Weekend Unthreaded

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217 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

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    Don B

    Just in case anyone is still unfamiliar with the coordinated campaign to disparage Ivermectin, which is actually safe and effective, so that Big Pharma could make billions of dollars selling vaccines and new, expensive drugs which are not safe and effective, read Phil Harper’s series of short articles. This one lists links to his other pieces.

    “In previous posts, I demonstrated that a critical research paper detailing how effective Ivermectin was against COVID was altered by ‘a very powerful lobby’. By January 2021, the world was already in possession of enough data to roll out Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID. That data suggested we could reduce deaths by 75% if we used Ivermectin. Even today, studies show the exact same thing, Ivermectin reduces death outcomes from COVID by 70%. Instead of rolling it out, a lobby ‘had a say’ in the conclusions of a critical research paper causing the cheap and effective drug to be stopped in its tracks.”

    https://philharper.substack.com/p/professor-tied-to-altered-andrew?s=r

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  • #
    Lance

    Lots of fakery going on in Ukraine.
    Difficult to know who to believe.
    “Them” or your own eyes.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1500175827161554946.html

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      James Murphy

      – I’ve seen video footage by people queueing to get into Poland, it took a few days, and the queue was, or maybe still is, massive.
      – There was a lot of footage, particularly of aeroplane combat which has been shown to be fake.
      – There is drone footage of combat, most of it looks real (because it doesn’t look like Hollywood or computer game combat), but its usually from a distance, so it’s not always clear who is who. associated radio conversations may, or may not be real, no idea.
      – I’ve seen some gruesome footage of dead people, mostly soldiers, apparently Russian (but who knows, really). I think this is real. People pretending to be dead do not look like people who are actually dead, no matter how hard they try.
      – I’ve seen footage of some places in Ukraine where life goes on, seemingly as normal. cant verify it, but would not be surprised if it is real.
      – A colleague has a Ukrainian wife, and he was saying that things are not even remotely close to being ok in the eastern half of the country. no real reason to doubt this, given their proximity to the situation.
      – I remain skeptical about the maternity hospital shelled when still full of people, I think it had been evacuated previously, if the place they filmed was even a hospital.
      – I’m 100% sure there are terrified people genuinely in fear of being caught in the crossfire.
      – I’m 100% sure civilians have been killed – deliberately or not isn’t really the point, it’s a tragedy regardless, as are the deaths of every soldier, whether Russian or Ukrainian.

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      tonyb

      Two weeks ago I received numerous red thumbs for pointing out that this was no elaborately staged theatrical production but that many were dying and many were fleeing.

      Make no mistake, there has been a brutal assault by Russia on Ukraine. Many cities are in Ruins. Many civilians have fled in terror and some 2 million refugees have made their way to surrounding countries.

      There is too much evidence from respected reporters and from the testimony of those fleeing for their lives, some of whom are arriving here in the UK for anyone to believe Ukraine is some giant stage set

      Of course there is propagandas from both sides as they try to buoy up the spirits of those affected or to win round one side or the author.

      For this observer (14 followers on you tube) idiot to claim this is some huge bit of theatre is an insult to those who have died, those remaining in bombed cities living in terror and some without food water or power and those who have fled to neighbouring friendly countries.

      Its good to be sceptical but you also have to live in the real world which is currently a dangerous place.

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        tonyb

        For those red thumbing me, perhaps they could answer 2 questions?

        What is the purpose of perpetrating what you evidently believe to be the biggest and most elaborate hoax ever perpetrated?
        Secondly; Don’t you think people will notice that a hoax has been perpetrated in a few weeks time and start asking questions?

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          Robert Swan

          tonyb,
          I don’t *do* thumbs and I suggest they’re better ignored anyway. I can’t answer your two questions, but you might consider the thought that people arguing about the rights and wrongs of Russia invading the Ukraine in an Australian climate sceptic blog might ALL be engaged in theatre.

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        • #

          l have not red thumbed you tonyb but do disagree with what you are saying to an extent as l do beleive there is fighting in Ukraine just not to the extent MSM is reporting it

          Ukraine is very proficient at propaganda and has won the propaganda war for sure tony,
          you may say why shouldn’t they be so good at it when you do some research on the people around him it is pure Hollywood and he is a puppet, although l do agree there is propaganda on both sides
          there always is

          to have a crack at answering your questions
          1) WEF
          2) people are questioning,
          myself l have been watching livestream webcams from the Ukraine that have quite frankly been very boring to watch because there is nothing happening where the MSM is reporting that it is full on bombing, shooting, bloodshed and all out war, there are the same livestream webcams on the polish border that are showing people crossing but again nothing like what is being reported

          l totally agree with the link Lance posted because of the livestream webcams l have been watching, one of them had a concert that went for a few hours in Kiev’s central square Ukraine that was very entertaining but MSM was reporting fighting in the area at that time

          l think its like what Julian Assange said
          “Populations don’t like wars. They have to be fooled into wars….Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies.”
          https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1302856455381553152

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        MP

        The real world is what, your world?
        Your right because the BBC and whatever rag you call a news paper tells you what to think?

        The MSM have been caught a hundred times with lying articles and video, your default belief appears to be, you only read the truth part of the MSM.

        I have been viewing live cams for weeks absolutely nothing ever happens, life goes on.

        I watched so called troops install anti tank barricades which one person carried, anti tank. Barricade was blocking a four lane road, foot path and park beside road, nothing, but it is illegal to drive in parks and on footpaths, so in war I guess breaking laws is not OK.

        Have you even looked at all the live cam links posted on this site, read any of the alternative articles, or is your bias so strong it won’t even allow you look at the other side.

        But being fooled appears to be a trend for you.

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          Mp

          I can barely believe your post. Neither I suspect could the millions fleeing the brutal assault. Cities have been smashe, thousands killed, lives ruined

          I have been a sceptic of many things for decades from climate change to covid but there are too many reports from respected news teams and from fleeing refugees now surging across Europe and now entering the UK, to be sceptical that this is anything but the greatest disaster in Europe since the second world war.Do you really believe this is a giant piece of theatre?

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          • #
            MP

            No its not all theatre, just what we are shown.
            There is live cams on some boarder passes to Poland that show a different story.

            “respected news teams” same teams with CAGW and the runny nose virus, same propaganda, different flavour. Those same news teams just went from filming body bags in streets of India and other third world countries from Whuflu to doing the same thing in Ukraine. Respected news teams, what centaury are you still living in.
            The live cams appear ligit as I watch at the same times every day and its not looping.
            Russia are propaganda specialists and so is the CIA so by default the Ukraine, its all propaganda.
            Photo of the bomb site at the Maternity hospital look at the trees, building walls, awning, chared remains of a car in the distant, yet the roots look like they have been broken via mechanical force , where is the immense heat. Look at the wall, trees still have twigs Hollywood have done a better job in the war movies.
            Just look at this stuff and the story from the reporter, there is plenty of reasons to be sceptical, they are all lying.
            I read your stuff like you want intervention, escalation, 100’s dying to hundreds of thousands dying based on extremely questionable information. More war is not a solution.

