JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
The only evidence of the Misinfo Bill is online …. what if this is it, Technical Singularity. The Bill, the debates – the tech has hacked the Parliament, and it is all AI generated.
I mean, no thinking human would want to do this to other people, no adult who exists could have absolutely no sense of history….
Sorry, a bit wistful on it all today, and found this thought comforting
150
The original reason the fake conservative Liberal Party introduced the censorship bill is over covid and Ukraine according to the press release of Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, of the fake conservative Morrison Government.
To prevent discussion by censorship of opinions anything other than the Official Narrative represents a staggering lack of curiosity about the world and profound anti-intellectualism, not to mention totalitarianism.
In fact the only real misinformation the people have to worry about comes from Government itself which cost huge numbers of lives during covid. I documented some Government lies in my original submission opposing the censorship bill. See
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/acma2023-31735-david-s-maddison.pdf
The lack of curiosity of Australian “leaders” about the world, as expressed by banning and censoring any opinion not consistent with the Official Narrative, was alluded to by Donald Horne six decades ago.
Donald Horne was right when he wrote in The Lucky Country in 1964:
We are indeed “led” by some very dull, stupid, mal-educated and anti-intellectual people.
140
Days since a government stuffup [0]
60
It’s difficult to think of ANYTHING the Uniparty does right.
60
HAL?
“Heuristically programmed Algorithmic Logic?
“Dave,; what are you doing,Dave?
“Life”? ,imitating “Art”, again?
00
The true story of how renewables plunged this Aussie town into darkness: Nick Cater
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqzT48LOPUg
Video goes for around 21 minutes
160
I wonder how the Hospital, Police, Fire Brigade, Medical Centres and Emergency Services managed the Crisis.?
70
Standby generators? Pretty standard for hospitals.
61
Emergency generators in hospitals only supply limited power.
Wards and X-ray departments likely in darkness and without aircon in a hot climate.
I think they needed an urgent delivery of diesel fuel when the power outage dragged on past a few hours.
90
And locally for supermarkets. As one said, throwing $10,000 of frozen foods out every time there is a short blackout concentrates the mind.
140
I live near a small regional town in VIC (pop 4000 at a guess). The supermarket, chemist and the main cafe in town all have standby generators.
I am looking to add a “solar generator” to our backup , so I have something to power through the night quietly if needed. Seems to becoming more common out here where we have elbow room between neighbours.
00
Johnny Rotten, #2,
____Thank you. Clearest explanation in there, of that unconscionable debacle.
____Getting me closer to understanding what happened nearby, TWICE in September 2016.
00
Inflate this: PM’s public service splurge costs taxpayers extra $5bn
The Albanese government has added more than 26,000 new permanent public servants to the payroll since it was elected.
More than half of that increase has been directed toward new jobs for bureaucrats in Canberra, with a 23 per cent increase in the overall wages bill in the capital since June 2022.
An official Australian Bureau of Statistics report released last week shows the annual wages bill for the commonwealth public sector across the country is now more than $37bn a year, up from $32.5bn in June 2022, with a total workforce of 365,400.
It reveals that 15,100 new commonwealth public service jobs were added in 2023-24 on top of the 11,000 new positions created in the first year of the Albanese government.
The increase in the wages bill, which includes the inflationary impact of wage rises, amounts to an increase of more than 10 per cent in the past year and 15 per cent over the space of two years.
According to the federal government’s own budget papers, the largest ratio increase in public sector jobs in the past two years was in the climate change, energy, environment and water portfolios.
The largest increase in employee numbers and wage increases has been for expanding the public service in Canberra.
250
Ballooning public service is no fix for stagnant growth
The balance of the economy is tipping too far to big government.
The Australian Editorial
The current situation is unacceptable.
Post-Covid, the Treasurer told Australian Business Economists, productivity fell 2.5 per cent in the June quarter of 2022 – the fastest quarterly decline since 1979. Like economic growth, it has remained sluggish. In the 12 months to June this year, GDP per hour worked increased just 0.5 per cent and GDP rose just 1 per cent.
Over the 2023-24 financial year, the cost of public wages across the three levels of government skyrocketed by $17.1bn to more than $232bn. And the numbers of public sector employees rose to more than 2.5 million, an increase of about 87,000 in 12 months.
The largest personnel increases were at state level (about 68,000 staff, with the biggest rises in NSW, Victoria and Queensland). Taxpayers have also been slugged with a $5bn spike in the wages bill for the federal bureaucracy, with Labor adding more than 26,000 new permanent public servants to the payroll since it was elected.
Something is fundamentally wrong, holding back growth and revenue to government. If living standards are to be maintained, let alone improved, it must be reversed.
260
“If living standards are to be maintained, let alone improved, it must be reversed. ”
You will have to get rid of democracy to do this.. Democracy ALWAYS leads to a welfare state, people will always vote for free money, and a welfare state always leads to declining numbers of productive people and increasing numbers of parasites. To enforce the demands on the productive, and to make sinecures for the parasites, a greater step towards tyranny is needed each time.
Who will vote against this system in a democracy?? Only the declining number of productive people, always outvoted and always bled dry. They are the primary producers and exporters in a country, the ones who use natural resources to make something of value. Even the secondary producers, making lattes and cutting hair, add very little to a country’s wealth.
