Saturday

8.1 out of 10 based on 30 ratings

237 comments to Saturday

  • #
    tonyb

    Macrons centre right party was almost wiped out when he called the surprise General election just before the Olympics. The left -whose coalition won the election had a reasonable expectation that the new Prime Minister would come from their ranks

    Instead after weeks of dithering Macron has appointed a centre right PM-The 73 year old Barnier- in other words giving two fingers up to the electorate.

    https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/macrons-resignation-up-in-the-air/

    The left are not happy but whether they have the numbers to overturn it in Parliament looks doubtful as Le Pen seems ambivalent about the appointment. The left are not known for going quietly into that dark night, so expect riots over the next few weeks.

    231

  • #
    tonyb

    There is certainly a lot of activity on the anti mass migration front in Europe.

    Looks like the right wing anti immigran* FPO might win the upcoming Austrian elections.

    https://rmx.news/article/austria-anti-immigration-fpo-set-to-win-national-elections-this-month/

    The composition of population in Vienna is extraordinary as in junior schools Catholics are now outnumbered by those of a more recently arrived religion.

    230

  • #
    tonyb

    Nice reflective article pointing out that things are not as gentle and ordered as they were in previous decades in the UK, and I suspect in Oz and much of the West. But there are signs of a fightback.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/greens/

    170

  • #
    william x

    When I joined the NSW fire service in the 1990s. (Australia)

    “SOP” was to find the fire and put it out…. eg. Big fire, big water.. Little fire, little water.
    It was quite simple.

    In 2024 it is different;

    It is quite hard or impossible to put out an EV….. or a fire inside a wind turbine housing 130m above ground.

    In 2024, Our Australian Fire services only have the capability to stand and watch a wind turbine burn and then put out any spot fires downstream…

    To give you an idea of the height of a wind turbine housing…
    Our largest NSW firefighting Aerial Platforms only reach 47m height, at full extension… roughly 83 meters short of the new turbine housings of 130m.

    Also of note, none of those major 40m+ aerial appliances are stationed near any wind farm… Not close..
    They are mostly stationed inner city, largely protecting the climate concerned “green and teal”, council and federal seats.

    440

    • #
      tonyb

      What are the dangers in letting a wind turbine burn? Are there nasty chemicals that might leak out or danger to life and property?

      By definition they tend to be remote so might it be best to let it burn rather than risk life and limb of firefighters?

      91

      • #
        Vicki

        TonyB, a few years ago a burning turbine started a fire in rural NSW. It subsequently caused a bushfire which burnt out a large section of a farm belonging to a friend of our family. He subsequently successfully sued for damages. It was a landmark case that the owners of these monstrosities don’t want public.

        400

        • #
          ozfred

          There have been rumours of the insurance cost increases on properties adjacent to RE installations. The potential liability for a bush fire spreading to very expensive equipment on a neighbour’s land has been noted.
          Perhaps there are more important issues than noise and visual pollution for which the RE owners need to held accountable?

          70

          • #
            Ted1

            Nobody has yet noticed that there has been a dramatic new development in this field.

            There is now an established mechanism for putting a dollar value on environmental “carbon”. And that value will be huge, especially when the “carbon trade” gets firmly established.

            Lawyers will grow fat very quickly. Damage which used to be of no commercial value will be in the zillions.

            00

    • #
      Simon

      How many wind turbines has the NSW put out to date? Anyone here remember what happened when a forest fire got to the Morwell open cast coal mine? It took 7000 firefighters and 45 days to put it out.

      138

      • #
        David Maddison

        Coal is a useful, high density fuel that provides inexpensive, 24/7 reliable power in a compact footprint. And power stations are long lasting with lives of 50 to 70 years plus, unlike disposable, visually polluting, bird chopping, unreliable, expensive windmills.

        And it was not 7000 firefighters working at the same time. It was 500 at any one time. An unfortunate accident but testament to the huge energy contained in coal, unlike the low energy density of wind and solar hence the huge plantations that consume valuable farmland, destroy forests and greate visual pollution. Natural coal seam fires burn for hundreds or thousands of years, e.g. Burning Mountain in NSW.

        https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/bushfire-hazelwood-open-cut-mine-fire-victoria-2014/

        491

        • #
          PeterPetrum

          And in Scotland peat fires, often started by lightening, can burn for weeks, often moving underground to emerge tens or more metres away and bust into flames again. I remember, as a school cadet in the Royal Scots, being seconded to a fire detail to help the army regulars fight such a fire that was approaching Cultibraggan camp where we were billeted for two weeks in the school holidays in July. And it was blistering hot weather at the time.

          11

      • #
        ianl

        How many lithium battery fires have occurred that cannot be extinguished ? How many underground car parks are increasingly at risk ? How many blocks of apartment homes sit over the top of their off-street parking, increasingly at risk of lithium battery fires ?

        Uncomfortable for you, isn’t it, Simon ?

        And David Maddison (below) is correct about stratigraphically exposed coal seams fired by lightning. Geological exploration has found hard evidence of this occurring throughout the Carboniferous, Permian and younger periods, up to and including the contemporary time.

        200

      • #
        RickWill

        It took 7000 firefighters and 45 days to put it out.

        Tthis supports the point being made. A coal mine fire can be controlled. Also it was not the initiating cause. Wind turbine fires cannot be controlled . Even if fitted with fire sprinklers, each would need its own water storage and booster pump to have any hope of controlling the fire before the fire destroyed the unit.

        180

      • #
        Ronin

        “How many wind turbines has the NSW put out to date? ”

        Not many as they are usually left to burn themselves out, a very ugly sight.

        160

      • #
        TdeF

        I think that’s open cut. Anyway the reason they put it out was to save the coal, one of Australia’s three biggest exports. There are places in the world where the fires never stop. One in Turkey featured in James Bond. There are eternal fires underground too.

        Except for Victoria where exporting coal is forbidden by Government exective order, exploring for gas is banned, burning twigs is banned and keeping the grass low in the high plains is banned. In Victoria our ignorance is exceeded only by our stupidity, at least when you are talking politicians. Including Plibersek.

        260

        • #
          Philip

          Timber industry was also shut down. You literally can’t buy hardwoods in Vic. The place is insane.

          150

          • #
            Hanrahan

            That’s weird, timber is the ultimate renewable resource. When milled for structural purposes is is sequestered for up to 100 yrs. Old growth forest is carbon neutral.

            10

      • #
        John Connor II

        I suspect Simon is Factose Intolerant. 😁

        230

      • #
        Yarpos

        7000 firefighters? Oh please , if you are just going to make stuff up at least make it plausible. So the entire staff of the MFB and CFA stood around a smoking hole and did what exactly?

        70

    • #
      Mike Jonas

      It should be quite easy to put out a wind turbine fire, just knock the tower over with a bulldozer and hose the fire. Probably even better as a preventative measure.

      270

      • #
        David Maddison

        Or set up a shaped charge (explosive cutting charge) around the base of the tower to bring it down.

        It could double as a training exercise for special military forces.

        340

        • #
          OldOzzie

          Memories of 2 weeks Australian Army Pathfinders Explosive Course at Singelton – Det Cord, Shaped Charges using Semtex with Cotton Reel Shapers with Detonators inside, Cutting Trees with Det Cord, Cutting Metal using Shaped Charges. Crimping Detonators on to Det Cord behind your back as safety measure.

          I was in charge of the detail digging into a creek bank to create safe place for 2 observers – when Officer called for a Volunteer to stay and be an observer, no one stepped forward and I got volunteered – the rest retreated to a Hill a mile away & and the Officer with me, setoff the approx 1,000lbs of Explosive – Quite Dramatic and I was pleased the dugot survived – some debris fell on the group on the hill – the small treed area where we had set the various styles of explosive, was obliterated

          190

          • #
            John in NZ

            In the 1980s we could buy explosives at the local farm supply store. I used it mostly for stump removal. It was a lot of fun but also really fast and cheap.
            I did have to give my name and address and show my drivers license.
            I was quite annoyed when they tightened up the rules.

            210

            • #
              OldOzzie

              Father-in-law was Stone Mason, and he used Gelignite and Black Blasting Powder with Detonators wired up to an old T-bar handle detonator firing box, also known as a plunger detonator, is a type of blasting machine used to reliably fire a blasting cap and trigger a main explosive charge.

              It typically consists of a plain square box with a T-shaped plunger on top and wires attached.

              Mechanism

              When the T-handle is pushed down, the lower end of the handle drives a rack that turns a pinion, which in turn drives a high-voltage magneto. This generates the high voltage required to detonate the blasting cap. The firing process involves charging a capacitor from a battery and then discharging it through an external circuit, called the firing line, to fire the blasting cap.

              Used both when demolishing some sandstone, on a block my then Fiance & Self had bought – Using Star Drill to create Holes then fill with Black Blasting Powder insert Detonator with wire and put a bid of mud on top to tamp down

              The Geligite he also used to go fishing, tossing into river.

              110

              • #
                Ted1.

                Fishing? Any loaded dogs?

                When I was a boy Dad was clearing ironbark forest to grow wheat. With bigger stumps the process was to bore a hole into the heart of the wood and use gelignite to shatter the log a bit so the fire could get into it.
                The gelignite came from the local store. The manager was a family friend, and a keen fisherman. How about we try some gelly on the fish in the river?
                So out to the river we went. Dad showed me how to set the gelly up. Then he lit the fuse, a bit less than six inches of it in half a stick of gelly, and threw it out into the middle of a school of mullet. The fish scattered. BOOM! No fish.
                Mate said: “it looks like it has to go off as it hits the water”.
                So he primed another charge, lit the fuse and watched it burn.
                When he reckoned it was right he threw it into the middle of a school of mullet. It went BOOM as it hit the water, and they got a dozen mullet.
                He never did it again. It would have been fifty years later he told me:”There wasn’t enough time between when that thing was in my hand and when it went off”.
                We call it “The good old days”.