            You need to look at those links your bias tells you to avoid, you need to look at links not just read the comment.

            The Ukrainian people are being fed the same stuff and acting based on that, getting while the getting’s good. Live cam
            Live cam with Polish boarder

            COVID sceptic, your vaccinated?

            Can’t believe my opinion, but you can believe the same people who lied to you about everything else, says a lot.

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      Lance

      My point, however poorly made, is to maintain some level of circumspection as not everything is as it appears.
      No doubt, it is a terrible situation. No intention to downplay that aspect.

      A apparently unbiased website is “tsarizm.com”, as they provide views from both sides and critique upon both sides as well.

      https://tsarizm.com/sections/news/eastern-europe/

      “Based in the United States, the mission at Tsarizm is to provide breaking international news, analysis, and opinion, with a primary focus on Russia, the former Soviet republics, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Middle East, although other regions may be discussed. In other words, the territory once ruled by the tsars.”

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        Lance

        I thought your link to tsarism to be more interesting.

        This link reinforces something I think the west misunderstands

        https://creativedestructionmedia.com/analysis/2022/03/08/russia-and-china-arent-the-natural-allies-many-assume-them-to-be/

        This business about china and Russia being close allies is I think exaggerated. They have points of conflict as the article describes. Nowhere more so than sIberia where there is a huge Chinese influence as Chinese traders swamp the area and colonists follow

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          Ted1

          Are those future population figures authentic?

          Is Putin annexing Ukraine with the intention of abandoning Siberia?

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          • #
            tonyb

            ted

            Whether the intent is to abandon Siberia as a deliberate policy seems doubtful, but there is no doubt Russia and China may come into conflict over the region. it is cold, far away from Moscow and on the borders of an expansionist state (china this time) who are progressively colonising it. Ukraine with its wheat field and proximity to European Russia is a better bet although the minerals in both countries need consideration

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      OldOzzie

      Google Ministry of Information Announces Zero Tolerance Policy Against Any Information That Does Not Support NATO War Against Russia

      Comrade citizens, after success with the Ministry of Information controlling efforts surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and public health vaccinations, The Division of Correct Thinking has announced they will also not tolerate any information against their war efforts in Ukraine.

      All good global citizens will appreciate the Ministry’s effort to protect you from bad Russian influences. Only the approved truth must remain visible to combat any Russian efforts to influence our thinking. The only horrors approved for review must be approved by the compliance division within the Google Ministry of Information.

      Comrade citizens, as our experience with COVID and the heroic vaccination program has shown us, the Ministry always looks out for our physical and mental health. The inherent dangers of wrong thoughts could lead to misplaced sympathies, lack of necessary motivation and questions about the altruism within the Ministry for Peace. Further guidance continues

      Comrades, we must also be on guard for dissident agent provocateurs that may surface with unapproved information. The Ministry anticipates subversive efforts against the health of our state that may involve messages from non-reliable sources. The state fact-checking operations have been activated to level red status in anticipation of this problem.

      The Ministry of Information thanks you for your good citizenship as we battle against Vladimir Putin’s inflation and gas prices.

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      OldOzzie

      White House Briefing Tik Tok Battalion To Advance NATO War Effort in Ukraine

      White House Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh boiled down geopolitical power to a cultural issue of social likeability. This is genuinely what the people running the Biden administration believe.

      Everyone in the Biden administration is, after all, spawned in the petri-dish of community activism. When they successfully installed Barack Obama, the premise of their strategy proved accurate. Within this political and cultural strategy, pop icons are used as influencers and policy ambassadors.

      This report today from the Washington Post is directly aligned:

      (Washington Post) – On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine. National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO and how the United States would react to a Russian use of nuclear weapons. (read more)

      The White House briefing Tik Tok dancers so they can promote strategic NATO war initiatives on their platform? Yup.

      If you really elevate yourself, what you might find is the larger battle boils down to two teams – Team Windmills -vs- Team Oil. The global yellow vests, including us, are essentially collateral damage.

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    Kevin Kilty

    I shouldn’t surprised about all this, but I am never disappointed by the ability of the U.S. government to disappoint me. Perhaps the biolabs being supported in Ukraine have a perfectly good purpose, but why our government, working hand in glove with big tech, manages to muddy the story, create suspicion, censors perfectly valid information, is simply beyond me. We cannot get ahead of any story, we cannot admit making mistakes or having extremely poor judgment. We promise transparency and become in fact more opaque. It plays right into Russian paranoia and disinformation. But maybe we have been up to lots of bad activities. I am open to that possibility.

    We really need honest accountability in government and commerce, but without transparent access to information we have no way to mete out punishment where it is needed.

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      PeterS

      Honest accountability in governments and commerce? Nice dream. Sorry, but it can’t happen for a lot of reasons. Welcome to the real world.

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      Mantaray Yunupingu

      Kevin. The chick from the State Dept was asked directly about the labs and replied that A) They DO exist, and B) She was very worried the Russkies would get hold of them…

      This equals there is /was something to be worried ABOUT. which is why I reckon you are being far too generous when you write “Perhaps the biolabs being supported in Ukraine have a perfectly good purpose,”

      Definitely NO!

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        Kevin T Kilty

        Imagine a laboratory that had a number of samples of radioactive materials used to calibrate equipment, or used as medical sources of some sort. Would we worry about bad guys getting hold of those samples to help them construct a dirty bomb? Yes. Thus, the fact that she is worried about possession does not mean all that much to me without other context. On the other hand, that she is being less than frank, and various goverdnment offices have since removed links to information about these labs looks like evidence of a guilty mind and worries me, but also gives our opponents propaganda points. Stupid. Really stupid.

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    RicDre

    Biden Admin Suggests Adding More Water To Your Instant Ramen To Feel More Full

    March 10th, 2022 – BabylonBee.com

    WASHINGTON, D.C.—In conjunction with the USDA and HHS, President Joe Biden has released guidance for Americans that are being hit hard by inflation and surging gas prices. To ease their pain, the administration is advising everyone to add more water to their instant ramen so they can feel more full.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/add-more-water-to-your-instant-ramen-to-feel-more-full-says-biden-administration?utm_source=Gab&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Gab

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    YWNBAW

    Even Dr John (nab ’em and jab ’em) Campbell has come round to the IVM scandal

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  • #
    bill+treuren

    With IVM and the vaccine the death rate would have demanded no freedom reduction from about late 2020.

    The old should be Vaxed the young should form the basis of the herd immunity and IVM should help the middle group through infection and into the herd sort of thing.