“Something is fundamentally wrong, ”
Yes, the incentives are all backwards these days. You don’t start a business by yourself and work your way up to Dick Smith, you get a business degree on Govt loans, make up a business plan, and apply to a Govt to fund the whole thing and make yourself a cannon-Brookes.
161
KP,
You often say that the only way is to get rid of democracy, and usually give an ok rationale for why. I haven’t seen you say *how* nor do you give even a basic sketch what its replacement should be.
Could you please clear up that last point in particular?
90
I. Ehrenburg, arguably very good at his profession, described the way new soviet government dealt with VDs:
they changed its definition from “disease” to “crime” and overnight previously massive queues to the specialist clinics were gone.
60
Robert:
Only people experienced in the role to be appointed, pre election checks (interviews/psych tests like a lot of industries) for hard left or right bias/personal agendas that would compromise their roles.
How many pollies have high level experience running an economy? Managing a trading desk?
Understand global capital flows and economic cycles?
Certainly not your average real estate agent, doctor, muso or such that go into politics.
Fixed terms in office, personal accountability for mistakes, no excessive perks, no post-politics gravy train, and no parliamentary privilege or immunity.
That alone will get rid of most of the fluff candidates and free loaders.
We need a government that has neither the time, money or resources to squander on squirrel raids (RIP P’nut).
(All of which I’ve suggested before)
We need a government that fears the people, not the other way around. (Shoutout to Xi Jinping 😉)
Ooh, he really got stressed over that massive bike ride event didn’t he.
As for a system, how about we copy Milei and go from there to restore core functionality and efficiency, and then copy the ancient Romans system of government which worked pretty well.
30
John Connor II,
Thanks for responding. Most of that sounds like ways of improving the democracy we have. I’m all in favour (though I have doubts about some of your ideas), but KP’s claim above was that democracy has to *go* before there can be any improvement. That feels like a leap from frying-pan to fire, but maybe he has a nice alternative in mind (not something from fantasy land). I’d like to know what it is.
As to improving what we have, I’m not keen on your requirement that our representatives be especially qualified (gives too much power to the unaccountable people who do the checking). Milei didn’t need any particular expertise to see that Argentina was getting lousy value from a bloated public sector. Wouldn’t want there to be qualification hurdles to trip up an Australian Milei. After the US election result, perhaps we should have a bit more trust in voters than checkers.
IMO the biggest problem for Aus. is utter cynicism of the political parties.
20
Why not go straight to Marx and cut out the middle man?
10
Totalitarian dictatorships are also welfare states, realpolitik.
‘By 2025, China’s welfare spending could rise to over a third of gross domestic product.’ (CBBC)
41
Something is fundamentally wrong with the reserve bank too. Instead of raising interest rates they should tell the people that the reserve bank cannot do anything to fix this kind of inflation. Only the government can fix it.
100
If the censorship bill passes there will need to be thousands more public serpents employed as Winston Smith-style censors and rewriters of history. Their job description has already been written. From Wikipedia:
70
At least the adults are back in charge over in the States. Musk likes to fire dead wood and doesn’t seem to suffer fools gladly.
Trump names Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head Department of Government Efficiency – ‘Manhattan Project of our time’
20
LOL…
A DOGE for Oz, asap!
Any pollies, TGA,BOM, health experts with an “E” or “T” in their names, byyyyyyeeeee..😆😆
10
Australian Ambassador to the US, Deranged Liberal Kevin Rudd Pressured To Resign Over Insulting Anti-Trump Comments
The times they are a-changing.
It was once a favorite pastime for liberal globetrotters to insult and offend first-term President Donald Trump to amuse the Globalist intelligentsia and score points with the money people.
Now things have changed oh so much, after the landslide victory that saw a Donald J. Trump reborn from the ashes secure the white house, the senate and the house.
So the big-mouthed creeps are frantically trying to undo their self-inflicted damage to survive in the new world.
Take Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd, for example.
He is now facing growing calls to resign, after years of his disparaging comments against Trump resurfaced.
In America, he is unwelcome, now. And in Australia, there are widespread concerns over his capacity to work with the incoming leader.
Rudd, a former Australian prime minister, openly tried to ridicule Trump during speeches, branding him a ‘political liability’ and ‘not a leading intellectual force’.
Now, in a futile attempt to keep his job, he says Australia ‘looks forward to working closely’ with him.
140
Does not gweilo KRUDD speak (e)fluent Mandarin? Surely he could sign-up with the CCP and go work for them? Or is that the problem – he’s been working for them all along.
160
He’s actually very suspicious of the Chinese, and has been caught saying derogatory things about them before too. Basically, Kev is a little bitch who can’t shut his mouth. So am I, this is why I don’t get into politics. Doesn’t deter Kev, but he has to go.
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NY Post – Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd faces calls to resign over disparaging anti-Trump comments
60
Someone else thinks he’s in the wrong job:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/donald-trump-aide-appears-to-send-message-to-kevin-rudd/104593692
Cheers
Dave B
00
Wind woes:
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vineyard-wind-blades-compared-to-the-last-yugo-on-the-lot
71
“Well made” or “Well, made”?
