It’s being hailed as a “soaring investment” but it’s just the fake fiat carbon scheme that has been fiddled back to life. The EU ETS market had too many credits and crashed down to 5 Euro or less by 2013. On deaths door, the EU decided to cull a quarter of the credits for the EU ETS every year starting in 2019 and the price predictably went back up. The big success of this unnecessary unfree market is that it has added a tariff to cheap coal to make it just as expensive as gas, and pushed up electricity prices in the EU.
Any illusion of generating economic wealth, or energy efficiency is purely coincidental. There’s no supply and no demand, no extra products or productivity — and without government force, no market at all for imaginary carbon penances. It draws money from every consumer and hands it to gas, and renewables giants, as well as bankers, crooks and VAT Tax cheats. And if this market goes global it’s potentially a $7 Trillion dollar money-making racket for bankers. No wonder HSBC, Deutche Bank, Goldman Sachs, BBVA and Citigroup want to “save the world”.
Back to 2008:
Government decisions largely set the EU ETS Prices, 2008 – 2019
Carbon credits are not an investment. They are a speculative bet on what the worlds governments will do. If the public turns against carbon reduction, and the mood changes, the market is a dead-man walking. There’s a lot of money here that has an interest in keeping skeptical views out of the public light. Just saying…
We can tell this is not a real market. Real free markets make things cheaper. Communist markets just make things worse.
Once-Unpopular Carbon Credits Emerge as One of the World’s Best Investments
By DAVID HODARI, Wall Street Journal (The Australian)
Carbon-emission credits, long shunned by traders, are now one of the world’s best-performing investments.
The big players are still financial houses and speculators not generators:
Back in 2013 Banks and trading houses bought two-thirds of carbon permits. Now not much has changed:
The recovery has drawn back investors who largely abandoned the market when prices collapsed last decade.
“It’s attracting hedge-fund speculators,” said Norbert Rücker, head of economics at Swiss private bank Julius Baer. “With this move, carbon has really come back to life this year and it’s attracted a lot of interest — we have clients reaching out to us asking about it.”
Orwellian Translation: “free market” = fake market, and industrial “polluters” = global free fertilizers:
The higher prices mean that it now costs industrial polluters almost as much to use coal as it does to use cleaner natural gas. Putting the two markets on an equal footing means carbon prices are driven by factors similar to the ones that affect gas prices, such as high summer temperatures.
They’re taxing one fuel more than the other so “Equal footing” means “unequal footing.”
Fake markets attract frauds. When you’re selling a product no one needs, no one even cares if it’s fake.
Posts from long ago about the EU ETS
Also consider if by some miracle the entire carbon scheme is exposed just as above and it collapses, will the real people behind it be arrested and the money recovered?
Thought not.
220
And for yet more amusement
At the Bureau of Misinformations
Expertly sited weather stations
Head to Ken’s Kingdom
https://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/
This time it’s the hot & smelly
BOM site at Launceston
At the sewerage treatment plant
And the purely overheated
BOM site at Olympic Park
In Melbourne.
I am coming to the conclusion that the BOM’s experts
Were hired from the cast
Of an old Zig & Zag TV show
For Kids.
Lots of amusement
But bugger all weather site expertise.
60
I dream that you’re right. Please God it is so – but I don’t think God has a vote at the UN.
Cheers,
Mike
40
“Real free markets make things cheaper. Communist markets just make things worse.”
Well said Joanne, loony socialist like krazy communist will never understand the free market as they believe free markets require ‘control’ (over-regulation). They have never understood the supply/demand paradigm.
180
How do the health and drug industry’s in the USA stack up – they’re the most expensive “free market” in the world
315
“Free” as in highly regulated, very corrupt? The people want perfect health in a poppable tablet with no side effects and cheap too. They don’t want to have to think about the reputation of the company. They just want to trust the government / doctors to think for them. What could possibly go wrong?
There are about five layers of middle-men between the customer and the producer, and huge money and lives at stake.
Do you know what a free market is Peter?
220
““Free” as in highly regulated, very corrupt?”
See, Jo pulls you straight back onto subject by pointing out the highly regulated, subsidised and very corrupt world of renewable energy.
The similarities are obvious.
“Free market™” Renewables.. jack up the price.
“Free market™” drugs etc.. jack up the price.
110
Check the price for insulin in the USA and Canada
112
[snipped CAPS yelling, repetition] …pointless attempt at non-discussion. !!
60
Drongo,
Have a look in the “pharmacies” of China and India. The modern and ancient medications therein ain’t really cheap.
But then again, you are only in the business of criticising capitalism and the USA.
20
Then why are the drugs so expensive, in such a regulated market? Another example would be education, how can Germany offer almost free education, while in Australia and America (as examples) the student incurs a huge debt.
Wikipedia
In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are determined by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities.[1] Proponents of the concept of free market contrast it with a regulated market in which a government intervenes in supply and demand through various methods such as tariffs used to restrict trade and to protect the local economy. In an idealized free-market economy, prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy.
I’m guessing it is that economic privilege that you are suggesting is the problem, as that would explain the American experience.
Mind you, the wiki def ignores cartel (as in the oil shock of the 70’s), or the intervention of private interests in ‘natural monopolies’ like electricity distribution in Australia
Is there any example of a pure free market in operation? I would suggest building of apartment blocks in Sydney, but that is not working out so well.
115
You answered it: “Then why are the drugs so expensive, in such a ***regulated*** market? ”
Closest thing to a free market? Ebay. Uber.
Taxi’s = regulated. Uber = so much cheaper with better competition it threatens the whole taxi industry.
130
And everyone makes a living wage? I note that the head of Uber just paid 72 million for a shack in Los Angeles. None of the drivers have bought the house next door for example. But I do agree with you about EBay.
313
Peter, and a “living wage” is a whole lot harder to reach thanks to fake markets like the EU ETS / carbon market / Renewable Energy Target.
The best way to help the poor is to reduce government interference, get rid of fake markets, and stop corruption. Raising the minimum wage won’t solve any of those things — it will mean less jobs.
Making energy more expensive hurts the poor, steals from their quality of life, far more than it hurts the rich. Where are you — defending the millionaires…
160
[snip flame war comment]
Of course the guy who came up with and started a good idea makes the money.
Do you really think a driver should get the same wage ???
Are you really that socialist minded and self-entitled !!!!
90
Everyone has a right to make a living wage, and it the individuals responsibility to make it so. It is no my or anyone else responsibility to ‘give’ a living wage to anyone. You and everyone have to use and market their own talents to earn a living. It is not the job of government as a collective to ensure everyone get a ‘living wage’.
Uber drivers are not forced into work, it is their choice. And choice and not over regulation, or unnecessary state control (via ‘the politics of envy’), that separates free markets from the failed communist system.
Regulating markets destroys choice, destroys market diversity, stifles innovation, reduces jobs, … etc, etc.
So, Peter Fitzroy, where’s the upside to your ‘tried many times and always failed’ idea.
51
Apropos head of Uber profits… Uber drivers make a living, Uber passegers get to where they need to go at a competitive price, win-win-win. Cf Carbon tax on air. Nation’s economy drained, cits get nothing, UN bureaucrats amass yet moah undeserved wealth, lose-lose-win.
100
Jim Penman perhaps (founder of Jim’s Mowing, and now a host of other franchises).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Penman
Jim has doe well! AFAIK the mowing men (mostly white old guys like me) are also quite happy with their jobs, earning a “living wage” in the Free Market.
80
“‘tried many times and always failed’”
A great description of his posts !!
40
So No real refutation of my point that here are no truely free markets, apart for the hippies on eBay. Every other economic sphere is either under a kleptocracy, or is regulated within an inch of its life. Individual productivity has improved, but is not flowing into higher wages. Lets celebrate/sarc
08
Peter don’t be a dolt.
Most of what we shop for on a daily basis is freely traded. Regulation for health and safety is mostly wise but regulation needs to be watched by a free people lest it become a tool.
Monopolies need to be restrained or broken. (slightly less than free trade).
Corporate giants need to be monitored and prevented from abusing others.
Kleptocracy needs to be curtailed.
Likewise government needs to be restrained.
“Free Market” is a construct and you know it. As free as possible is best.
40
You never made any point, PF
You just did your usual mindless waffle and gibberish.
Not one piece of REALITY in the whole idiotic diatribe.
“Individual productivity has improved”
Yet YOURS is still basically a big fat ZERO !!!
You just WANT something for the NOTHING you produce.
A FREE platter. Paid for by someone else’s work.
You haven’t produce one bit of real evidence for anything, PF
30
“apart for the hippies on eBay.”
I can buy some goods FAR CHEAPER than on eBay..
You know… on the FREE market.
And I know exactly what I am getting.
20
‘Is there any example of a pure free market in operation?’