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      PeterS

      Mostly sound advice but I would drop the vaccine push for anyone until it can be proven to be safe and effective regardless of age. That takes years of research, development and study. Not something that can be deployed in a matter of months as was the case. There always has been only one way to handle a pandemic; time. Time for herd immunity to kick in, time for the virus to mutate itself into a less dangerous variant, time to educate people how to protect themselves with proper hygiene, time to distribute treatments that do save victims. Longer term if a vaccine is developed then by all means go ahead take it but it has to be proven to be safe and effective, not through the MSM but with real unbiased independent doctors not paid by or working for Big Pharma or the government.

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      TedM

      Why would the old need to be vaxxed when their is IVM.

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    David Maddison

    Due to the Ukraine / Russian situation there is likely to be a continuation of a worldwide shortage of oil and natural gas due to boycotts of Russian oil exports.

    Not that there needs to be in certain places. Before Biden’s controllers set about destroying the US President Trump had made America a net oil and petroleum product exporter.

    Plus OPEC could probably increase production but they won’t.

    And how will Australia respond?

    Well, we will continue extensive bans on oil and gas exploration in promising areas and continue to ban fracking in most places.

    Plus we will continue the high gasoline taxes.

    Additionally, there will be an “urgency” to build more windmill, solar and “green hydrogen” subsidy farms for the benefit of the Elites.

    And more promotion of EVs, playthings of the virtue signaling rich.

    Our politicians and the useful idiots of the Left remain clueless.

    It seems that Australia is incapable of getting anything right these days…

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      Ian1946

      It will certainly get much worse if the ALP/Greens coalition win the federal election in May.

      That talentless pack of losers would make a Biden look good.

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    PeterS

    Unbelievable Deception
    Much of this is old news and I believe it’s now a lot worse. Evil people working overtime to gain full control of the world, and no one in power interested in stopping them, and in most cases actually aiding and abetting them. IMHO it will continue to its ultimate conclusion given the fact that no one human person on this earth can stop it due to lack of interest in general by the public and a growing base of evil people all throughout the world. It’s a one-way street with a dead end. The good news is there is someone who does care, and He will return.

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    Kalm Keith

    After Tony’s “off topic” the other day

    https://joannenova.com.au/2022/03/biden-sells-alaska-back-to-russia-so-america-can-start-drilling-for-oil-there-again/#comment-2527291

    I decided to explore and found that I was joining the millionaires club.
    Very smooth.

    🙂

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    David Maddison

    What’s the best the rapidly degenerating Western World can hope for?

    Probably the only thing with a remote possibility of anything happening will be a reinstatement of pro-American, pro-western, pro-rational and pro-science leadership in the US.

    This can only happen if it is even possible to have fair or free elections in the US which seems questionable since the stolen election of 2020.

    1) It could be hoped for that non-RINO Republicans get control of both houses. This will at least stop a lot of additional damage being done to the US by the Biden Maladministration.

    2) It could be hoped for that Donald Trump runs for and wins the presidency in 2024 assuming fair and free elections are possible.

    Trump will be 78-82 years of age over that presidency but he still seems mentally sharp and fit and healthy. If the evil doers of the world such as Fauci (81) and Klaus Schwab (83) can continue to do their evil at such an age, I don’t see why Donald Trump can’t similarly work for the side of goodness.

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    David Maddison

    You may be interested in a YouTube channel “Odins Men”. The host specialises in reviewing TikTok videos documenting the moral degeneration of the West through an interpretation of various material posted there which seems to be the domain of the foolish, the uneducated, the mentally ill, the morally degenerate, the clueless, the Left, etc..

    https://youtube.com/c/OdinsMen

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      yarpos

      Was watching a show last night called something like “viral crimes” It showed US crimes recorded and some solved via social media.

      It struck me how totally ineffectual the victims were , how dramatic their victimhood when talking to camera and how in some cases they couldnt help themselves but could pull out a phone a record it.

      Wont be watching more, its too damn annoying

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  • #
    David Maddison

    With the pandemic essentially over, why does Australia still maintain compulsory vaccination for work, trade or leaving the country and restrictions on attending public places and events and in Vicdanistan visiting a hairdresser or beauty parlour?

    Why, does Australia have to be such a fanatical follower of all the rubbish promulgated by the UN and its useful idiots?

    And when, if ever, might the bans for off-label use of HCQ and IVM be lifted?

    When are people going to be punished for banning potentially life-saving treatments (which at worst would have been harmless in published dosing regimens even if not effective).

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    David Maddison

    Quote from Giovanni Gentile, the philosopher of fascism (and national socialism), a form of socialism.

    “It is necessary to distinguish between socialism and socialism—in fact, between idea and idea of the same socialist conception, in order to distinguish among them those that are inimical to Fascism. It is well known that Sorellian syndicalism, out of which the thought and the political method of Fascism emerged—conceived itself the genuine interpretation of Marxist communism. The dynamic conception of history, in which force as violence functions as an essential, is of unquestioned Marxist origin. Those notions flowed into other currents of contemporary thought, that have themselves, via alternative routes, arrived at a vindication of the form of State—implacable, but absolutely rational—that finds historic necessity in the very spiritual dynamism through which it realizes itself.“

    —  Giovanni Gentile Che cosa è il fascismo: Discorsi e polemiche (“What is Fascism?”), Florence: Vallecchi, (1925) pp. 42-45, 47-48, 49-51, 56, Origins and Doctrine of Fascism, A. James Gregor, translator and editor, Transaction Publishers, 2003, p. 59

    Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/1771031-giovanni-gentile-it-is-necessary-to-distinguish-between-socialism-a/

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    David Maddison

    Excellent article. Note that it uses “liberal” in the US sense, meaning Leftist, not in reference to the traditional Anglo-European sense meaning conservative as in classical liberal.

    https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/11/04/on-the-subjective-mental-state-of-liberals/

    Published on November 4, 2018 

    On the Subjective Mental State of Liberals

    written by Charles Haywood

    By liberal, I do not mean classical liberal, or even the American moderate Left that until the 1960s was ascendant in the Democratic Party.  Rather, I mean left-liberal, or progressive, the ideology of cultural Marxism, of the Frankfurt School, now dominant in the Democratic Party, as it has been dominant for some time in the academic world and in other worlds controlled by the Left, such as the media-entertainment complex.  What goes on behind their eyes?  To a neutral observer, the externally visible political actions of today’s liberals are irrational and incoherent.  The simplest explanation for their behavior is that liberals are people of low intelligence, and that they are not educated (whatever degrees they may have).  An alternative simple explanation is that they desire evil and hide that desire, so their actions and stated reasons do not match.  But, while both are possible explanations, it seems unlikely that that any of this is how they perceive the world and their actions.  So again—what are the qualia of a liberal?