00
Shell wins landmark climate case against green groups in Dutch appeal –
“Oil giant Shell has won a landmark case in the Dutch courts, overturning an earlier ruling requiring it to cut its carbon emissions by 45%.
The Hague court of appeal said it could not establish that Shell had a “social standard of care” to reduce its emissions by 45% or any other amount, even though it agreed the company had an obligation to citizens to limit emissions.
Three years ago, a court in The Hague backed a case by Friends of the Earth and 17,000 Dutch citizens requiring Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions significantly, in line with the Paris climate accords.
The ruling came as climate talks involving some 200 countries got under way in Azerbaijan.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx240l9xq2yo
150
‘Absolutely terrifying’: Anthony Albanese’s Misinformation Bill slammed – Sky News –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e8HLf9z4Z0
Video goes for about 8 minutes – Great stuff………………
110
Sky News Australia deserves more support. They provide a realist view rather than the smug left on the LSM.
KRUDD epitomises the smug, vindictive left.
90
There is a lot of chatter about why the Democrats lost so convincingly. Possible strategic mistakes.
What is never mentioned is that whoever is running the country today was perfectly comfortable with presenting a geriatric sock puppet for the next four years as President. After all, Biden’s total incompetence and obvious incoherence and serious illness had been covered up for four years and the tame media saw no problem with the President spending half his time in retirement at the beach. Or escaping serious charges for stealing classified documents even as a senator because he was declared too old and incompetent to be prosecuted. Which became obvious to the nation in the first and only debate.
Whoever is running the country thought the total incompetence of Biden and then Harris could be hidden from the public for four more years. And it would have worked, except for Trumps boundless energy and total determination and ability to stand up under immense pressure.
They even pulled four more hoaxes
• Trump’s Madison Square Garden Nazi Rally
• The Puerto Rico Joke
• Trump Called for Liz Cheney’s Execution Hoax
• Iowa Poll Hoax
but nothing worked and they lost Pennsylvania and the whole house of cards fell down.
Who is running America today? Who is defending America today? It’s certainly not Joe/Jill Biden or Kamala Harris. They do nothing at all. Kamala even took two days off in the last week, unnoticed and unexplained. Will we ever know? It certainly includes Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.
Trump would say, “You’re fired!”
280
One of his former promises was to wipe out the Federal Department of Education created by Jimmy Carter.
What people don’t understand about Federations like Australia and America is that they were formed only to handle international issues. Like customs, defence, exchange rate, immigration. They were not about Education, Health, Social issues apart from ‘Rights’ in America, Policing, Minerals. The indvidual states control everything not ceded to the Federal government. So Jimmy Carter’s Department of Education can be wiped out in a signature. Australia too tries to control education by controlling ‘gifts’. Health too. Which is why laws on abortion are not legally valid for Federal governments, which is what the US Supreme Court ruled.
So I expect a lot of the social reform agenda of the Left is not in the remit of any Federal government.
And a huge part of the push for a unified single electric grid with windmills and solar panels is literally to move all power to the minions of Canberra and Washington. It’s working politically and a total disaster practically, which is fine as Canberra has lots of windmils with cash stolen from everyone’s electricity bills. It is why they don’t like the States coal as it is explicitly out of the reach of Canberra given that all minerals are part of states rights alone.
It’s also a big part of why the Federal government signs up to international ‘treaties’ as if they are law. Even though these treaties are not ‘binding’, activist judges can then rule they have power given to them by international ‘laws’ over coal for example but at a Federal level.
So it will be a joy to see Trump eliminate the illegal Department of Education. You have to wonder about their millions of minions controlling the ‘environment’ departments using non binding international ‘agreements’. So he will withdraw from the UN on Climate Change, WHO, Human Rights and more, all controlled by China. If there is one thing Communists understand, it’s how to infiltrate committees. And minions in Canberra and Washington and Whitehall claim real legal power from these non binding EU and UN international agreements.
The Trump Presidency will see a great reset and shift in power back to states and even to countries within the EU. The UN and EU may stop metastasizing and shrink. Which would be great for the world. But already Britain, France and Poland are discussing how to keep the war going in Ukraine without America. I doubt they can afford it!
170
And in Europe, after WWII everyone applauded the Common Market. It was just sensible, like the old Hannoverian states. No tax between neighbours.
They then applauded the formation of the European Council bringing in such conveniences as the Schengen zone and the Euro allowing simple travel, a boon for tourism, business and trade. Those who did not adopt the Euro did better.
But the Europe led the way to the creation of the European UNION which is a disaster as there are tens of thousands of well paid globalists trying to destroy Europe. And routinely demanding their own nuclear armed military to fight not just the eternal enemy,Russia, but also America. A world military and economic power is their dream. Climate Change is a major weapon for control. So the successors of Napoleon and the Kaiser and Hitler are achieving through stealth and Climate Change what was not possible in total war. This has to stop. Trump’s withdrawal will have great repercussions just as the oil cartels take over COP business meetings with everyone looking for deals and the UN wants $1Tn a year in free ‘reparations’ cash.
And now that cash itself is close to useless even for buying a coffee, there is no reason each country could not have its own currency and restore the most useful economic levers to national Governments.
The Trump victory will resound through Europe and the Middle East and the pot boiler between North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. President Xi will be rereading his ‘Art of War’.
160
I’m concerned that the victory is tentative.