                40

            • #
              Geoff Sherrington

              John,
              I was 14 when my parents sent me to a pineapple farm to earn money over the Christmas holidays. Most of my employment was spent with dets, jelly etc blowing up trees for land clearing. Geoff S

              130

              • #
                Yarpos

                Getting paid to blow stuff up, doesnt get much better for a boy of any age.

                110

              • #
                John in NZ

                Geoff.

                In 1978 I was 18 and working on a farm for a summer job after my first year at university. The boss wanted to take out a line of stumps. We had put the ute what we thought was far enough away. Perhaps 80 metres. The farm dog was on the flat deck of the ute. Now, they had a whole case of gelignite that was getting a bit old so he used 5 sticks on the first stump, when 2 would have been enough. They needed to be used up, after all.

                The bang was bigger than expected.

                We were standing half way between the stump and the ute with the dog on the back. 40 metres should be far enough, right?

                A sizeable bit of the stump was sent flying over our heads.

                Fortunately, it missed the dog.

                Unfortunately, it did not miss the ute.

                I learnt to be careful with explosives.

                ( A ute is what Americans call a pickup)

                80

          • #
            Penguinite

            Be careful Big Brother is watching and reading blogs.

            100

            • #
              OldOzzie

              Penguinite – Father-in-law died when he was 90, 34 years ago.

              amazing guy, last of 14 children born in Lithgow, left school end of primary school and went hewing railway sleepers, then working in Newnes shale oil mines in Wolgan Valley, and finally moved into Stone Masonary

              Even in his 80s could do 30 one arm push ups

              150

            • #
              Geoff Sherrington

              Who cares?
              What can big brother do?
              Geoff S

              40

              • #
                Ted1.

                Yes. Dad was still trapping wombats in his 90s. I think he had a theory that they couldn’t put him in gaol for long.

                It is very significant that Robert Clancy, Phillip Altman and Russell Blaylock were all of about retiring age during the CV19 fiasco. This enabled them to stand up to authorities without the fear that the penalty of deregistration would deprive them of their means of living.

                I thought it exquisite when Prof Clancy addressed a highly critical essay to “The Class of ’65.” Exquisite!

                BTW. Professor Robert Clancy’s grandfather John Clancy was Clancy of The Overflow. I didn’t know that. How far is it from “written with a thumbnail dipped in tar” to a senior professor of medicine. Two generations.

                70

          • #
            another ian

            Shades of Ag course explosives. The instructor was ex-Army and we learned the Army way. If 2 sticks were enough use a heap more just in case.

            At one stage Queensland DPI “vocational training” courses included the use of explosives. Lead to numerous explosive desiltings of dams.

            Now we can only look back in wonderment at such things.

            120

            • #
              Yarpos

              Always check your explosives instructor has all their appendages.

              I recall as a young trainee be adresses by an ex navy guy introducing himself to the class. He talked about warming himself by briefly standing in front of radar dishes. It was notable he was missing one eye and half a leg.

              60

              • #
                Ted1

                My wife had radiation for cancer. She said she could feel herself cooking.

                She survived. Nearly 17 years now.

                00

        • #
          John Connor II

          Or set up a shaped charge (explosive cutting charge) around the base of the tower to bring it down.

          Or fly a plane into it.

          /couldn’t resist.

          80

      • #
        RickWill

        This video shows the detail of Vestas large diameter towers. You would need a very large dozer to do more than scratch it and imagine the condition of the cage on the dozer after the column or generator housing landed on it if the dozer was large enough to buckle the base of the column.

        80

      • #
        TdeF

        I think that would be extremely dangerous! And that welded plate is 6mm thick. Even if you succeeded, it would fall towards you.

        You could however cut it in a few minutes with a small plasma or oxy acetylene torch. Iron burns very easily. Which is why the Twin Towers collapsed, not the impact.

        Cut it as you would cut a tree, with tabs to control the direction of fall. And allow for the prevailing wind. You would need to cut it up anyway to remove it.

        92

        • #
          • #
            PeterPetrum

            Amazing shots, Old Aussie. They sure built men tough in those days.

            20

            • #

              My concern is that folk then were used to hard work – using muscle power or animal power.
              If we have to go back to that sort of life – if the watermelons get their way – how many people would be able to –
              * know what to do?
              * have the tools to allow them to do that?
              * have the strength and stamina to do that for a living, probably more than 8 hours a day, six days a week?
              Remember, if you’re in a camp in the forest, you will not be walking home every night!

              This is the reality of ‘no fossil fuels’ – even the loco in the pix would be Verboten – coal-fired [and coal- and oil-made].

              Where do you get 3 or 4 metre saws these days?
              Who would work as a bottom sawyer? – those tree trunks don’t cut themselves into boards …

              Auto, appreciating more and more what our fathers, grandfathers, and their ancestors did for us.
              And female ancestors, too, of course. DIE!

              10

      • #
        Hivemind

        “knock the tower over with a buldozer”

        No, those towers are inches thick steel. You’d need quite a lot of explosives to get one of those suckers down.

        10

    • #
      David Maddison

      In any case, those aerial appliances are huge and would be unlikely to be able to navigate over the winding dirt roads and hill tops to where the wind plantations are located.

      Surely the windmill nacelles have their own fire protection built-in, and if not, why not?

      In any case, by the time the firefighters got there, the damage would be done.

      The only thing to do is contain spot fires.

      If they burn, the loss will only benefit the grid and the electricity consumer.

      Let them burn.

      210

      • #
        Ronin

        Imagine all the fibreglass debris and lube oil contamination if the windmill was standing in a crop field, imagine the farmer would not be happy.

        110

        • #
          Dave in the States

          Modern drilling technology is far less impactful than those monstrosities.

          60

        • #
          Graeme4

          Considering that some blade manufacturers use BPA in the blade manufacturing process, I wouldn’t be happy about anything being farmed underneath wind turbines.

          20

    • #
      David Maddison

      Whenever I drive by a wind plantation my eyes are assaulted by the disgusting sight of these civilisation destroying monstrosities.

      The only compensation for that would be to see one burn. Alas, I have not yet seen such a magnificent sight.

      290

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      Why not have the windmills install sprinklers and a pump to cover their internal fires?

      It sounds like a simple plan and only requires a small pressure pump and some simple piping.

      Surely the capital value of the unit justifies it’s protection from fire. Or does it?

      60

      • #
        Penguinite

        Pumps require electricity to pump water automatically or diesel/petrol for manual operation

        50

      • #
        John F. Hultquist

        The hub height of a large land-based facility is over 100 m (340 ft). Further, most are not close to a water supply. Thus, each would need a water storage tank inside the nacelle (the covering of the generating components). What could go wrong?

        80

        • #
          Yarpos

          In olden times some equipment rooms were protected by Halon extinguishers. When the alarm went off you had a bit of time to evacuate so as to avoid being snuffed out with the fire. There must be some equivalent these days, as Halon became a no no.

          40

      • #
        Ronin

        It would require 1300 kpa just to get the water to the top of the windmill, then add whatever pressure you would need to make a spray system work say another 700 kpa, so that’s 2000 kpa has to be generated by the pump at grade, that’s not a simple pump, that’s 286 psi for the pre metric of us.

        70

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Inside the nacelle halon would be the goto extinguishant but we aren’t allowed them today. Remember those neat little yellow extinguishers? They worked well. I still have a 4kg BCF (illegal) on my back patio. It would quell any kitchen fire or the car in the garage, 30 yrs old but it would still be good as new.

        But I suspect that once there is a fire there is little to reclaim so why bother? With an engine fire on an aircraft they is PLENTY to save.

        10

    • #
      TdeF

      It’s very simple. Discharge the battery.

      20

  • #
    David Maddison

    They will not stop trying to get you (non-Elites) to “eat ze bugs“. It’s coming if you don’t elect a conservative government (and I don’t mean fake conservative Liberals, the following idea is from Matt Kean, former Liberal MP and now Chair of the Climate Change “Authority”.)

    I wouldn’t be the the least bit surprised if the Uniparty impose a super meat tax just like they imposed a super tax on large cars.

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/climate-change-authority-review-suggests-australians-eat-less-red-meat-to-reduce-emissions/news-story/95eecb6c9ed04cb66e3f545f60661dcd

    Climate Change Authority review suggests Australians eat less red meat to reduce emissions

    The government agency advising Anthony Albanese on climate has suggested Australians make the change, amid revelations the body may not give the Prime Minister crucial advice on a 2035 target until after the election.

    The government agency advising Anthony Albanese on climate change has suggested Australians could eat less red meat to help reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, amid revelations the body may not give the Prime Minister crucial advice on a 2035 target until after the election.

    SEE LINK FOR REST (paywalled).

    ALSO

    https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/cca-releases-outrageous-report-urging-australians-to-eat-less-red-meat-for-the-environment/video/7131a724856f2f61fb996bed40ddc2b0

    Sky News Australia

    SEE VIDEO AT LINK

    CCA releases ‘outrageous’ report urging Australians to eat less red meat for the environment

    Sky News contributor Teena McQueen slammed the “outrageous” statement from the Climate Change Authority about eating less red meat.

    The Climate Change Authority, chaired by Matt Kean, released a report which suggested that Australians should eat less red meat to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    “This is just outrageous,” Ms McQueen said.