Not laissez faire.
The building boom in the capitals, ugly monstrosities, has kept Australia out of recession at a cost.
‘ … the intervention of private interests in ‘natural monopolies’ like electricity distribution in Australia.’
Never let them get hold of the power generation, poles and wires, communication systems etc. Its late in the day, but we still have the option of a buy back from the free racketeers.
Socialism with Australian characteristics is already visible in our mixed economy.
70
“Then why are the drugs so expensive, in such a regulated market? “
Oh ye, of little to zero comprehension !!! LOL !!
70
Everyone except the “one” knows the answer.
Government sponsored corruption by left and right governments.
KK
10
Peter Fitzroy says …
“Another example would be education, how can Germany offer almost free education, while in Australia and America (as examples) the student incurs a huge debt.”
Again Peter Fitzroy, you are wrong!
Nobody gets education for ‘free’, there is a price to pay in learning, and someone has to pay it.
80
edit- passengers with an ‘n’.
30
LOL. Come off it PF.
Strawman on steroids, because you can’t argue the actual subject.
Really childish attempt at distraction !
130
Let’s see…free market you say. I can tell that you don’t live here Peter because there’s no free market in healthcare here. And it’s much too long an off topic story to try to tell it. Jo will get mad at me if I do. Just be content to be a good little
boysucker and buy all the carbon credits you can. They will make you rich don’t ya know!?30
I hope someone with the resources to keep an eye on the situation here in Australia is constantly watching our mob.
While that Paris Accord is around, supposedly gathering dust on an archive shelf, it can & will be brought back to life by stealth. It’s a revenue source that is very tempting & refuting its is the last thing on Government agenda. They say it’ll not be implemented ……so why don’t they dump it?
Should labor win power before it is completely shredded they will certainly, with much glee, dust it off and reactivate it. It is after all TAX revenue.
They’ll use that UN Accord on migration as well to re-open our borders as well!
130
Hey, all the QE money has to get siphoned off to the Elite Bonus Suckling Bankers somehow!
[ Especially the Goldman Sachs types – didnt they get the gig to design Carbon Trading for the UN?]
P.S. the great thing about the Cashless/Fully Digital Economy is that Weimar Wheel Barrows will not be needed here or the Caymans…………
150
‘a $7 Trillion dollar money-making (ponzi scheme) racket for bankers.’ Along with toxic derivatives and toxic hedge fund hyenas. Its pretty obvious whos pulling the strings on this. Its spelled W A L L S T. (add in L O N D O N too).
60
Yep, & our syncophantic Bank Suckler Uppers [ Federal Politicians ] are Forking us all up onto their Banquet Table with a Trident of:-
1. Bail-in Legislation [ passed last year 14/02/18 – a real Valentines Gift]
2. Cash limitations – legislation in the pipeline with blank pages & including regs which can be changed without debate.= Cashless Economy
3. Coming to an economy near YOU! – Negative Interest Rates
So The people of Australia will be enslaved to both the Taxation System & the PRIVATELY OWNED BANKS
[~~ 40% of which is held by the same Dark Crew who want to have a single global currency – Carbon or otherwise]
60
I think time to start buying hard assets like property or other stuff….once your money is in a bank , it can be raided by the govt.
In the 1930s the US govt forced everyone to put thier gold in Fort Knox, then promptly stole it…a forced bail-in.
Think it cant happen again?
My thoughts are the next world war, they will raid our Super funds ( which is probably why its compulsory )…to pay the arms manufacturers who will then literally make a financial killing from killing.
Wall Street financed Hitler……
20
Where to park invented money?
You can only inflate real estate so much. Electrified car fleets to replace the compact diesel car fleets of the last green con will take too much time. Crypto-currencies are too volatile, metals are cumbersome and those London gnomes might lose the key to your vault…
I know! Invest in a fraction of thin air! Or rather, invest in someone not using or being allowed to use a fraction of thin air and then buy that right to use or not use…aw, you guys know what I mean. Let’s get investing and worry about the point of it all later. It’s not like the money is real until some poor mug has to pay it back.
130
The thing is, in order to sabotage the middle class and its wealth, the easiest thing to do that is excessive taxation by govt.
Enter the carbon tax….
130
And in Australia earlier, the renewable energy levy, and together with the carbon tax on our electricity bills, plus GST.
120
We all have to understand our government is desperate for more revenue to help claw back the national debt. Currently the Morrison government doesn’t want to use direct taxes but it does seek to do it by way of indirect taxes. The “carbon tax” is one such way. According to the Department of Environment and Energy they are still very serious about reducing our emissions big time. For example, from their web site:
O
In other words we effectively have a carbon tax by stealth, something the ALP+Greens could not have achieved so well.
111
Just one of many reasons I refused to vote for them, I don’t trust the Liberal in Canberra at all.
Sneak carbon tax schemes [corruption], $500 million ‘free’ money to reef lobbyist buddies [corruption], and just yesterday they gave another $500 million to Pacific Islands States due to their constant climate-change lies and blackmail [corruption], which just encourages them all the more and makes their fantasy seem ‘justifiable’, there, in the UN and in Canberra [corruption].
That’s another $500 million that we worked to earn that went to our constitutional central Government to be spent on Australians, for Australia’s benefit and was again given away to our enemies who just pretend to be our friends™.
If Morrison’s Cabinet felt they needed to ‘compete’ with China’s [corruption] in buying-off some fake fair weather ‘friends™’ of Australia [corruption], at least be honest to Australians [corruption], and to the Pacific Islands [corruption], and to the World [corruption], Morrison.
Try telling the truth for once Christian [corruption], and stop stealing from taxpayers [corruption].
And how does France manage to get a $50 billion dollar contract for Submarines that don’t exist even on paper, let alone off the shelf, to be delivered after 2040, when we need them in the 2020s [well corruption of course!]. So now we have to spend tens of billions of tax dollars more in life-extending the Collins class, which frankly seems to be the point of this particular Liberal party corruption effort, and a golden opportunity for the Liberals to get political donations for related companies and individuals, and to garner job offers for senior liberals in industry thereafter, plus whatever shenanigans when on with the French. Look at it this way, $50 billion couldn’t have allowed us to build a US, French or Brit nuclear sub design, in Australia, and deliver them to RAN far faster than France apparently can do it in four decades? The last French sub contracted is scheduled for delivery in 2057!
What a joke! What a stench! What a Liberal-Nationals government we have in Canberra! They actually openly called it the, “War after next submarine fleet”. Boy are we getting reamed and taken for complete suckers.
Our political parties don’t work for us and the Libs are just another example of it, they are fake-conserves and we are supposed to glibly accept any extenuating ‘justification’ offered [corruption] for such behavior, and still vote for them, for they are Conservative™.
We still need to drain that swamp in Canberra, and need a real leader to do it, and this sneak-carbon-tax saga is just one of the ways that we’re being fleeced, while clearly being setup for much more shearing-off of Australian taxation dollars of the sheep’s back for ‘others’ to have, instead of for Australia.
Apparently we needed a holy democratic government to do this to us, it’s world’s best practice.
81
The problem relates to both sides, Labor Green and Liberal National.
And, the left faction that infiltrated the NSW Liberal Party HQ and extended their influence to other areas, who refer to their faction as Black Hand, who aimed to wreck the centre right of both Liberal and National and almost succeeded before being blocked late in 2018.
The BHF agenda was to merge with Labor Greens to form an all powerful single governing party to manouvre Australia into the EU and UN socialism globalism octopus.
50
During 2006 journalist Max Walsh wrote in The Bulletin Magazine about the “corporate style takeover” by the Union Movement of the Australian Labor Party.
He wrote that the unions were plotting to take control of Australia’s governments. And that union trained executives were being placed into safe Labor seats.
The Australian Workers Union was behind establishment of the US-Soros associated activist organisation they call GetUp in Australia, AWU senior executive Bill Shorten was involved and later became a GetUp director. The Turnbull Black Hand Faction was working from the inside of the NSW Liberal Party towards the same goals.
Recently Nigel Farage commented that the UN has no real power. Of course not, but using treaties signed with member nations, and with elected representatives support for the UN agendas without consulting we the people, the UN gets what the UN wants.
The EU is of course a major part of the globalism movement.
80
Australian Labor Attorney General Evatt, a communist, and lawyer, recommended to the UN when it was established and when his comrades infiltrated the UN, that the UN should enter into as many treaties as possible with member nations to enable compliant governments to get around constitutional law to impose UN agendas.
