOzRgA&t=97s
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