Some points here that the national media may not have shared. Supreme Court Justices in the most powerful Democracy on Earth may be at the point of being selected by character assassination. Evidence is so old fashioned…
As Donald Trump says “ it’s a ‘very big cultural moment‘ for the United States.” In terms of civilizations, some things matter.
We Are Living Nineteen Eighty-Four
Authored by Victor David Hanson, National Review
Truth, due process, evidence, rights of the accused: All are swept aside in pursuit of the progressive agenda.
In Orwell’s world of 1984 Oceania, there is no longer a sense of due process, free inquiry, rules of evidence and cross examination, much less a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Instead, regimented ideology — the supremacy of state power to control all aspects of one’s life to enforce a fossilized idea of mandated quality — warps everything from the use of language to private life.
Newspeak and Doublethink
Statute of limitations? It does not exist. An incident 36 years ago apparently is as fresh today as it was when Kavanaugh was 17 and Ford 15.
Presumption of Innocence? Not at all. Kavanaugh is accused and thereby guilty. The accuser faces no doubt. In Orwellian America, the accused must first present his defense, even though he does not quite know what he is being charged with. Then the accuser and her legal team pour over his testimony to prepare her accusation.
Evidence? That too is a fossilized concept. Ford could name neither the location of the alleged assault nor the date or time. She had no idea how she arrived or left the scene of the alleged crime. There is no physical evidence of an attack. And such lacunae in her memory mattered no longer at all.
Details? Again, such notions are counterrevolutionary. Ford said to her therapist 6 years ago (30 years after the alleged incident) that there were four would-be attackers, at least as recorded in the therapist’s notes.
But now she has claimed that there were only two assaulters: Kavanaugh and a friend. In truth, all four people — now including a female — named in her accusations as either assaulters or witnesses have insisted that they have no knowledge of the event, much less of wrongdoing wherever and whenever Ford claims the act took place. That they deny knowledge is at times used as proof by Ford’s lawyers that the event 36 years was traumatic.
An incident at 15 is so seared into her lifelong memory that at 52 Ford has no memory of any of the events or details surrounding that unnamed day, except that she is positive that 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh, along with four? three? two? others, was harassing her. She has no idea where or when she was assaulted…
Testimony? No longer relevant. It doesn’t matter that Kavanaugh and the other alleged suspect both deny the allegations and have no memory of being in the same locale with Ford 36 years ago. In sum, all the supposed partiers, both male and female, now swear, under penalty of felony, that they have no memory of any of the incidents that Ford claims occurred so long ago. That Ford cannot produce a single witness to confirm her narrative or refute theirs is likewise of no concern. So far, she has singularly not submitted a formal affidavit or given a deposition that would be subject to legal exposure if untrue.
Again, the ideological trumps the empirical. “All women must be believed” is the testament, and individuals bow to the collective. Except, as in Orwell’s Animal Farm, there are ideological exceptions — such as Bill Clinton, Keith Ellison, Sherrod Brown, and Joe Biden. The slogan of Ford’s psychodrama is “All women must be believed, but some women are more believable than others.” That an assertion becomes fact due to the prevailing ideology and gender of the accuser marks the destruction of our entire system of justice.
Rights of the accused? They too do not exist. In the American version of 1984, the accuser, a.k.a. the more ideologically correct party, dictates to authorities the circumstances under which she will be investigated and cross-examined: She will demand all sorts of special considerations of privacy and exemptions; Kavanaugh will be forced to return and face cameras and the public to prove that he was not then, and has never been since, a sexual assaulter.
In our 1984 world, the accused is considered guilty if merely charged, and the accuser is a victim who can ruin a life but must not under any circumstance be made uncomfortable in proving her charges.
Read it all, there is a lot more…
Let’s hope due process, evidence, and the presumption of innocence survives.
Andrew Bolt has six apropos questions of the third and strangest accuser…
h/t Scott of the Pacific and David E.
UPDATE: The testimony and Kavanaugh’s response
Following lengthy testimony from his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh denied her allegations “categorically and unequivocally.” He stressed repeatedly that he bore Ford “no ill will,” and while he did not question that she may have indeed been sexually assaulted by someone, Kavanaugh insisted it had not been him. “I am innocent of this charge,” he said.
His ire was reserved for the committee Democrats. “This confirmation process has become a national disgrace,” he said, addressing them. “You have replaced ‘advice and consent’ with ‘search and destroy’.”
“This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups,” Kavanaugh testified, also describing the proceedings as a “circus” and “grotesque and coordinated character assassination.”
The Democratic party wants to fundamentally change the government of the US without making a change to a constitution. Barak Obama alluded to this when he said Congress could pass legislation or he could use his phone and a pen to accomplish the same thing. That’s why Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader exercised the “nuclear” option to eliminate the 60 vote requirement to approve appellate judges. The pen and phone strategy to eliminate the need for legislation requires a compliant judiciary to make the legislative branch superfluous. If Hilary had one, we’d be there now but she didn’t. If Kavenaugh is approved, that strategy will have to wait another generation.
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The constitutions of many or most UN member nations is being bypassed by politicians doing UN business.
When the UN was established Australian Labor Attorney General Evatt proposed a treaty system be adopted, UN Treaties that would enable compliant governments to get around constitutional law by accepting the imposition of international law/treaties. Australian governments are doing it and have been for a very long time, and with very little of no explanation to the people who elected them.
So desperate are the politicians to impose UN agendas that in recent years the Turnbull Coalition Government signed the UN Paris Agreement in April 2016 in New York and then learnt that President Trump would withdraw America from that Agreement so Minister Hunt returned to New York and ratified the Agreement in November 2016.
But as public anger reached boiling point over rising electricity and gas pricing the government created a National Energy Guarantee proposed legislation. But not publicised was a clause writing into Australian law reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in line with the Paris Agreement/Treaty to stop future governments or leaders withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.
International law, as former PM Howard once explained to a journalist, cannot be enforced here unless the government to the day allows it.
The Socialist Democrats of America have been undermining their country for a very long time, as have Australian political parties.
I posted recently here a link explaining the Soros background relating to UN and Fabian new world order that is worth reading.
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I believe that all treaties entered into by a sitting Government should expire at the end of that governments term in office. Which ones to be continued must be part of the declared intentions of the parties ,stated clearly in the campaign prior to an election.
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People should lobby MPs to not sign onto any laws based on UN treaties. If you look at the back of a Bill in parl house before it becomes law, you often see that the law was built on the UN treaty as its foundation.
This by a direct act of lawmakers, makes in effect the ICC in The Hague the highest court in the country. Think about that….
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Sack the lot of them.. Appoint a caretaker Government with access to supply for essential services only Enact right of recall legislation.and start again.
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Most people read “1984” as a warning. Progressive,Retards read it as a training manual.
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Oh how fast it came. Liberal Democrats, Socialists Democrats, socialists, universities without truth of liberty for all, mob rule, no decency, no limits, np patriotism, no religion worshiping God, and a double standard gulf too wide for traditional thinking to cross. This is the modern left in America.
There is a chance we can pull out of it and restore freedom in America. But, it will have to be soon.
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Western civilisation is in a fight for its life. Whether it’s in the USA, Canada, the UK or Australia, the common sense, conservative approach to governance and social issues is under attack.
Political parties of the left no longer represent the rank and file, the workers; instead, they reflect identity politics and an aggrieved victimhood status such as racial discrimination and gender inequality.
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Yup…when nonsense is stacked on nonsense….its only a matter of time until it all collapses….
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It’s been on its way since the 60s and accelerated by technology since 2000. Google, Facebook, Twitter are the three major influencers of the modern mindset (aided and abetted by the education system) and it’s becoming worse. The internet of things (IoT) is one area that led me to pen a few thoughts on where we’re heading and doing so willingly. People have no idea what they are doing and the potential consequences.
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The wrecking of the humanities, the irreproducibility of science, manic careerism and now the likely passage to oblivion of “due process, evidence, and the presumption of innocence”.
All very closely related.
What “moral minimum” have we left (see here and perhaps here)? What, in Oz for instance, can we recreate or rebuild?
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Not a big nit to pick:
“Statue of limitations? ” Statute… (?)
Does change the meaning somewhat.
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Perhaps the unintended irony of Americas left pulling down public statues of US historical figures has filtered into Jo’s subconsciousness via Mr Orwell’s ever present warning?
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Credit for almost all the words in the post goes to Victor David Hanson, not me. It’s him I’m quoting.
To remedy that I’ve put his name in a heading style. I also took the liberty of changing Statue to Statute (though technically I should have written (sic) ).
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At least a statue is set in stone, unlike a statute.
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There is no statute of limitations for criminal acts.
That’s why we have cold cases, particularly of major crimes such as rape and murder.
Were the accusations of the professor tested in trial there would have been a brief of evidence.
Presumably there would be ‘no case to answer’, as there is only ‘he said, she said’ ‘evidence’.
However in this case the mud has been thrown and now every person with a recovered suppressed memory will be on the gravy train.
What makes the judge so vulnerable is that as time flows, and he shows he simply was not where the accuser was, someone will ‘remember’ he was at some place where his year book says he was, and others will’remember’ all sort of atrocities that came to mind after ‘therapy’.
The Democrats have made it clear that if he is successfully elected they will still pursue him in the courts.
What is clear though, is that the professor is a very wounded individual.
We need to extend compassion to her and all those in her situation.
What has been notable has been the emphasis on the Judge’s alleged behaviour so many years ago.
May be her own is not a paragon of virtue,but then
‘to err is human, to forgive devine’
That is the first step in healing.
Were JC to front up for this post he would be rejected immediatly.
As a child he did not obey his parents, rightfull authority, and wasted time arguing in temples.
He associated with prostitutes and had an anger management problem.
He was reported by many witnesses interfering with traders just doing their job, selling livestock so women and children could eat.
He even drove them out of the temple with a whip claiming his daddy told him to.
There were a lot of rumours that he could not be trusted, he came from the wrong background, like the deplorables, and wandered around telling people they were wrong and he was right.
Not a good look in a pluralist society.
Not that this judge is JC,however if he walked on water he probably would not fit the Democratic standards.
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While you have sympathy for Ford I do not. She claims to have been traumatised by the event, and a rape would certainly do that, but it has taken 36 years for her to do anything about it. She has publicly accused the Judge without one piece of evidence yet wants us to believe she has been victimised purely on her say so. I would have thought her first port of call would be the local police station not the cameras of a judicial hearing. Quite frankly I think she is pure BS.
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There is indeed a statue of limitations for MOST crimes on the US statue books. For Dr Fraud’s allegation, the Maryland Chief ICN Police and state AG confirmed it’s 1 year and no crime will be investigated.
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While all this has the aroma of a political ‘hit job,’ I suspect that this is more about revenge than justice for the accuser. It appears that she is being manipulated by the attorney, who also represents one of the other accusers. I found it interesting that PBS had a NOVA program on last night about implanting memories and erasing phobias. It probably wasn’t an accident.
Personally, I’m most troubled by the willingness of liberals to revoke the Rule of Law and revert to the way that accusations of witchcraft were handled during the Salem witch trials. We have constitutional protections that are being ignored in a most cavalier manner. This is an exhibit of the exercise of raw political power. We are seeing similar disregard for facts in the Media with respect to issues of climate. It does not bode well for the future.
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It’s just politics. The conservatives are trying to frame the process in legal terms. The liberals are trying to frame it in moral terms. The goal of the conservatives is to get a friendly face on the US Supreme Court. The goal of the Democrats is to delay, delay, delay; hopefully until after the midterms. A secondary goal is to shore up liberal votes in the process. As for Brett Kavanaugh; it’s just part of the process. I’m sure he’s prepared his family for it just as I’m sure the Democrats have prepared Dr Ford for it. I’m not sure whether I feel a sense of pity, disgust, entertainment or amazement at the selection process. Framing it as a legal battle is disingenuous. It’s just another political battle with policies and votes at stake. Perhaps framing it in terms of a circus might be more appropriate.
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IMO it is all irrelevant. Let’s assume what Ford claims actually happened. Every little detail of it. What would have happened?
Both were minors, Kav would have gotten a slap on the wrist and a sealed record, if any. It would now be a non event that would likely have been purged altogether.
The entire sideshow, horrific as it has become, is a nothing burger supreme with the lot.
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Ford is as much of a victim as Kavanaugh. Apparently, she wasn’t afraid of flying and was unaware that the Republicans offered to fly out to interview her and that they gave her the option of a public or a private hearing. It was apparently also leaked without her consent, most likely by either Feinstein’s or Eshoo’s office as a Hail Mary political ploy, although I seriously doubt Feinstein didn’t discuss it with select others on the committee, making the pool of potential leakers much larger.
Sex crimes are very serious, but it’s far worse to use victims and false claims for political purposes.
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Ford reminds me of Elizabeth Warren who pretends to be an Indian while Ford pretends that the judge raped her. Both women have told themselves a lie so often they most probably believe it but that does not mean we have to.