    “People will realise what weird decisions are trying to be pushed onto the government.

    “The sooner we change the government, the better”.

    230

    • #
      • #
        OldOzzie

        3 Editorials The Australian

        Without care, stagflation lies just around the corner
        Today’s politicians must learn the economic lessons of yesteryear.

        Editorial
        Left turn as unions desert Labor
        The Australian Greens would be an uncomfortable companion for most blue-collar workers.

        Editorial
        There goes the steak barbie again
        The eco-war on red meat continues in the bid to help get Australia to zero carbon emissions by 2050.

        130

        • #
          another ian

          Re “The eco-war on red meat continues in the bid to help get Australia to zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

          Have they produced a copy of that “iron clad guarantee” so it can be “scrutenised with a very intense scrut” (as a way of expression has it)?

          70

        • #
          OldOzzie

          VW Has “One, Maybe Two Years” To Save Brand, Finance Boss Warns

          Arno Antlitz outlined the automaker’s dire situation to workers angry at VW’s decision to close two plants in order to cut costs

          Antlitz explained to those present that the European car market had contracted since the pandemic and was unlikely to return to heady pre-Covid levels any time soon, Reuters reports. That drop in demand – and slower than anticipated EV take-up – means VW will sell around 500,000 fewer cars in a year, and gives it a maximum of two years to cut output and reduced costs to steady the ship.

          But Europe isn’t the only region causing VW a headache.

          “There are no more cheques coming from China,” Reuters reports CEO Oliver Blume telling those at the Wolfsburg meeting, a reference to VW’s struggles to compete with increasingly competent and well-priced rival EVs in the Asian country that was once a cash cow for Wolfsburg. But Blume insisted that a few job losses today could prevent a ton more tomorrow.

          “The automotive industry has changed massively in the volume segment in just a few years,” Blume said, per The Guardian. “Together, we will implement appropriate measures to become more profitable. We are leading VW back to where the brand belongs – that is the responsibility of all of us.”

          80

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Without care, stagflation lies just around the corner

          I’m no economist but the “S” word comes to my mind regularly.

          10

    • #
      Penguinite

      Sounds like you’re reverting to a pre-European diet David?

      40

    • #
      John Connor II

      Maybe Jo could do a dedicated post on the meat/emissions lie with all accumulated data.

      60

    • #
      OldOzzie

      National Farmers’ Federation President David Jochinke grills red meat suggestion in Climate Change Authority review

      National Farmers’ Federation President David Jochinke has come to the defence of the farming industry after the Climate Change Authority suggested Australians reduce red meat consumption to achieve its net zero by 2050 target.

      Laurence Karacsony Sky News Digital Reporter

      A farming executive has slammed the Climate Change Authority’s (CCA) proposal to the government suggesting Aussies needed to wean off red meat to cut back the country’s greenhouse gases.

      The CCA’s 2024 Sector Pathways Review, released on Thursday, centered around a prospectus of industry changes across six main sectors to achieve a net zero target by 2050.

      In the 234-page report, the CCA suggested “alternative consumption patterns”, which include “lower emissions protein sources” such as chicken, pork, and even kangaroo.

      “Alternative proteins are plant-based and food-technology alternatives to animal protein,” the report said.

      “They include food products made from plants (for example, grains, legumes and nuts), fungus (mushrooms), algae, insects, cell-cultured meat or protein from precision fermentation using yeast and other micro-organisms.”

      National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke spoke to Sky News host Steve Price on Friday and said red meat was one the most “dense, nutritious” sources of protein a consumer can choose, and the CCA’s suggestion overlooked the progress and sustainability of the Australian farming industry.

      Mr Jochinke said the people advocating for the reduction of red meat needed to “get real and have a realistic discussion around what is actually achievable”.

      “Some things aren’t achievable and net zero in agriculture by 2050, even by this report, is an impossibility,” he said.

      “If we don’t lose production capacity, we don’t want to see land taken out of production to grow trees. That is counterproductive to us producing food for this nation and also the people we export to.

      “But to also recognise the absolute, massive job that Australian farms have done and reward us by supporting us to do more: more research, more development, more technologies, so we can be the cutting edge of the next frontier where agriculture can go.”

      The report said the government needed to “ensure barriers are overcome” if Australia was to “stay on the pathway to net zero”, which required the planning for the “scope, scale, pace and sequencing of technology development”, and to “implement policies accordingly”.

      The Sector Pathways Review said an emissions reduction contribution could be achieved through “switching preferences away from higher-emissions products”, such as beef and lamb, “towards animal meats with a lower emissions intensity, such as chicken, pork and kangaroo”.

      Mr Jochinke said the CCA’s report did not consider the amount of sustainability and stewardship of the land farmers upheld, as well as the level of environmental regulations they adhere to, but also that consumers “have a taste”.

      “Consumers understand when they buy our Australian products, they’re not just buying the articles, they’re buying the whole value chain,” he said.

      50

      • #
        OldOzzie

        From the Comments

        – How many more stupid ideas will come from this band of lefty incompetents?

        – considering Australia is just .01% of the world’s emissions problems, why don’t we see the lefty protests happening at the Chinese Embassy’s who are 30% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions problem?

        – Net zero by 2050, I don’t know who is sillier, those promoting this target or those believing it.
        Since there is no climate emergency, why are we even talking like this?

        – ALL of the various so-called ‘climate authorities’ and other related organisations need to be disbanded and dissolved.

        – Other than financially ruining and racially dividing the country . What has Albanese’s union controlled Labor actually succeeded to get done during their term in office ?

        – None of this Labor, Greens, Teals propaganda is believable. Can’t wait for the next election.

        60

  • #
    David Maddison

    You know things are bad when the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia warns home owners to “sell up”. She didn’t say where they were meant to live once they sold their home, however, under a rock perhaps?

    https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/sell-up-rba-governor-issues-ominous-warning-to-homeowners-amid-cost-of-living-crisis/video/bc0e50c8b7905ef91bdcc56cafc5a862

    SEE VIDEO AT LINK

    ‘Sell up’: RBA Governor issues ‘ominous warning’ to homeowners amid cost of living crisis

    Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock this week gave an ominous warning to homeowners to “sell up”, according to Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.

    “In other words, things aren’t getting better – they are getting worse,” she said.

    “Michele Bullock is not going to give in to Labor’s political timeline and Labor’s timeline between now and the next election to make sure the figures look in tip top shape.

    “So as the party continues its reckless economic trajectory of record spending, immigration, disastrous renewable rollouts, high power prices and all the while igniting a war with the RBA – we are all once again, poorer for it.”

    310

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      I don’t believe for one minute that the Chalmers-appointed RBA governor is at loggerheads with her patrons. I don’t know what game they’re playing, but Bullock is probably helping to build the case for painful policies Albanese and co have planned for us. It’s a strategy recently adopted by the UK’s Labour government, where they first had to assert that the economy was in such an utterly dire state that emergency measures (i.e. drastically increased taxes) are unavoidable.

      I don’t know if Albanese plans a similar tax raid but mark my words, he and Bullock are in this together.

      230

      • #
        David Maddison

        Good point, Steve.

        70

      • #
        David Maddison

        It’s a strategy recently adopted by the UK’s Labour government, where they first had to assert that the economy was in such an utterly dire state that emergency measures (i.e. drastically increased taxes) are unavoidable.

        Skepticynic mentioned on September 4, 2024 at 8:40 am the concept of a “limited hangout”.

        “The limited hangout can be viewed as a deflection point construct that provides some truthful details for close focus as a way to distract from or deflect away from a more fulsome and accurate factual account.”

        70

      • #
        el+gordo

        With the looming federal election there won’t be a tax increase and Chalmers prays that Bullock lowers interest rates soon.

        63

    • #
      Penguinite

      In context What Bullock said was in line with her job description to suppress inflation. No one blames the Banks for lending money to financially inept people who thought COVID-19-induced zero interest rates would last forever or at least longer than they did. Or governments that doled out “free” money to boost first-home buyers. Socialism is great when using other people’s money.

      90

      • #
        David Maddison

        I used to remark at the time of those low interest rates that it was crazy for people to borrow to the max as they would inevitably go up, but no one seemed to care.

        131

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Been around for a few mango seasons. I remember in the ’70s even Syd RE prices were crazy cheap compared to Japan but when one compared interest rates “affordability” seemed comparable.

          A few yrs ago our rates were officially at “emergency low” rates which could not continue, only a fool thought they could. What we have today is long term average*, similar to when I was borrowing to buy my first house and to fund my business. I deserve some (not a lot) return on my savings which others can borrow to buy their house and fund their business.

          * Prolly cheaper, not sure.

          10

    • #
      Ronin

      I note there was no advice for those struggling to pay their mortgage, such as talking to your lender about maybe extending the loan period, interest only option, renting out a portion of said property, taking in a boarder, etc.

      70

      • #
        el+gordo

        ‘I note there was no advice …’

        Bullock said they may have to sell their homes, we operate under the rules of free market capitalism.

        22

    • #
      Strop

      That’s not really what she was saying.

      She was talking about the difficulties people face and that we shouldn’t expect a rate cut soon. She acknowledged that not cutting rates would mean people would need to look at their spending decisions and mentioned a few of those sorts of decisions. She also acknowledged that some would have to make the difficult decision to sell up.

      Which is different to warning home owners to sell up.

      60

    • #
      John Connor II

      You know things are bad when the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia warns home owners to “sell up”.