    SEE LINK FOR REST

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    another ian

    “Duck Duck Gone”

    For anyone looking for a replacement check this and the comments

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/03/11/duck-duck/#comments

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      RicDre

      Thanks for the information, Duck Duck is now Gone from my browser

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      yarpos

      Another option bites the dust

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      David Maddison

      An extremely stupid move by DDG which was specifically designed as a free speech search engine with no Leftist political bias.

      It proves once again the adage:

      Get woke, go broke.

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      Lance

      An oft overlooked search engine is Dogpile. I use it a lot as it gives much better results than others.

      https://dogpile.com/

      Another interesting fact about Dogpile is that after it fetches the results of your search it automatically organizes the results into separate groups by category. It offers an option that is considered to be quite innovative that is called Refine Your Results. This helps users to make their search results even more relevant so they can more precisely find the information that they are looking for in a faster time frame.

      20 Things you didn’t know about Dogpile.
      https://moneyinc.com/dogpile/

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        RicDre

        I use to use Dogpile a lot but found that it was a little weak when asked to find technical documents related to computer programming (I am a retired computer programmer). I haven’t used it in while, however, so I’ll give it a try to see if its gotten better. Thanks for the suggestion.

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      OldOzzie

      Have downloaded Brave for iMac Intel Chip – seems Good

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        OldOzzie

        DuckDuckGo and Facebook reverse policies to join in hating Putin and Russia

        But with saturation-level war propaganda (some true, some not) dominating the media, many are tempted to enhance their own standing by virtue-signaling their hatred. Virtue-signaling in a moment of mass frenzied hatred can have unanticipated longer-term consequences.

        Jacob Fraden writes today of the absurd boycotting of the music of Russian composers like Tchaikovsky and the cruel treatment of musicians and artists who, in his words, “had the misfortune to come from the USSR or Russia.”

        The world of tech has joined in the frenzy, with two prominent companies discarding their previous policies in order to join the herd.

        In what may prove to be a costly decision, Gabriel Weinberg, founder and CEO of search engine DuckDuckGo, discarded his company’s anti-censorship policy toward search engine listings:

        Both companies may call these moves temporary, but principles once discarded are no longer principles, but rather practices subject to change at the whim of management.

        The larger point is that opposition to Russia’s invasion is fine, maybe even virtuous. But hatred poisons the hater. I suspect that DDG will regret its decision. Facebook now is on record endorsing hatred and violence and will find that will come to bite it, too.

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      OldOzzie

      Ukraine invasion proves yet again that Big Tech can’t be arbiter of ‘truth’

      People can be forgiven for missing this point when artillery shells are flying, but a lesser-noticed detail emerging from the fog of the Ukraine war is that the info-policing policies of Silicon Valley are a total failure: They’re unworkable, have no consistent thinking behind them, and are subject to sudden reversals driven by the heat of political passions rather than principle.

      Facebook, for instance, has a policy against death threats. Or at least it used to: Now there’s an exception for Vladimir Putin. Call for his assassination, and as of this week, that’s okay with Mark Zuckerberg. Also, it’s fine to use Facebook to call for violence against Russian soldiers, even the ones who are wondering what the hell they’re doing trampling on a sister country and would love to find a way to put down their weapons without getting shot for desertion.

      Putin is indeed a bad actor, but once you replace the question, “What neutral principles do we stand for?” with “Which side are we on?,” things can get complicated rather quickly. Facebook has just unbanned a fringe, f@scist Ukrainian group called the Azov Battalion because they’re “on the right side” when it comes to fighting Putin, albeit very much on the wrong side when it comes to most everything else, considering their ranks contain neo-N@zis and their emblems have a N@zi-ish tinge.

      Especially in wartime, all sorts of false claims get made, and those claims were widely disseminated on giant tech platforms. The “Ghost of Kyiv” story sent out by Ukraine’s official social media channels about a brave Ukrainian pilot supposedly shooting down 10 Russian jets last month logged millions of shares on Twitter and Facebook, even though it’s obviously fake, having been built around stock images, a sequence from a video game and a Photoshopped headshot of a lawyer from Buenos Aires.

      When you set out to determine what is true and false for billions of eyeballs, you might as well try to control the wind. And it is supreme arrogance for the censors and algorithm-fiddlers of Google, Facebook and Twitter to decide that they and their armies of 24-year-old content managers are graced with the wisdom to sort out what’s accurate, especially when perceptions of truth so often depend on the question, “Which side are you on?”

      Instead, Silicon Valley seems to make decisions based on whoever is yelling the loudest. Facebook and Twitter suppressed The Post’s true and accurate reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop, then instead promoted an outright fiction promulgated by Trump-hating ex-intelligence officials and many major media outlets that the laptop story was “Russian disinformation.” Silicon Valley put “Which side are we on?” before the facts. Twitter even banned The Post’s other, unrelated stories for more than two weeks. Its CEO Jack Dorsey later said “Oops” about all of this.

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        OldOzzie

        even though it’s obviously fake, having been built around stock images, a sequence from a video game and a Photoshopped headshot of a lawyer from Buenos Aires.

        Remember this isn’t real – but it sure looks like it – Giant Boeing 747 Vertical Takeoff – X-Plane 11

        For those who don’t know, this video is made from x-plane 11. X-plane 11 is the flight simulator, so of course this situation doesn’t happen in real life. The plane taxi to the runway from Pane Field airport. It takeoff and lands at the same runway. I am still practicing on my landing still. If you like this video, please like and share. Cheer!!!

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    A bit of fun on the offshore wind side:
    https://www.cfact.org/2022/03/11/dominions-deception-hits-new-high-with-offshore-wind/
    This project is now clearly a multi-billion dollar joke in progress.

    Mind the hurricanes.

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      Lance

      Might Dominion Energy post a Bond in the off chance that their cost projections encumber the rate payers or that they are later found guilty of fraud or malfeasance? That 100 Million USD extension cord to the short lived, hurricane prone, snap like a twig, windmills, surely couldn’t have been foreseen or mitigated? Perhaps the people of Virginia might have recourse via Fraud at Court?

      Dominion Energy seems drunk on profit and graft, seriously blind to prosecution for fraud.

      Governor Youngkin has recently cancelled the Virginia participation in the “Clean Energy Act” ploy, so what is Dominion Energy to do?

      This will be an interesting test of Reality against Illusion and Theft. May the People triumph.

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      Graeme#4

      Would be interesting to see the maintenance cost estimates and the projected lifetime estimate for a project. How would they service these very tall turbines offshore? And I’ve yet to see a proper detailed LCOE analysis for any energy proposal.

      00

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    PeterS

    See the following as well. Now I will dump DuckDuckGo.

    Cancelled By DuckDuckGoogle

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      While DDG has the “Australia only” toggle I’ll stick with them. If i’m unhappy with results I’ll use Brave search.