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The confirmation process is not a court of law. They are asking about the character of the person being considered.
At this point, given that accusations have been made, and denied, the question is whether or not Kavanaugh is lying about it.
If he is lying about it, that would be grounds to not confirm him (I assume that we can agree that having someone that commits perjury under oath would not make a suitable Supreme Court Justice.)
We are at the point where, if Kavanaugh did what he is accused of, the coverup is the problem. He probably could have assumed some responsibility and passed it off saying that he didn’t remember, etc. But now that he has issued a firm denial, under oath, he is fair game for an investigation to see if he is lying.
Assuming (good chance) that the Democrats get control of Congress in November, there is also a good possibility that they could start impeachment proceedings to investigate Kavanaugh based on his testimony before these committees. Actually succeeding would require control of the Senate (unlikely), but they can start the impeachment, and if enough evidence was shown, it could be even more embarrassing to the Republican’s.
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“I assume that we can agree that having someone that commits perjury under oath would not make a suitable Supreme Court Justice.”
Hmm, democrats in the US didn’t think that perjury (and suborning perjury) were sufficient reasons to remove a president from office so obviously perjury is not a big deal to them. (/sarc)
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If the Communist-crats get control of the US senate and Trump is removed from the whitehouse because he has been effective ( i.e. anti UN, anti-globalist and pro-USA) then a second civil war seems certain. Mind yoy, it was just this abuse of power by tyrannical kings or Godless communists, the USA was set up to escape, and the safety switch was the 2nd Amendment.
The USA was set up so people could have freedom of religion, so they could worship in peace, but now the Left are like a bunch of jackals fighting over a carcass, so the people may have to fight for thier freedoms once again. Do we want this? No if course not, but it seems likely.
The thing is, if the UN turns up to bolster the Leftists, the UN in effect will become enemy combatants, and then it will really get ugly…..the Americans I think will fight tooth and nail to defend thier rights and freedoms.
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BBC struggles with ‘Denier Speak’.
Aggregated from https://www.iceagenow.info/bbc-bans-agw-skeptics/
“The BBC has told staff they no longer need to invite climate-change deniers on to its program.
“There may be occasions to hear from a denier” but only “with appropriate challenge from a knowledgeable interviewer”.
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Not like i agree or endorse every thing Sam Vaknin says, though he makes some interesting stances in this recent production….Interesting, circa 1984ish, times.
“Rise of Psychopathic Narcissist: Our Future (Grannon-Vaknin 2nd Conversation)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-trtzii_8
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This is not going to end well….
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Actually, the UK is going the way of “V for Vendetta” , where the State becomes oppressive and Orwells vision is in full cry.
Then there is a turning point event where a child is killed by the States thugs, the “Finger Men”.
I can see things going a similar route.
When the State shuts down any dissent, how is the UK any different from Zimbabwe? Or China? Or Cuba? Or Venezuela?
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Jo, what you have written here is correct except for one thing, in some states there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault and rape. There should be.
I just got up and shut off the TV after watching as much of the latest Senate hearing on Brent Kavanaugh as I could stand, only to find this thread up on my favorite blog — a golden opportunity no less, with memory of the proceedings fresh in my mind.
The hearing is as big a circus as any House or Senate hearing I have ever watched. In short it’s a shameful disaster all around.
Nonetheless, I see no way that anyone can prove that the assailant was Brent Kavanaugh or that anyone can prove that it wasn’t Brent Kavanaugh. It’s a giant circus full of the usual clowns and no matter how the Senate votes, holding this hearing will not satisfy the losing side. It is politics at its finest hour. We have one finger of blame pointing at a denying finger pointing back. An honest jury must be hung and the defendant, Brent Kavanaugh must get the benefit of the doubt. It remains to be seen how honest the jury is.
Republicans and Democrats once again prove that winning at any cost is their aim as I have suspected all along.
No matter what the reality of a sexual assault victim’s experience is — and I believe it can be severe — not making a report to the police as soon after the assault as possible damages the credibility of any report made more than 30 years later and reduces the probability of finding the truth to near zero. The possibility of determining the truth always diminishes with time.
I will apologize to Senator Dianne Feinstein. Senator, your explanation of why you withheld the letter from Dr. Ford for so long is entirely credible given what you said in your opening remarks. I’ve disagreed with you on almost everything you’ve ever done as Senator representing California. But complying with the wishes of someone you obviously believed already had more than enough trauma is not one of them.
The one thing this hearing will not even begin to determine is why this witness chose to come forward only when her alleged attacker is now the center of attention as candidate for Justice of the United States Supreme Court. If every man guilty of stupid youthful acts performed while driving his life under the influence of too much alcohol is to be condemned 30 years later then so must every women who also drank when they should not, whether visibly drunk or not. If the standard is not the same for both then there is no standard.
I truly regret that life is the way it is. But our job is to cope with it the way it comes to us. If women cannot be convinced to report an assault then they do lose credibility if they report it later. And if men cannot be convinced that women are not their toys to play with but are other human beings with the same capacity for love, fear, hopes and dreams they have and an innate fear of being violated is such an intimate way, we’ll always have this problem.
While doing some research for the story I’ve been writing I found a paper saying that humans go back about 600,000 years in eastern Africa. I can’t verify that but even so, we have been around a very long time and we have not yet earned the right to call ourselves civilized.
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As Pogo Possum famously said, “We have met the enemy and he is [still] us.”
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And I just realized that I typed Brent when it should be Brett. Sometimes the mind focuses too much on the forest and forgets to look at the tres.
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Well, maybe the left hasn’t learned that, but the common sense, conservative side of politics and society has always known how to conduct themselves, albeit with a few exceptions.
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So by default you’re asserting that common sense does not extend into politics, the average large corporation, small business. government, etc.?
What I saw this morning is a nightmare of mismanagement for both major parties. And sexual assault still piles up, case by case.
If common sense prevailed Ford’s allegation would never see the light of day, not because it can be so easily dismissed or manipulated, not because it’s probably true and damaging to Kavanaugh but because the matter should be irrelevant to the present day Brett Kavanaugh (got his name right this time).
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Not many of us can boast of a closet with no skeletons in it.
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Agreed.
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Needless to say this all occurred when these people weren’t even adults. Was it 15 and 17 years old, my goodness! A lot of children have done stupid things when they were kids, while that is not an excuse for seriously bad behaviour, how does anyone determine what is just childishness or sexual assault in a much different time.
I can remember university initiations in 1968 that were far worse than this possible occurrence. Nowdays it would easily be classified as sexual assault. In my case I would not consider any kind of payback or legal avenue because it is a different time and space 30 to 50 years later. I feel sorry for people that can’t forgive and move on!
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Dating must be hell for our modern kids. I think we all “tested the limits” with our dates. How else does one get laid?
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That’s not what I asserted. However, I’m interested as to how you think that Ford’s allegations are true. At the minute I’m watching the Sky News direct link to the trial. I don’t see how you can convict Kavanaugh and believe Ford.
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I don’t know that her allegations are true. Neither does anyone else. But reread my block quoted statement. I said probably. Sufficiently probable that I must give her the benefit of the doubt.
And I haven’t convicted Kavanaugh. I said there is no way I can see to either prove he did it or that he didn’t. Hung jury and defendant Kavanaugh gets the benefit of the doubt and I would vote to confirm.
The process going on right now in the United States Senate is the most perverse and grotesque excuse for honesty that I have ever seen.
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Based on what evidence? A shakily-recalled assertion without accuracy and corroboration?? [snip]
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Based on my block quoted statement at #7.
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It may well have happened Roy – but how much has her mind changed the circumstances over the years? Her story has changed several times and key witnesses have denied it ever took place, and they have sworn to that.
But I agree, she may well have been assaulted and she may well believe that it was Kavanaugh who assaulted her, but how much of the detail of that original incident has changed over the years? What may have been mutual between a 17 year old and a 15 year old back then may, to a regretful 15 year old have developed into an memory that she now uses to salve her conscience so that she could believe that she was a good girl and harm was done to her – she did no wrong.
My money is on Kavanaugh – I do not believe from his response and the responses of the purported witnesses and his contemporaries that he is guilty of an assault. I commend him for continuing to seek confirmation in the face of incredible attacks on his character and the hurt done to his wife and daughters.
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The statement that “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men [or women] to do nothing,” is variously attributed to Edmund Burke, and others. Many people have seen the wisdom of the necessity to take personal responsibility.
The things is, women have to take responsibility for their safety. One of the most important things is to ALWAYS report assaults while their memories are still clear, and physical evidence might still be present, and no ulterior motive can be assigned as in accusations years later. Even if an assault cannot be proven, if men come to expect that they will have to answer publicly for their actions, they may be less inclined to think that they can act with impunity. The only way that the Rule of Law can work is for people to use the law.
The term “hero” has been used loosely in association with Ford’s actions. To truly understand what a hero is, I’d suggest seeing the movie Jet Li’s Hero. A hero does what is right without regard to personal consequences, simply because it is the right thing to do. When it looks like revenge, it is hard to call a person a hero.
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I also note that this all surfaced in marriage counseling. This smacks of the ‘recovered memory’ disasters of the 1990s where therapists said if you have the symptoms, you only have to recall the surpressed details. Women over time remembered things which never happened and caused havoc, in one case two daughters accusing their father of sexual assault. Once remembered it in therapy and convinced the other. The father won the case and lost everything. Both daughters were going through marriage breakdowns.
I blame the pyschology industry which preys on vulnerable women, telling them that they are victims and men are the entire problem. Then the recovered memories turn up with great conviction but without dates, times, facts, addresses or previous mention, witnesses or any corroboration.
A famous man like Kavanaugh is almost certain to be a target. Not just any old anonymous person.
Without facts or any corroboration, all such accusations should be dismissed.
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No fight over anything in this country gets as hot as the fight to choose an honest Supreme Court Justice. That’s because the definition of honest always means they will rule slanted in your favored direction.
But there’s usually at least a modest attempt to hide that dishonest definition of honesty. But not this time. Trump’s second pick will put one political point of view in a disenfranchised position before the Supreme Court. So it’s been all out warfare since the second vacancy was there to be filled. Nothing shows the true colors of everyone like this one has. The president they wanted wasn’t elected and the one they didn’t want won big in the electoral college and it’s been fire and brimstone ever since.
The Constitution is clearly in the way of the Democrats/Progressives/left/blue/donkeys, whatever you call them and they abandoned all attempts to hide their dishonesty. I hope we survive it.
I do think Ford’s allegation should have been investigated immediately and if no corroboration is found, kept secret. If Kavanaugh did do what she charged him with it’s a felony with no statute of limitations and we would have a Supreme Court Justice on trial for attempted rape even all these 30+ years later.
The remaining allegations are clearly “me too” and the final one is ridiculos at face value.
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Roy,
From what I have read, what Kavanaugh has been accused of would only be a misdemeanor, and was committed when he was a minor. Special circumstances apply to minors, and even someone convicted of more serious crimes typically have their records expunged when reaching adulthood. Also, commonly the law takes into account the difference in age between a sexual victim and a perpetrator. How do you fairly try an adult for a crime committed as a minor? That is a good reason that there should be a statute of limitations! The idea behind criminal punishment is to deter future criminal actions. Thirty years is a little late to act as a deterrent, and it would appear that it wasn’t necessary. All the more reason that this looks more like revenge or political assassination than justice.
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And I agree, there should be a statute of limitations. I’ll further agree than men have been painted as something that in general, they are not and women as victims far more often than is realistic. But rape still happens and by far the majority of rapists are men. I don’t know what to make of that except what I said back at #7. We have a long way to go.
That the subject has been co opted for political gain is obvious.
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Americans don’t seem the least bit embarrassed that their judges all seem to be political activists. That’s a recipe for disaster.
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While I have never had marriage counselling and do not have any friends who did, to my knowledge, I can report that my past troublesome situations were overwhelmingly caused by female enthusiasm at the start. But, there has always been this societal assumption that the woman is fragile and easily damaged, so blame the man.
Women are the more fragile? Not in my real world. Geoff
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Totally agree.
And on another aspect of this, how many of the Meetoo group from the recent Hollywood teerjerker accusing the director of abusing them did not realize that they were getting ahead, if you’ll excuse the expression, of other possibly more talented actorpersons who avoided the directors advances?
I would reasonably suspect that they had a choice, and made a decision.
What does that indicate about their personal morals.
KK
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Yes Keith, anyone who went to Hollywood and claimed to be unaware of the casting couch is kidding themselves – child actors excepted.
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As do the effects of the trauma sustained. I’m sorry, but if 35+ years worth of trauma didn’t compel you to speak out against the supposed violence suffered, his being in the spotlight after having already ascended to the role of federal judge isn’t cause for bringing it into the light of day either.
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About that I will beg to differ. I have some actual experience as I hinted at #7. And I can’t tell you more without breaking the confidence of someone I know so let’s put this issue down and let it rest.