100
UN Agenda 21 blueprint for the globalist utopia. https://beththeserf.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/55th-edition-serf-under_ground-journal/
90
As I’m reading your 55th edition, and the information on the Trilateral Commission, I thought I’d post this link again. I posted it a couple of days ago but it was late in that thread and so here it is again. It’s a recording of a recent talk given by Patrick Wood.
http://technocracy.studio/e/technocracy-on-the-road-to-scientific-dictatorship/
50
As I’m reading beththeserf’s 55th edition, and the information on the Trilateral Commission, I thought I’d post this link again. I posted it a couple of days ago but it was late in that thread and so here it is again. It’s a recording of a recent talk given by Patrick Wood.
http://technocracy.studio/e/technocracy-on-the-road-to-scientific-dictatorship/
30
O/T When the wind doesn’t blow and you want breakfast
07:25 13/05/19 AEMO Data dashboard
Qld $85.46, NSW $101.23, Vic $783.47, Tas $668.12, SA $795.72
200
It’s just disgusting, isn’t it?
50
You reap what you sew. They have at least a decade more of this baked-in already.
60
Emissions Trading Schemes were always the globalist’s dream wealth creation scheme, they have climbed aboard the UN IPCC gravy train as supporters of emissions reduction investments, the transition to unreliable energy, electric vehicles and infrastructure, and the know that man made global warming caused by carbon dioxide is a hoax: “socialism masquerading as environmentalism”.
When the Gillard Labor Government announced their carbon tax Minister Greg Combet was questioned by a radio journalist, he admitted that ten per cent of that tax would be remitted to the UN, and questioned further he admitted that carbon tax would eventually become emissions trading, as proposed by the Rudd Labor Government and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull earlier. When asked how it would work Combet said that Australia would join the EU ETS, our taxes sent to Europe.
120
So this is an EU ETS scheme.
And people can’t understand why Britons voted to get out of the EEU.
KK
150
Scam of the century if not bigger. Eventually though the scam artists will be brought to justice as more and more people wake up to the reality of the situation (meaning life long prison sentences. I just wonder if I live long enough to witness it.
140
As Nigel Farage observed: what would people prefer, to be defended by NATO with the UK and US or a military force reporting to the EU politicians.
150
collected these updates yesterday, but figured the “f” word would create a problem when posting. here goes – but don’t expect anything from the FakeNewsMSM:
7 Aug: CityAM UK: London Deutsche Bank trader charged in Germany for ‘VAT fraud’
by Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Prosecutors declined to identify the trader although the Bureau understands the man charged is Hector Freitas, a former employee at Deutsche Bank’s London office who was named in a Bureau investigation into VAT fraud earlier this year.
The bank repaid €145m (£124m) during the course of an investigation which found employees had helped fraudsters escape with vast sums of VAT owed to German tax authorities. Seven of its employees were prosecuted in 2016 and one was handed a three-year prison sentence…
The scam ran in Germany from September 2009 to April 2010, coming to an end when police raided hundreds of offices and homes across Germany, including Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters.
But the fraud had its seeds in the UK, where through the summer of 2009 fraudsters stole an estimated £300m from HMRC. A decade later, lawyers are still chasing the money through the courts, the Bureau recently reported…
Fraudsters pocketed the VAT from the sale of permits allowing companies to emit greenhouse gases, known as carbon credits. The scheme was intended to encourage companies to lower their carbon footprint but was dogged by fraud…
https://www.cityam.com/london-deutsche-bank-trader-charged-in-germany-for-vat-fraud/
7 May: CityAM UK: Deutsche Bank scandal: Courts still chasing billions through tax scams and carbon credits
by Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Traders in London facilitated the so-called “carousel” fraud by organised crime gangs in 2009, which involved the trading of carbon credits, permits which allow a country or organisation to emit greenhouse gases…
These credits were eventually bought and sold by Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Citibank among others, a key step in the fraudsters’ plans, court documents show…
https://www.cityam.com/tax-scammers-and-carbon-credits-decade/
2 Jul: Times of Israel: Trial starts for Franco-Israeli man accused in carbon credits scam
Stephane Alzraa, who was extradited from Israel, charged with organized fraud, aggravated money laundering and criminal conspiracy in $57 million scheme
by TOI staff and AFP
The trial of a French-Israeli dual national accused of involvement in a huge tax fraud involving carbon credits known as the “scam of the century” opened in the French city of Lyon on Monday…
The French government has estimated it lost €1.6 billion in unpaid VAT taxes this way and the total loss to all European countries is estimated at €5 billion-€10 billion.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trial-starts-for-franco-israeli-man-accused-in-carbon-credits-scam/
90
part 1 in moderation.
7 May: Irish Times: Complex alleged frauds estimated to cost EU taxpayers billions of euro a year
Leaked files reveal Irish banks and shell companies were used in transactions involving companies and individuals under investigation for tax fraud
by Jack Horgan-Jones
The files relate to multiple investigations by police forces and tax investigators into sophisticated alleged frauds which are estimated to cost European taxpayers billions of euro a year…
Documents show that clients of both Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland were unwittingly involved in trades with individuals or companies suspected of being part of VAT fraud and so-called “carousel fraud”…
Carbon credits
Much of the leaked material relates to the trade of carbon credits. These were created as part of a European policy to drive down harmful carbon emissions. Companies were incentivised to use low-emissions technologies as they could sell credits for amounts of carbon below the limit imposed on them…
Insiders who spoke to The Irish Times said that the market was under- regulated, and the VAT treatment of carbon credits made it a magnet for fraudsters. One of the companies which was involved with Carbon Warehouse’s Irish subsidiary appears thousands of times in the leaked files. It is called Eucalyptus Worldwide…
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/complex-alleged-frauds-estimated-to-cost-eu-taxpayers-billions-of-euro-a-year-1.3882548
9 Jun: Bureau of Investigative Journalism: From the UK to Dubai: On the trail of the “fraud of the century”
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has worked with the Sunday Times, the German non-profit Correctiv and 35 European newsrooms to review thousands of leaked documents from HMRC and prosecutors from across Europe, in a project called Grand Theft Europe…
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-06-09/from-preston-to-dubai-the-vat-fraud-trail
71
12 Jul: L’ExpressFrance: Carbon tax fraud: Stéphane Alzraa sentenced to 9 years in prison
by L’Express & AFP
The French-Israeli Stéphane Alzraa was sentenced on Friday to nine years in prison for his involvement in the Lyon component of a vast tax fraud against CO2, covering nearly 51 million euros…
Resale of rights to pollute increased
In this CO2 fraud, the 38-year-old Franco-Israeli is considered by justice to be “in the forefront of Lyon’s organization”. The scam concerns a classic VAT fraud applied to the European carbon market, designed to fight against global warming…
The injured State of 1.6 billion euros
Described as a “scam of the century”, this fraud has involved dozens of people and reportedly hurt the French public finances by 1.6 billion euros, according to the estimates of the Court of Auditors in 2012, and about five billions of euros at European level, according to Europol…
Stéphane Alzraa…had fled France in 2015 on a leave of absence, while he was incarcerated for abuse of social good. Arrested in November 2016 under the name of David Bloomberg during a road check in Tel Aviv, he had been extradited and imprisoned in France last April. For his escape, the court sentenced him to 18 months in prison…
The case of 39-year-old Mickael Aknin, designated as the Lyonnais associate, who is being extradited from Israel, was disjointed(?) for trial on 9 December.
https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/justice/fraude-a-la-taxe-carbone-stephane-alzraa-condamne-a-9-ans-de-prison-ferme_2089360.html
80
“hurt the French public finances by 1.6 billion euros”
MEMO to crooks: Don’t try grabbing food from a giant crocodile.
Sorry: that should read giant hungry crocodile.
110
In a broader sense its like a cryptocurrency, speculation based on pure assumption without solid support.
90
20 June: Guardian: HMRC cracks down on gangs over renewable energy VAT fraud
Emergency action came into effect without notice to avoid tipping off fraudsters
by Jillian Ambrose
Criminal gangs are targeting the renewable energy industry in the latest wave of VAT fraud that has been blamed for draining billions of euros from the EU every year.
HM Revenue & Customs said it had cracked down on the trading of renewable energy certificates “with immediate effect” to counter “a serious and credible threat to the VAT system”…
The fraudsters are understood to be charging VAT on the sale of renewable energy “certificates of origin”, which they siphon off rather than pass on to HMRC.
The certificates are typically issued by renewable energy developers to energy suppliers as a guarantee that the electricity has come from a specific project…
According to Richard Asquith of the tax expert Avalara, HMRC may have had inside information on recent fraud in the sector before taking action without a consultation, which he said was usual practice in urgent cases.
Asquith said the so-called “missing trader” fraud has been rampant in the UK in recent years. The fraud is is estimated to cost EU states a total of ***€150bn (£133bn) a year in lost VAT revenue…
Fraudsters have also infiltrated the UK’s carbon credit market and the wholesale electricity trading…
It is the third time VAT fraudsters have targeted “green trading” in recent years after a €5bn EU-wide carbon trading fraud in 2009.