I admit to being surprised by the win.
Does the public have an accurate picture of what transpired?
The manufactured machinations, BLM, COVID, the 2020 election where somehow Biden produced 81 million votes … indicate powerful forces working against Trump … amazingly for close to a decade.
What would be the monetary tally spent, by or on, international elite political operatives deployed to destroy him?
The anti-Trump cartel seems too quiet post election for comfort.
They are the decided enemies of ‘democracy’.
I’m having trouble believing that they are going to allow an inconvenient election outcome drive them from the field.
Shaking hands and hoping for better luck next time.
The path to Jan 20 I fear, is fraught with unimagined treacheries.
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They are disempowered. Whoever is acting President today has appointed lackeys to head every department, most notably Mayorkas. With the clear understanding he could break the law with full support from the White House.
Everything possible has been done by Presidential decree to kill America morally, financially, economically. But they were against a new unexpected alliance including Robert Kennedy and Elon Musk and a cast of really competent people. Trump is Hitler is absurd. And both Musk and Vance have switched because the media told lies.
Plus 200,000 lawyers and volunteers and scrutineers have spent years to stop ballot harvesting, illegals voting, vote dumping, voting without proof of identity, floods, ejection of scrutineers and rigged electronic voting, dead people on the rolls. That’s an army of qualified and hard working people behind the scenes to ensure a fair election. And even the Supreme Court instantly acted on election fraud, despite objections from the Liberal judges.
Now the heads will roll. And there is no need to use Presidential orders to effect change. With the House and the Senate and the Presidency, the objective is clear. Even the Neo Cons and RINOs are gone. Plus McConnell’s long dictatorship is finally over. The rule of democracy is back. And the President does not have to be a dictator.
But who is left to run the Democrat shadow government? Obama cannot rely on Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden or a host of shadowy figures. They are history. Meanwhile Trump has a new young team who will see them off the court. And the radical left prosecutors and attorneys and judges appointed by Soros money are being removed quickly. If only for breaking the law, like Letitia James.
It’s game on. First objectives are inflation, electricity prices, the Ukraine war, the war in Gaza, all terrible costs to America which can be over in days.
But also the rusted on Democrat supporters among black, Jewish, Latino communities have dramatically shifted alliances. All are seriously threatened by the Democrats and have finally realised that traditional Conservatism is being presented. There is almost no Extreme Right in any country. Most are military dictatorships, as through Central and South America and Africa. In America there has always been a huge Conservative middle who have no interest in Soros or Pelosi or anyone like Hitler. And until now they have been disenfranchised as both Democrats and Republicans were far left of center, as in Australia and the UK.
And this change will flow to the state level in 50 US states. Almost every US state has made a substantial hard shift to the right. Plus all those millions of illegal invaders and criminals will be sent home, to apply to enter properly, with full disclosure, legally and subject to tight scrutiny . Criminals, convicted murderers, drug traffikers and gang members excluded. America has always welcomed immigrants but there are conditions to entry, as every country must have or as Trump says, it is not a country.
As Newt Gingrich says, the Democrats are facing decades in the wilderness, like the Republican party when he joined it. Middle America is back!
140
Me too. No way are they reconciled to a few years getting their house in order for next time. They have no interest in “democracy”.
01
Likely the Soros clan and Blackrock/Vanguard at the reigns utilising the financial system TdeF. Recall the other Golden rule. Saying “Obama” is a cop out as Obama is a puppet too- much better at reading the teleprompter. It is interesting that you can negate the talking points to find the truth of the matter. What astounds me is the Dems blew through over a billion dollars in campaign finance with no obvious return.
91
“over a billion dollars” –
easy to do when it’s not their money.
As Honk notes, it’s unnaturally quiet on the western front, with a slight odour of rattus rattus democratus wafting on the winds of change.
60
I have read $2.5Bn in campaign funds at every level including states. But its all nothing compared to the at least $40Bn Elon Musk sacrificed to take control of Twitter. I was amazed that Joe Biden made his resignation not by public address but by posting on Twitter/X.
100
And perhaps that was the first indication that an enraged, resentful and vengeful Joe was going to fight dirty.
Then 30 minutes later nominating Harris as his replacement, taking out any other option without admitting the truth. Snooker!
Then his garbage comment, which was priceless. Everyone knew what he did.
And finally Jill’s bright red pantsuit when going to vote and beaming in front of the cameras. Everyone knew what Jill and Joe were doing, but they were powerless to stop the President. The worm turned. And the couple laughed openly. They are still President and First Lady and Obama, Clinton, Jeffries and Pelosi are history.
120
Very timely TdeF! Opened my emails this morning and there’s a Substack post detailing the mysterious Senior Executive Service (SES) class of US federal employees which was created under President Carter through the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Basically they’re a bunch of super elite public servants who are almost untouchable. Trump ( last time ) attempted to bypass them via a statute called Schedule F, which Joe Biden reversed as soon as he was in office. Then I read a rather long X thread on Mitch McConnell and the RINO’s and how they’re trying to keep control of the senate. They’re Republicans, but hate Trump. So there you have the Deep State/ Swamp we’ve been hearing about for so long. Then, I wondered if Australia has an equivalent SES type group and possibly because our system is modelled on the British public service system, I would say yes. Probably always been there. They’re the ones who irrespective of type of government ( ALP vs LNP) keep the business of government running. Trouble is, I think this group have now been indoctrinated with climate change, DEI, WEF type policies which is why the MAD legislation has come about. The public service need the free information flow from blogs like this and social media curtailed. COVID bollocks proved that over and over again.