And maybe read all of my comment #7 more carefully?
The rest of your comment may be true. But how do you tell? There isn’t enough public information available by which to judge.
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Agreed.
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Remember when Abbott was accused of punching a wall when a student? No witnesses, no records, no police report, never mentioned, but front page news.
What the left of politics never understood is that a seriously qualified boxed or a pianist does not punch a wall. It was concocted to sound credible but was absurd. Still in the world of Fairfax and the ABC, it was all true.
This use of the women’s rights movement to avoid any examination of the facts is incredible. Equality means playing 3 sets and losing in 2 instead of 5 for the same money and claiming it is a fight for womens’ rights. It is not having to have evidence or facts or witnesses and to make incredible accusations and create enormous harm maliciously but walk away without any punishment for making it up. This is not equality, it is unfair on every level, abuse, criminal.
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Equality at any cost and hang the consequences or in this case a mans career and legacy, don’t forget when the ‘climate’ hype kicked in here and the progressives in all institutions were given a green light by their MSM to unleash all manner of social punishments dreamt up in the dark recesses of their dark minds with imprisonment, tattoos on foreheads and death suggested as necessary measures to force the non compliant to comply.
These are the same people who desire to destroy the great institutions that ironically gifted them a voice in a society they claim is so unfair on so many levels, perhaps as suggested all great civilisations have a natural reset button or cyclic nature as with everything and this is ours.
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Giving sitting senators and representatives considerable legal immunity in the conduct of affairs was probably a mistake.
The US has experience with therapist assisted memories. It was not pleasant. Check the McMartin pre-school case.
It has been asserted that the witness is as pure as the driven snow because she has nothing to gain. Without comment on a personal trauma she may have suffered, and its effects, she will gain, first, the political outcome of stopping a supreme court nominee, and second, the considerable career enhancement in her current occupation that comes with being a lioness of the left and hero to all women.
One does not take one’s story to the Washington Post in expectation of privacy.
It is much more fun to talk about an FBI investigation than go through one. I would love to hear testimony about the summer adventures of dozens of preppy Washington teenagers in the 1980’s. They would collectively be less thrilled. All of the accusers behaviors would be examined, not just those she has chosen to reveal.
It has been the case for many, many years that the Democrats push and the Republicans cave. Clarence Thomas was the anomaly. We’ve never seen where their “red line” is in terms of breaking protocol, and what the consequences might be. Depending on the threat perceived by this “new” standard we may see the same kind of “paybacks are hell” regrets that the loss of the filibuster has entailed.
Human nature does not change. Politics has not improved. Let’s play the antecedents game. I nominate the Dreyfus affair.
This is quite possibly a tipping point. We don’t know which way. Or quite on what grounds. But the process of how we appoint and confirm people to office is likely to be forever changed. The constellation of people willing to serve may change as well.
Very, very quietly, businesses and other institutions will accelerate their segregation. Dissonant voices are becoming a very high risk. So will neighborhoods and churches. We’ve always been able to live with people who had different views. Some of them are very nice. But nobody is nice in a mob, and when inflamed by political hate we find it easy to find the lowest common denominator.
Were any of you raised to think it was OK to accost people in a restaurant because you disagree with their politics?
Me neither.
Do any of you want to live in a world where any success we might have is at risk of an anonymous accusation?
Me neither.
This blog has fully aired the issues that arise when a group wants to ruin a power grid, and cost a population considerable resources.
Somehow, we’ve coped.
Ruining a family’s life to stop an appointment is a bridge to far, for me.
I can understand how people can believe in solar power or wind power, and think they help the world.
We all have to understand when people we disgree with are sincere they deserve respect, even if we think them misguided.
WE can stay in the realm of civilized persuasion.
Does anyone here really believe the supreme court candidate is a gang rapist (not the drunken teenaged encounter actually detailed). Do you believe his beautiful daughters will ever be allowed to live their lives free from this charge? Do you believe the senators and sycophants echoing this charge should be allowed to walk away saying “it’s just politics”.
Democrats are fond of accusing their opposition of McCarthyism.
They are proving they understand what this means. Have they no shame. I do, today, for my country.
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Amen!
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Absolutely right Richard I..
I hope the Senate in control push for the vote and stuff this firmly in the Dems ugly faces. 35-40 years of Supreme Court Justice will be Donald’s sweet revenge on these Leftist schemers.
40
I fear for my country if for no other reason than the core concepts of liberty and justice are being actively undermined and destroyed.
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The term “McCarthyism” was invented by the left because they are so terrified by how much Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the (HUAC) House Un-American Activities Committee exposed them throughout the United States, even though Hollywood compiled the “blacklist” themselves McCarthy is still blamed for its existence, attack the man not his message is the modus operandi of the weak willed reactionaries always reliant on violence not reason to achieve their goals.
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I would suggest anybody who wants a true picture of the McCarthy era in the US read “Blacklisted by History” by M. Stanton Evans. It will certainly give you new insight into the Army-McCarthy hearings and the origin of the “Have you left no sense of decency, sir at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” quote.
20
Bang on! Isn’t that what we deal with in the climate debates too? Models and theory trumps observation among the climate alarmists. Observations must be altered to fit the models.
Once again, we see the left justifying any means to achieve their desired ends.
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As far as I see it there are no fact, evidence, or witnesses to this case.
From https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/home.nsf/Content/VL+-+Judges+-+BMK
There appears to be a will to bring down this otherwise fine Judge. A Judge who has many worthy witnesses as to his treatment of others – both male and female.
There seems to be a move to a new Puritanism in the USA. Every person in high office having to have a scrupulous past, every caught criminal not just punished but have vengeance applied to them.
In the USA civility has taken on a harder edge, with words like ‘forgiven’ hung around the necks of the unclean. You may or as Judge Brett Kavanaugh is finding out, may not be forgiven, however in this internet age you and your past deeds will never be forgotten, even if those past deeds may be imaginary.
“Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged! and Let Him Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone”
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“Every person in high office having to have a scrupulous past”.
Really? What then of Hillary? Up to her eyeballs in corruption, yet considered America’s saviour by the Left. She was even accused of perjury by the Watergate judge — an “unreliable witness” as a junior lawyer. A great start to a legal career. Her angelic veil is impermeable to truth and scrutiny.
The requirement of a scrupulous past depends upon who you know apparently.
50
And this from Hillary’s own Watergate boss, Jerry Zeifman:
“She was a liar. She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”
Clearly presidential material.
50
Indeed so beowulf,
But Hitlery is different she’s not a nasty republican, she’s an auto-bot One World (rip-off the masses) pro(re)gressive who is whiter than err.. Whitewater?
30
As long as the US economy is booming the march to a more Orwellian world will be slow but sure. However, once the economy suffers the next big financial crisis it will be the last straw for the US and the demise of their democratic and financial systems. The President at that time will be some sort of dictator. The West as a whole will collapse ushering in an Orwellian world very quickly to help neutralise a public revolt. So enjoy what time we have left to the full.
50
I can cringe at the things I did when I was 17 (a lot more than 36 years ago!). Especially with a 15 year-old who seemed to be – how shall we say – up for a bit of adventure. Now I shall never be a Supreme Court Judge. [sigh]
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Henry,
How unnatural it would be if any of us had no teen discovery, as if in denial of natural intent. Don’t be in fear, celebrate the enjoyment! Geoff
30
I’m going through the same thing right here in Australia. The system is very lop-sided, very aggressive, and no presumption of innocence at all. How do you prove a negative again?
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I have listened to the ‘questioning’ of Ford and her replies. My first impression is that those replies were unconvincing and too detailed. Thirty six years after the event has to raise questions.
GeoffW
60
I have been searching for the right words – hysteria is one that comes to mind.
GeoffW
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Goeff, nowadays it is politically incorrect to use the word hysteria because of its association with a woman’s womb. Shame on you! /sarc
40
Histrionic may suffice.
40
Ford was obviously reading from a script prepared in concert with her lawyer.
50
Anyone remember AIDS ?
The early 80’s saw the media going ballistic over the “death sentence” of unprotected sex.
Yet we are now supposed to believe that at least 3 women were either gang raped or witnessed gang rapes by a number of men any of whom could have had HIV at up 10 parties and did nothing at the time ? They either ignored the potential health risks or the criminality of the acts and did nothing ?
If true what a callous bunch of bastards !
I find it incredible that any woman could let this occur up to 10 times at parties and simply ignore it, keep going knowing what was likely to happen and then 30+ years later cry about the offences at a hearing !
I do not find them credible at all – no woman I knew or know would have witnessed anything like that and just ignored it.
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Many pertinent comments above but thanks Roy and also TdeF for the reminder about “recovered memory” syndrome.
Putting the event in context it is hard to believe that the complainant, Ms Ford, was unaware of the sort of behaviour that might be encountered at such an event.
Further, the present context of Me-Too is potentially enough of an incentive to join the list of famous and beautiful post event accusers.
Unfortunately for the complainant, the whole sorry saga is made less believable because it has the hallmarks of the DemoClintonian activity that occurred after the loss to President Trump.
All that the post election activity achieved was to confirm how close the USA had been to disaster.
And now the same Mob wants, even demands, that they be given credibility.
I have no time for sexual predators but the prosecution of same Must be in accord with the guidance available from the properly constituted legal system based on Magna Carta.
This current event doesn’t seem to involve true Justice.
KK
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she was 15 years old at the timee
10
What was she doing at such an event.
40
i can explain everything, almost http://balance10.blogspot.com/2018/09/wild-tales-in-wild-world.html
00
o yes, fuel for the fire: http://balance10.blogspot.com/2018/09/it-is-time-to-say-husband-is-not-master.html
00
also: http://balance10.blogspot.com/2018/09/what-do-adulterate-and-adultery-mean.html
00
So the allegations of abuse in the Catholic church go back 35 years, but they are believed. Bill Cosby’s accusers also alleged a pattern of behaviour stretching back 35 years, and they are believed. But this guy? He is a judge, shouldn’t he be used to seeing all the facts, allegations and so on. It not about guilt but about process.
35
Peter Fitzroy:
The process is supposedly checking whether the candidate would be a suitable judge, but has been overtaken by the Democrats hysterical determination to impeach Trump. Sexual misconduct charges are a standard proceedure now in the USA, as both sides race to the bottom.
Had Dr. Ford been a member of the public I may well have been inclined to believe her, but a left wing academic? And the piling on of other charges with even less details that can be checked, fits too conveniently with the Democrats’ hope to delay the confirmation until after the mid-term elections when they hope to gain enough seats to start impeachment proceedings against Trump.
It’s a sorry spectacle and one hopes that it rebounds on the perpetuators.
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i’ve read this, but I do not understand it. How is Dr. Ford not a member of the public? If you are saying she is lying, then she is doing it under oath.
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Dr Ford is in my opinion an unreliable witness.
She has said in her testimony that she doesn’t remember where or precisely when this happened. She did remember however that she went into a room and that the ‘door was locked behind her’ Very strange memory recall . .
GeoffW
41
How is it someone allegedly has an encounter with soneone, and takes 36 years to decide then *right* at this moment, to raise it?
Kavvanagh is a high stakes headache for the Left – Roe vs Wade may be overturned, and the general Leftist agenda of destroying America, which was well advanced under Obummer, may come to a grinding halt. Trump has torn up the NWO plan followed by previous “drone” presidents and sent the globalist locusts into a flat spin. The high court membership could cement america from folding into the NWO trans-national implementation of communism under the UN.
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As soon as you are accused of any sexual misconduct whatsoever, the system assumes guilt, and all your friends and family disappear. Don’t ever joke about cases like this because they don’t give a fair hearing at all. Every man and his dog suddenly jump on the bandwagon and hunt you regardless of whatever the truth may be. Once the allegation is made, there is no presumption of innocence, no mercy, no fair hearing, nothing resembling fairness at all.
Kavanaugh might be a judge, the most honest man on earth, but he’s demonstrating by example how horrid these allegations are. Which is why the Left throw these accusations around with reckless abandon.
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Your surname sounds like his … you must be guilty too…
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Sad.
Many complaints were lodged regarding the Church’s predators but were sidelined, handled “internally” or left hanging.
This is Very different to the present situation.
KK
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Australian Morning Mail
Trump wipes the grin off their faces!
When Trump went to Warsaw he said, to great applause, For two centuries, Poland suffered constant and brutal attacks. But while Poland could be invaded and occupied, and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you have lost your land but you never lost your pride.
From the farms and villages of your countryside to the cathedrals and squares of your great cities, Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails!
You didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess at what he was going to say at the UN. From the time he came up with his slogan Make America Great Again he has stressed love of country, patriotism and independence.
Like his Warsaw speech, this was a game changer. It will be equally disparaged and ignored by the mainstream media and elitist class. The brain dead in Hollywood will conjure up a joke or two at its expense.