The scam re-emerged in 2014, targeting gas and electricity wholesale traders…
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/19/hmrc-targets-fraudsters-taking-billions-in-renewable-energy-vat-certificates
20
O/T
Oops, there goes another $500 million…
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/morrison-to-give-500m-in-climate-change-funds-to-pacific/news-story/9624cd0d62301bc2c8b4a0f68bfd7492
40
A whole Aussie city worked and paid taxes for a year so Morison could give it all away to people who needed to be bought-off so that they don’t flip sides on a whim to CHICOM-land, while using the climate change and sea level rise lies as the pretext.
I want a PM that tells the Pacific Islands to go to hell.
160
Foreign aid is OK — but lets give the people of the South Pacific something useful, not a cure for fashionable fantasies. China is not building useless sea walls …
210
There are two real big problems in the Pacific islands.
1: Over population. The birth rate is very high and the actual surface area of these islands is not increasing.
2: Apart from tourism and some planation crops, there are no industries and hence bugger all jobs.
Endemic poverty is one major result.
And a strong desire by many folks to leave and seek a better fortune elsewhere.
50
I would rate the Pacific Islands No. 1 problem as tribalism, political cronyism and financial corruption.
Micronesia asked to become part of Australia because they thought that they might be drowned by rising sea levels.
Their approach was rejected. Unfortunately in my opinion.
It would have cost Australian taxpayers money to provide services on all those islands, but land rights and sea rights possibilities seemed to me to be very large.
Win win for Micronesians and mainland Australia
60
Interesting.
20
Credlin took up this issue tonight and nailed it Jo.
60
Mr Dutton then added, “time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door”.
Its a standing joke, they are dressing up foreign aid in climate change clothes.
Our best footy players come from the Pacific islands and it wouldn’t be appropriate to tell them to go to hell.
81
If we cut off aid, China will be there in a week to fill the vacuum. They would love nothing better. Like Jo says, give the islands the aid they need, but call it what it is. Don’t perpetuate the myth that we are compensating them for our supposed climate change sins.
I want a PM who calls global the warming scam out for what it really is — a la Abbott.
I want a PM who dumps the Paris Accord and its associated BS, and quashes all the downstream effects like the Gloucester coal case.
I want a PM who isn’t stupid enough to send Turnbull to represent Australia at climate pow-wows.
I want a PM who tells the truth about renewables and who, along with his Energy Minister, ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING to undo the damage done to our power system. Talkin’ to you Angus — get your digit out quick smart.
I want a PM who ends the RET early and introduces a system where dispatchable power has grid precedence over erratic power sources (and who makes wind “farm” owners clean up their derelict eyesores when they fail or become uneconomic).
I want a PM who sends Audrey Zibelman packing and axes the multiplicity of electricity market quangos. We did just fine before they came along.
I want a PM who defunds the ABC and SBS propaganda outfits. Let them survive as commercial services or Pay TV for any brainwashed enough to sign up.
I want a PM who defunds universities that will not comply with a code of free speech and true academic principles. Show us the data. External audits of papers. That can apply equally to the CSIRO.
I want a PM who will call out the BOM and get it properly audited, preferably by Steve McIntyre (of Climate Audit fame.)
I want a PM with guts, not this fence-sitting clown, our missing-in-action PM, the pinnacle of whose career was a Lara Bingle ad.
Where the bloody hell are ya Scott?
180
‘Where the bloody hell are ya Scott?’
I agree, but we shouldn’t expect miracles from this character.
Which of your points is the weakest link, to bring down the whole facade?
60
That’s it.
50
NB: ******Past performance is not an indication of future performance*****Investors should invest at their own risk.******
30
What a racket.
20
I see John Quiggan has gone full **** at The Conversation with unsubstantiated claims and name calling:
https://theconversation.com/adani-beware-coal-is-on-the-road-to-becoming-completely-uninsurable-121552
As is the tactic of leftists these days, they will try to put you out of business by attacking monetary sources, or in this case insurance. I notice The Convo is waaaay toooo scared to allow comments on this feral diatribe. I wonder why? Can’t take criticism? typical cult behaviour.
80
perfect for theirABC:
13 Aug: ABC: Adani beware: coal is on the road to becoming completely uninsurable
The Conversation By John Quiggin
(Disclosure statement: John Quiggin is a former Member of the Climate Change Authority. He has been active in campaigns against new and expanded thermal coal mines.)
(John Quiggin is a professor with the School of Economics at The University of Queensland)
The announcement by Suncorp that it will no longer insure new thermal coal projects, along with a similar announcement by QBE Insurance a few months earlier, brings Australia into line with Europe where most major insurers have broken with coal…
(Adani claims to have insurers for the Carmichael project, but has declined to reveal their names.)…
Why are insurers abandoning coal?
By the nature of their business, insurers cannot afford to indulge the denialist fantasies still popular in some sectors of industry…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-13/climate-change-raises-doubt-over-insurance-adani-coal-mine/11407850
51
The Climate Change Authority… sounds very authoritative. And authoritarianistic. Do we still life in a free country? I am having my doubts…
40
Pacific Island Forum states call for new coal plant ban
The Australian – 1 hour ago
… for an immediate ban on the construction of new coal plants and the opening of new coal mines, and the introduction of a carbon tax by developed nations…
12 Aug: HellenicShippingNews: India’s coal import rises 29 pc to 24 MT in June
The country’s coal imports increased by 28.7 per cent to 24.14 million tonnes in June on the back of softening of non-coking coal prices in the international markets…
“..Although coal stocks at power plants continue to remain sufficient, the slackness in domestic production and low monsoon rainfall may lead to continued growth in imports in coming months.”…
9 Aug: Bloomberg: Pakistan’s Milewide Open Air Mine Shows Why Coal Won’t Go Away
As wealthy nations wean themselves from the world’s No. 1 source of CO2, poorer ones are burning more and more of it.
By Adam Majendie and Faseeh Mangi
Taking three-hour breaks during the hottest part of the day and living in a makeshift village of shipping containers, they’re digging for fuel to sustain a $3.5 billion power project…
Seven hundred miles to the north, in the Cholistan Desert, lie the skeletal beginnings of a solar farm that’s supposed to expand to eight times the size of New York’s Central Park…
If these grand developments in the desert suggest that coal and solar are in a close-run contest, they’re not. Before 2016, Pakistan had a single coal-fired plant. It now has nine, supplying 15% of the nation’s electricity, with another four under construction. Solar power provides about 1% of energy needs and is getting a tiny sliver of investment compared with what’s going into coal. Solar and other renewables may someday eliminate Pakistan’s dependence on coal, but that day is probably decades away…
And that’s fine as far as Akhtar Mohammad is concerned. “Coal is good. It’s cheap,” he says at his roadside kiosk in Port Qasim on the outskirts of Karachi…
But though wealthy nations may be able to afford to wean themselves off the combustible carbon that’s one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gases, in countries where electricity is scarce, unreliable, or unaffordable, local politics often takes precedence over economics: Coal remains the cheap fallback…
Especially in Asia, dozens of coal plants have come on line in recent years or are in the planning stages—with a normal lifetime of almost a half-century. In South and Southeast Asia, coal burning is expected to increase about 3.5% a year for the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency. Globally, the IEA predicts, coal demand won’t peak until 2040. And that may be optimistic…
Despite the rise of renewables, the roll call of governments adding coal-fired plants includes four of the world’s five most populous nations: China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan…
As developed nations retired coal plants producing 17 gigawatts of power, consumption and production of coal advanced in Asia at the fastest rate in five years…
But at the same time, China is the world’s largest producer and user of coal. It’s helping to pay for and build power plants in at least a dozen countries, and though many are solar, wind, natural gas, and hydro projects, the bulk of the Chinese investment is in coal…
Like all solar plants, the one at Quaid-e-Azam is at the mercy of environmental whims, such as variations in sunlight. It faces particular challenges as well, including the frequent dust storms off the Cholistan: If the panels aren’t regularly cleaned, the accumulation of dust can drastically slash the plant’s average power output. According to local media reports, doing the job could require up to 10 million liters of water a year—enough to meet the annual needs of 9,000 people…
In contrast to the stuttering start of Pakistan’s renewable ambitions, the view of the future from the Thar coal mine is one of confidence. “When people talk about coal plants getting shut down or people moving away from coal, they don’t understand what’s happening,” says Ahsan Zafar Syed, chief executive officer of Engro Energy Ltd., the Pakistani company leading the project. “Coal plants that are getting shut down have outlived their useful life. As I speak, there are 26 countries in the world where coal power plants are being constructed. They are everywhere.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-09/pakistan-s-milewide-open-air-mine-shows-why-coal-won-t-go-away
11
Nutters… or in the pay of the anti-coal brigade.