80
The Federal Department of Education was another Carter creation in 1979 and an example of the Federal Government mission creep into areas which are not legally theirs.
70
Perhaps the United Nations creation of the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change is possibly the most costly illegal creation. The idea that politicians from many countries get together to control the Climate. As absurd as it is illegal and massively costly and ineffectual.
United Nations Charter
“AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples”
——————
Where does it say they have an international agreement or ability or right to control the weather?
The UN agreements on Climate Change have no legal basis and should have zero funding.
So the use of non binding UN agreements to argue international force of law or precedent in Australian Law is utterly wrong. But it is like the EU an attempt to exert de facto legal control. O
The UN should stick to preventing war, not encouraging it and stay out of the massive Climate scam.
Or the US may tell them to pay for it all themselves. In which case no one would.
100
Musk was talking to Rogan on his podcast. Elon said there were now 450 federal US agencies/ departments. Poor bugger, a lot of them were giving SpaceX the run around to hinder his rocket launches and catches. More agencies than years the republic of US has been in existence. He said most public servants would be lucky to name 100, let alone 450.
90
https://insiderpaper.com/oil-gas-gift-of-god-azerbaijan-president-repeats-at-cop29/
190
And yet Irish doomer, Matt McGrath, who flew to Baku with more than a little help from all those minerals and – to be sure, to be sure – fossil fuels [sic], seethed and frothed and ranted against “God’s gifts” to mankind, claiming they were burning up the planet, making life on Earth “untenable”.
Surely there’s a soft-padded cell, coloured calming pink and emanating soothing muzak sounds for disturbed personalities, with his name on the door… to be sure, to be sure.
120
But Greg, the muzak would be from fossil fuels. Matt McGrath wouldn’t calm down at all.
30
I did notice during his (thankfully) brief radio report this moaning, he was sucking a lot of air through his gritted teeth – possibly a sign of his panic at being almost a hundred feet (30m) below sea level on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
40
I have stayed at a resort on the Dead Sea in Jordan. Great for hyperbaric oxygen healing as it is well below sea level. Seems quite fine. I was able to have a chardonnay at 430 metres down without being in a nuclear submarine. And a sit in the Dead Sea which is 30% salt, so you can nearly walk on water, which is apparently nothing new in the area. Israel is on the other side of the lake, Jericho, Bethlehem, etc. I don’t know about Joshua and the walls. It would not take much to push anything over.
30
That depressing region, ie. syncline, is after all, the closest bit of dry land on Earth to HELL itself… what with earthquakes (Jericho), fire & brimstone (Sodom & Gomorrah), an endless parade of armies & human sacrifice (a sweet savour to You Know Who) and hot as Hades in summer.
Just can’t figure out what all the fuss is about.
10
Yes, humans have found much better places to live. But the archeology in Eastern Turkey to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf shows this as the place where it all started. And 11,000 years ago when life was thriving here, most of Europe was under one Kilometer of solid ice.
Gobelki Tepi and more show that humans were building at the time of the discovery of seed cultivation/agriculture here and even with the newest discoveries back to 13,000BC before agriculture.
I have been watching the many Youtube videos on the land of Canaan and the areas and civilizations in Mesopotamia. And then the great valleys, Nile, Indus, Bhramaputra/Ganges, Yellow River. The idea that anyone owns land by some sort of finders keepers is just nonsense. As for slavery, it was what was needed in a world where 95% of people worked in hard agricultural labour.
Who owns the land called Israel? You could make a long, long list. But since the British started doing it, we draw lines on a map and come to an agreement. Reparations? You have to be kidding! It would never stop. Everyone was a slave, until the British spent a fortune ending the practice. But really it was the industrial revolution and then WWII and consumerism.
10
Trump exit exposes climate folly
Our enthusiasm to lead is out of sync with what is really going on.
The Australian EDITORIAL
The boast by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen that Australia has been accepted into the centre of the UN climate change process carries a lot more risk following the re-election of US president-elect Donald Trump.
Australia will play a key role at the COP29 meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, where Mr Bowen will co-chair negotiations for what is known as the New Collective Quantified Goal. In short, this is the process under which climate groups are demanding $US1 trillion ($1.52 trillion) be raised to be distributed as grants to help developing nations decarbonise.
Mr Bowen said the question was not just how much money was needed, but who pays it.
As things stand, China, the world’s second-biggest economy, is not obliged to participate because it is still defined as a developing nation. With the US putting itself out of the frame under Mr Trump, the stakes just got a lot higher for those who remain. This fact is no doubt reflected in the rush to cancel attendance at COP29. Among the late cancellations have been Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. Also absent will be Joe Biden, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and India’s Narendra Modi. China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s Lula da Silva have also elected to skip COP29.
90
Heather Mac Donald
Green Grifters
Another elite-laden conference demonstrates the staggering hypocrisy of climate-change activism.