But the truth is that this was a call for a return to western democracy and national pride. A rejection of globalist rule by the UN, EU, and such other unelected bodies.
Its overarching theme was the primacy of national sovereignty as the best organising principle to help foster prosperity, peace and freedom in the world.
Self-important world leaders, global “experts,” and anti-Trump commentators in the mainstream media can sneer at President Trump’s remarks to the United Nations General Assembly all they want. In the end, their supercilious opinions and condescending attitudes mean nothing, nothing. Trump was not interested in winning a popularity contest, as the Great Black Bollocks was. Trump spoke the truth about how the world really works. Sovereign nations are the locus of real power and legitimate governing authority in a world of diverse peoples and cultures.
At the outset of his speech, the president was met with derisive laughter from the assembled world leaders, ministers and ambassadors in the audience. They were mocking his claim that, in less than two years, “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” In a quick rejoinder to the laughter, Trump smiled and said, “I wasn’t expecting that reaction but that’s ok.”
Then he proved his case with a recitation of facts demonstrating in the year since the president’s last remarks to the General Assembly, the Trump Administration has diminished major threats to world peace, including the imminent threats posed by the North Korean regime and ISIS.
“America is governed by Americans,” he told the General Assembly attendees who sat on their hands throughout much of the president’s speech, shook their heads or stared blankly ahead, and only mildly applauded at the speech’s conclusion. “America will always choose independence and cooperation over global governance,” he declared.
Then he got down to specifics and Trump singled out the ICC, the International Criminal Court for criticism, which, he said “has no legitimacy or authority. It claims near universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country, violating all principles of justice, fairness and due process.” He vowed to “never surrender America’s sovereignty” to such an “unelected, unaccountable” globalist body.
No wonder they sat on their hands. It must be remembered that these people believe in world government and here was Trump telling them they can go to blazes.
Every citizen in every land on earth heard the message – Australia for the Australians, French for the French, Poland for the Poles.
Just to drive it home he told them that the United States will not participate in the new global compact on migration. “Migration should not be governed by an international body, unaccountable to our own citizens.”
Hmmm. Didn’t Howard say the same – we decide who comes here?
In globalist circles, however, such talk is anathema. Globalists believe that national sovereignty is a relic of the past that should be consigned to the dustbin of history. The world, they argue, needs to be governed by a transnational system of international law under the auspices of a strengthened United Nations and sister global governance institutions such as the International Criminal Court.
UN expansionists have sought to create international institutional frameworks that would govern precisely the types of activities that nation states have historically reserved for themselves.
Trump has made it clear at the very top – he rejects the globalists’ premise and adheres to principle that the United States is a self-governing sovereign democratic republic for whose citizens the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. “In America, we believe in the majesty of freedom and the dignity of the individual,” he declared in his General Assembly address. “We believe in self-government, and rule of law. We prize the culture that sustained our liberty. Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived. And so, we must protect our sovereignty and our cherished Independence above all.”
He is not an isolationist.The United Nations, Trump said, has “unlimited potential” if adequately reformed to make it “more effective and accountable.” He called for fairer burden-sharing, declaring that “only when we each do our part and contribute our share, can we realize the United Nations highest aspirations.”
After settling that he told Iran to their faces that more pain was coming, he dismissed the Mad Mullahs as corrupt plunderers and oppressors. He told Syria to their faces he would bomb them if they tried the poison gas stunt again
Then he got stuck into Venezuela and their repressive, socialist regime that ruined Venezuela’s once prosperous economy. He announced there and then that there would be new sanctions targeting the inner circle and close advisers of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Next it was China’s turn; he repeated familiar complaints concerning unfair trade practices hurting the United States. Some countries admitted to the World Trade Organization have gamed the system while the United States and other nations have played by the rules. The countries acting unfairly “use government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises to rig the system,” He mentioned China by name and said that the tariffs were necessary to preven the plunder of US wealth.
OPEC came in for it too. They were blackmailing the world with oil. “We are not going to put up with it, these horrible prices much longer,” he warned, after noting that the United States has “become the largest energy producer anywhere on the face of the Earth.”
Finally, Trump made it clear that the days of the United States’ generosity in funding the United Nations and providing foreign aid were over. “We are grateful for all of the work the United Nations does around the world to help people build better lives for themselves and their families,” he said. However, the United States will not participate in dysfunctional UN bodies such as the Human Rights Council, which refused to reform its ways after repeated warnings from the president himself and U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.
Trump noted that the United States is “the world’s largest giver by far of foreign aid.” but such aid can no longer be considered an entitlement. “Moving forward,” he declared, “we will only give foreign aid to those who respect us and our friends.” The president said he was tasking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with heading up an effort to “examine what is working, what is not working, and whether the countries who receive our dollars and our protection also have our interests at heart.”
I think there will be heavy hearts in Palestine tonight.
No wonder the listening ring of pussies hardly clapped. There was no mistaking what Trump’s intentions are.
Leftist media saturates the news. Fight back. Send articles to your friends, politicians, local media, and facebook.
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As the “Australian Morning Mail” heading indicates I did not read the article.
The “term to avoid” refers to pussy cats with no intestinal fortitude I believe.
Is there a way to get it through?
And important speech by President Trump.
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Write the article.
10
I have removed the last part as you requested.
Please note that it is from Australian Morning Mail website, not my added comment.
10
The Left (US = Liberals) see “1984” as an operations manual, not as a dystopian novel warning about the dangers of the Left.
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The Minister of Propaganda.
‘Almost all the directors of the ABC’s eight-member board were appointed directly by the minister for communications, Mitch Fifield, and some were appointed after being rejected by the merit-based nominations panel …’
Guardian
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Meanwhile in Australia we have this COMMUNIST push to remove any concept of privacy…..
Airport security to use facial recognition to scour travellers’ social media for terrorism links and criminal activity under aviation overhaul
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6214821/Travellers-forced-facial-recognition-handing-social-media-details.html
Now the police want your passwords – and you could be fined $60,000 or put in prison for five years if you refuse
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6213007/Police-want-mobile-laptop-passwords-jailed-refusing.html
Peter Dutton rushes through encryption laws – that experts say will make users MORE vulnerable to attacks
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6197997/Dutton-rushes-laws-forcing-companies-Police-online-information.html
poor fella my country!
Looks like communist north korea!!!
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User “angry” has highlighted the real Nineteen Eighty Four story for Australians.
It’s unfortunate that JN could be so distracted by a petty side-show in the USA while the roll-out of the total surveillance state reaches the 2nd stage of 3 readings in Canberra.
Only 0.05% of the population of Australia has lodged an objection to this bill so far, presumably because hardly anyone has heard about it.
Opposition to this bill could be easily cast as a contest between the pragmatic and the theoretical. The enforcement class argues this power is needed pragmatically for preventing crime, whereas civil libertarians argue about theoretical threats to freedom. When viewed that way it sounds difficult for freedom to win over enforcement.
The claim of preventing crime is misguided. Only each individual contemplating their options for action can choose to act legitimately or illegitimately. The line between legal and illegal, or between order and chaos, does not trace the outline of a multistorey government department, it is a line that runs through each of us. It is not the role of the police to prevent crime because it physically cannot be so.
Nobody is thinking long-term about this. When you build a machine capable of tyranny and hand it to good people, you are surely hoping that they pass the reigns to other good people because the alternative has no easy solution. How do you politically withdraw a total surveillance system from bad people who have it? They will see you coming a mile off!
More generally, why are public servants allowed to have actual security while the public are not? If secret-keeping is an essential ability for the institution of government to maintain its trust in society, why does this not apply to individuals too?
“A perfectly good civilization is going to waste”, and not with a bang but a whimper.
Digital Rights Watch have a page with more info about the issue. You can also contact your Federal member of parliament to make an objection.
Lastly, here’s a quote from Wolfgang Schmidt who was interviewed about the extent of the USA’s domestic spying programme, and who is apparently more capable of learning from history than any politician in Canberra.
30
I’m just so glad that User “Angry” was able to bring that to your notice on the JN blog.
Almost missed it.
KK
10
Correct… the current regime in Australia is accelerating the process of government control. They are trying to control the message (ABC) and the activities of the masses.
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I didn’t see your sarc flag.
20
we dodged a bullet when Dutton lost the leadership challenge. He now leads the group in the LNP that want more control; he’s passed some legislation and is still in a portfolio where he can pass more.
12
Ah yes, Dutton wants ‘to include concealed “backdoors” into devices and messaging platforms.’
My first inclination would be to see if other countries (beside China) have these backdoors.
20
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/03/five-eyes-governments-call-on-tech-giants-to-build-encryption-backdoors-or-else/
10
If a young man is convicted of murder and gets out after 15 years with good behaviour [typical in Oz] and then lives a good life for years it would be considered as some sort of “ist” to hold this against him when being considered for a job.
While any statute of limitations is irrelevant here the passing of so many years of “good behaviour” must erase any possible high-jinks of a teenager.
My opinion doesn’t matter because I can’t vote but after watching Kavanagh’s opening address I am more in his favour than before. Have the dems jumped the shark? My gut feeling [and I always though Trump would win the Presidency] is that this circus will not pull any independents [swing voters here] into the democrat camp.
30
Both I and a friend predict Kavanaugh’s confirmation by the whole Senate on Tuesday. But you never know so I told him not to count our new justice until he’s hatched.
Beyond that I don’t know how to predict it.
30
Latest on the ABC — Justin Milne’s full email calling for Emma Alberici to be sacked was much more revealing than initially reported.
The full email via the SMH:
“After two glasses of red of course there’s an agenda. They fricken hate her. She keeps sticking it to them with a clear bias against them. We clear her as ok. We r tarred with her brush. I just think it’s simple. Get rid of her. My view is we need to save the corporation not Emma. There is no g’tee they will lose the next election [sic].”
So Milne admits clear bias by a senior ABC journalist then admits the ABC clears her as OK. The most damning part of the email was censored.This story has only begun.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/justin-milnes-full-email-calling-for-emma-alberici-to-be-sacked-was-even-more-jaw-dropping-than-first-thought/ar-BBNDIbQ?ocid=spartandhp
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Kavanaugh’s nomination is likely to succeed. The illiberals have guaranteed a lifelong hostile judge to their cause.
Off topic but Graham looks a different man since McCain’s death, he now supports Trump. Did McCain have something on him?
50
this is pretty Orwellian:
27 Sept: Bloomberg: World Bank Offers $1 Billion for Batteries in Emerging Markets
By Brian K Sullivan
The World Bank Group committed $1 billion to finance battery-storage systems in developing and middle-income countries, and expects its participation to attract another $4 billion in backing from investors as well as public and private funds.
The effort also includes a global think tank to study battery technologies and deployment strategies, according to a statement from the One Planet Summit in New York Wednesday. Most existing battery projects are expensive and focused in developed countries.
Storage can retain electricity from wind and solar farms to use after sundown or when the wind isn’t blowing, and is viewed at critical to expanding the use of renewable energy.
“Battery storage can help countries ***leapfrog to the next generation technology, expand energy access, and set the stage for much cleaner, more stable, energy systems,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in the statement…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-26/world-bank-offers-1-billion-for-batteries-in-emerging-markets
26 Sept: World Bank: Powering New Markets for Battery Storage
by Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director and Head of Energy and Extractives at the World Bank
The global energy landscape is undergoing a major transformation. Attractive costs for solar and wind and emerging innovations like floating solar and solar rooftops are making clean energy a compelling proposition in many countries ***and improving the prospects for global efforts to fight climate change.
Renewable energy sources, including solar and wind, accounted for almost two-thirds of net new power capacity around the world in 2016, with almost 165 gigawatts (GW) of power coming online in 2016. Renewable electricity capacity is also forecast to expand by over 920 GW between 2017 and 2022…
A new World Bank Group (WBG) program aims to close that gap.
“Accelerating Battery Storage for Development” is a new, first-of-its-kind global program to accelerate the deployment of battery storage for energy systems in developing and middle-income countries. It is expected to help countries ramp up their use of renewable energy, increase grid stability and help them leapfrog to a new generation of energy technology…
The goal is to finance 17.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery storage by 2025 – more than triple the 4-5 GWh currently installed in all developing countries…
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/09/26/powering-new-markets-for-battery-storage
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World Bank plans battery revolution in developing nations
Financial Times-26 Sep. 2018
26 Sept: Phys.org: World Bank bets big on batteries for solar energy boost
Solar energy could be a huge source of power in Africa, but its potential has been stymied by storage batteries that are too expensive and inadequate for use in poor countries.
The World Bank aims to break through that bottleneck…
While solar energy is abundant, the sun goes down around 5:00 or 6:00 pm in most of the African continent, making storage capacity crucial to providing a continuous supply of electricity.
It is a limitation with no impact on diesel and other fossil fuels in wide use to generate electricity.