50
reminder, yet Bloomberg knows perfectly well that coal is expanding in China/India, etc, so what’s his interest in RE?
8 Jun: Reuters: Michael Bloomberg to spend $500 million to close coal plants
The billionaire philanthropist’s foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, said its Beyond Carbon initiative would lobby to close about 250 coal-fired power plants by 2030 and make the country fully reliant on clean energy…
9 Aug: HellenicShippingNews: Reuters: China’s July coal imports jump 21% on strong power demand in summer
China’s coal imports jumped 21.4% in July from a month earlier to 32.89 million tonnes, customs data showed, boosted by strong demand for electricity as households and businesses cranked up their air conditioning in the face of hot weather.
China, the world’s biggest coal user, brought in a total of 187.36 million tonnes of the fuel in the first seven months of 2019, up 7% from the same period last year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.
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The US has plenty of cheap gas so progressive liberals there can afford to give coal the shove. The anti coal propaganda war started with Enron who not only had a wind division but owned the largest gas pipeline network in the world outside of Russia. Back then pre-fracking natural gas was quite a bit more expensive than coal, so they needed to find a way to demonize the black stuff and get utilities to switch to gas generation for electricity.
In many ways they succeeded.
30
‘… for an immediate ban on the construction of new coal plants and the opening of new coal mines, and the introduction of a carbon tax by developed nations…’ Thanks you islanders for trying to tell us what to do..again. Grow up and study REAL data about your little coral volcanoes.
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When good people like Alan Jones tries to bring some sanity into the issues with a great interview, Facebook scrubs the interview!! Did the luvvies at the ABC or Getup apply some pressure on FB ??
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2019/08/alan-jones-fights-against-media-global.html
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Tony Heller’s facts are now frequently being eliminated by the ant-Trump brigade (Facebook, Google, YouTube, etc, etc).
30
behind paywall, but a few extra bits available at The West:
12 Aug: The West: Adani protests: Mine contractors being ‘dobbed in’ by activists
by Renee Viellaris, The Courier-Mail
AN EXTREME green “dob-in-a-contractor” campaign is forcing businesses to turn down work from Adani or keep it secret because of emboldened anti-mining protesters.
Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen slammed the campaign website, saying law-abiding mum-and-dad businesses, and other contractors, should not have to feel unsafe just doing their jobs.
The website, set up by activists Market Forces, lists businesses that are doing business with Adani or “at risk” of working for the company…
NewsCorp/9Entertainment/Seven West own ***AAP, which is a hotbed of CAGW advocacy:
11 Aug: Brisbane Times: Polarised Queensland needs ‘novel leadership’ in wake of protests, expert warns
By Warren Barnsley, ***AAP
Queensland has become Australia’s hotbed of civil action in reaction to a perceived shift to the right in the state, an expert believes…
PIC: Anti-Adani protesters prepare to cross the Victoria Bridge on Friday evening
Thousands of people have been getting together in recent weeks to block transport lines and disrupt businesses, particularly in Brisbane’s CBD.
The federal election in May, when Queenslanders overwhelmingly voted conservative, prompting the state Labor government to fast-track the Adani mine and recommit to coal, seems the most likely catalyst.
“People assume there’s a lot of people who have to be persuaded,” Frank Mols, ***an identity politics expert from the University of Queensland, said.
“You feel like you’re surrounded by conservative views that you don’t associate with.
“You feel a sense of outcry and a need to react.”…
There have been numerous protests by Adani opponents, who have marched through city streets, impeded the mining company’s contractors and blockaded access to its Abbot Point port terminal in north Queensland…
“Civil disobedience is all we have left to ensure climate action in accordance with the threat,” prominent Adani opponent Ben Pennings said…
Queensland’s polarisation is not necessarily a bad thing, Dr Mols says, because without people taking to the streets, social change would not happen…
“People are craving some form of novel leadership”, Dr Mols said.
“It requires a bit more effort to be creative.”
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/polarised-queensland-needs-novel-leadership-in-wake-of-protests-expert-warns-20190811-p52fyi.html
***the writer, like the “expert”, was educated at Uni of Qld:
LinkedIn: Warren Barnsley, AAP
Education
The University of Queensland
Bachelor of Journalism/Arts-Sociology
2005-2010
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as for the “expert” – Frank Mols:
Uni of Qld: Dr Frank Mols
Senior Lecturer
School of Political Science and International Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Research Impacts:
Frank’s political psychology research is well cited in high-quality peer-reviewed journals.He receives regular requests from journalists to be interviewed on local and national radio, and invitations from policy-makers and fellow academics to write blogs about his research. For example, his blogs on ‘Nudging’ have appeared on Democratic Audit UK, and LSE’s impact of social science research, and his research on the appeal of populist far-right parties in times of economic prosperity received attention in articles in the Australian edition of The Guardian.
Qualifications
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Exeter
https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/1851
no surprise he’s had a number of appearances on theirABC, and MARX gets yet another mention on the taxpayer-funded corporation!
15 Nov 2016: ABC Religion & Ethics: Why Trump and Brexit are Not Working-Class Revolts
by ***Frank Mols and Jolanda Jetten
Frank Mols is a lecturer in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland. Jolanda Jetten is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Queensland.
The year 2016 has turned out to be a year of surprise election results in the English speaking world, with Pauline Hanson making a comeback in Australia, British voters choosing to leave the European Union and U.S. voters choosing Donald Trump as their next President.
But why did these results come as a surprise? And how could the election studies experts (so-called Psephologists) get it so wrong?…
The more interesting lesson to emerge, however, is that researchers, journalists and pundits can fall prey to a false consensus effect…
As Waleed Aly noted in last week’s episode of The Minefield , “class” has made a big comeback in politics, and this is unsurprising if we accept that we live in a society marked by growing income and wealth inequality) and social problems stemming from inequality. However, to view “class” in the traditional Marxist sense – as society divided into haves and have nots – is to overlook that it is not so much how much someone earns, but whether one has more or less relative to those immediately around them. It is only when we take account of psychological processes relating to the feeling of not getting the opportunities one feels one deserves, or not climbing the wealth ladder as fast as one hopes or feels entitled to, or fearing that obtained wealth and status may be lost, that we can come to understand who carried Trump over the line…
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/why-trump-and-brexit-are-not-working-class-revolts/10096348
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for those who didn’t see it:
Youtube: 31min29sec: 10 Aug: SkyNewsAustralia: (OUTSIDERS) Jury’s out on Morrison’s conservative credentials: Nigel Farage interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oytj38l04ek
paraphrasing:
22min40sec to 25min34sec – CAGW segment begins; Farage confesses he voted Greens once; we’re obsessing about CO2; policies to counter CAGW has resulted in the greatest transfer of wealth from poor to the rich we’ve ever seen in our lifetime; science is never settled; whole British establishment has gone in with this; down the road, we’re in danger of power blackouts, making our industries uncompetitive; making poor pay too much for their bills.
***MOST IMPORTANT EXCERPT begins 28min27sec to the END:
re Kristina Keneally etc: in 200 years’ time, kids will learn about 2016. 2016 is when everything changed. we’ve got to a very funny place.
***for civilised democracy to work, you need THE PRINCIPLE OF LOSERS’ CONSENT.***
we kind of lost that in 2016. left moving in not undemocratic, but ANTI-DEMOCRATIC direction ETC. Lib Dem in UK who has said she wouldn’t accept Brexit even if it won second referendum.
24 Jul: UK Sun: FIB DEMS Arrogant Lib Dem boss Jo Swinson vows to reverse Brexit even if Britain votes for it a second time
Matt Dathan
NEW Lib Dem boss Jo Swinson admitted on Tuesday that even if Britain voted for Brexit in a second referendum she would still campaign to reverse the decision.
But critics said her refusal to respect her refusal to respect another Brexit vote went completely against the name of her party.
Ms Swinson has been one of the most extreme Remain voices since the 2016 vote to leave the EU and declared she would do “whatever it takes to stop Brexit” after after taking over from Sir Vince Cable as Lib Dem leader.
She was asked on the BBC on Tuesday if she would vote to implement Brexit in Parliament if voters backed it again. Ms Swinson said: “No, because I was elected on a firm manifesto pledge for Scotland’s pledge in the UK and Britain’s place in the European Union and that’s what Liberal Democrats are here to do. That is the mandate that we have.”…
Asked again, she insisted: “I’m not going to change my view on what I think is right for our country.”
And asked a third time, Ms Swinson said: “I’m going to do what I was sent here to do, which is to stand up for the things that I believe in and stand up for the principles of working internationally with other countries to tackle the shared challenges we face.”