      Now, wasn’t there some snoozer saying for quite a while now not to join the real-estate lemmings?
      Who was that? 😉

      12

    • #
      Yarpos

      Mmmmm it a statement well linked to landlords trying to bail out due to ever more ridiculous legislation and ramping up of property taxes. Yes an easy choice as we are so awash with rentals. Oh to be so blissfully unaware of such things.

      Somehow renting being a process where you live in someone elses house seems to be beyond a lot of people.

      40

  • #
    David Maddison

    With Australia’s official inflation rate of a mere 3.8%, how come there is a “cost of living crisis” and prices are going up by at least 25 to 30% as most people who do their own shopping (which is not politicians or senior public serpents) realise?

    The official inflation rate is a blatant lie.

    371

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      Don’t worry David. We will at some point hold a Royal Commission to look into how the official inflation rate is calculated. It will find that the Albanese government is right about everything.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRNoysQx9Y

      90

    • #
      Ronin

      It sure is David, also, I can’t believe all the reserve bank can use is interest rates which immediately affect mortgage holders, paying off their only residence, surely there is a better way to structure things so people don’t suffer the trauma of losing their home because the govt can’t run the economy effectively.

      90

    • #

      The CPI is now called the Corrupted Price Index and does not represent true inflation.

      120

      • #
        John Connor II

        Or the Collapsed Policy Index – a measure of inflation based on political policies intended to fix things, but detached from the real world as usual, so just make things worse.

        90

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Supermarket prices have been pretty stable for a year or so. I recently bought a 1 kg block of cheddar for $8, what I paid years ago.

      Petrol is about the same, maybe a little cheaper here, but we do have a number of newcomers into the market, competing.

      But my house has appreciated 30% in the last year. Yawn! I own it and can neither eat nor sell the patio, I have no intention of borrowing against it. Something, nothing.

      00

      • #
        Chad

        Hanrahan
        September 7, 2024 at 8:57 pm · Reply
        Supermarket prices have been pretty stable for a year or so. I recently bought a 1 kg block of cheddar for $8, what I paid years ago.

        Sure, but was it the same brand from the same store ?…
        ..you can always shop around for similar products at lower prices.
        Incidentally , cheddar is currently rarly available here for less than $15-16 per kg.
        Another classic example is Cadburys chocolate bar.
        Last year their small 55gm bar could be bought for as little as $0.95 each..
        But lately, not only has the “special offer” price suddenly become $2.35 !..but also the careful shopper will notice that it has now shrunk to be a 40 gm bar !

        10

  • #
    David Maddison

    With China being the world’s largest CO2 emitter by far, not that it matters, and building two long-lasting coal power stations per week with lifetimes of 50 to 70 years, and having no intention to demolish them, there is no prospect of lowering anthropogenic CO2 emissions as required by the Official Narrative (not that it matters anyway).

    It’s pointless the West destroying their own economies by shutting down coal when their contribution of anthropogenic CO2 is minimal compared to China. And as I stated above, anthropogenic CO2 is of no adverse consequence anyway.

    220

  • #
    David Maddison

    Do they intentionally build wind plantations within visual range of major highways for in-your-face propaganda purposes, or is that just coincidence?

    90

  • #
    David Maddison

    The simpleton Chrissy Bowen is obsessed and probably possessed as well, however you wish to interpret that.

    https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/chris-bowens-reckless-and-pointless-pursuit-of-net-zero-is-pushing-australia-towards-economic-suicide/news-story/8ee93f59cd972a55efb65662600eeef5

    Chris Bowen’s reckless and pointless pursuit of net zero is pushing Australia towards ‘economic suicide’

    The renewed push by the Energy Minister for a WA offshore wind farm ignores the inconvenient truth of how renewables are bringing other nations to their knees, writes Rocco Loiacono.

    Insights And Analysis
    Chris Bowen’s reckless and pointless pursuit of net zero is pushing Australia towards ‘economic suicide’

    The renewed push by the Energy Minister for a WA offshore wind farm ignores the inconvenient truth of how renewables are bringing other nations to their knees, writes Rocco Loiacono.

    4 min read
    September 7, 2024 – 6:00AM

    SEE VIDEO AT LINK
    Sky News host Andrew Bolt discusses “yet another example” of Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s “reverse Midas touch” on the hydrogen gas debacle in Tasmania. “Has there ever been a more useless Energy Minister than Chris Bowen,” Mr Bolt said. “I have yet another example of this reverse Midas touch.”

    Early this year this column reported a push by Energy Minister Chris Bowen to reserve huge areas off the Western Australian coastline for offshore wind turbines.

    On Monday September 2 Bowen declared an area of 3,995km2 in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Bunbury as an offshore wind area, opening up the area for feasibility licence applications until November.

    While Bowen says the declared area is smaller than that originally proposed and claims to have listened to feedback regarding potential impacts to the environment and marine life, among other things, people who attended information sessions have said that it appeared the consultation process was nothing more than a formality.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    160

    • #
      OldOzzie

      From the Comments

      – Seems Labor always trot out the village idiot when they need a distraction.

      – Ironic that the significant majority have to pay the price for a small minorities experiment and ideological fringe religion.
      Relying on the weather for base load power – Really ??

      Remember that all wind turbines, solar panels and big batteries installed by the end of next year will be at end of life and have to be replaced by 2050.

      The cost to the Australian public will be extraordinary.

      – Mr Bowen and his mates are leading us on the path to ruin, conned by the United Nations and hell-bent on removing our natural generating assets while spoiling the rural landscape with hectares of solar panels and wind turbines. Net zero is an unachievable pipe dream and is senseless anyway because we need carbon dioxide as part of living. Appalling!

      – Chris Bowen once again arrogant out of touch, one sided, no transparency and foolish Labor climate change zealot with no direction and no idea how the real world works. please Australia wake up and throw this incompetent government out. 🙄😉

      220

    • #
      Yarpos

      I find it interesting how the “renewable” fanboys are so selective about oveseas experience. They will bleat about “not keeping up” with some imaginary nirvana overseas, but will not notice at all the collapse of Energiewende, rolling summer blackouts in California, the Uk conditioning its populace for winter outages and the glaring reality that globally the so called “transition” has actually gone nowhere after decades and billions wasted

      100

  • #
    Tonyb

    Is this person the equivalent of the governor of the Bank of England? They are strictly non political and wouldn’t dream of making what sounds like aHighly political statement.

    80

    • #
      David Maddison

      If you are referring to my comment #6, yes, they are meant to be apolitical but they are appointed by the Treasurer who no doubt expects their appointee to give them favourable treatment.

      110

      • #
        el+gordo

        The Reserve is apolitical, otherwise we would end up becoming a banana republic.

        23

        • #
          KP

          “The Reserve is apolitical, otherwise we would end up becoming a banana republic.

          Lol, bit late mate… Even the price of bananas these days points that out!

          If the Reserve Bank had ever been apolitical it would have pointed out the stupidity of Govt after Govt over the decades.

          80

  • #
    David Maddison

    Why is Australia’s non-Prime Minister postponing his wedding until after the election?

    Is he anticipating more time for his honeymoon?

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/anthony-albanese-confirms-wedding-to-jodie-haydon-delayed-till-after-election/news-story/c50afbaccadca2674db26a72812f05ce

    130

    • #
      John Connor II

      Why is Australia’s non-Prime Minister postponing his wedding until after the election?

      I thought he needed time to divorce Schwab first. Or was that Pfizer?

      120

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – overnight developments on “The Presidential Trail”

    “‘Russian Disinformation’ Is Some…Uh…Terrifying Stuff”

    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/09/06/russian-disinformation-is-someuhterrifying-stuff-n3794144

    60

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Vladimir Putin and Liz Cheney Endorse Kamala Harris and Other Never-Trump Insanity

      Despite appearances, old guys can have a sense of humor.

      I mean, Joe Biden left Kamala Harris as his legacy for the United States.

      It’s not exactly a whoopie cushion, but she does have a laugh. Well, a laugh of sorts. It is Biden’s great practical joke. No serious political process would have done this, after all.

      And now, like the old comedy show, “Can You Top This,” that other jokester on the world stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok that Russia’s favorite son in the American election was — wait for it — Biden.

      But now that Joe has decided to spend the rest of his days watching the waves on Rehoboth Beach, Putin thinks Biden’s designated heir Harris is the best choice for Russia.

      Put the tea on, and pass the blini and borscht.

      Of course, some of the dolts in the media think Putin is just joking.

      Well, yes and no.

      He is playing with us, but a joke isn’t funny unless there is truth in it.

      The truth is, Putin prefers Commander in Chief Kamala over speak-loudly-and-carry-a-big-stick Donald Trump.

      Harris would put the Russia-China alliance that Biden’s foreign policy created on steroids and further doom the dollar.

      Putin’s comments are classic.

      130

      • #
        el+gordo

        ‘ … a joke isn’t funny unless there is truth in it.’

        We struggle to understand Russian humour, I’m thinking they have a sardonic wit.

        The war is going well.

        21

      • #
        RickWill

        I mean, Joe Biden left Kamala Harris as his legacy for the United States.

        Now that is funny.

        90

      • #

        “Vladimir Putin and Liz Cheney Endorse Kamala Harris and Other Never-Trump Insanity.”

        …Could that be construed as Russian interference?

        10

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “So Much For Trust in Doctors and Hospitals”

    “Anew paper in JAMA analyzes survey respondents in the US over the period of time right after the Covid pandemic started in April 2020 and through early 2024. It reveals a significant decline in trust in physicians and hospitals, dropping from 71.5% in April 2020, to 40.1% in January 2024. Lower trust levels were strongly associated with reduced likelihood of receiving Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters. Total shocker, right?”