Africa, where solar power is an “unmissable” source of energy, will be the first to benefit, said Riccardo Puliti, head of energy practice at the World Bank…
Bangladesh and other developing countries of Southeast Asia also will benefit from the World Bank’s investment, which aims to stimulate a fledgling market and to create ***a “virtuous circle.”…
Today, the best batteries available in industrialized countries cost $200 to $300 per kilowatt hour of installed capacity, or less.
In developing countries, they are prohibitively expensive, ranging in price from $400 to $700 per kilowatt hour.
The World Bank’s goal is to bring those prices down in the coming years…
Now it’s up to manufacturers to heed the call, and develop the appropriate technologies.
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-world-bank-big-batteries-solar.html
20
Bizarre stuff.
Hang the expense just do the right thing by your peers.
Unfortunately they are no more qualified in science and electrical engineering than the head of Musk incorporated, and so we head backwards into the future.
KK
30
Well yes, someone has to keep the mirage that is tesla, afloat *with other peoples money* ….
Other peoples money…now where have I heard that before?
20
The real question mark against Ford’s testimony is the incredible deceit in delaying her testimony to the very last minute because she was really afraid to fly and the cross country car trip was onerous.
In correspondence with Feinstein, Ford wrote that she was mid-Atlantic. In fact she flies far and often.
So she lies. When asked how she arrived, she flew. To get the polygraph test, she flew. No explanation.
Then why did she lie?
The only possible explanation is that she was less anxious for justice and privacy than to delay and so prevent and even deny Kavanaugh’s confirmation. There is no other explanation. On the face of it, Ford wanted this much more than she wanted justice after her letter in July.
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I also note that everyone examined Kavanaugh’s year book with a fine toothed comb. FFFF, Devil’s triangle, articles written on supposition but who asks Kavanaugh. Six FBI investigations.
However who has read Ford’s year book? Who has investigated his accuser’s life? Did she write nothing about this in her life as a PhD in psychology? Not even a note to herself? Anywhere? How is that possible?
So what enables Ford to present her memories without any facts to the Senate committee without the same level of examination? The delay in doing this was engineered by Ford herself, managing uncorroborated allegations on the day before the confirmation.
Could she find no notes written by herself in the last 35 years? If this was a life defining moment, why is there no record? Why the timing? Why the lie about not being able to fly?
A psychology professor who can stand up to testifying on a national stage before a senate committee is no wilting violet. This was planned and executed to damage Kavanaugh. Of course no one will investigate Ford further. It is her word against everyone who knows Kavanaugh, as with the Abbott case.
This is so wrong. It is impossible to believe Ford has never written anything about the biggest moment in her life. So it is a fabrication. As is her terrible fear of flying, something she flippantly dismissed. That was breathtaking and clearly consistent deceit.
120
Anyone who is being hnest, knows the left wing jackals called the Democrats, cant be trusted.
There is a lot at stake – ROe vs Wade, busting the NOW agenda wide open, halting Americas slide into Commiunism – Kavvanagh is a key ally in stopping the rot Marxist Obummer started….
70
Should read :
“…busting the NWO agenda wide open…”
10
It started a long time before Obama.
00
Perhaps someone should have investigated her Facebook account where she allegedly says among other things, “Men Like Scalia should be barred from the law.”
She may well be a full fledged left wing activist and my impression of her was entirely wrong. But I haven’t been able to verify what I’ve been told. So full disclosure demands that I say so.
I will not repeat other allegations sent to me without some corroboration. But she looks bad.
I wonder if Dianne Feinstein feels used about now or if she’s proud to have been a part of yesterday’s charade and the events leading up to it.
30
Simply then. A psychology professor who suddenly discovered the biggest psychological event some 35 years later but had never mentioned it before or even written it down and her closest long term friends deny it. Then she lied to delay the hearing.
Dr Ford has been doing a lot of calculating. She didn’t want justice, she wanted to prevent the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh. Simultaneously she also wants absolute privacy for herself. It’s all too easy in the world of #metoo.
110
27 Sept: Guardian: World ‘nowhere near on track’ to avoid warming beyond 1.5C target
Exclusive: Author of key UN climate report says limiting temperature rise would require enormous, immediate transformation in human activity
by Oliver Milman
The world’s governments are “nowhere near on track” to meet their commitment to avoid global warming of more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial period, according to an author of a key UN report that will outline the dangers of breaching this limit…
“It’s extraordinarily challenging to get to the 1.5C target and we are nowhere near on track to doing that,” said Drew Shindell, a Duke University climate scientist and a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which will be unveiled in South Korea next month.
“While it’s technically possible, it’s extremely improbable, absent a real sea change in the way we evaluate risk. We are nowhere near that.”…
Shindell would not share exact details of the IPCC report, but he said that the more ambitious 1.5C goal would require a precipitous drop in greenhouse emissions triggered by a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels, particularly coal, mass deployment of solar and wind energy and the eradication of emissions from cars, trucks and airplanes.
Even then, emerging technology will be required on a global scale to capture emissions at the source and bury them in the ground or remove carbon directly from the air.
“The penetration rate of new technology historically takes a long time,” Shindell said. “It’s not simple to change these things. There aren’t good examples in history of such rapid, far-reaching transitions.”…READ ON
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/26/global-warming-climate-change-targets-un-report
27 Sept: BusinessGreen: Michael Holder: Study: Delaying climate action will drive up cost of meeting 1.5C goal
UK academic paper argues cost-benefit analysis remains challenging, but delaying emissions reductions only drives up cost of meeting Paris goals
Limiting global warming to 1.5C by the end of the century could soon become too expensive to justify despite the benefits of such action, according to a new analysis today by a group of UK academics.
The paper argues that stronger efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be undertaken swiftly in order to avoid having to rely on more speculative, risky, and expensive emissions reduction technologies further down the line, such as direct CO2 capture systems or geo-engineering technologies.
Experts from Imperial College London, the University of East Anglia, and LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment assessed almost 200 published academic papers on climate change and the feasibility of limiting temperature increases to 1.5C…
“Due to large uncertainties about the economic costs and, in particular, the benefits, there can be no clear answer to the question of whether the 1.5C target passes a cost-benefit test,” states the paper which appears in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources journal…
Lead author Professor Simon Dietz from LSE’s Grantham Research Institute explained that at present “the evidence we have simply does not give us a clear answer on whether the benefits of limiting warming to 1.5C exceed the costs”…
It points to studies showing a carbon price consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C would need to be at least $100 per tonne of CO2 emitted by 2020, and about three times higher than the price required to stop warming of more than 2C…
***But today’s findings may further fuel calls for net zero goals to be adopted…
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news-analysis/3063461/could-limiting-global-warming-to-15c-soon-become-too-costly
20
“Author of key UN climate report says limiting temperature rise would require enormous, immediate transformation in human activity”
Presumably this means reducing CO2.
So how successful has $1.5Trillion been in stopping steady growth in CO2?
Has anyone stopped to think that as CO2 growth is not being affected either way by anything we do, that CO2 growth is natural?
Demanding we do more is asking King Canute to shout louder at the sea.
60
Sorry, $1.5Trillion every year.
40
I have to ask.
What would a psychology professor know about lie detector tests and how to pass them?
What records would you expect of the personal life of a psychology professor?
Would such a successful and competent psychology professional actually concoct a story? Perhaps the story was quite true but the bit about Kavanaugh being in it was easy to add without the story being a lie?
Why would she lie about flying and delay or prevent the senate hearing or even the confirmation after waiting 35 years to get the chance to testify?
Would any woman stoop so low as to plan to destroy the reputation of a man who could threaten the right to legal late term abortions? Is Ford really any different to other outrageous claims?
Will this be investigated? No. It is possible that hard nosed non emotional, composed and calculating Dr Ford is the villain. She has the skills and the means and would be a heroine (sorry hero) if she brings down Kavanaugh. So did the ends justify the means? We will know tomorrow.
110
26 Sept: Tim Blair Blog: STRANDED ON AN ISLAND WITH NOTHING BUT THE ABC
Chris Kenny ask readers to “imagine if you had been stranded on an island for the past few years with nothing to watch, listen to or read from but Australia’s public broadcaster”:
You would think climate change was the greatest threat to the country, region and the world, and that it was already making our lives worse; on the bright side you would have faith that a carbon tax, emissions trading scheme or national energy guarantee would put an end to droughts, floods and bushfires while saving the Great Barrier Reef.
You might be under the impression that our dams were dry and $12 billion of desalination plants were supplying us with water.
There is a good chance you would be unaware of the US’s economic recovery but you would know the ins and outs of every crackpot allegation about Russian interference in American politics.
Some people, of course, happen to live on an island called Australia where they voluntarily absorb the ABC’s deceptions and rely on the rest of us to pay for them…ETC
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/tim-blair/stranded-on-an-island-with-nothing-but-the-abc/news-story/5c79dddd34254b76a220e77695f932bf
27 Sept: Tim Blair blog: FROZEN DOZENS PROTEST TOASTY TONY
Wednesday night’s anti-Abbott climate rally in Sydney wasn’t exactly the overwhelming people power extravaganza organisers were hoping for:
(excerpt) Dozens of protesters wielding picket signs ascended upon the Middle Harbour Yacht Club on Wednesday night to tell Tony Abbott what they thought of his climate policy.
The only problem was the Warringah MP was nowhere to be seen …
(excerpt) Despite Mr Abbott’s no-show, People of Warringah convener Nathan Thomas said their message would have reached him loud and clear.
“It showed him there is a lot of passion around the lack of action on climate change,” Mr Thomas said.
The word “lack” should have appeared earlier in that sentence. And because it was a global warming event, the usual weather occurred:
“I was really shocked at how many people turned up, it wasn’t the best weather either, it was freezing.”
Contact your local clothing charity, losers…READ ON
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/tim-blair/frozen-dozens-protest-toasty-tony/news-story/5f4d842704b3bf80018e1fed963d16ee
30
Despite the explanation that it is too long I cannot see how the transcript of President Trump’s address to the UN could be modified to make it shorter as suggested.
As I didn’t write it?
00
The Australian, Fairfax etc have this story, but don’t show any concern about the figure of ***790,000 and what that should presumably mean for CO2 emissions/CAGW!
27 Sept: QantasNewsroom: QANTAS GROUP PILOT ACADEMY TO LAND IN TOOWOOMBA
•Capacity to train up to 250 pilots a year from Australia and overseas
The Academy is part of the Qantas Group’s strategy to build a long-term talent pipeline for its own airlines and help the broader industry meet the increasing need for skilled aviators.
Estimates suggest that ***790,000 more pilots will be required globally over the next 20 years with around one third of them in the Asia Pacific…
Selection criteria include access to uncongested airspace, a high proportion of clear weather days per year, access to support infrastructure and ability to attract students and trainers to live in the area…
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce: “Toowoomba will be an amazing place to learn to fly. It’s home to Australia’s newest airport and offers over 300 days of Queensland sunshine each year and an environment that is textbook for pilot training…
The Academy is expected to eventually grow to train as many as 500 pilots a year across two sites, including for other airlines and general aviation. A decision on the second site will be made before the end of the year…
More than 18,000 people have so far registered their interest in the Academy…
https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-group-pilot-academy-to-land-in-toowoomba/
27 Sept: SMH: Qantas sees lucrative flying boom from Toowoomba pilot school
by Patrick Hatch
Qantas says an estimated 790,000 extra pilots will be needed globally over the next 20 years – about a third of those in the Asia Pacific – as population growth and burgeoning middle classes see more people take to the sky.
Large airlines around the world are already complaining about a shortage of pilots, who are able to easily double their wages by moving to China where the sector is booming…
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/qantas-to-open-pilot-school-in-toowoomba-amid-global-shortage-20180927-p5069p.html
00
Here’s one comment I found on Breitbart;
Here’s a timeline:
1982 – Something may or may not have happened with another 2 (or 4)
teenagers at a party, she cannot remember who threw the party, where the
party was held, who she was with or how she got home. She was drinking
and said nothing to anyone.
1983,
1984,
1985,
1986,
1987,
1988,
1989,
1990,
1991,
1992,
1993,
1994,
1995,
1996,
1997,
1998,
1999,
2000,
2001,
2002… She said nothing.
July 25, 2003: President George W. Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the
United States Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit… She said nothing.
2004,
2005… She said nothing.
May 11, 2006: The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
recommended confirmation. Kavanaugh subsequently confirmed by the United
States Senate… She said nothing.
June 1, 2006: Kavanaugh sworn in by Justice Anthony Kennedy… She said
nothing.
2007,
2008,
2009,
2010,
2011… She said nothing.
2012… She remembered ‘something’ happened in 1982, yet doesn’t name
Kavanaugh, still said nothing to authorities.
2013,
2014,
2015,
2016,
2017 – becomes an anti-trump activist.
2018 – now 36 years later, with Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS confirmation looming,
she pens an anonymous letter with grave accusations against Kavanaugh
regarding foggy circumstance that occurred while they were both minors,
then reveals herself and DEMANDS an FBI investigation before testifying
to her incredible allegations?