‘NEITHER LIBERAL NOR DEMOCRAT’
She was immediately ridiculed over the comments, with Tory MP Philip Holobone telling The Sun: “Jo Swinson has let the cat out of the bag. It shows the Liberal Democrats are not democratic at all…
The Sun Says
NEW Lib-Dem leader Jo Swinson has accidentally blown apart the case for her second, “final say” Brexit referendum.
She wouldn’t honour that result either, if Leave won again. So it’s not a “final say”, until we vote Remain. Then it is.
And there, exposed for all to see, is the Remoaners’ warped view of democracy.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9569467/arrogant-lib-dem-boss-jo-swinson-vows-to-reverse-brexit-even-if-britain-votes-for-it-a-second-time/
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That’s what might be truly described as “overconfident”.
From another perspective, “arrogant”, but in reality the translation is; ” Shut up, I’m here to enslave you all, get back to work and stop trying to put off the inevitable. Be greatful, at least this time we didn’t send you away to get shot!”
KK
10
theirABC did one article on CPAC, long before it took place:
Updated 31 Jul: ABC: Labor calls for right-winger Raheem Kassam to be banned from entering country
By political reporter Matthew Doran
PIC: Raheem Kassam is a former staffer to Nigel Farage.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally told the Senate last night that Mr Kassam should not be allowed a visa to enter the country…
other than that, there are a couple of tweets on ABC The Drum, suggesting they may have had some people connected to the event on their program (I wouldn’t know) prior to CPAC happening:
TWEET: ABC The Drum
“This whole @CPAC movement is taking off, I think because conservative are made to feel so ashamed for their views. Simple views that the human being has rights given to it by God, that human beings have the right to chart their own course… 1/2 ETC
9 Aug 2019
(plenty of anger in the replies)
https://twitter.com/ABCthedrum/status/1159740019281498112
TWEET: ABC The Drum
CPAC Co-host & President of Libertyworks Andrew Cooper will join #TheDrum as a special guest to discuss members of the Labor Party calling for the government to ban far-right British activist Raheem Kassam from coming to Australia for a conservative conference
1 Aug 2019
PLUS – SEEMS Q&A HAVE A WAY WITH SOLICITING QUESTIONS!
TWEET: ABC Q&A
Kristina Keneally has called the upcoming CPAC event a “talkfest of hate”, and wants former editor-in-chief of Breitbart Raheem Kassam’s visa blocked. If you’d like the panel to discuss this, why not submit a question? | @GuardianAus #QandA
LINK GUARDIAN
31 Jul 2019
https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1156791667598344192
YET, DESPITE ALL THAT FARAGE SAID AT CPAC AND ON OUTSIDERS/SKY, THIS IS THE FAKENEWSMSM FURORE THAT HAS ERUPTED:
12 Aug: UK Express: Outrage as Sky News host claims Nigel Farage ‘likes Prince Harry wearing Nazi uniforms’
A SKY NEWS report on Nigel Farage’s criticism of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sparked outrage on Monday afternoon as host Ashish Joshi claimed the Brexit Party leader “clearly likes Prince Harry wearing Nazi uniforms”.
By Alessandra Scotto di Santolo
The Sky News host reported on Nigel Farage’s attack of the Royal Family ***in a speech he gave in Australia (CPAC) over the weekend. But as Mr Joshi explained the motivations behind the Brexit Party MEP’s bashing of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, he claimed Nigel Farage “likes Prince Harry wearing Nazi uniforms”. He said: “He doesn’t approve of social activism, he doesn’t like what’s happened to Prince Harry since he’s met Meghan Markle…
The comment sparked the fury of Conservative and Brexit campaigner Darren Grimes who took it to Twitter to complain about the Sky News host.
He wrote: “What is wrong with these people? Had he said this about any other politician he’d have been rightly pulled up for it.
“My concern with this sort of rhetoric is that it delegitimises the severity of genuinely neo-nazi movements, of which Nigel Farage is not a part of to anyone sensible.
“People will increasingly just switch off. Both Sky and the BBC are increasingly a total joke.”…
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1164910/Prince-Harry-Nazi-uniform-Nigel-Farage-Meghan-Markle-Sky-News-Ashish-Joshi
12 Aug: UK Express: Pot v kettle: Farage slated for calling Queen mum ‘overweight, chain smoking drinker’
NIGEL FARAGE facing a ‘hypocrite’ backlash today after he criticised the Queen mother for being an “overweight, chain smoking drinker” during a dinner speech in Australia – with social media users telling the Brexit Party leader to look at himself!
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have embarked on campaign for social justice and the environment, with Harry giving a speech, barefooted, at the recent controversial Google Camp event in Sicily.
He was widely criticised for arriving at the ‘green’ event in a private jet before addressing delegates on climate change and carbon footprint…
A spokesman for Mr Farage has said the Brexit Party leader’s comments about the Queen Mother were affectionate…
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1164789/nigel-farage-news-latest-brexit-party-queen-mother-twitter-backlash
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Guardian set the tone & misrepresented the Queen Mother comment:
12 Aug: Guardian: Nigel Farage attacks Harry and Meghan, jokes about ‘overweight’ Queen Mother
Exclusive: Brexit party leader labels Duke of Sussex ‘terrifying’ while disparaging Queen Mother in Sydney CPAC speech
by Michael McGowan and Ben Doherty in Sydney
“When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Her mother, Her Royal Highness the Queen’s mother was a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker who lived to 101 years old. All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s … may the Queen live a very, very long time.”…
In 2008 he was the sole MEP who refused to applaud a speech on the climate crisis by Prince Charles, later saying the prince’s advisers were “naive and foolish at best”…
He told his Australian audience “greenies have taken over this country”, and condemned the deposed prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as a “snake”…
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/12/nigel-farage-prince-harry-meghan-markle-overweight-queen-mother-cpac-brexit
12 Aug: BBC: Meghan has made Prince Harry less popular, says Farage
Mr Farage also said he hoped Prince Charles would not become king because of his views on climate change.
But the ex-UKIP leader told the right-wing conference in Australia the Queen was an “amazing, awe-inspiring woman”.
His spokesman said the comments were not part of a speech at the event.
The comments were first reported by the Guardian (LINK), which said media had been banned from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney but that it had heard a recording of Mr Farage comments on Saturday…
He said he hoped the Queen would live a “very, very long time” to prevent the Prince of Wales becoming king.
“When it comes to her son, when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” he said…
???Analysis
By Mark Lobel, BBC political correspondent…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49317656
12 Aug: SkyNewsUK: Nigel Farage: Prince Harry ‘fell off a cliff’ after meeting Meghan Markle
VIDEO: 35sec: Outsiders/Sky Australia – Farage with Rowan Dean ETC
The Brexit Party leader takes aim at the climate change views of leading members of the Royal Family during a gala dinner.
by Greg Heffer
Mr Farage is said to have made the remarks during a gala dinner – at Sydney’s Conservative Political Action Conference – and focused his criticism on the climate change views of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Prince Charles…
The Guardian has heard a partial recording of Saturday night’s event, at which media were claimed to have been barred from attending.
Mr Farage repeated some of his comments about the Royal Family during an appearance ***on Sky News Australia’s Outsiders programme on Sunday morning.
Remembering a previous encounter with Prince Charles, Mr Farage said: “He came to the European Parliament 10 years ago to tell us that within seven years the polar ice cap would disappear completely.
“At the end of his speech I refused to stand…
https://news.sky.com/story/nigel-farage-prince-harry-fell-off-a-cliff-after-meeting-meghan-markle-11783572
by chance, I saw most of the Sky banter between Kay Burley and a seemingly-outraged Ashish Joshi (mostly Joshi) and it was the usual anti-Brexit, pro-CAGW rubbish which is practically all you get on Comcast-owned Sky UK 24/7.
***at least Sky UK mentioned the OUTSIDERS/SKY Australia appearance, though they failed to acknowledge its satirical edge.
then again, maybe they just don’t have any sense of humour, like most of the anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, anti-democratic, pro-CAGW mob!
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I suppose that is how the Guardian chose to misrepresent Farage. I watched the Sky News interview when he repeated the comment.
The joke, if you can call it that, was not that the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Bowes Lyons) was slightly overweight (which debateable in any case), but rather that she lived a very long life (despite several life style choices, which go against current health advice). Hence Farage hoped the our Queen (QE2, who is not over weight and does not drink a lot of Gin), might live even longer, preventing Charlie from ascending to the Throne.
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O/T but same scam (offshore banking business)…
So it wasn’t AGW nor CCC after all – it was ‘accidental’ and/or ‘deliberately lit’:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396587/pigeon-valley-fire-deemed-accidental
“Fire and Emergency New Zealand has confirmed that one of the country’s largest plantation forest fires was accidental [and the other two] were deliberately lit”.
We apologise, Carbon Dioxide, there are no charges against you – it was merely idle rumour, scandal talk – you are free to go.