    More at

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/09/06/so-much-for-trust-in-doctors-and-hospitals-n3794109

    70

  • #
    David Maddison

    Volvo, the not so Swedish car company.

    Volvo Car Group is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding of China.

    No wonder they have decided to not go woke and they have abandoned plans to sell only EVs from 2030.

    90

  • #
    another ian

    Concludes

    “For my part, I hope that the practitioners we truly need to rely on when we require medical care see this as a wake-up call and understand just how much damage they have done to their long-term doctor-patient relationships. Now, instead of starting from a place of trust, they are starting from a deficit. This is not just bad for their careers; it’s bad for the patients.”

    And continuing from Friday #34.3

    That is going to take more than an insistence on being called “Doctor” to fix

    90

  • #
    David Maddison

    Even though the Left love the Communists such as Stalinists and Maoists those leaders were in fact social conservatives and did not tolerate the LGBTxyz ideologies promoted by the modern Left. And they believed in marriage and reproduction, also unlike the modern Left.

    100

    • #
      Hivemind

      Too many letters. I just use Bisexual, Lesbian, Intersex, Gay and Transvestite – BLIGT. It’s also much easier to pronounce.

      30

  • #
  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – more Peking Pox skeletons

    “Safe and Effective®”

    “Peer reviewed journal confirming another “conspiracy theory”.

    John Campbell- Good Morning

    International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research- Real-Time Self-Assembly of Stereomicroscopically Visible Artificial Constructions in Incubated Specimens of mRNA Products Mainly from Pfizer and Moderna: A Comprehensive Longitudinal Study

    Observable real-time injuries at the cellular level in recipients of the “safe and effective” COVID-19 injectables are documented here for the first time with the presentation of a comprehensive description and analysis of observed phenomena.”

    More and links at

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/09/06/safe-and-effective-174/

    Dr Campbell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEgjuB-0bw8

    50

  • #
    • #
      el+gordo

      Domestic violence is going to become an election issue.

      ‘A $4.7 billion package for family violence support workers has been agreed to by national cabinet.

      ‘The money will provide ongoing funding for legal and support services, lift legal aid worker pay, and go towards intervention programs for high-risk perpetrators.’ (ABC)

      11

      • #
        ozfred

        Perhaps a recognition is due that some cultures and cultural traditions are not “in tune” with the current trends in domestic relations?

        30

        • #
          el+gordo

          No doubt they will allocate ample resources into difficult areas without the public knowing. Avoids embarrassment.

          00

  • #
    • #
      OldOzzie

      In my opinion Australia is now all but un-investable. With an uncertain electricity grid, spiralling prices, crumbling wage restraint, rampant inflation and soaring interest rates, and an incompetent government which is more focussed on shooting the messenger than addressing the underlying economic problems, who in their right mind would risk investing in Australia?

      210

    • #
      Ross

      A conversation in a boardroom of a major international manufacturing company – let’s say 60 years ago. One board member wants to invest in a manufacturing plant in Australia, but the others are sceptical. He attempts to sell it “Australia has a very stable government and has cheap electricity”. No response. “Australia has a highly educated and loyal workforce and has cheap electricity”. Maybe a small response. “Australia has great infrastructure and port facilities close to population centres, plus it has cheap electricity” Maybe a nod from one other board member. “Australia has a great climate with great beaches but also has cheap electricity”. Really the only reason any companies came to Australia in the 1950’s, 60’s was the lure of tariff protection and cheap electricity. All those other characteristics of Australian life don’t matter for the money people. We did away with tariffs decades ago and now we’ve crazily wrecked our electricity grid plus artificially increased prices. There is no incentive for any company to either remain in this country or establish new facilities.

      140

    • #
      OldOzzie

      The Daily Chart: US vs. EU Electricity Rates

      It is generally well known that electricity rates in Europe are higher than in the United States because Europe got a head start on green energy madness, and have heavily taxed energy for much longer than we have.

      But there is a lot of variation among European nations, just as there are among the 50 states, and for the same reason: widely different energy source portfolios and regulatory regimes.

      The Energy Policy Research Foundation has provided this very useful look at 2023 electricity rates by European nations and the 50 states, and it is quite revealing if you look it over closely (click to embiggen):

      Etymology of Embiggen

      The word “embiggen” originates from a 1984 episode of the TV series “Futurama,” where it is used as a verb meaning “to enlarge” or “to magnify.”

      10

  • #
    Penguinite

    Six Billion $$$ per day in interest and Dan the man Andrews is awarded Australia’s Top Honour for services to Public Health or is that “Dan’s Wealth?

    https://richardsonpost.com/rebekah-barnett/37253/victorias-covid-lockdown-debt-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/

    I sincerely trust the “I’m with Dan Clan” are cringing in their rat holes like he is! No Commonwealth Games but please let me host the Gay Games!

    160

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Penguiite – $9.4 Billion per year – still B’Disasterous

      The most locked down state in the world is spending $26 million a day – $9.4 billion a year – on interest alone to service lockdown-driven debt

      A leading credit rating agency has blamed the Andrews Government’s prolonged lockdowns for Victoria’s ballooning debt, as the state stares down the prospect of a credit rating downgrade within the next year.

      Victoria’s capital, Melbourne, had the longest lockdowns in the world – six lockdowns with a cumulative total of 262 days throughout 2020 and 2021, during which time many businesses were shuttered while workers lived off benefits.

      Anthony Walker, director in the sovereign ratings team at S&P Global Ratings, said that only five or six years ago, “Victoria had the best financial outcomes” in Australia, but that the Andrews Government’s lockdowns had created fiscal conditions that Walker described matter-of-factly as “not positive.”

      “Definitely the prolonged lockdowns and the number of lockdowns during Covid were the key that drove this,” Walker told Tom Elliot on 3AW radio.

      “What we’re seeing now is that most other states around the world have recovered from Covid financially. Australian states, not just Victoria, are lagging.

      “Our understanding was that the government didn’t really care about the financial, economic costs.

      “They just wanted to get the health outcomes correct. Well, that came at a massive fiscal shock, and they’re still trying to recover from that.”

      Walker said that “very difficult decisions need to be made” about government spending going forward, as a looming credit rating downgrade would direct more state funds towards paying off higher interest fees on debt, potentially sending social welfare programs or infrastructure projects to the chopping block.

      80

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Economist: ‘Worst peace-time policy failure’

        Professor Gigi Foster, an economist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) said it was clear since as early as March 2020 that Victoria’s lockdowns would carry enormous economic costs.

        “I am sorry to say that I stand by my predictions that Covid lockdowns will go down eventually as the worst peace-time policy failure in Australia’s history,” Foster told me.

        “There is no world in which forcing an economy to pause indefinitely carries no cost, because economic activity is the engine that powers the maintenance and gradual rise of human living standards.”

        Foster cautioned a Victorian Government committee in August 2020 that continued lockdowns would cause greater loss of life years and wellbeing than they would save, but “sadly, my warnings went unheeded.”

        Instead, Foster was singled out for abuse for highlighting the potential harms of Victoria’s extreme lockdown policies.

        “I was pilloried by others in my profession, called many derogatory names by dozens of people over email, on social media, and in studio audiences, and told many times that my professional opinion about lockdown policies was of no value (or was even “dangerous to public health”) because I was not a health practitioner or epidemiologist,” she said.

        Foster’s analysis of the societal, economic and health merits of Victoria’s Covid lockdowns found that the costs were 68 times greater than any benefits afforded.

        140

        • #
          RickWill

          “I am sorry to say that I stand by my predictions that Covid lockdowns will go down eventually as the worst peace-time policy failure in Australia’s history,” Foster told me.

          Nope – the rot started long before. Labor in Victoria followed SA into the abyss of ever rising electricity prices. It went from having the lowest cost electricity generators in the world to one of the most expensive in a matter of years under Labor. Remember Hazelwood closure in 2016 and the wild applause as it was demolished.

          The war against carbon in Victoria has been quite effective in shutting down beneficial economic activity. Victoria reflects the cesspit that lurks inside Dan Andrews head.

          .The last effective premier of Victoria was Jeff Kennett.

          All the effort going into the Star of the South wind farm is being wasted. If it ever makes electricity, it will simply open the door that sanctions theft from Australian consumers to Danish retirees and Australian union super. My bet is it will not get up because the State is broke. It does not have iron ore, gas or coal to export. It is an economic sink hole. Any investor with eyes open would give Victoria a wide berth.

          70

    • #
      Ronin

      Economic Armageddon seems to be a built-in feature of Labor govts.

      130

  • #
    David Maddison

    I haven’t watched this yet, but a friend told me it was an attack on Prof. Peter Ridd.

    https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/reef/104301136

    A major new report on the health of the Great Barrier Reef shows a record amount of coral in some areas, so why are reef experts concerned for its future? And is rebel scientist Peter Ridd right when he says climate change is not a threat?

    50

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Trump Can Make America Healthy Again

    Chronic diseases have reached crisis proportions, and Kamala Harris seems uninterested in the issue.

    By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    In my speech endorsing Donald Trump, I said we need to love our kids more than we hate each other. That means coming together to address common problems, and few are more urgent than the chronic-disease crisis. Americans are becoming sicker, beset by illnesses that our medical system isn’t addressing effectively. These trends harm us, our economy and our global standing.

    Among American teens, close to 30% are prediabetic. More than 18% of young adults have nonalchoholic fatty liver disease. More than 40% of adults 22 to 44 are obese, according to a 2023 study. In 2020, 77% of young adults didn’t qualify for the military based on their health scores, forcing the military to lower its standards.