      Unlike those here who are dumping on the coalition, I don’t dump the good in search of perfection only to fall between two chairs.

      10

  • #
    mike+reed

    mike reed
    Hey David totally agree I have recently thought that exact same thing.
    1.Why vax for work?

    2.Why vax for leaving Aus for travel OS ?

    In our retirement we did a fair bit of travel OS -but are not allowed to now.(mind you other countries /destinations still hold with double vaxed passports -rubbish)
    We live in the Blue mountains and our local pub (great Bistro been going there for 32 years) when last I tried to go there with friends required the stupid Vax
    passports.
    And now our dopey Minister for Health (Brad Hazzard) is trying on the new “health scare”with the other variant of Omicron-pleading with people to get
    their Booster- mind you it seems he doesn’t even bother to think to look at adverse effects and deaths that have been associated with this gene therapy (these
    are not vaccines by any standards) that have been documented in the US the VAERS system ,UK the Yellow card system or our very own TGA (owned by big
    Pharma) DAENS system.
    Unfortunately these players have been so indoctrinated with the playbook from the WHO (organised by Fauci ,CDC,NIH and the FDA) that they simply
    are hypnotised by mass formation (to our huge detriment) and can’t stop themselves from behaving like Stalin’s useful idiots.

    Cheers Mike Reed

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    • #
      Bruce

      You are too kind.

      Any vaguely sentient critter that has been paying attention will rapidly understand the this entire rock-show is, like the interwoven “Klimate Kaper”, ONLY about the transfer of POWER to the “select”.

      All claims of “concern” for the punters are FRAUDULENT.

      Once you start from that baseline, it becomes MUCH clearer.

      “Medicine is seen by most as an exotic, exact science.

      Consider that, in the “grand s=scheme”, we have gone from arsenic concoctions and blood-letting, to “modern medicine’ in just over two hundred years. Might there be just a few “oversights”?

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      OldOzzie

      Quick trip to Hospital to Post Op area, to repair slight dog damage – only other person trying to get in as visitor asked for Vax Status, reception looked at me (with Smurf Head Dressing and Bag of Blood Drains) and waved me through “Patient”, no query, minor problem fixed in 10 Mins – Great Doctors

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  • #
    another ian

    For the net-zero fans

    “A Cautionary Tale: Good Idea, Disastrous Results”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/10/a-cautionary-tale-good-idea-disastrous-results/

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Why Australia is heading to a khaki election

    As the election nears, the Coalition is tidying up its pitch, tying together economics and national security, to a population ready to point the finger over the massive east coast floods and cost of living.

    Then the nation stops on March 30 to farewell Shane Warne at his beloved Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Morrison government is supposed to be making its major pitch for re-election – selling its make-or-break budget.

    Under a strategy that has been in the planning for months, and which was employed before the past two elections, the budget has been brought forward from its usual spot in early May (to March 29), so it can be used as a springboard for a campaign to be called very soon afterwards.

    The government, with an entrenched poll deficit and an increasingly unpopular leader, needs this budget more than ever to lay the foundations for an election – which both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed this week in separate speeches it will fight on economic and national security.

    These two policy areas are traditional Coalition strengths. Thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential that creates for further instability, the economy and national security are, as Morrison and Frydenberg are urging voters to accept, inextricably linked.

    The government is gearing up for a khaki election every bit as egregious as John Howard’s 2001 post-September 11 campaign, which won him a third term. But on a number of fronts it is struggling for clean air.

    Victorian Labor Premier Dan Andrews’ announcement on Warne’s state memorial service being scheduled for the day after the budget is being viewed within the Morrison government as a deliberate act of sabotage.

    All in the timing

    The budget will be handed down at 7.30pm the day before the service, and the day of the service is the key day on which the Treasurer and Prime Minister will mount a media blitz selling the budget’s wares, including a National Press Club address by the Treasurer. Typically, the TV news bulletins that night all lead with extensive budget coverage.

    Andrews’ office rejected suggestions of skulduggery by the Premier, saying the date was chosen after consultations with Warne’s family.

    Defence in the frame

    Perception risk

    There are no immediate local electoral consequences. The flood damage is spread between the seats of Richmond, held by Labor, and Page, held by the Nationals by 9.5 per cent. Neither is expected to change hands at the election.

    The risk is the government will suffer more broadly from the perception that has been generated by Morrison’s opponents and enemies. Conscious of this, as soon as he left isolation on Wednesday morning, his first port of call was Lismore. The media were deliberately not informed about his itinerary as he met those who had lost their homes and livelihoods.

    Pointing out state responsibilities

    By the end of the week, the frustration was showing. “No amount of support is going to measure up to what people need in a desperate situation like this. I’m just being honest with you,” Morrison said.

    Responding to criticism the army should have been there sooner and in larger numbers, rather than leaving it to the locals to help each other in the short term, he argued it was unfeasible to expect huge numbers of troops to be waiting just around the corner in anticipation of such events.

    A defensive Morrison also hit out at critics who were giving the state governments of Queensland and NSW a leave pass, when disaster mitigation and response was primarily a state responsibility.

    “Why do state governments constantly come to the federal government to pay for things that are responsibilities of state government?” he asked.

    The advantage of incumbency

    Blaming it on Putin

    Pain threshold

    Frydenberg warned, however, that standing up to bullies like China and Russia through the imposition of sanctions and safeguarding supply chains came with a cost. Putin’s weaponisation of Europe’s energy dependence on Russia “will undoubtedly test the West’s pain threshold”, he said. “And while Australia is better placed than most to withstand these pressures, there will be costs borne by Australians in defending our values.

    Labor was having none of it. “Of course the war in Ukraine will have an impact on inflation and the economy,” shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said. “But Josh Frydenberg shouldn’t be using the Russian invasion to distract from the fact that costs of living were already skyrocketing on his watch well before then.”

    In Australia, the jury is out. It will have until mid-May to decide, with a budget in between.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    2 sides to every story

    Road Rager Blocks Other Driver, Reaches Inside The Car, And Is Shot Dead [VIDEO]

    Mattison suffered a road rage episode in Streamwood, Illinois. He stopped his truck, and verbally berated another driver. When he reached inside the other car and struck the driver, the driver shot and killed him.

    The UK’s Daily Mail has the story. In it, they paint the attacker as the victim, as if he did absolutely nothing to precipitate his own death.

    Police arrested the driver of the other car.

    It didn’t surprise his boss that Mattison might have been involved in a road rage confrontation that escalated into a fatal shooting? Is that a nice way of saying he thought his employee had a hot temper?

    Looking at the video, it’s clear that Mattison stopped his plumbing truck, blocking the other driver’s Ford Taurus. The video likely safe for work

    It’s also clear that upon reaching in at the other driver, Mattison moved in a striking motion. Not smart and certainly not legal.