The Members knew this long ago when they sang Offshore Banking Business, it’s an international crime!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXW8OS0SSnc
40
Attenborough Documentary
A friend (hopeless lefty) asked me to watch the recent dodo; Climate Change-The facts. It screened on Sunday night on the ABC.
I said I would, intending to do a bit of fact checking as I went through it. The first claim that stood out was “Cairns last year reached 42C and animals that are adapted to heat died of heat stress” (ie flying foxes). I was sceptical of that claim, but it is supported by the BOM record. In Nov 2018 there was a “heat wave” lasting about 5 days with above average temperatures. Cairns Aero recorded 42.6C on 26 Nov 2018, which is about 10C hotter than average for the month.
Nov 2018 does stand out from other years, although there has been a slight increase in temperature overall since 1948.
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_display_type=dataGraph&p_stn_num=031011&p_nccObsCode=36&p_month=11
I checked out the site. There has been a minor site change recently which has not been updated by the BOM. The site is subject to jet engine heat, but is otherwise compliant.
https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/16°52'25.7%22S+145°44'44.9%22E/@-16.8726704,145.7437464,1070m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-16.8738!4d145.7458
Does anyone know the cause of the “heat wave”? It seems to be unusual. I checked it out because Cairns is tropical and coastal, hence I thought the temperatures would be fairly constant ( which they normally are).
There are some unusual aircraft parked near the BOM site. On looks like a DC3. What is the 4 engine turboprop?
50
There were a few days of about 37 to 38 degrees in Townsville during this summer’s heat wave freak-out, but 42 in Cairns is very unlikely to be true. for one reason, you need lower humidity levels to get to that temp. I lived in Cairns for about 12 years and the highest temp I ever experienced there was about 37 degrees, the humidity and sea breezes generally suppress higher temps being reached before the sun drops behind the mountains.
50
Heat stressed flying foxes falling out of trees is NOT climate change. Happens often enough. They are mammals sans sweat glands so the only way they keep cool is by hanging upside down with blood pumping through fine membrane wings which they extend.
Stupid animals still clump together, fighting and squabbling, generating heat so if the breezes drop they overheat, the young are extra vulnerable.
A good pic of their wings:
https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns-gone-wild/historic-flying-fox-roosting-trees-in-danger-of-chop-at-novotel-oasis-resort-in-cairns/news-story/a7b6a6e5c0c30bdc1f2436d54d62d798
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Flying foxes dropping dead from heat is nothing new. They were first recorded dying in February 1791 by Watkin Tench, Captain of Marines with the First Fleet:
“An immense flight of bats driven before the wind, covered all the trees around the settlement, whence they every moment dropped dead or in a dying state, unable to endure longer the burning state of the atmosphere.”
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In February 1791 they were burning coal like it was going out of fashion – just ask the Drongo – he knows all.
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WAY off topic BUT:
I’m a gold bug, been investing for years but I’ve never seen this before: A month of steady rises with only minuscule retracements and not even that for a week and every time I looked today it was up a bit.
I don’t mind a little profit BUT THIS IS NOT GOOD. Hard nosed money men are worried and I assume over US/China relations. I believe China today is almost exactly where Germany was 75 yrs ago [I didn’t mention the “N” word] Trump may call Xi a “friend” but only one will survive. They know this.
Hang off buying a business, house or any other large expenditure. It won’t run away from you.
NB I am not an authorised financial advisor.
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Seems as though Russia and China are the two big gold buyers at the moment.
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They’ve been buying for years, only pushed the market three forward two back. This is the real money buying, NY and London dwarf the East.
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Russia and China have been buying physical, Western reserve banks, via the indebted trading banks, have been keeping the lid on the POG by selling paper.
We may soon see if Buffett was right when he said:
Conspiracy theory? Let’s see.
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for the record, because it is ABC Brisbane that is doing the heavy lifting on XR promotion, which might not be realised nationally:
heard Emma Griffiths on Saturday morning mention ABC Brisbane had been all over the Tuesday XR protest on Rebecca Levingston’s Mornings program, and trying to convince callers the protest was necessary, and ending with promo of Attenborough’s Sunday nite docu.
paraphrasing Attenborough: man-made disaster on a global scale. the scientific evidence is if we don’t act in the next ten years, there could be irreversible damage and the collapse of society.
ABC’s Emma: trying to build understanding there, with David Attenborough.:
segment 1hr17min37sec to 1hr33min27sec: 10 Aug: ABC Brisbane Breakfast with Emma Griffiths
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/programs/saturdaybreakfast/saturday-breakfast/11381416
for some reason known only to the billion-dollar-plus ABC, the audio for Rebecca’s Mornings prog of Tues 6 Aug has already expired.
6 Aug: ABC Brisbane: Mornings, with Rebecca Levingston
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/programs/focus/mornings/11368428
however, I did skip through it on Sunday.
Rebecca began promoting XR’s protest at 7min46sec. ABC’s Amanda Dell at the protest.
Rebecca interviewed supportive Greens senator, Larissa Waters, but didn’t mention her Party. Larissa is pround of the protesters.
Rebecca, what if an ambulance can’t get through? Larissa is confident it would get through. thinks the protests are working because look, we are here on radio and it will be on the news tonight. anti-coal rhetoric.
Rebecca ends with “GREENS Senator Larissa Waters”.
Rebecca says over to Lord Mayor Schrinner trying to speak; instead, it’s XR shouting him down.
caller Theresa: been inconvenienced. says husband just had operation. works in William St. she is driving him to work, and can’t get there.
Rebecca: your husband couldn’t get a bus or a ferry?
Theresa repeats: he’s just had surgery. he can’t walk far. normally I’m sympathetic, but I’m angry really.
later Rebecca says she’ll now go over to the Lord Mayor, who has retreated inside Town Hall to speak, but first she’ll give an overview of the protest, a reset of the specific XR goals, by playing her interview with XR’s Tom Howell from a previous protest.
Tom: nothing we do could be too radical. climate emergency. extinction. coal. dying age of carbon. need to act like this is a war. Adani.
Lord Mayor gets to make a couple of points: they have the right to protest, but concerned about how they protest. it costs business and the community every time they protest. they don’t care.
Rebecca is ready. goes into an endless, trembling voice rant: Lord Mayor says cost of the protests has been significant IN HIS MIND.
just want to draw you back to a report from 9 News 2 weeks ago – an independent report on the true cost of last summer’s devastating natural disasters in Qld. it could be billions of dollars more than the govt announced. remember last summer there were catastrophic bushfires, ongoing drought, there were flooding rains up in N Qld…
Jackie Trad announced the cost of those disasters was about $1.3bn; 2 weeks ago, independent figure by Deloitte put it much higher at $5.68bn…that will be put before cabinet…because, again, Qld is preparing for what is likely to be another summer of natural disasters.
Rebecca mentions these figures because part of the conversation she hopes will be productive today – concerns how those costs and those threats are at the heart of what some people are protesting about. so, in terms of costs to the city, the immediate costs today, which is what the Lord Mayor is looking at, there is another discussion going on, which is the bigger picture.
the rest from Rebecca was anti-coal/Adani, pro-“renewables”.
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13 Aug: Guardian: National Grid ‘had three blackout near-misses in three months’
Exclusive: Industry sources say system operator aware of growing potential of blackouts ‘for years’
by Jillian Ambrose
The system operator, already under investigation by the energy watchdog, faces criticism from within the industry that it has not done enough to guard against the risk of blackouts…
But industry sources claim National Grid has been aware of the growing potential for a wide-scale blackout “for years”, and has suffered a spate of near-misses in recent weeks…
The Guardian understands that in every month since May there has been a severe dip in the grid’s frequency from its normal range around 50Hz. Industry sources have confirmed that the grid’s frequency has fallen below 49.6Hz on three different occasions in recent months, the deepest falls seen on the UK grid since 2015. On Friday the blackout was triggered when the frequency slumped to 48.88Hz…
But many of the companies tasked with supplying the “safety net services” – such as batteries and diesel farms, which are banks of small-scale generators – have warned that National Grid is not doing enough to safeguard the system against blackouts.
The UK’s booming renewable energy output can make it more difficult for National Grid to balance the frequency of the grid, which was originally built to accommodate fossil fuel power plants, which generate more intensive energy.
National Grid said it had embraced the UK’s renewable industry by developing “frequency response” tools – such as quick-fire back-up supplies of extra electricity – which should make it technically possible to run the energy system without any fossil fuels by 2025…READ ON
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/12/three-blackout-near-misses-in-three-months-says-national-grid
behind paywall:
13 Aug: UK Times: Report due ‘this week’ on power cuts
by Emily Gosden
National Grid will report initial conclusions on the cause of last Friday’s blackouts this week, its chief executive said, as he suggested that other companies shared the blame for the chaos that followed.