    Six out of 10 adults in America are living with a chronic illness. Seventy-four percent of American adults are overweight or obese. Rates of kidney disease and autoimmune conditions are going up. Cancer rates among young people are rising. This is despite Americans spending more and more to treat many of these conditions. U.S. life expectancy is markedly lower than in every other developed country, with wide disparities between income classes.

    This crisis is the product of broken incentives. There is nothing more profitable for much of the healthcare system than a sick child. Americans with chronic conditions are often put on medications or treatments for the rest of their lives. Nearly 30% of teens have reportedly used prescription drugs in the past 30 days, according to data from the prescription discount service SingleCare.

    Mr. Trump has made reforming broken institutions a cornerstone of his political life. He has become the voice of countless Americans who have been let down by our elites. He could unite the country by making it his priority to make America healthy again.

    Here are some specific policy ideas:

    • Reform the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. Pharmaceutical companies pay a fee every time they apply for a new drug approval, and this money makes up about 75% of the budget of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug division. That creates a barrier to entry to smaller firms and puts bureaucrats’ purse strings in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry.

    • Prohibit members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee from making money from food or drug companies. Ninety-five percent of the members of a USDA panel charged with most recently updating nutrition guidelines had conflicts of interest. This is from the same government that brought you a National Institutes of Health research finding that Lucky Charms are healthier than ground beef.

    • Review direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ad guidelines. The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to the public. News channels are filled with drug commercials, and reasonable viewers may question whether their dependence on these ads influences their coverage of health issues.

    • Change federal regulation so that NIH funds can’t go to researchers with conflicts of interest. A 2019 ProPublica analysis of disclosures going back to 2012 found that over 8,000 federally funded health researchers reported significant financial conflicts of interest.

    • Level the playing field for Americans internationally on drug costs. Today in Germany, Ozempic costs less than a tenth of what it does in the U.S. because while Berlin negotiates prices on behalf of all Germans, Washington can’t do the same. Legislators should cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay.

    60

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Biden Steals Trump’s Idea To Launch Sovereign Wealth Fund

      Two days ago when president Trump first floated the idea of a sovereign wealth fund…

      .. hard-core Democrats and/or socialist billionaires balked at the idea, mocking it as wannabe Saudi Arabia.

      Trump, speaking to economic leaders on Thursday, said he envisioned the fund as a way to address persistent debt issues and said it would be funded through his plan to impose tariffs on all imports.

      “We’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place,” Trump said. “And it is many of the people in this room who will be helping to advise and recommend investments for this fund.”

      But expect all the leftist critics to positively love the idea now, just a few hours later, because late on Friday Bloomberg reported that the Kamala/Biden admin has stolen yet another idea from Trump (after eliminating tax on tips, and stimulating new business creation): aides to Joe Biden “have been crafting a proposal to create a sovereign wealth fund” that would allow the US to invest in national security interests including technology, energy, and critical links in the supply chain, a person familiar with the effort, told Bloomberg.

      And so, just like every aspect in Kamala’s policy agenda, we’ll have to wait for Trump to reveal the details of his own plan before “sources” leak what Biden was working on before he decided to hit Rehoboth beach permanently after Nancy Pelosi’s July putsch.

      40

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Elon Musk: Trump Must Win, Civilization Is On The Line

        In follow up posts, Musk warned that the US under Kamala Harris is on the road to Communism and the end of freedom of speech.

        50

        • #
          OldOzzie

          <strong>BREAKING NEWS: The Socialist International Endorses Kamala Harris for the 2024 Presidential Elections

          00

          • #
            • #
              OldOzzie

              How Do You Fight a Halfwit?

              The Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris debate is coming up next week, and the big question is how do you fight a halfwit?

              One of the things I always say that stuns people is that I would much rather be up against a good lawyer than a bad one – any day.

              Someone who can competently present ideas, the law, and arguments.

              It’s easier to respond to them if they make sense.

              I don’t have to try to explain what they are trying to say, and if they’re crazy, a jury might think, “I’m not entirely sure what they just said but I agree with it and they can’t be that crazy.”

              So what do you do in this case? Well, last time, against Joe Biden, Trump did nothing. Biden self-destructed.

              But regardless of what Trump decides to do this time around, I don’t think the odds are on Harris’ side.

              31

              • #
              • #
                OldOzzie

                Report: Kamala Harris’s Aides Are Unsure of Her Policy Positions

                Not even campaign aides are sure of what Vice President Kamala Harris’s policy positions are, Axios reported Friday, fueling concerns that Harris is an empty political shell with intentions to do or say whatever is needed to get elected.

                With only 60 days left until the presidential election, time is running out for Americans to learn about Harris’s ambiguous plans.

                She has only sat for one pre-recorded interview since joining the race seven weeks ago on July 21, 2024.

                In those seven weeks, Harris allegedly changed her view, outright flip-flopped, or has an unknown position in nine areas:

                1. Banning plastic straws (Flip-flopped)
                2. A mandate for only producing electric and hydrogen vehicles by 2035 (Unknown)
                3. Banning fracking (Flip-flopped)
                4. Gun confiscation through a buyback program (Allegedly no longer supports via anonymous campaign spokesperson)
                5. Decriminalizing illegally crossing the southern border (Allegedly no longer supports via anonymous campaign spokesperson)
                6. Reparations (Unknown)
                7. Building a border wall (Allegedly no longer supports via anonymous campaign spokesperson)
                8. A federal jobs guarantee (Allegedly no longer supports via anonymous campaign spokesperson)
                9. Medicare for All (Flip-flopped)

                “Harris and her campaign haven’t provided many details explaining her policy shifts,” Axios admitted Friday. “[E]ven some of her own staffers aren’t sure where she stands on a range of issues.”

                Axios reportedly asked the Harris campaign six days in a row about her unknown policy positions before getting a “no comment” from aides.

                Harris’s treatment of the media underscores her conundrum: Harris cannot powerfully campaign on policies to fix crime, inflation, and border security without undermining the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, but she must tout the administration’s policies to validate her record and candidacy.

                CNN’s Dana Bash exposed Harris’s conundrum during her first pre-taped interview.

                Harris owned the Biden-Harris administration’s economic record while she simultaneously blamed Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump for it.

                The contradiction was stark, producing an outcome that forced Harris to tout her administration’s policies to validate her candidacy all while she undermined her record and her candidacy.

                20

    • #
  • #
  • #
    YYY Guy

    The streaming giant’s new show, “My Lady Jane,” shows a black, gay King Edward “navigating his queerness” in 16th Century England. And if that wasn’t enough, they also threw him in a wheelchair for good measure.

    I’ll bet their ABC are furious they didn’t come up with this
    In due course they’ll buy it.

    50

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Great Replacement Job Shock: 1.3 Million Native-Born Americans Just Lost Their Jobs, Replaced By 635,000 Immigrants

    At the start of the year, many months after we first pointed out that the biggest untold story of the US labor market was the “great replacement” of native born workers with foreign-born workers (most of whom we subsequently learned were illegal aliens), we asked how is it, that the ongoing replacement (because that’s what it is) of US workers is “not the biggest political talking point right now” considering that “since October 2019, native-born US workers have lost 1.4 million jobs; over the same period foreign-born workers have gained 3 million jobs”

    Which brings us to today’s jobs report.. where the native vs foreign-born debate just exploded!

    As we discussed earlier, superficially the August payrolls report was a mixed bag. On one hand, it was disappointing in that the payrolls print came in softer than expected, but was a big bounce from sharply downward revised June and July prints. On the other hand, the unemployment rate did drop from the Sahm Rule’s recession trigger level of 4.3% to 4.2%, and effectively eliminated the clear cut case for a 50bps rate cut, especially since the Household survey was not only far stronger than the Establishment survey, but indicated the biggest increase in employment since March.

    That, at least, was the quantitative view. And while that was mixed, there was no confusion in the picture painted by the qualtitative aspect of the jobs report. Here, everything was a disaster.

    Starting at the top, while the number of employed workers did rise by 168K, looking closer at the composition of this increase is disastrous: that’s because it consisted of an increase of 527K part-time jobs, offset by a 438K plunge in full-time jobs.

    This means that since last June, the US has added just over 2 million part-time jobs, and lost over 1.5 million full-time jobs.

    20

  • #
    Steve of Cornubia

    The ever-diligent Dr. Campbell once again alerts us to a story we wouldn’t otherwise hear about. This time he reviews a joint Japan/S. Korea research project in which they “cultured” some Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, to see what grew. The culture medium and conditions were said to mimic the human body.

    They were apparently surprised and puzzled to see that “nanostructures” spontaneously assembled themselves. Weird-looking things that, to me, look vaguely crystalline. Alarming if true, but also perhaps an explanation for the inflammatory responses that occurred such as myocarditis and the alleged presence of huge clots in the arteries of deceased victims?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEgjuB-0bw8

    80

    • #
      John Connor II

      If I see that “nanotech” nonsense just one more time…

      Take a SEM image instead of poor optical microscopy for a change.
      Put an end to this.

      22

      • #
        Steve of Cornubia

        Those images are perfectly clear and sufficiently detailed. No need for SEM imaging at that scale. Of course SEM could reveal structures within the structures but, for the purposes of simply establishing that there is need for further investigation, optical microscopy is fine.

        40

        • #
          John Connor II

          Ok – provide proof acceptable to anyone with electronics knowledge how these artifacts are self-assembling nanotech.

          I’ll wait.

          12

          • #
            Steve of Cornubia

            Wait as long as you like John, but please don’t forget to eat and stay hydrated.