The latest global climate conference opened Monday in Azerbaijan. …
Here are tens of thousands of well fed, well-dressed members of the global elite—activists…
None has sacrificed a single personal comfort to save the planet.
They assume that their smartphones will draw on an invisible web of transmitters and that they will be able to search the Internet and run AI queries at will, notwithstanding that doing so requires voracious energy …
[SNIP]
00
Climate Change Was the Big Election Loser
A Commentary By Stephen Moore
A few days before last week’s election, Bernie Sanders issued a dire warning to voters: “If Donald Trump is elected, the struggle against climate change is over.”
He had that right.
Climate change fanaticism was effectively on the ballot last week. The green energy agenda was decisively defeated
It turns out that the tens of millions of middle-class Americans who voted for Trump weren’t much interested in the temperature of the planet 50 years from now. They’re too busy trying to pay the bills.
That result shouldn’t be too surprising. Every poll in recent years has shown climate change ranks near the bottom of voter concerns. Jobs, inflation and illegal immigration register much higher on the scale of concerns.
But if you asked the elite of America in the top 1% of income, climate change is seen as an immediate and existential threat to the planet. Our poll at Unleash Prosperity earlier this year found that the cultural elites were so hyper-obsessed with climate issues, they were in favor of banning air conditioning, nonessential air travel and many modern home appliances to stop global warming. Our study showed that not many of the other 99% agree.
Wake up, Bernie and Al Gore.
Climate change has become the ultimate luxury good: the richer you are, the more you fret about it.
Among the elite, obsessing about climate change has become a favorite form of virtue signaling at the country club and in the faculty lounges. There is almost no cross the green elites — the people who donate six figures or more to groups like the Sierra Club — aren’t willing to make lower-income Americans bear to stop global warming.
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So, in effect, Blackout Bowen will be sitting in room of nobodys, co-chairing the NCQG with no idea where the funding is coming from. Let’s hope the idiot doesn’t get too grandiose and make $ promises he cant keep and then make Australia look ridiculous. (or perhaps that might be a good thing ??)
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That’s nothing to be proud of.
Indeed, all thinking Australians are thoroughly ashamed of that.
And Australia is one of the few countries to be so fanatically committed to the anthropogenic global warning scam and one of the most self-destructive.
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Shell defeats landmark climate ruling ordering cut in carbon emissions
During its appeal, Shell argued in court that corporate emissions were a matter for politicians, not the judiciary, and that any fossil fuels it chose not to extract would simply be exploited by another company
The case was brought by Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, and more than 17,000 co-plaintiffs.
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What is meant by “carbon” emissions?
Are they dumping elemental allotropes of carbon like diamond, graphite, lonsdaleite, C60 buckminsterfullerene, C540 fullerene, C70 fullerene, amorphous carbon, carbon nanotubes, cyclocarbon, carbon nanobuds, schwarzites, glassy carbon and carbyne?
Or is some uneducated person getting confused with one of the oxides of carbon, carbon dioxide?
It’s so frustrating hearing Leftists talk about “carbon” when they have no clue about the most basic chemistry.
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Excellent news. I am aghast that politicians let alone judges are making decisions on fake science. No one has ever proven the slow linear 50% increase in CO2 since 1750 is man made. And without this, there is no man made Climate Change. Whether CO2, CH4 make any difference is irrelevant. Blame the oceans the the termites. Ban all living things. It’s just Green megalomania. The Sky is Falling.
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Wind droughts terminate the green power transition!
Have a look at Germany! Business as usual actually, its not the first Dunkelflaut! Sailors and millers must have known about them for centuries.
https://www.flickerpower.com/images/The_endless_wind_drought_crippling_renewables___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf
It’s all over, bar the shouting and cleaning up the mess.
The climate and energy ponzi scheme has hit the wind drought wall.
The wind drought problem was not signalled by the official meteorologists and it was not acknowledged even after Australian investigators, Lang and he Miskelly team, told the story over a decade ago. They found a platform on this blog but the word has not spread far enough yet. Our friends in the press and media have run dead on this for some strange reason.
https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/climate-change/no-gusts-no-glory/
It will take some time to change the course of the Unreliable Energy Titanic but it has to be done to save the economy, household budgets, the tragic divisions in rural communities and the planet in – case any of the so-called environmentalists and greens really care about that.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/renewables/20-2-four-icebergs-in-the-path-of-renewables-titanic
Time for a new narrative, change the story, change the game, lets go for scientific realism and the welfare of people and the planet.
https://www.flickerpower.com/images/Change_the_narrative_change_the_game___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf
So it’s time to start planning an exit strategy including the legalisation of nuclear power and it will also include the recognition that we will have to burn coal until nuclear is available at scale.
No worries there, mate, the plants will love it!
https://www.flickerpower.com/images/Looking_for_the_Net_Zero_exit_sign___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf
The numbers at 6 o’clock yesterday tell the story – In South Australia where the wind leaders blew up their last power stations they were importing almost 3 times as much coal power from Victoria as their own windmills were providing. And they were also burning diesel!
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Headline of the day to get your blood pressure up –
Goodness, gracious me.
Ah, the good old days
51
“Alice Springs was ranked the 18th most dangerous city in the world”.
I’m shocked: Alice is a ‘city’?
80
There was a time Palm Is was ranked highly in “the world’s most dangerous”.