John Pettigrew broke his silence over the power cuts ***through a post on Linkedin yesterday, denying reports that he had been away on holiday and admitting: “As chief executive of National Grid plc, ultimately the buck stops with me.”
Despite this, he appeared to suggest that other companies should share responsibility for the extent of the disruption, which left train networks paralysed and a hospital losing power, as well as about a million households cut off.
He said that a government-commissioned review into the incident must consider “why, when there was a…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/report-due-this-week-on-power-cuts-drqdfm996
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12 Aug: BBC Scotland: How to tackle Scotland’s ‘climate emergency’
By Kevin Keane
BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent
PIC: climate children protest
As BBC Scotland launches a season of special news coverage ***across all our platforms on climate change, we ask what is being done to tackle Scotland’s “climate change emergency”?
It has been a year of record wildfires and unprecedented high temperatures.
Scientists say these extreme events will become more frequent as the earth’s temperature continues to rise.
One young female worker, who hadn’t heard of the declaration, explained: “There is tonnes of pollution all around us so it needs to be brought to people’s awareness.”
Another, a man, went as far as to say: “I’m not that interested in climate change and all that. I just go about my daily life.”
But a woman, who did know about the climate emergency, declared: “We definitely should be doing more. I think everyone’s got a bit caught up with Brexit and new prime ministers and Trump.”
This straw poll doesn’t prove much except that, for some, the vast amount of coverage over recent months has somehow failed to sink in.
But what about those who are ***consciously clued up?…ETC ETC
BBC Scotland News is running a season of climate change coverage across radio, TV, online and social media.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-49207097
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do I detect a little age-ism?
12 Aug: UK Mirror: Weatherman Bill Giles says climate change is good for UK as it’ll boost tourism
Giles controversially claims warmer temperatures that come with extreme weather will become ‘backbone of our post-Brexit economy’
By Mark Jefferies, ***Showbiz Editor
Former weatherman Bill Giles has a sunny outlook on climate change – insisting it could help warm up our economy after Brexit.
More predictably hot summers will lure holidaymakers away from overheating Mediterranean resorts within the next two decades, he said.
And he urged the travel and leisure industries to invest heavily now so they are ready to cash in on the trend.
Bill, 79, said: “We have 10 years or so to grasp the nettle and make sure that, due to climate change, we tap into the trend of warmer, more predictable summers and make the leisure and holiday industries the backbone of our post-Brexit economy.
“Climate change is on our side, and now is the time to start planning for it.
“In 10 or 20 years’ time, when it will be far too hot in the traditional Mediterranean resorts, most people will wish to holiday at home.”…
Bill, who retired in 2000 after two decades with the BBC, wrote in the Radio Times: “Now is the time for the holiday and leisure industries to plough billions of pounds into updating their facilities in order to cope with the enormous potential increase in demand…
“I’m confident that the world’s scientists will find a way of slowing climate change, perhaps by the middle of the century.
“But by then the British climate will be among the best in the world.”…
‘Out of date and so very, very wrong’
By Prof Paul Ekins, University College London
I think Bill Giles is very out of date on the science…
Hotter temperatures lead to extreme climate volatility with more rain and floods in Britain.
Seaside towns are vulnerable to erosion and rising sea levels could exacerbate this. And the global implications of climate change are huge, with more typhoons, heatwaves and flooding.
It will force huge population movements…
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/weatherman-bill-giles-says-climate-18921071
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🙂
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more BBC PR for XR & Greta:
12 Aug: BBC: Greta Thunberg’s 1975 feature ‘rejected by big artists’
Greta Thunberg is one of 2019’s ***most sought after voices – but big artists didn’t want to work with her, according to the 1975’s manager.
The climate activist features on the first track of the band’s new album.
Lead singer Matty Healy and manager Jamie Oborne said Greta is “the most important person in the world to give a platform to”.
“Other artists didn’t want to do it – it’s madness. Bigger artists than The 1975.”…
PIC: The 16-year-old Swedish activist spoke at an Extinction Rebellion rally in April
The five-minute track opens the new album, Notes on a Conditional Form, set for release in 2020.
But the track itself was released in July. Its proceeds will go to environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion.
Jamie Oborne, who founded the label Dirty Hit, said: “We weren’t even going to release it until the album came out, that was never the plan.
“After we met her in Stockholm and recorded it, we agreed it just wasn’t a statement that could wait six months to come out. It felt like that would’ve made it a vanity exercise.”
“Greta represents an a priori truth,” Jamie said. “That the world has to change its basic construct and how it operates.”
On the track, titled The 1975, the 16-year-old says it’s “time to rebel” and calls for “civil disobedience”.
“We have to acknowledge that the older generations have failed, all political movements in their current form have failed, but Homo sapiens have not yet failed,” she adds.
“Now is not the time for speaking politely. Now is the time to speak clearly.”
VIDEO: 3min08sec: Environmental activist Greta Thunberg says climate change is ‘an existential crisis’
Jamie tried to contact Greta on Instagram, but it was an unsuccessful attempt.
He later ended up being introduced to her dad, Svante Thunberg, who he described as an “amazing human being”.
“Svante and I connected quite easily – I feel like we are going to be really good friends,” he said.
The 1975 aren’t yet completely carbon efficient as a band, but Jamie told the Guardian Dirty Hit has eliminated single-use plastics and says the band is working on other areas, like pollution created from vinyl production.
“We’re not going to have touring worked out in six weeks because everything’s working against you, but we are going to have it sorted out in a period of time, and 50% is better than nothing.”
Jamie Oborne was speaking to Rob Adcock on a new BBC Introducing podcast launching in September.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49276909
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25 Jul: Extinction Rebellion: Thank you Greta Thunberg & The 1975 – “Everything needs to change”
by Ronan
Today, on what could be the hottest day on record in the UK, Extinction Rebellion would like to say a massive thank you to Greta Thunberg and The 1975 for their new music track – titled The 1975 – which we know will bring much needed attention to the climate and ecological emergency. As part of her involvement, Greta asked that the revenue generated from the track go to Extinction Rebellion.
We say: “Greta you are an outstanding human. You were there when Extinction Rebellion launched back on Parliament Sq in London just nine months ago. Again and again you show your support in meaningful ways – from small kind acts to things like this. We salute you sister. “…
According to the BBC’s news yesterday, there is just 18 months to act on the global heating crisis and the loss of biodiversity that threatens to unravel the planetary web of life. 1 million species are at risk of extinction and human civilisation faces total collapse if radical changes to our socioeconomic system are not made now…
LYRIC SAMPLES:
•“Everything needs to change.”
•“You say that nothing in life is black or white. But that is a lie. A very dangerous lie.”
•“To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly impossible.”
•Yes, we need a system change rather than individual change. But you cannot have one without the other.”
•“We must acknowledge that we do not have the situation under control”
https://rebellion.earth/2019/07/25/thank-you-greta-thunberg-the-1975-everything-needs-to-change/
26 Jul: Washington Examiner: Climate change, The 1975, and Greta Thunberg conspired to ruin music
by Madeline Fry
It started with Lil Dicky, and then it got worse.
The entertainment industry is obsessed with climate change, and just one example is the rapper’s song “Earth,” released just in time for Earth Day this spring. Featuring every popular artist under the sun, from Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg to Miley Cyrus and Ed Sheeran, it’s a catchy (and weirdly gross) ditty about how much we love the Earth.
“I’m an elephant, I got junk in my trunk,” is one of its least sexual lyrics, while “We forgive you, Germany,” is definitely its most confusing. It’s mission-driven, sure, but at least it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Now instead, we have The 1975 and Greta Thunberg.
The English pop rock band, previously known for its songs about weed and sex, has turned political…
Thunberg has been reading too much Thoreau . The song, which runs for an interminable 4 minutes and 55 seconds, takes its duty too seriously, suggesting that climate change is really the issue that should spark global protests, not, you know, human rights abuses or something.
I never expected to say this, but I miss Lil Dicky. Why release a maudlin appeal for political protest when you can just sing, “We love the Earth, it is our planet”?…
The best tidbit about the new single comes from the BBC:
“The 1975 are currently on a world tour, and will play gigs in Italy, Korea, Romania, Singapore, Ukraine, Dubai and Australia in the coming weeks. It is likely they will fly to many of those countries, despite air travel being a significant contributor to climate change.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/climate-change-the-1975-and-greta-thunberg-conspired-to-ruin-music
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Thanks for all the synopses Pat; I’d not be able to wade through that hysterical drivel alone and unpaid.
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It’s this kind of boloney that brought about Obama’s “new normal” to the US economy (about 1% growth p/a if you’re lucky) and elsewhere. It took Trump to disrupt it and show it up for what it really is, but the Big Money behind this [snip] will not give up that easily.
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