    From Illinois law:

    (720 ILCS 5/18-6) (was 720 ILCS 5/12-11.1)
    Sec. 18-6. Vehicular invasion.
    (a) A person commits vehicular invasion when he or she knowingly, by force and without lawful justification, enters or reaches into the interior of a motor vehicle while the motor vehicle is occupied by another person or persons, with the intent to commit therein a theft or felony.
    (b) Sentence. Vehicular invasion is a Class 1 felony.
    (Source: P.A. 97-1108, eff. 1-1-13.)

    The plot thickens as the driver of the Taurus, 18-year-old Jonathan Mejia, obviously didn’t have a concealed carry license (21 is the minimum age for a carry license in Illinois.) What’s more, he likely wasn’t transporting the firearm legally unless he was busy loading it while Mattison was yelling at him.

    This seems to be a case of one driver committing at least one felony against another driver committing felonies. Is this a case of ‘when idiots collide?’ Time will tell.

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  • #
    TedM

    Dr. Steven Hatfill debunks alleged bio weapon labs in Ukraine.

    https://rumble.com/vx44wp-steven-hatfill-on-the-biolabs-in-ukraine.html

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Toyota Considers New Production Strategy As World Burns

    Toyota Motor Corp. is reconsidering its existing production strategy, citing ongoing global issues that are hindering its ability to manufacture vehicles at a normal pace.

    Like most other automakers, Toyota has endured COVID restrictions, supply chains bottlenecks, component shortages, at least one cyberattack, and some new obstacles stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “We need to examine the conditions before us,” Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda explained on Wednesday. “If we do not continue to make sound production plans [as well as our suppliers] this will lead to exhaustion.”

    Considering Toyota has already cut its output goal for the fiscal year from 9 million vehicles to 8.5 million, issuing another cut within a few weeks looks pretty bad. But that’s allegedly not what’s happening. According to Chief Human Resources Officer Masanori Kuwata, the company is only seeking to temper its targets for the spring quarter (April-to-June) and would have another update for what that means in the coming days.

    I’m skeptical. After forcing staff to work on reduced schedules for the last two years, a lot of automakers have started talking about running leaner. Some have attributed this to their electrification strategy requiring fewer persons on the assembly line. But the general consensus seems to be that layoffs are coming, regardless of whether it being attributed to a crippled economy or some fantastical-sounding business model. My guess is that Toyota’s upcoming meetings will be covering similar territory with Akio coming forward to announce job cuts.

    Compared to the industry as a whole, Toyota actually weathered the last couple of years rather well and said it was hoping to increase volume going into the spring of 2022. But it’s looking like that strategy is coming off the table.

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      The War in Ukraine has Exposed the Perils of 21st Century Globalism

      The operational underpinning of 21st Century Globalism is the extortion and intimidation of nations throughout the planet to acquiesce to radical “green” policies whose true objective is not to “save the planet” but the elimination of national identity and de facto global governance by unaccountable institutions.

      The populations of many countries (such as the United States and much of Europe) have accordingly been coerced into altering their traditional national lifestyles and have marginalized their manufacturing and energy bases by voluntarily becoming reliant on other nations for basic goods and energy.

      The Ukraine War has revealed the insanity of naïve voluntary dependence on manufactured products and/or natural resources from despotic countries, such as Russia, Iran, and China, who are jointly and clandestinely setting up their own version of autocratic globalism.

      China, Russia’s partner in the new axis of evil, is thumbing its nose at these same “woke” global institutions, as they are planning to build 43 new coal-fired plants this year, they have reneged on previous commitments to cut carbon emissions by 2030, and have entered into a long-term agreement to import vast quantities oil and gas from Russia.

      Confident in their status as the manufacturer to the world, a status the United States foolishly surrendered in the 1990s, China is no longer concealing its determination to annex, by military action, if necessary, Taiwan. As Xi Jinping like Putin believes far too many nations are so dependent upon products that China manufactures as well as their financial clout that these nations, in particular the United States, can be easily cowed and will not militarily or financially contest any takeover.

      The United States can, in fact, be easily intimidated, as the agendas of the globalists and the agenda of the American left, which now controls the Democrat party and thus the corridors of power in Washington, grow increasingly intertwined.

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    • #
      yarpos

      “….and said it was hoping to increase volume going into the spring of 2022. But it’s looking like that strategy is coming off the table”

      Thats not a strategy its a goal. The whole article is confused journalist gobbledegook.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    TO BE FAIR, SHE’S AN IDIOT: Elizabeth Warren Says the Solution to High Gas Prices Is Higher Taxes on Oil Companies.

    Leaving aside the fact that the senator has evidently never met a corporate tax she didn’t want to hike, history shows that imposing a windfall profits tax on oil is particularly shortsighted.”

    60

    • #
      yarpos

      People that make you wonder why they get any media attention, yet there they are.

      I what universe does anyone care what Warren thinks?

      Its like Adam Bandt or Flim Flam in Australia.

      10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Headed back to the office? Make sure your building has flushed out its water.

    Vacancies can allow microbes and metals to build up in the plumbing.

    40

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Running VX 550 pool cleaner, cleaning stormwater debris from overflowing street drain – other than debris in pool, with brick front wall as dam, storm water bypassed house on both sides and physio table in front of front gate stopped flow down one side

      However houses below us, below cliff, copped a soaking

      The other thing is if left unused, water in S trap can evaporate and you get sewer smells in house

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  • #
    el+gordo

    Strong link found between CO2 emissions and economic growth, things are looking up.

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/03/09/co2-emissions-hit-record-high-in-2021/

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  • #
    Neville

    Dr Roy Spencer asks why so called scientists have such religious faith in the 240 watts per sq metre BALANCE of Earth’s climate system.
    Is it really 240 watts per sq metre but with an uncertainty of 5 to 10 watts sq metre?
    And according to the last 15 years of Argo float data there’s only about 1 watt per sq metre ( equivalent) of warming.
    So if the satellite data is only accurate to about 5 to 10 watts per sq metre then that means that one watt per sq metre of warming could be just natural variability.
    Perhaps clouds have changed slightly over the past few decades to provide a one percent increase of warming in the system? Who knows?
    Certainly only stupid people would want to WASTE trillions of $ for decades on such lousy data and wreck our electricity grid and future prosperity into the bargain?

    https://www.drroyspencer.com/2022/03/why-recent-warming-blamed-on-humans-is-largely-a-matter-of-faith/

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Lismore transformed into ‘warzone’ as political bickering, gridlocked bureaucracy leaves flood-ravaged town repeating history

    Lismore residents living in what they describe as a flooding “warzone” have demanded the federal government lead an investigation into the Northern Rivers water system, writes Tyrone Clarke.