            It’s not my responsibility to furnish anybody with proof of anything. As I (and Campbell) said, this research merely found something that warrants further investigation. Unless of course it’s something that must be ignored for some reason. If you have no interest in the matter, guess what? You can ignore it too!

            40

  • #
  • #
    David Maddison

    Another disastrous consequence of the wind turbine scam. And more removal from service of productive agricultural land.

    https://stopthesethings.com/2024/07/10/fibreglass-from-shredded-wind-turbine-blades-renders-farming-land-useless/

    Fibreglass From Shredded Wind Turbine Blades Renders Farming Land Useless

    Farmers foolish enough to enter contracts with wind power outfits soon live to regret it. Having their land permanently contaminated by shredded fibreglass when turbines explode into balls of flame and/or their blades merely disintegrate (known in the trade as “component liberation”) is just one of a list of disasters waiting to happen.

    At first blush, being paid an annual license fee of $10-25,000 per turbine, per year sounds lucrative enough. However, put that against the $600,000 plus cost of demolishing and removing a single turbine, and the deal soon loses its gloss. Indeed, the ultimate multi-million-dollar cost of removing dozens of turbines from a farming property, makes the piddling revenue stream look like chump change.

    With plenty of evidence to show that these things have an economic lifespan of around 15 years – not the wildly ambitious 25 years touted by the wind industry – farmers considering signing up to 25-year landholder agreements have good reason to think hard before they sign.

    In a sorry (but perfectly avoidable) tale from Iowa, regret comes in the form of the inability to use their land for farming at all.

    When she asked about lightning and fire suppression systems? They told her that it’s cheaper to clean them up after they burn than it is to maintain the lightning protection and fire suppression systems. You’ll see why later in this article when you discover what they actually did to “clean” up the mess they left behind.

    They now have a cornfield that is growing fast and full of wind turbine fiberglass. They bale corn stalks to feed their cows. She didn’t know what they would have done if this had happened in October as they would not have been able to feed those cows. As it is, they can’t graze them on land that is heavily contaminated with fiberglass.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    90

    • #
      Penguinite

      The farmers that were dumb enough to install any form of alternative commercial electricity generating equipment will be the first ones to cry poor-me and claim compensation from the public purse for land deterioration. Roof top solar will be another one when too much solar minimises the initial financial gain and they realise they can’t do any essential roof maintenance. Solar panels will soon become a reason not to buy a house.

      80

      • #
        Penguinite

        Given that the early solar panels had a lifespan of 15-20 years It won’t be long now before installers need to replace them and discover that while the physical replacement cost may have deminished somewhat the difference is unlikely to cover the cost of new installation and recycling of the old.

        40

      • #
        ozfred

        corrugated steel (colour coated please) roofing in Australia requires almost no maintenance. Well spraying to minimize lichen growth perhaps. But that applies even more to roof top PV panels.

        00

        • #
          Yarpos

          The things that will need maintenance are the rooftop penetrations. Silicon doesnt last forever even if you start with a good brand.

          10

  • #
    John Connor II

    The dye in Doritos can make mice transparent

    X-Ray specs and invisibility cloaks are the stuff of sci-fi and fantasy, but sometimes science is just stranger than fiction. A food dye that helps give certain sodas and snacks their hallmark orange hue renders mouse skin almost completely see-through in a reversible, potentially non-toxic research method that could transform medical and scientific imaging. Because of a counterintuitive fundamental physics principle, Tartrazine, also known as Yellow 5, can temporarily turn biological tissue transparent to the naked eye, as described in a study published September 5 in the journal Science.

    So far, the scientists behind the new discovery have used the method to see the organs in a mouse’s intact abdomen, glimpse the pulsing vessels surrounding a rodent skull, and to get an exceptionally clear view of muscle tissue through a microscope. With further safety and efficacy research, the method may spur new scientific findings, boost microscopy advances, and improve medical diagnostic strategies and treatments.

    https://www.popsci.com/science/dye-mice-transparent/

    50

    • #
      TdeF

      Does that mean you could watch your own lunch? Or starve yourself to get into the football free but naked.

      I have always felt one eyed supporters should only have to pay half. And Democrats are trying to elect the invisible woman.

      60

  • #
    Kim

    “Suppressed For Centuries” – Randall Carlson Reveals Freemason Origins & Shocking Hidden History! (video)

    Ignore the title. There are some very interesting climate and disease facts.

    00

  • #
    TdeF

    I find it amazing the scare mongering in the US press about a Trump victory. Such as he would shut down TV stations and act as a total dictator. Ban contraception?

    It’s as if Trump wasn’t US President less than four years ago?

    The big unknown quantity is Harris whose qualification is being a blackish Indian/Jamaican/Canadian female.

    Apart from being promoted endlessly past her second rate law degree all the way to the highest job in the country, she has achieved nothing in life, private or public.

    Unless you count being the 29 year old mistress of 60 year old San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown who also launched Nancy Pelosi’s career.

    Even Joe Biden, who never had a job except perhaps as pool guard, would be jealous. And he still talks about his hairy legs as an asset.

    Even today, Kamala Harris has found a way to totally avoid public scrutiny. Which is an extraordinary achievement. She hasn’t smashed any ceilings. The invisible woman, she just slid around them with the help of a few very close friends.

    110

    • #
      TdeF

      MSNBC “Donald Trump will become an “autocrat” who will randomly jail people and take television stations off the air.”

      30

      • #
        Steve of Cornubia

        Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, there was discussion in some quarters about the role demonisation of Trump in the media and by Democrats might have played in motivating the assassin.

        Well that uncharacteristic introspection was pretty brief and they’re now back to their original game plan, painting Trump as a danger to Americans, almost guaranteeing there will be another attempt on his life.

        30

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Trump needs discipline, to keep his head below the parapet, make statements concise and pithy through the media. He is ahead, no need to be dead.

          I do not believe the three letter agencies actually hired Crooks but they are definitely guilty of culpable negligence. Does “culpable” also mean “deliberate”?

          11

      • #
        Yarpos

        Yep, just like he did last time

        30

      • #
        Ronin

        Signs the left are getting REAL desperate.

        10

  • #
    David Maddison

    CHALLENGE

    An awkward question for Americans:

    Explain to me why I should vote for Kamala without mentioning the words woman, minority, black or Trump.

    90

  • #
    John Connor II

    Saturday magic – blowing solid bubbles

    https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sjdm3rS39U1z23obp.mp4

    😉

    40

  • #
    OldOzzie

    As strike looms, Boeing pushes 777 jets through chaotic production in Everett

    For months, Boeing’s leadership has claimed repeatedly that slowing the pace of jet production and renewing the focus on inspections will ensure production quality. As a potential strike by 33,000 machinists looms next week, that’s not the reality mechanics see inside Boeing’s widebody jet plant in Everett.

    Managers there are currently pushing partially assembled 777 jets through the assembly line, leaving tens of thousands of unfinished jobs due to defects and parts shortages to be completed out of sequence on each airplane, according to three people working directly on 777 assembly.

    Though the production rate of 777 jets is at a crawl, with a total of just 11 deliveries so far this year, employees describe a chaotic workplace.

    Mechanics are chasing airplanes through the Everett factory to install systems that should have gone in earlier and to complete rework of defects on 777 cargo planes that have traveled far down the assembly line and even outside onto the Paine Field flight line, said a veteran 777 mechanic who works on fuselages.

    At the 737 MAX plant in Renton, Boeing has said it is severely limiting such “traveled work,” which requires installing parts out of the normal assembly sequence. The practice contributed to the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout in January.

    “It’s not the way the hourly workers want to do business,” said the veteran mechanic, alarmed by the state of 777 production. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”

    A longtime 777 quality inspector in Everett — who, like the other employees quoted here, requested anonymity because he feared retaliation — said Boeing has moved new inspectors onto the assembly line who are unfamiliar with the work.

    “They are not being trained, just thrown to the wolves,” he said.

    Boeing personnel conducting inspections out on the airfield flight line are finding multiple structure, systems and interior defects that were missed inside the factory.

    60

  • #
    Philip

    Kamala is ahead in Pennsylvania, that is what concerns me.

    10

  • #
  • #
    Strop

    A 4.5 earthquake at Musswellbrook. (One of the Coalition’s proposed reactor locations)
    Just what Labor and the Greens needed to run a nuclear power generation scare campaign. It just might work too.

    40

    • #
      David Maddison

      Nuclear power stations are typically designed to withstand magnitude 7.5 earthquakes.

      The Richter scale is logarithmic so a Richter 7.5 earthquake is 1000 times stronger than a Richter 4.5 one but the energy released is 31,623 times as strong.

      Energy released is computed from the empirical formula log E = 5.24 + 1.44M where E is energy and M is magnitude. (As used by USGS, there are variations.)

      Don’t expect the typical anti-science Leftist to understand any of that.

      20

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Anyone know where I can get/purchase a copy of The Australian Army HANDBOOK, Military Board AHQ, The Soldiers Handbook, 31.5.1965

    I had the handbook when I was in the Australian Army, and it was an excellent guide that I would like to give to my Grandson who has just started in Cadets

    50

  • #
    Vicki

    Research scientists and Big Pharma will not stop after their “success” with the mRNA genetic treatments for Covid. A research article promises a further development of so-called “replicons” that appear to be re-generative in the human body.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10266560/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    50

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      “As soon as essential safety evaluations have been resolved, this promising vaccine concept can transform into a widely applied clinical platform technology taking center stage in pandemic preparedness.”