For my 2 bobs worth;
“2017 – becomes an anti-trump activist” can that be proven? as it’s the first time I have read that (though I am not surprised!)
She had legal advise (same lawyer as Stormy Daniels??) why didn’t they do their due diligence and correctly advise her of the situation:-
Either the lawyers failed due diligence miserably
OR she ignored them and went ahead?
OR they advised her to go ahead!!
Not a good look any way you flip the coin!!
100
Andrew Bolt Comment;
Actually, it’s the Post’s credibility that is damaged by pushing this character assassination without noting or underlining the details that make the accusations very, very hard to believe.
Swetnick goes to “well over 1o” of these parties where she sees gang rapes, women assaulted and drinks spiked? And keeps going until she is allegedly drugged and raped herself?
Swetnick sees rapes and is raped and never contacts the police?
Swetnick goes to these parties with students from a private school when she used to study at a public school 13km away.
Swetnick graduated from high school in 1980, Kavanaugh in 1983. So in 1982 she’s a university student in her second or third year still going to parties thrown by high school students?
Swetnick never speaks up until the very final days of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, and then speaks only through a statement given to the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels?
All these gang-rapes of women occur and there’s not a single report of women or their parents complaining to police? Instead, there’s 60 women and men who were students with Kavanaugh who deny such stuff occurred at their parties.
Kavanaugh strongly denies these allegations and says he does not know the woman, who does not accuse him of being one of the students who allegedly raped her.
I don’t know if Kavanaugh assaulted women or not when he was a student.
But I do know that allegations like this do not deserve to be believed without a lot, lot more corroborative evidence, and that in the meantime Kavanaugh must be resumed innocent.
70
Presumption of innocence obviously doesn’t count if your a Republican.
40
It has been that way for very long time. My first up close and personal experience with it was in 1994 when I was “permitted” to resign from my contract position while doing work for NASA. Apparently, I was suppose to lie to NASA about the quality of the software they had created and hold that it was brilliant rather than the garbage that it was. My flaw was that I was too open and honest. I could accomplish things they couldn’t in a fraction of the time it took them to fail. I did in three weeks what two employees couldn’t accomplish in two years. Thus I had to go.
It is the seriousness of the charge that counts. Evidence is so 1950 and no longer matters. There is no such thing as truth. Knowledge is a social construct. Or so say the powers that hold their position by virtue of not being able to do anything of value for any living thing while spending vast sums of wealth they did not create.
As it has been said, “there is nothing new under the sun.” It is all the same old same old under a pretended new excuse.
90
Funny that you should mention it Lionell but I lost a contract position for creating exactly what I was asked for in a place where they all said they spoke C++ but didn’t and no one else knew how to go about it.
“It’s too complicated and hard to figure out.” Yet it was all just a variation on the Microsoft CRecordSet class they had all been working with for at least 2 years and everyone knew exactly how to set up the part they needed to add to every derived class. I provided everything else for them.
I was asked if it was as simple as it could be and I said, “Yes, given what I was asked to do.” Wrong answer.
I think they had no idea that I was fixing problems and closing the problem report after the assigned programmer failed and gave up.
50
I did my work in well structured C with thorough internally documentation. I used various ANCI extensions to enable object oriented coding were necessary. Mainly in a high performance (aka real time) Reverse Polish algebraic expression evaluate function.
The code done by the employees was done C also but it was a tangle mess with almost 20 layers of code. Many of which called code in upper layers unrelated to what had to be done. There was little useful internal nd no external documentation. It was impossible to untangle and debug had I spent a year attempting to do it.
The bottom line is that a consultant is supposed to make the “customer” look good no matter how incompetent and ineffective he is. The last thing you can do is perform at a level many orders of magnitude better that his obvious failed efforts.
40
I recognized the characteristics of Spaghetti Code the instant it read it.
It points out that just because there are standards you cannot assume that everyone understands them in the same way or that everyone understands or even knows about them at all.
Software has come a long way but it remains an art a lot more than a science.
The other problem is that the longer you patch or modify some product, the more likely it is to start resembling a mess. And if you’re under the pressure of too little time the mess happens even sooner.
I’ve said before that software is made broken and you spend the rest of your life fixing it until it doesn’t work at all.
Somewhere I’ll bet that IBM is selling 1401 Autocoder emulation on their latest mainframes. Once you have invested so much money in running your business it’s prohibitive to rewrite from scratch. Same for Cobol, FORTRAN and who knows what else? I once did my part of a large military project, all FORTRAN. At the end it even worked.
50
Looking from the outside of the job I have long ago formed the opinion that never in the history of man has so much money been spent/made on faulty products.
While for nearly thirty years I have wondered do we really need this complexity? How many computer users use half the bells and whistles we are sold? Is it not possible to make a functional system that is bulletproof, instead of adding unreliable complexity just because we can?
00
I’ve listened to the alarming speech about climate change by the NZ PM Jacinda Ardern at the UN and how the nations of the world have to do something about it. I agree. Going by the record snow falls, falling temperatures and crop failures due to the cold around the world it appears we are in danger of entering a new min-ice age. So the 1,600+ new coal fired power stations under construction and planned all over the world isn’t enough. We need to build many more given they believe there is a direct correlation between man-made CO2 emissions and global warming. So is NZ going to build some to add to the large numbers currently being built in other countries and help save the planet? How about it Jacinda Ardern? Will you join us here in Australia to campaign for both our nations to pull our weight and help save the planet along side many other places, such as China, India, Japan, Egypt, South America, Africa, Germany, Poland, Indonesia, etc.? Or as we all suspect you are clueless and a denier?
70
reminder:
2018 Is Shaping Up to Be the Fourth-Hottest Year. Yet We’re Still Not Prepared for Global Warming
New York Times – 9 Aug 2018
28 Sept: Age: Melbourne weather: Rug up for grand final weekend
by Anna Prytz; with AAP:
It’s going to be a wet and chilly 14 degrees in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon, so whether you’re going to the ‘G, to a grand final barbecue or just getting away from it all you’d be well advised to wrap up warm…
Not exactly the springtime climes everyone was hoping for as the big game approaches…
There will even be snow in the state’s Alpine region with Mount Hotham expecting a shiver-inducing maximum temperature of zero degrees and a morning snow shower. Falls Creek and Lake Mountain will also cop a dusting…
The snow won’t quite reach Melbourne but the Dandenong Ranges will drop to one degree as a cold air mass sweeps across Victoria.
Despite the chill it will be far from the coldest grand final day on record which was 11.3 degrees in 1958 when Collingwood took the flag. Saturday will still be well below the average grand final day temperature of 18 degrees.
Bureau statistics show the last time it was 14 degrees on grand final day was in 2011 when Collingwood lost to Geelong by 38 points…
27 Sept: WeatherNetwork: Alberta stays locked in cold, snowy pattern, risk of 20+ cm
All the signals are there for more early fall snow after parts of the Prairies have already seen record-breaking amounts so far. As Arctic air pours in from the north, prepare for a couple of rounds of weekend snow in Alberta and with the risk for significant totals through the first days of October as well…
27 Sept: WeatherNationTV: Wait, We’re Talking Snow Already?
The National Weather Service has issued Winter Weather Advisories for snow and wintry weather across parts of Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota through Friday.
Most the snow will fall in the mountains and higher elevations, with isolated amounts up to 11 inches.
Outside of a snow threat, it will be very chilly across the High Plains, with lows tonight likely below freezing overnight…
27 Sept: UK Express: UK weather weekend FREEZE: -7C and SNOW as ARCTIC BLAST hits in 24 hours, warn forecasters
A BLAST of cold air from the Arctic will send temperatures plummeting this weekend putting parts of Britain at risk of SNOW.
By Nathan Rao
Bone-numbing -7C (19.4F) gales will scour the far north coasts amid forecasts the entire country is about to get an early taste of winter.
A frigid finger of icy air driven by bitter northerly winds will prod Scotland and northern England pushing the mercury below zero…
Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, warned parts of Britain are about to turn ‘very cold’ with gales threatening to whip up blizzards over very high ground.
He said: “It is going to turn colder, wetter and windier over the next few days and there will be risk of snow over high ground in the north of the country although we cannot rule out something across lower ground…
Bitter winds will make it feel much colder than ground temperature forecasts suggest with feel-like values of -7C (19.4F) predicted for the weekend…
27 Sept: FirstPostIndia: 1,000 still stranded in Himachal Pradesh due to heavy rains, snow; rescue operations continue for third day
Shimla: With the weather clearing up on Thursday search and rescue operation for over 1,000 people, mostly tourists, began early in the Himachal Pradesh hills for the third day.
Two Chetak helicopters additionally deployed along with three the Indian Air Force’s sped up the rescue in the Lahaul Valley in the Middle Himalayas. The rescue operation started at 7 am, an official said.
Nearly 500 people were still reported to be stuck in Suraj Tal lake and Zingzing Bar areas along Keylong-Leh road…
So far a total of 898 persons have been rescued to safety till Wednesday and they included 12 foreigners, Additional Chief Secretary Manisha Nanda said here…
Over 700 people have been rescued by road via the Rohtang tunnel in the past two days. We expect to rescue another 200 by road on Thursday,” a senior government functionary monitoring the rescue operation told IANS.
Nanda said packets of eatables have been air dropped at Kunzam Pass…
Heavy snowfall on the Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) has cut off the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys affecting a large number of tourists and hampering water and electricity supply. They have been stranded at number of isolated locations…
The BRO has been clearing the snow from various roads on a war footing.
***Some stretches had over eight feet of snow…
30
Well if the UN really believes that global warming is a serious threat and that man-made CO2 emissions is the direct cause then when are they going to tell all the respective delegates at the UN representing 60+ nations around the world who are building and planning to build a total of 1600+ coal fired power stations to stop building them and the close down their existing ones? Oh wait a tick! How can a delegate tell his/her nation to do so without being laughed at, lose their job, put in prison or executed depending on which nation they are representing?
40
Australian Morning Mail
Trump wipes the grin off their faces!
When Trump went to Warsaw he said, to great applause, For two centuries, Poland suffered constant and brutal attacks. But while Poland could be invaded and occupied, and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you have lost your land but you never lost your pride.
From the farms and villages of your countryside to the cathedrals and squares of your great cities, Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails!
You didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess at what he was going to say at the UN. From the time he came up with his slogan Make America Great Again he has stressed love of country, patriotism and independence.
Like his Warsaw speech, this was a game changer. It will be equally disparaged and ignored by the mainstream media and elitist class. The brain dead in Hollywood will conjure up a joke or two at its expense.
But the truth is that this was a call for a return to western democracy and national pride. A rejection of globalist rule by the UN, EU, and such other unelected bodies.
Its overarching theme was the primacy of national sovereignty as the best organising principle to help foster prosperity, peace and freedom in the world.
Self-important world leaders, global “experts,” and anti-Trump commentators in the mainstream media can sneer at President Trump’s remarks to the United Nations General Assembly all they want. In the end, their supercilious opinions and condescending attitudes mean nothing, nothing. Trump was not interested in winning a popularity contest, as the Great Black Bollocks was. Trump spoke the truth about how the world really works. Sovereign nations are the locus of real power and legitimate governing authority in a world of diverse peoples and cultures.
At the outset of his speech, the president was met with derisive laughter from the assembled world leaders, ministers and ambassadors in the audience. They were mocking his claim that, in less than two years, “my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” In a quick rejoinder to the laughter, Trump smiled and said, “I wasn’t expecting that reaction but that’s ok.”
Then he proved his case with a recitation of facts demonstrating in the year since the president’s last remarks to the General Assembly, the Trump Administration has diminished major threats to world peace, including the imminent threats posed by the North Korean regime and ISIS.
“America is governed by Americans,” he told the General Assembly attendees who sat on their hands throughout much of the president’s speech, shook their heads or stared blankly ahead, and only mildly applauded at the speech’s conclusion. “America will always choose independence and cooperation over global governance,” he declared.
Then he got down to specifics and Trump singled out the ICC, the International Criminal Court for criticism, which, he said “has no legitimacy or authority. It claims near universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country, violating all principles of justice, fairness and due process.” He vowed to “never surrender America’s sovereignty” to such an “unelected, unaccountable” globalist body.
No wonder they sat on their hands. It must be remembered that these people believe in world government and here was Trump telling them they can go to blazes.
Every citizen in every land on earth heard the message – Australia for the Australians, French for the French, Poland for the Poles.
Just to drive it home he told them that the United States will not participate in the new global compact on migration. “Migration should not be governed by an international body, unaccountable to our own citizens.”
Hmmm. Didn’t Howard say the same – we decide who comes here?
In globalist circles, however, such talk is anathema. Globalists believe that national sovereignty is a relic of the past that should be consigned to the dustbin of history. The world, they argue, needs to be governed by a transnational system of international law under the auspices of a strengthened United Nations and sister global governance institutions such as the International Criminal Court.