I don’t hear that today which could mean that their strict alcohol policies have worked or it could mean I don’t consume local news anymore.
40
Well, it’s probably Indian, isn’t it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tw7LIykvBw
10
FWIW – Chiefio has a look at the US election
“Postmortem For KaMala: Dear Democrats”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2024/11/12/postmortem-for-kamala-dear-democrats/
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Reading the SMH has rarely given me such pleasure… the Left are still whining and gnashing their teeth over Trump’s win and how the election was stolen from them.
“Democrat pollster, Celinda Lake, said that… she had found “the great irony is that Trump” – who was supposed to be the great threat to democracy – “won the threat-to-democracy vote”….a lot of people thought illegal immigration was the threat to democracy”….He whipped up fear that unless it was halted “we won’t have a country any more”. …one of the most effective ads of the campaign ran: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” ..“Black men said they dealt with racism all the time and Trump wouldn’t make it any worse, but at least he’d get the economy going,” explains Lake. And sexism? “It’s very sad to say but racism and sexism are just a reality.”
…and..
“I don’t care who leads a country when I travel, but the US is different…the US now risks becoming an outcast on the global tourism scene. …a Trump presidency is surely not good for international tourism to the US….One of Trump’s key policies is introducing tariffs on imports….Another of Trump’s stated policies is a reduction of firearms restrictions…So where are you going on holiday? Germany, Spain, Thailand, South Africa, where you don’t know who the leader is and really don’t care? Or Trump’s America?”
…and..
“Donald Trump moves quickly to appoint loyalists to his cabinet. Former political rivals and candidates with past controversies are poised to make the grade as his agenda for change takes shape…One is a gun-loving governor who boasted about killing her puppy. The other is a former Republican rival who once described Donald Trump as a “con artist”.”
30
The other is a former Republican rival who once described Donald Trump as a “con artist”.”
What I find most impressive about Trump is that he will work with anyone, speak to anyone and everyone. Like Joe Rogan. That is the whole point of the Federation and its leader.
If America would only speak to friends there would be no conversation at all!
It’s no secret, everyone in power hates, fears and envies America, Americans and Donald Trump. So when he speaks to Putin, Zelensky, Macron, Keir, Albanese, Modi,… he treats them as friends. They are not. But that’s the job. And that’s how you get things done. He recognizes them and compliments them. Each in their own way really represents a lot of people and major personal achievement, for good and bad. Is Kim Jong Un really Rocket Man? And Trump is pilloried for doing his job, which is international head of America. And Commander in Chief.
I have read the President of South Korea is taking golf lessons. Smart. I would advise world leaders to do the same. Talking is far, far better and more effective than war.
100
I hope you did not pay to redd it!
20
Bumped
Re “MeAgain” yesterday # 36
FWIW
They obviously haven’t read
“We plough the fields” by Tristram Beresford
on the rise of British agriculture to 1975.
IIRC – wasn’t John McTeran one of Gillard’s “advisors”?
20
Example –
“John McTernan, former spin doctor to Julia Gillard, has done more harm than good to the ALP”
https://www.news.com.au/national/john-mcternan-former-spin-doctor-to-julia-gillard-has-done-more-harm-than-good-to-the-alp/news-story/8c4c8e8c8dca8da5379df9a5f560dbc4
10
FWIW
That “butter recall” in USA is still going!
“How Dumb Can Government Get?”
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/11/12/how-dumb-can-government-get-n3796928
One way to emphasise a lack in the education system!
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These seem to go with that!
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1856021153359286325
https://x.com/DeAngelisCorey/status/1856022009106268160
20
FWIW
“Petards-being-hoisted-part-ii
“When my wife and I arrived in Australia in 2005 this country had the democratic world’s cheapest electricity and then, under the idiocy of Net Zero virtue-signalling, – with some highly profitable renewable energy rent-seeking thrown in – we now have pretty much the highest electricity prices. Our industrial relations laws encourage sclerotic outcomes that kill productivity.”
More at
https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/politics/petards-being-hoisted-part-ii/
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“I Was Paid Nothing”: Oprah Denies Million Dollar Payment By Harris Campaign
Has anyone tried to spell “Harpo” backwards?
40
Oprah Winfrey Denies Being Paid $1 Million for Harris Town Hall but FEC Records Disagree
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
FEC filings show that HARPO Productions, where Oprah Winfrey holds a 90% ownership stake, received two payments totaling $1 million.
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I assumed this from the start, when I first heard that Harris’s campaign spent over $1 billion. If this news doesn’t destroy the last vestige of credibility those celebs had, nothing will. In fact, Democrats will, I believe, be very wary of using celebrity endorsements in future.
Ricky Gervais had it right when he said to that room of Hollywood ‘stars’, “If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent.”
30
Europe wants to take the reins
Like clockwork, The Atlantic magazine rolled out an article by Phillips Payson O’Brien, adding to the chorus of voices in Europe saying that if President Trump does not want to pursue the war in Ukraine, then Europe ought to take up the slack.
He concludes his article by stating,
[T]he greatest obstacle is a mental one. After decades of expecting the United States to act wisely and forcefully in defense of the broader democratic world, Europe needs to start thinking and acting on its own and in its own interests. Trump’s return means that things previously inconceivable must be faced. And in Ukraine, a new Europe can be born.