      Yep.
      We’ll be resolving those essential safety thingys.
      Safe AND effective.
      Yep, REPLICONS, right there in your body.
      (Well, it’s not your body, it belongs to the collective, you know, because Equity.)
      We would never put any replicating thingys in your body that did anything else except the things that we told you they would do.
      Yep.
      Believe in Science.
      Pandemics, they’re increasing in frequency just like typhoons and droughts. Or is it floods?

      Anyways, I just learned that Science figured out the ‘warming’ which used to cause more typhoons, can also cause less typhoons.

      10

  • #
    Graeme4

    In today’s The Australian, BMW is recalling 140,000 Mini Cooper EVs because the cars might catch fire, and Toyota is planning to slash its EV production by one third, lowering its 2026 target from 1.5 million EVs to one million. (Paywalled)
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/motoring/mini-parcel-that-potentially-gives-big-bang-for-your-buck/news-story/1ddf2134afbc37f1bead6526de820bda
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/toyota-turns-down-power-on-electric-car-production/news-story/242009af0e8df4b617ea4118d89aa1bc

    20

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “NJ Offshore Farms Sucking Wind: Packing Their Bags and Turbine Troubles”

    “I want to leave you with a 22-minute video on one of my favorite subjects – The #Mathz. You all know how I love to point out when things just don’t add up, and I stumbled across the most brilliant, easy-to-follow explanation of why wind was a waste yesterday.”

    https://youtu.be/ZddN57phd7Q

    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/09/06/nj-offshore-farms-sucking-wind-packing-their-bags-and-turbine-troubles-n3794137

    40

  • #
    Vladimir

    Is there any info comparing rocket launches with the ICE car usage in respect of CO2 emission ?
    A VW beetle differs from big bus or mining truck, that is given but with half of World “scientists” busy calculating CO2 tonnage per cow there must be some data available….

    Important Note : It is not argument against space exploration or progress generally.

    20

  • #
    John Connor II

    Woke Apocalypse: Sony Humiliated After $200 Million Diversity Video Game Disaster

    Get woke, go broke is not just a mantra, it’s a rule, and the epic woke failures keep piling up in 2024 as the majority of consumers continue to reject DEI in movies, streaming, marketing and gaming.

    It’s hard to say if Sony’s latest gaming disaster, Concord, was partially paid for with ESG cash, but the content sure feels like it was drafted up by a bunch of blue-haired weirdos in the bathroom of a progressive think-tank.

    Concord, a relatively generic competitive shooter with some obviously “borrowed” plot aesthetics from Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ , has all the indicators of a DEI game. This includes pie-chart diversity, no straight white males, lots of minority women, lots of fat positivity, at least one trans-woman and plenty of gender fluid pronouns. Sony spent at least eight years and $200 million (including marketing) on Concord with high expectations for the AAA title, only to discover no one wants to play as a clinically obese woman or a transgender.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/woke-apocolypse-sony-humiliated-after-200-million-diversity-video-game-disaster

    Better pretending to be a transy in a game rather than real life. You don’t get to reset in real life…

    60

  • #
  • #
    John Connor II

    COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics across Canada have been ordered to destroy all vials of Pfizer & Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines!

    https://x.com/MakisMD/status/1831946361501315350

    Save the evidence!!

    40

  • #
    David Maddison

    One of the many reasons Australia is in such a mess is that most politicians and senior public serpents have never had proper jobs. They have been parasites their entire lives.

    111

  • #
    another ian

    “Boeing Starliner capsule lands back on Earth, without astronauts, to end troubled test flight (video)”

    https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-lands-earth-crew-flight-test-mission

    20

  • #
    Ireneusz Palmowski

    Typhoon enters northern Vietnam with tremendous power.
    https://i.ibb.co/1fMVcb1/himawari9-ir-12-W-202409070300.gif

    00

  • #
    Ireneusz Palmowski

    SOI values for 7 Sep, 2024
    Average SOI for last 30 days 8.94
    Average SOI for last 90 days 0.57

    https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/ocean/nino4.png
    https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/ocean/nino34.png

    00

  • #
    David Maddison

    Australian women have not yet woken up to the fact that we now no longer have female-only sports in Australia.

    There is:

    1) Male only

    and

    2) Mixed male and female.

    Legally, any man can claim to be a female and in accordance with the law, he is a genuine woman and can join a female-only sporting body or can go to any other female-only space such as a change room or rest room or App such as Giggle for Girls (now offline).

    This Australian “female” soccer team with five transgender players does very well.

    https://nypost.com/2024/03/27/us-news/outrage-after-flying-bats-soccer-team-goes-undefeated-with-5-transgender-players/

    An amateur Australian soccer team has stirred controversy after the squad, which includes five transgender women, dominated a women-only tournament and claimed the $1,000 prize, according to a report.

    The Sydney-based Flying Bats FC went undefeated during the four-week tournament, including one game in which one of the transgender women scored six goals en route to a 10-0 beatdown, the Daily Telegraph reported.

    Some parents pulled their daughters from matches over safety concerns, officials from other soccer clubs in the North West Sydney League told the paper.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    It’s not even legally possible to have a female-only sporting club now.

    70

    • #
      John Connor II

      I don’t think full contact kickboxing has many trans men competing against real women.
      Would be fun though.

      10

    • #
      Philip

      No. There is a females vs males on drugs competition, but no mixed male and female.

      10

    • #
      Hanrahan

      It’s not even legally possible to have a female-only sporting club now.

      Nor is it possible to have an exclusive mens’ club. When did you last hear women golfers referred to as “associates”?

      00

  • #
    Ronin

    The trouble with political jokes is that some of them get elected.

    80

  • #
    David Maddison

    (COPIED)

    Why do professional athletes think I should care about what they think?

    If I wanted advice from someone who chases a ball, I’d ask a dog.

    90

    • #
      Rossini

      Why stop at professional athletes?
      Heaps of ill informed (actors for example)
      give their useless opinions.

      40

      • #
        Graeme4

        The classic statement:
        “The world has become a place where media personalities are mistaken for people of importance.
        I’ve needed a doctor, I’ve needed a teacher, I’ve needed a plumber.
        I need farmers. I need all manner of trades, etc.
        But I’ve NEVER, not ever, needed a media personality for anything”.

        70

  • #
    John Connor II

    Prisoners could be sent to Estonia as jail population in England and Wales hits new record

    Prisoners could be sent to Estonia to help alleviate overcrowding in England’s jails, it was revealed on Friday.

    The move is one of a number of options being considered to address the crisis – which has seen prison populations reach record levels – according to reports.

    The number of inmates in jails in England and Wales hit a new high of 88,521 on Thursday, up 171 from 88,350 a week ago – the previous record – and a jump of 1,025 from 87,496 four weeks ago.

    The prison population in England and Wales has been increasing for much of the past three years, having dropped as low as 77,727 in April 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/prison-overcrowding-estonia-jails-ministry-of-justice-uk-government-crime-b1180453.html

    “What are you in for mate? Murder, assault, fraud?”
    “Nah, I posted a mean tweet on FB in England”

    Poms exporting crims again. Sounds sorta familiar.

    60

  • #
    Leo Morgan

    GetUp is harassing the Defence Minister in a massive campaign to bind future Governments from receiving radioactive waste in Australia. I think GetUp’s policy is as wrong-headed as all their other policies, and have written to the Minister to say so.
    You will see I allude to reducing CO2 emissions. It’s not a matter that concerns me much, but the Minister might find it persuasive.
    I regret that I didn’t also add “Nor should you be worried about the political impact of their stance. It’s not as if any of them would vote for you anyway.” You might find it worthwhile to write something similar.

    Here’s what I wrote:
    ——————————————————————————————————–
    Dear Minister Marles

    As the responsible Minister, you should already be aware of all the reasons the GetUp campaign is flat-out wrong.
    Radioactivity is not the boogeyman GetUp activists think it is. Most highly radioactive material is more valuable than gold. The nuclear industry doesn’t throw it away or bury it.
    Low-level waste is less radioactive than the natural Uranium ore already found naturally in the ground. The obvious solution is to bury ‘waste’ back in the places uranium is extracted from, which is already radioactive and will be for billions of years. The whole nuclear industry will then be a process of taking highly radioactive material out of the ground and replacing it with less radioactive material. This will benefit Australia and the world, both environmentally and economically.
    Admittedly, a minute proportion, and you as Minister should already have the figures, is more radioactive, and will be for about 600 years. Given that we have the technology to encase these in synthetic rock that will last millennia longer than this, it is an easy task to store it for the time until it becomes less radioactive than the natural ore.
    Don’t try and bind future governments into a bad decision- take the opportunity to encourage nuclear energy, proven over the last fifty years to be the safest form of power generation there is, and advance Australia’s economy while reducing the world’s CO2 emissions.
    Seriously, GetUp wants us to eat bugs. I wouldn’t take their advice on what to eat for dinner, let alone about something as crucial as this for Australia’s future.

    Leo Morgan

    60

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – brush up!

    “Weekend Parting Shot: Gen Z Discovers Cursive”

    https://pjmedia.com/lincolnbrown/2024/09/06/weekend-parting-shot-gen-discovers-cursive-n4932291

    10

  • #
  • #
  • #
  • #
    Graeme4

    Perth has just put its first locally-built electric bus on the road, one of 130 to be built. Total cost including infrastructure will be $250m. Will be interesting to see how long they last.

    60

  • #
    Ireneusz Palmowski

    Due to the number of spots counted, solar activity is high, but due to solar wind speed and geomagnetic activity is low. There is nothing solid under the Sun.
    https://i.ibb.co/1fj13NZ/plot-image.png

    40