UN expansionists have sought to create international institutional frameworks that would govern precisely the types of activities that nation states have historically reserved for themselves.
Trump has made it clear at the very top – he rejects the globalists’ premise and adheres to principle that the United States is a self-governing sovereign democratic republic for whose citizens the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. “In America, we believe in the majesty of freedom and the dignity of the individual,” he declared in his General Assembly address. “We believe in self-government, and rule of law. We prize the culture that sustained our liberty. Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived. And so, we must protect our sovereignty and our cherished Independence above all.”
He is not an isolationist.The United Nations, Trump said, has “unlimited potential” if adequately reformed to make it “more effective and accountable.” He called for fairer burden-sharing, declaring that “only when we each do our part and contribute our share, can we realize the United Nations highest aspirations.”
After settling that he told Iran to their faces that more pain was coming, he dismissed the Mad Mullahs as corrupt plunderers and oppressors. He told Syria to their faces he would bomb them if they tried the poison gas stunt again
Then he got stuck into Venezuela and their repressive, socialist regime that ruined Venezuela’s once prosperous economy. He announced there and then that there would be new sanctions targeting the inner circle and close advisers of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Next it was China’s turn; he repeated familiar complaints concerning unfair trade practices hurting the United States. Some countries admitted to the World Trade Organization have gamed the system while the United States and other nations have played by the rules. The countries acting unfairly “use government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises to rig the system,” He mentioned China by name and said that the tariffs were necessary to preven the plunder of US wealth.
OPEC came in for it too. They were blackmailing the world with oil. “We are not going to put up with it, these horrible prices much longer,” he warned, after noting that the United States has “become the largest energy producer anywhere on the face of the Earth.”
Finally, Trump made it clear that the days of the United States’ generosity in funding the United Nations and providing foreign aid were over. “We are grateful for all of the work the United Nations does around the world to help people build better lives for themselves and their families,” he said. However, the United States will not participate in dysfunctional UN bodies such as the Human Rights Council, which refused to reform its ways after repeated warnings from the president himself and U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.
Trump noted that the United States is “the world’s largest giver by far of foreign aid.” but such aid can no longer be considered an entitlement. “Moving forward,” he declared, “we will only give foreign aid to those who respect us and our friends.” The president said he was tasking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with heading up an effort to “examine what is working, what is not working, and whether the countries who receive our dollars and our protection also have our interests at heart.”
I think there will be heavy hearts in Palestine tonight.
80
Sometimes in moderation makes you wonder if it was worth the effort in the first instance, let alone modified as requested.
30
comment reply to PeterS in moderation.
00
Jo…enjoy!
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/officials-told-to-keep-public-in-the-dark-on-great-barrier-reef-splurge-20180927-p506ec.html
“Government officials were instructed to avoid revealing the $10 million price tag on a taxpayer-funded Great Barrier Reef public relations campaign, while researchers receiving $100 million to restore the natural wonder were also told to keep the deal quiet.
The back-room discussions, contained in documents tabled in the Senate, reveal the extent to which officials either sought to limit public knowledge surrounding a controversial $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, or themselves grappled with an information vacuum following the surprise decision.
The documents also detail an exclusive weekend for corporate heavy hitters hosted by the foundation at a luxury Hamilton Island resort, where participants enjoyed bonfires on the beach and snorkelling trips.
The government in April announced the record-breaking grant to the small, business-friendly foundation to carry out projects to improve the health of the reef, which faces devastating coral bleaching and other grave threats. A Senate inquiry is examining the controversial deal.
Briefing notes prepared by the Department of the Environment and Energy instructed officials on how to defend the grant decision, and what to say if asked about a reference in this year’s federal budget to separate spending on a Great Barrier Reef communications campaign.”
30
Im not surprised..
“The documents also detail an exclusive weekend for corporate heavy hitters hosted by the foundation at a luxury Hamilton Island resort” love it! They can wait for the net cyclone to flatten them while they are there.
20
Im not passing any judgement but heres an interesting take on the guy (Kavanaugh)
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/09/27/intel-drop-trump-and-kavanaugh-destroyed/
Remember Trump probably has dodgy a past, regardless of his anti AGW stance (which is good).
As for 1984..I think it started at about 2001..
00
Gordon Duff and his commenters are very sick puppies.
31
6 Sept: Nunatsiaq News: As ice and snow return, summer’s over in Nunavut
“It was a cold summer”
by JANE GEORGE
FROM CAPTION: At this time of the year, the Arctic ice cover is the highest it has been since 2014, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said Sept. 5. That’s although the minimum ice extent is expected to be one of the 10 lowest in the satellite record, the NSIDC said…
Snow has now fallen across Nunavut’s more northerly communities, from Kugluktuk to Qikiqtarjuaq, after a summer that also brought cool temperatures and heavy ice conditions to some parts of Nunavut.
So, if you were planning on snorkelling through the Northwest Passage, as one group plans to do in 2020, or taking a cruise ship through the storied Northwest Passage, this year might not have been a good choice.
“if you’re trying to get somewhere, and ice is in the way, it’s been a very bad year,” said Gilles Langis, a senior ice forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service.
It remains unclear if ice played a role in the grounding of the Ioffe Akademik on Aug. 24. The cruise ship was not sailing where it was supposed to be due to ice, according to an account by the journalist and author Ed Struzik, who was on board.
“Our cruise plan was changed at the last minute because ice prevented our ship from getting into the original starting point at Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island. We launched instead from Kugaaruk, which is several hundred miles south of the original departure point,” Struzik wrote in his recounting of the experience.
And, earlier this week, operators of the cruise vessel Hanseatic turned around and headed back east through the Northwest Passage, having decided that ice conditions were too bad to continue on to western Nunavut.
The Canadian Coast Guard also recently rescued two sailors from a smaller vessel that had run into bad ice conditions in the Bellot Strait.
Summing up the summer ice conditions in 2018, Langis said that in many areas it was “very challenging”—in parts of Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Baffin Bay and at various choke points in the Northwest Passage where the ice pushed in.
There, often you could find more ice, and different kinds of ice than usual…
For example, the NEAS vessel, MV Mitiq, is delayed due to ice conditions heading west from Pond Inlet to Cambridge Bay.
And things are unlikely to improve.
“We’re kind of in this period where we’re reaching minimum ice extent. It can happen between the first and third week of September where essentially all the ice melt has happened and we’re going back to other way and seeing new ice forming,” Langis said.
As for the weather, it’s not likely not to be warming up either.
“It was a cold summer,” said Brian Proctor from Environment Canada…
Iqaluit experienced its 13th coldest and 14th wettest year in 73 years, he said.
In Qikiqtarjuaq, where snow also came early, it was the seventh coldest summer in 22 years.
PIC
FIRST COMMENT:
WHAT SUMMER ?
http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674summers_over_in_nunavut_as_ice_snow_move_back_in/
27 Sept: AlaskaPublicMedia/NPR: The man who translates climate change data for Alaskans is retiring. Here’s a Q&A
By Nathaniel Herz
If you’re looking for concrete evidence of climate change in Alaska, here’s some: Fairbanks’ typical time between the last spring freeze and the first autumn one has increased by a full month in the past century.
That fact is courtesy of Rick Thoman, a federal climatologist based in Fairbanks. For the past five years, Thoman has been something like the voice of climate change in Alaska, measuring new trends against old baselines.
He retires this week after spending more than three decades with the National Weather Service, and next week he starts a new job with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks…
THOMAN: We are seeing changes in parts of Alaska and in some seasons that are beyond anything that’s occurred not just in living memory, but now we can push that past living memory.”…
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2018/09/27/the-man-who-translates-climate-change-data-for-alaskans-is-retiring-heres-a-qa/
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27 Sept: HIT104.7 SNOW REPORT – SEPTEMBER 27
There’s still time to hit the slopes!
Well it’s been an amazing season and this final week here in Thredbo is certainly going out with a bang…
Back-to-back sunny days and an extra 5cm of snow up top have made this week of spring riding one for the books. The coverage is great on piste – with top to bottom riding to enjoy, allowing everyone to make the most of Australia’s longest runs. Waking up on Wednesday morning was like a Winter Wonderland with a dusting of snow over the village and 5cm of fresh snow to play in up top. The winds picked up again on Thursday and we could even see another snow shower or two this weekend… either way, everyone will be making the most of the next few days…
12 lifts spinning in Thredbo and 27 on in Perisher…
https://www.hit.com.au/whats-on/canberra/hit1047-snow-report-september-27
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Peculiarly, Ford had the alleged attack on her person by the judge and one other down to a T. 100% vivid recall. After lecturing the committee on adrenaline and hippocampus and memory etc, she showed a remarkable inability to actually remember with any precision almost everything that she had done and with whom and at the suggestion of whom in preparation for presenting herself and her story to the committee. Her lawyer seemed to get her to run for cover under the guise of professional privacy when she was questioned on just how she had gone about the lead up to her presentation before the committee.
Nobody questions whether or not she may have had a nasty experience- itself unsupported by any of a reasonable number of people she hoped to be her witnesses. On the other hand, some of those same people back up Kavanaugh’s story that the event Ford described, to their memory, never took place (that’s under oath!)
The Democrats and their supporters have destroyed Kavanaugh’s reputation, and damaged his family of wife and young kids, by declaring him guilty without proof and probably knowing that there is a total lack of supporting witnesses for such a case ever to go before a Court. Indeed, the Democrats vitally need to force some public investigation of this mess for their own reputations to survive after their proof free
denunciations of Kavanaugh’s guilt. Such an official investigation would salve their consciences, that it was a strong enough case to justify their despicable acts, even if such an investigation revealed nothing.
This is how lowlife the left has become; it is a principle free zone in most of the Western World which it aims to pull down and undemocratically control. The left cannot afford to have black letter judges that run according to Constitutions as originally written and in regard to the principles under which Constitutions are written. This is why Trump’s election has blown them apart after they have had such an easy path towards globalisation and undemocratic control of the West eg EU, UN, and ‘Treaties’, under previous governments in most of the West.
It is only the Poles, Hungarians and the forgotten Middle classes of the USA that have rebelled and refuse any longer to follow the governing elites of the last 30years. These people all have the experience of the recent past under despotic leaders to know they aren’t going back again, especially when much of those pushing globalisation are working from the principles of shadow marxism.
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I also have to note that Dr. Ford has come a long way to a Professorship at Palo Alto university, heart of Silicon valley, Google, Facebook, Youtube,…
Not a professor of geology or computer science or medicine or engineering, this woman is a Professor of Psychology and her strong testimony shows she is no weakling.
So has she agreed to be the accuser, simply because she knows Kavanaugh? How could the single defining moment of her life be so unclear? Or didn’t it involve Kavanaugh at all? According to hundreds of people who have signed letters, this is all rubbish.
This is not justice or even a cry for justice. This is a calculated plot by Silicon Valley as part of the resistance. It shows how powerful they have become. All they needed was Dr. Ford. The question is really why would she do it? The answer is all too obvious. She is also managed by the same lawyer Michael Avenatti who represents Stormy Daniels. Is that accidental? Who organized that?
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Strong testimony? BS! Professional terminology.
Indefinite time, no place, no case.
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Ford has described a fairly generic party/dating disaster. Boy tries to do the ‘manly’ take charge thing – goes too fast, and gives the girl a fright (This was still in the age of girl resists/ boy persists.) His buddy crashes the ‘party’ and the girl starts to panic. Boys try to calm her down and only make it worse. There must be millions of women across the western world who have had something similar happen to them. This is what is making her believable – (something like that happened to me, she must be telling the truth) She says she knew who Judge and Kavanaugh where but her friend says she never met them. She can remember all the details – except any single detail that could give a profession investigation a starting foot hold. She might have been too distressed to remember how she got home. But she wasn’t distressed deciding to go, or getting to the party. How did she know it was on? Who invited her?
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talk about doublespeak!
26 Sept: Bloomberg: China Steps Up Its Push Into Clean Energy
Bloomberg News, With assistance by ***Feifei Shen
China is stepping up its push into renewable energy, proposing higher green power consumption targets and penalizing those who fail to meet those goals to help fund government subsidies to producers…
The world’s biggest energy consumer is aiming for renewables to account for at least 35 percent of electricity consumption by 2030, according to a revised draft plan from the National Development & Reform Commission seen by Bloomberg. Previously, the government has only set a goal for “non-fossil fuels” to make up 20 percent of energy use by 2030.
The NDRC and National Energy Administration ***didn’t immediately respond to faxed requests for comment, and calls to their press offices went unanswered. The new plan, known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard, ***is an update of an initial draft published in March.