O’Brien suggests that Europe should up the ante by providing Ukraine with weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
How long after that move will it be before Russia starts sending missiles into the heart of central Europe? There has been enough recklessness in our relations with Russia over the past decade, starting with the Maidan coup that was engineered by Victoria Nuland.
It is time for sane people to bring this war to a negotiated end.
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If they do that, they’re essentially doing what Trump demanded they do – negotiate a settlement or fund the war themselves.
Winning!
40
Z will not accept a ceasefire if it just gives Poots time to rearm. Poots will not stop until he has the whole country.
The only way to bring the bloodshed to an end is defeat on the battlefield or in the international markets. NATO could cite the Nth Koreans’ involvement and wind this up in days.
Russia has just suffered 1950 dead/injured in a day and they are putting ancient tanks into the arena. Why are good men allowing this??
11
you really need to get a different source of propaganda H, its all getting a bit Baghdad Bob in light of reality on the ground.
20
No mirrors in your house Y?
01
What if the US pulls out of NATO, the Europeans could tear up the treaty altogether and send their own troops to become battle hardened.
00
Today I start my Nepal Himalayan trek which will be about 19-20 days walking. Firstly I have to go by Jeep to the starting point at Syabrubesi, “gateway to the Langtang Valley” which is a seven hour drive to do a mere 122km, the roads are that bad.
40
Enjoy!
30
Thanks OldOzzie.
20
Have fun David! It sounds like quite a challenge.
30
Thanks Annie.
30
Wow. I’m impressed. My idea of a trek these days is having to change airport terminals. Enjoy, and don’t forget your Sherpa!
20
This is so cool.
20
Enjoy your (relative) youth while you can.
I recall something about “use it or lose it”. Keep the program going
10
The do-gooders simply do not think through their good intentions.
Bringing Holman back after Harris is the same as bringing Abbott back after KRUDD and Gillard.
Holman gets it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlv2RpeWgnM
The US cannot be soft on border security. Holman’s appointment alone will shut down the incentivising of people trafficking.
40
This is Ted Cruz on the the Biden Cages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pf2k4ojrLI
The fellow being questioned is Biden’s Secretary for Homeland Security.
20
It seems BoM can’t get it right.
‘The latest run of the Bureau of Meteorology’s main Access model, though, has all but ruled out La Niña this year, or into 2025. BoM had been a bit of an outlier among global weather agencies in estimating La Niña would soon be under way.’ (Guardian)
31
So the tacitly admitted biggest single controller of world Climates is an ocean oscillation which no one can predict? At least they are starting to get the picture! What an admission. Last year their wrong guess at the hottest, dryest summer in history cost Australia billions, vastly more than the entire BOM budget.
The sun and the oceans are the major sources of heat and all weather, storms, clouds, rain, snow, water comes from the oceans and ocean cycles.
The turbulent atmosphere cools down every night outside the tropics and is not the driver of Climates. It is only the weather. And modelling and mapping is only good for short term weather predictions.
60
Not Tulsi Gabbard.
Trum announces Peter Hegseth as his secretary of Defence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTUPZmlRjw0
20
Generational change seems to be afoot with the most of the Trump appointments from Vance on down. His team will certainly differentiate itself from the gerontocracy that has pervaded US politics of late. Hopefully a good legacy for his last term.
00
Some time ago a number of contributors identified beliefs in science that were held by the UNIPCCC
The UNIPCCC wrongly claims these “things”:
1) Everything with a temperature must spontaneously electromagnetically radiate,independent of surround temperature.
2)Every atmospheric gas with emissivity must absorb EMR flux incident upon it in some physical measurable way (your blanket)!
3) Every measurable “radiance” is physically identical to EMR flux in the direction of the measuring instrument.
4) Atmospheric convection is a requirement for atmospheric lapse rate.
5) The 1/2 expression of the S-B equation is in any way valid; and applies to this Earth and its atmosphere.
None of these claims have ever been demonstrated as valid even once! All are contrived fantasy with intent to deceive!
Can any scientist seriously dispute that these are wrong science.
00
FWIW
“One of the World’s Richest Men is Moving to America After Trump’s Landslide Victory”
“Anthony Pratt, an Australian businessman whose company Pratt Industries is worth an estimated $35 billion USD, confirmed that he had been granted permanent residency in the United States.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/one-worlds-richest-men-is-moving-america-after/
30
I remember the late Barry Humphries saying “I would like to acknowledge the actual owners of the Country, the Pratt Family” 🙂
20
Good on him.
He can see the future of Australia under the Uniparty.
He can see the future of America under Trump.
He has chosen well.
10
FWIW
“Cheap fix floated for plane vapour’s climate damage”
“The climate-damaging vapours left behind by jet planes could be easily tackled, aviation experts say, with a new study suggesting they could be eliminated for a few pounds per flight.
Jet condensation trails, or contrails, have spawned wild conspiracy theories alleging mind control and the spreading of disease, but scientists say the real problem is their warming effect.
Researchers argue these smoky trails essentially double the amount of heating that’s caused by aviation’s use of fossil fuels.
The problem will be discussed at the UN climate conference, COP29, in Baku for the first time.”
More at
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7wp777780o
00