    DECADES OF DESTRUCTION DESTINED TO REPEAT

    Lismore resident and coordinator of the local flood review group, Beth Trevan, published more detailed and long-term financial impact statements in a submission to the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

    “Lismore in the Federal electorate of Page is the most flood impacted community in Australia having experienced more than 91 floods in 150 years,” she wrote.

    “Due to the close proximity of the Border Ranges there is only a short timeframe of 8 – 12 hours between the time that flood rains fall and major flood effects are being experienced in various villages and towns throughout the catchment.

    “Research by Macquarie University Risk Frontiers and SGU Economics/Deloitte for Suncorp Insurance record a cost of more than $10 billion in reparations and recovery for the four biggest floods 1954, 1974, 1989 and 2017 alone. Between 1954 – 2017 there have been an additional 62 major, moderate and minor floods with recovery costs to be added to the $10 billion.”

    Her work tells the story of a town which knew serious flooding and drought was inevitable without major and urgent intervention.

    Despite no major structural changes to the region’s water catchment infrastructure since her Royal Commission submission two years ago, Ms Trevan has not stopped calling for help.

    “What we’re trying to do is get the best brains in the country to look at the entire catchment of the north coast,” Ms Trevan told SkyNews.com.au.

    “We’ve got a water security issue as the same time as we have a flood mitigation issue.

    “The whole catchment needs to be evaluated by the best brains in the country. Every aspect of water security, every single aspect of it.”

    PLAN FOR PREVENTION, NOT A REBUILD

    One of the key findings in the Lismore Citizens Flood Review Group’s damning submission to the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrange was the disproportionate allocation of funds with three per cent allotted to mitigation compared to 97 per cent to recovery.

    A TOWN DIVIDED OVER DAMS AND WATER SECURITY

    Councillor Rob wanted the investigation to probe critical infrastructure projects which could dramatically increase flood and drought mitigation.

    One option touted by some residents is the creation of Dunoon Dam, a brand new 50 gigalitre structure which could reduce the impact of flooding and drought, but at the expense of impacting local waterways.

    “The best way to get water is to catch it whilst it’s there,” he said.

    “All this water that smashed Lismore is going out to sea which is tragic.

    “I think the best solution is a dam, it ticks all the boxes. The dam helps that (floods) as well because it will catch a few gig of water.”

    ‘BROKEN’ POLITICS HINDERING PROGRESS

    Mr Trevan said the NSW bureaucracy was “seriously out of touch” with water and flood mitigation requirements.

    “The systems that the bureaucrats operate in are so out of touch and so ineffective and so fraught with all of the worst of Australian government problems, so nothing ever happens,” he said.

    Mr Trevan added dams and flood mitigation represented the “very worst space” in Australian bureaucracy.

    “It is just an impossible task, it is much easier to stop a dam or any project than to build something,” he said.

    “How is it possible that the most flood affected community in the country cannot guarantee water supply past 2024.

    “NSW does not do water security or flood mitigation well.”

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    • #
      b.nice

      How many GL went out to sea, and how many GL will this small dam catch. !

      20

    • #
      beowulf

      The SES/RFS flood incompetence plot thickens.

      https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/baffled-pilots-say-their-helicopters-were-not-wanted-by-government-during-flood-crisis-20220312-p5a41t.html

      Private helicopter operators say they were never called upon by the NSW government to assist during this month’s flood emergency, even though it pays them to be on standby so they can rapidly respond to natural disasters, including floods.

      Multiple businesses confirmed to the Herald that their aircraft – specially equipped to respond to catastrophic situations such as the flooding event – remained grounded throughout the crisis while they awaited a call to help that never came.

      Their government contract requires their helicopters are fuelled and have crew on standby so they can be deployed with fifteen minutes’ notice.

      Mark Harrold of Sydney Helicopters said he was blindsided when his aircraft were deployed to Cooma on March 1, while on the other side of the state, Ballina was being evacuated and two people died as floodwaters peaked in Lismore.

      “We were expecting the phone call to go to Ballina and were told to go to Cooma,” . . .“We sat there for a day and-a-half in Cooma and obviously didn’t do anything, and then we were stood down.”

      Responding to questions about Mr Harrold’s aircraft being sent to Cooma, the RFS spokesman said some aircraft were “pre-emptively deployed at the request of the NSW SES to parts of the state where flooding was forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology”.

      Trevor Breed, the owner of Helitreck at Bankstown Airport circulated a letter of complaint to multiple MPs on Friday. He opted to send two helicopters to the Northern Rivers at his company’s expense. One was allocated 21 hours of work by the State Air Desk [RFS controllers] and the other “sat for six days without turning a blade”.

      This comes on top of private citizens having to organise their own boat rescue service for folks left clinging to roofs for days by the SES. Apparently organising a chook raffle would be beyond the talents of the emergency authorities.

      10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Greg Hunt encourages heart health checks for Aussies in their 50s after ‘tragic’ deaths of Kimberley Kitching and Shane Warne

    Health Minister Greg Hunt has implored Australians to get their hearts checked after Kimberley Kitching and Shane Warne, who were both aged 52, died within one week of each other.

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  • #
    RicDre

    Biden Rages: ‘I’m Sick’ of Americans Blaming Me for Inflation

    The Buck Stops Here It’s Putin’s Fault!

    by CHARLIE SPIERING 11 Mar 2022 2:44

    “I’m sick of this stuff… The American people think the reason for inflation is the government spending more money,” Biden said angrily. “Simply. Not. True.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/03/11/joe-biden-rages-im-sick-of-americans-blaming-me-for-inflation-not-vladimir-putin/

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Don’t pretend that high prices and American suffering are a ‘bug’ for the establishment — it’s a historic feature

      Well, the establishment is doing it again. As author Julia Song tweeted: “Sh*t is so fake that the minute an outsider took office we got cheap gas, cheap food, became energy independent, no wars and focused on our country’s own issues. Establishment hacks get back in and we have inflation, medical tyranny, world war 3, need to take a mortgage for gas.”

      Yes, the record of those establishment hacks seems pretty bad. Of course, that assumes they want cheap gas, cheap food, energy independence and to promote America’s interests. There’s every reason to think the opposite: We’re not getting cheap gas, cheap food, energy independence, etc. because that’s not what the establishment wants. What we’re getting is what the establishment does want; if we don’t like it, tough.

      Don’t take my word for it, ask the establishment. In 2008, President Barack Obama’s science advisor, Steven Chu, told The Wall Street Journal, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” Well, we’ve got that now, more or less. The establishment doesn’t like cheap gas, because it encourages ordinary Americans to drive, fly, heat their homes and generally enjoy life.

      The planet can’t afford such extravagances — though mysteriously it can afford the executive jets and extensive travel schedules of the American political class and tech oligarchs. They don’t mind high prices because they can always pay them. They just don’t want everyone else to enjoy a high-living globe-trotting lifestyle.