The standard — which sets minimum consumption levels of electricity produced from renewable sources — is among efforts ***to ease the nation’s reliance on coal and combat pollution that blights the world’s most populous nation…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-26/china-sets-out-new-clean-energy-goals-penalties-in-revised-plan
Bloomberg 2 days before:
24 Sept: Bloomberg: China Is Adding More Coal Capacity
The projected expansion contrasts with government announcements of cutting unwanted and inefficient mines
by Jing Yang; With assistance by Aibing Guo, and Ben Sharples
For all its talk about cutting coal mining capacity, China actually plans to add more. The world’s biggest producer and user of the fuel may see net annual capacity additions of as much as 400 million tons by 2020, according to estimates from analysts including Wood Mackenzie Ltd. That’s about 10 percent of its current capacity and almost as much as Indonesia, the world’s biggest exporter, sells each year.
—
the writer who assisted with the 26 Sept piece of propaganda:
LinkedIn: Feifei Shen
Feifei is a Beijing-based reporter in Bloomberg News, covering renewable energy, climate change and the environment. Feifei owns a deep understanding of clean energy, sustainability, green finance and environmental policies with eight years of reporting experience.
Feifei maintains good connections with academia, policy makers, financial institutions and leading environmental organizations in China. Feifei keeps tracking industry development and conducts research and analysis in order to shape news coverage of the industry.
Feifei passed CFA Level 3 Exam in June 2015 and completed her master degree in accounting and finance in London School of Economics in 2009…
Renewable Eenergy Reporter, Bloomberg
January 2010 – Present
Deliver narratives to introduce trends in renewable energy, the environment and climate change for the Bloomberg Professional Service…
Maintain relationship with key news makers in the industry and government.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/feifei-shen-8012481a
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note use of ***RECENT average. versions of this are being carried worldwide:
27 Sept: USA Today: Unusually warm sea water boosted 2017’s catastrophic hurricane season
by Doyle Rice; Contributing: The Associated Press
The catastrophic 2017 hurricane season – which included such monsters as Harvey, Irma and Maria – was fueled in part by unusually warm ocean water, a new study suggests.
And because of human-caused global warming, the study said similar favorable conditions for fierce hurricanes will be present in the years and decades to come.
“We will see more active hurricane seasons like 2017 in the future,” said lead author Hiro Murakami, climate scientist and hurricane expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Last year, six major hurricanes formed, twice the ***recent average. By 2100, that average could soar to five to eight major hurricanes a year, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science (LINK)…
The researchers used computer simulations to pinpoint different climate conditions and also used the computer models to make predictions about the future…
Brian McNoldy, a University of Miami hurricane expert not involved in the study, said it makes sense that the unusually warm ocean water was to blame in 2017. But he wasn’t quite ready to blame global warming.
“Hurricane seasons don’t just keep getting more active as the climate warms, though. There is enormous variability,” McNoldy said…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/09/27/global-warming-warm-sea-water-fueled-catastrophic-2017-hurricane-season/1446609002/
Warm Waters Boosted 2017’s Major Hurricane Tally, Study Says
New York Times – 18h ago
Warm Waters Boosted 2017’s Major Hurricane Tally, Study Says
Daily Mail – 18h ago
Warm Atlantic waters led to 2017’s hyper hurricane season, study says
Sky News – 4h ago
21 Sept: NoTricksZone: NOAA: “No Compelling Evidence” Behind Claims Of More Hurricane Landfalls!
By P Gosselin
Despite all the signals being sent from every direction suggesting global warming is leading to more frequent and intense hurricanes, even the warmist NOAA is forced to confess that this has not been the ***long-term case.
About the claims of more hurricanes? Well, the NOAA says: wait another 30 to 50 years!
Sorry alarmists, but the data simply just don’t show it. That#s what the NOAA concludes…
http://notrickszone.com/2018/09/21/noaa-no-compelling-evidence-behind-claims-of-more-hurricane-landfalls/
13 Sept: NoTricksZone: New Science Says Hurricane Frequencies Are Declining, Yet U.S. Media Blame ‘Climate Deniers’ For Florence
By Kenneth Richard
http://notrickszone.com/2018/09/13/new-science-says-hurricanes-are-declining-yet-washington-post-blames-climate-deniers-for-florence/
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27 Sept: Guardian: Under-fire UN environment chief forced back to HQ
Erik Solheim, under pressure over frequent flying and rule-breaking, has also now recused himself over wife’s job
by Damian Carrington
The UN’s environment chief, under fire over huge travel expenses and rule-breaking, has been forced leave the UN general assembly in New York early and return to his Nairobi headquarters to deal with the growing crisis.
The problems for Erik Solheim, Norwegian head of the UN Environment Programme (Unep), include the Netherlands becoming the latest nation to withhold millions of dollars in funding until the issues are resolved.
The Guardian can also reveal that Solheim has now recused himself from professional dealings with his wife and a Norwegian company that employed her shortly after it signed a deal with Unep in April.
Pressure is growing on Solheim after he was sharply criticised by a draft internal UN audit over his $488,513 globe-trotting travels that called them “contrary to the ethos of carbon emission reduction”. The audit also said he had “no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules” and that he claimed unjustified expenses.
The UN staff union in Nairobi, where Unep is headquartered, called some of the draft audit’s findings “mind-blowing…
Solheim wrote to all 125 national ambassadors on the committee that oversees Unep’s work on Tuesday to tell them he was cutting short his New York trip and putting in place measures to increase the accountability of managers and their travel. “We will address issues of trust between management, our staff, member states and/or partners,” he said in a letter seen by the Guardian…
Unep is governed by the UN environment assembly, the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. Its president, Siim Kiisler, Estonia’s environment minister, told the Guardian the next steps to be taken would be decided when the internal audit was completed.
“I need to ensure that member states have full trust that their resources are used for the benefit of the environment,” Kiisler said. “I will read the official report carefully, talk to Mr Solheim and after that form a standpoint.”
He said Solheim’s travels had played an important role in making Unep visible, but added: “It certainly has to look and feel right as well, and of course, follow the rules of the system.”…
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Dutch government told the Guardian: “A planned payment of €8m will be held until Unep provides more clarity, and until it is clear that Unep is taking this matter seriously.”
The job taken by Solheim’s wife, Gry Ulverud, is with the Norwegian company X Four-10/REV Ocean, which aims to build the world’s biggest research ship as well as a “World Ocean Headquarter” near Oslo. On 4 May, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with Unep, although Unep did not issue a press release. On 1 June, Ulverud posted on her Facebook page: “Started New Job at at X Four-10/REV – Manager for Strategy and Partnership”. The page has now been removed (LINK).
“In relation to any notion of nepotism, I wish to clarify that my spouse was recruited to REV Ocean through an open, transparent and competitive process,” said Solheim. He said her recruitment was based on 25 years of professional experience “with the Norwegian Refugee Council, as a diplomat, as deputy representative to Unesco from 2014-2016 and over 10 years with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.”…ETC
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/27/under-fire-un-environment-chief-forced-back-to-hq-erik-solheim
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28 Sept: CNBC: Tesla shares plunge as Wall Street throws in towel, saying Musk departure could cost stock $130
•Tesla’s stock is falling as analysts voice concern about the negative effects from SEC’s lawsuit against CEO Elon Musk.
•”The SEC civil action may lead to Musk’s exit from Tesla (either permanently or temporarily) and the Musk premium in the shares dissipating,” Barclays analyst Brian Johnson says.
by Tae Kim
Shares of the automaker were down 12 percent in Friday’s premarket session…
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/tesla-shares-plunge-after-wall-street-panics-over-the-sec-lawsuit-against-musk.html
27 Sept: The Hill: Electric carmakers turn to Congress as tax credits dry up
By Miranda Green
Electric car manufacturers are only allowed to offer a federal tax break on their first 200,000 vehicles sold under a 2009 law, and many are now hitting that cap, most notably Tesla.
That’s setting off a fight in Congress, where Democrats are eager to extend the breaks and help the growing electric car industry but Republicans hope to end what they see as an unnecessary subsidy…
Conservative groups are equally opposed to extending the tax credits, arguing that it’s time the electric car industry stood on its own.
“Once you get these subsidies, once you get these handouts, it’s like a drug almost. It’s very hard for them to wean themselves off it,” said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, about electric carmakers.
“They want to extend tax credits because automakers know that if the tax credit goes away the likelihood of someone buying this vehicle drops precipitously.”…
The advocacy arms of Institute for Energy Research, the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Heartland Institute wrote a joint letter to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, last week objecting to any efforts to expand the credit in any way.
In the letter, the groups pointed to a 2018 study that found that nearly 80 percent of the electric car tax credits filed in 2014 were given to households with an average income of $100,000 or higher.
“You look at ownership, income, racial breakdown — we are subsidizing rich, white guys to buy their toys,” Pyle told The Hill…
Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), said Republicans don’t always follow through on eliminating green tax breaks. He called the debate over car credits a “test case.”
“How [the electric vehicle credit] ends up has consequences far beyond this particular subsidy.”
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/408654-electric-carmakers-turn-to-congress-as-tax-credits-dry-up
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Sorry if this is redundant, but last night, Sean Hannity (Fox News) had Juanita Broderrick (sp?) on, asking about the alleged encounter with then-governor Bill Clinton.
The double-standard stupid, it burns!!!!!
Vlad
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BigBrotherCorporation:
27 Sept: BBC blog: ‘If Europe’s ports are underwater, Brexit may seem less important’: we’re expanding climate change coverage
by Jo Floto, editor, The World Tonight, Newshour
From 3 October The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 and Newshour on BBC World Service will be covering climate change every week.
The BBC’s been reporting for a long time that climate change is not some distant issue whose effects that will only be felt by our grandchildren.
Temperature rises are affecting crops, changing the rainforests, and putting massive amounts of extra energy into the world’s weather systems. Rising temperatures are pushing malaria into parts of Africa that have never had the disease.
The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has made the oceans more acidic, so much so that we can actually observe the shells of tiny snails being dissolved by the water, threatening the entire marine food chain.
While the BBC has been consistently covering all of this, and investing heavily in specialist correspondents, climate change doesn’t always get the attention it deserves…READ ALL
8 COMMENTS AT TIME OF POSTING, 2 REMOVED: This comment was removed because it broke the house rules:
loco_p_man
Thanks – this is exactly what we need from the BBC. I love the fact you are showing some leadership on this and I really hope your colleagues in other news programmes (Today, World at One, PM) follow your initiative. Thank you !
Posted by jeremymathieu
This is really exciting!! I am looking forward to setting the stories coming through from around the world. It’s a great opportunity to make climate change (and the transition to a net zero carbon works) more tangible and less abstract it jargony.. a great chance to hear about how others around the world are already impacted. That blog post really made my day!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/653495fc-7cbb-474c-b51f-bb0ba19b3905
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Don’t forget this woman has been a quasi-shrink, Dr. Phil(Phylis) for decades with a PhD meaning she:
1. did lots of research
2. did lots of writing
3. did lots group therapy
4. did lots of counseling
In short, a highly skilled person with a full scope of mental gymnastics including role playing. PLUS she had Google interns stay at her home. Google interns.
Her whining little teen voice, fear of shadows, et al, would have been easily staged.
And not knowing how to contact the White House or a Senate Committee. Gee, even if she was a dumb as a pebble, all she needed to do was to ask her “beach friends” how to Google. Seriously?
I do hope that one of the named, smeared persons named by Ford, sue her for defamation and depose her and expose her. Sadly, she’s already raised over 600,000 US$ and will now enter the Anita Hill Hall of Fame. And then there’s all the rest of her behavior, the world traveler that she is, the activist that she is, et al, that add to her stench.
No way to classify her other than an evil person that must have known exactly the course of action by the Dems. Would anyone be surprised if she didn’t actually help in the staging along with practicing the role?
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And did she ever, ever, then or in the 36 years since, use mind altering substances?
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Me Too movement has on flaw which disturbs.
Collusion. One person accuses.
Then there is plenty of time for others to collect information about events and construct whatever tales they chose based on focus groups which have discussed this online.
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Thermosphere rapidly cooling.
“We see a cooling trend,” says Martin Mlynczak of NASA’s Langley Research Center. “High above Earth’s surface, near the edge of space, our atmosphere is losing heat energy. If current trends continue, it could soon set a Space Age record for cold.” wuwt
A quiet sun does have an impact.
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As I wrote:-
So, we can infer from your replies, which are of course all given on Oath and peril of Perjury, that its okay to fly for work, or for holidays, or indeed to see your folks; but when it comes to meeting with Senate representatives who wish to test your memories of thirty-six-odd years ago; your well-documented ‘fear of flying’ just kicks straight in?
“Yes.”
“I am sorry to repeat myself, but no camera, no audio, no standardised response questions: nothing at all? In what form did the polygraph test take place?”
“I read out a statement, handwritten by myself, and the man conducting the test asked me if I was telling the truth; and I replied in the affirmative. He also asked me if I was lying, and I replied in the negative. I am not a liar.”
If the witness is female; she just has to be telling the truth: if the witness is male, he is automatically damned for all eternity, presumably for the possession, if not the use, of a penis.
Justice…..American style!
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