      (Struggling with an hour commute as you try to feed your family and pay skyrocketing utility bills, and now gasoline bills, for your drive to work? Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says just trade in your 15-year-old Honda for a new electric car. Sure, the cheapest electric car will cost you at least $30,000, but hey, you’ll be getting in line with the establishment’s plan to force people into electric cars.)

      EPA Chief Michael Regan bragged that the administration is using high gas prices to force a shift to electric cars and other “zero emission” technologies.

      If you sum up the establishment’s goals, social and environmental, they basically involve making most of the citizenry live poorer, more constrained lives. The excuses for doing so shift, but the policies remain the same.

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      • #
        Dave in the States

        The push to use this to push through the so called energy transition could backfire, because it can’t realistically happen. If the Dems think it can, it just goes to show how much they live in a fantasy land. If it doesn’t happen, and it can’t, it could result in a backlash of lasting effect.

        30

      • #
        John B

        I liked one tweet that Julia Song (@realjuliasong) retweeted.
        Julia Song Retweeted
        unusual_whales
        @unusual_whales
        “Goldman Sachs, $GS, is cashing in on the war in Ukraine by selling Russian debt to U.S. hedge funds, and using a legal loophole in the Biden administration’s sanctions to do it.”

        20

    • #
      Dave in the States

      Biden was caught on a hot mic several weeks ago commenting about reporter’s question about inflation ” Inflation is a good, what a stupid son of #itch.” Good for whom?

      50

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Parsed correctly that would read: “Inflation good? What a stupid SOB”.

        That’s how I read it anyway.

        30

  • #
    OldOzzie

    NSW Health calls for return of mandatory masks, working from home

    NSW Health is reportedly pushing for the return of mandatory masks and working from home amid a rise in cases of the new Omicron subvariant.

    NSW Health has called for Covid-19 restrictions to be reintroduced due to mounting concerns about the new Omicron subvariant.
    Health authorities want masks to be compulsory indoors, capacity limits to be brought back, a blanket ban on singing and dancing and a return to working from home,

    On Thursday, Mr Hazzard said “apparent rise in cases” over the past few days was “concerning for us”.

    He said it was important for everyone who is eligible to get a booster dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

    “If everybody were boosted, I wouldn’t be as concerned,” Mr Hazzard said.

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      Mr Hazard doesnt read widely or even read the news outside NSW apparently , if he thinks his beloved booster will make a difference. Seems to be a one trick pony.

      40

    • #
      William Astley

      The US CDC and the health authorities in our countries are hiding a significant change in the risks (deaths) of getting Omicron vs the risk of taking the RNA covid vaccines (deaths).

      The preprint paper linked to below analyzed the most recent UK data and finds the risk of death from taken the RNA vaccines is greater than or equal to, the risk of dying from covid (Omicron) for those under 80 years of age. For children under the age of 18 there is an 51 times greater chance of dying from the RNA vaccines than from Omicron.

      Omicron is roughly 1/10 as deadly as the covid Delta variation because it has 32 mutations on the deadly covid spike. The covid first release vaccines force the body to produce the original covid spike which has the original deadly covid biochemistry.

      https://www.vixra.org/pdf/2202.0084v1.pdf

      COVID-19 and All-Cause Mortality Data by Age Group Reveals Risk of COVID Vaccine-Induced Fatality is Equal to or Greater than the Risk of a COVID death for all Age Groups Under 80 Years Old as of 6 February 2022

      “Children under age 18 years have 51 times higher chance of fatality after a COVID inoculation than risk of dying from COVID if unvaccinated.

      Vaccinations in the under 18 age group are more likely to increase the number of COVID deaths in this age group rather than prevent any.

      Young adults age 18 to 29 have an 8 times higher risk of fatality from the inoculation than from COVID if not inoculated.”

      This is a link to a blog that discusses this data.

      https://drjessesantiano.com/risk-benefit-analysis-shows-a-higher-risk-of-covid-vax-death-than-covid-19-disease-for-those-under-80-years-old/

      10

    • #
      William Astley

      This preprint paper analyzes RNA vaccine adverse events (deaths) from multiple countries and finds that the CDC has been under reporting the incidences of deaths caused by the RNA vaccines by a factor of 20.

      “Our estimated US national average VFR of 0.04% is 20-fold greater than the CDC reported VFR of 0.002%, suggesting vaccine-associated deaths are underreported by at least a factor of 20 in VAERS. The estimate is based only on significant effects detected in our analysis, and hence likely represents a lower bound on the actual underreporting factor.”

      https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Spiro-Pantazatos/publication/355581860_COVID_vaccination_and_age-stratified_all-cause_mortality_risk/links/6212dae26c472329dcfa0152/COVID-vaccination-and-age-stratified-all-cause-mortality-risk.pdf

      “In June, 2021 the US FDA added a warning to Fact Sheets for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccines, noting that “reports of adverse events suggest increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly following the second dose and with onset of symptoms within a few days after vaccination (1).”

      Subclinical myocarditis may be a partial explanation for vaccine-induced deaths in men up to age 50 (2,3).

      A leading cause of immediate death following COVID vaccination may be thromboembolic events as all the vaccines have been associated with forms of venous and arterial thrombosis (4–9). Data-driven estimates of severe vaccine adverse event rates as well as all-cause mortality risk are critical for cost-benefit ratio analyses of COVID vaccination in various age groups”

      10

  • #
    Yonniestone.

    Aussie Cossack has a video that’s been banned by all big tech platforms, https://t.me/AussieCossack/1795

    Victorian Infectious Diseases Laboratory in Melbourne caught importing blood serum from 🇺🇦Ukrainian Bio Weapons Laboratories.

    Classified documents captured by the 🇷🇺Russian military reveal a paper trail between Ukrainian Bio Laboratories and The Doherty Institute in Australia.

    Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will declassify more documents and reveal the secrets behind COVID-19 in a few hours time!

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Americans’ Faustian bargain with Joe Biden

    In the 2020 presidential election, America was faced with a true dilemma, the horns of which were to re-elect Donald Trump — to millions, incomprehensible and unthinkable — or to settle for Joe Biden — to millions, passive acceptance of his personal and professional politics of corruption, bigotry, and incompetence. It was a Faustian bargain, where Americans so fearful for America’s future and democratic well-being were willing to barter parts of their principles and liberties for a victory where much could be lost to achieve it. In the end, it cost us dearly.

    In settling for Joe Biden, America has settled for violence, coercion, and lawlessness. In the blink of a presidential eye, these dark impulses are everywhere — like narcotics desensitizing us, destroying our spirits, eroding our values, and transforming our republic into a people and a political system we no longer recognize. We now accept crime and disrespect for the rule of law as normal — necessary concessions, we are instructed, to right our history, cleanse our institutions, and restore our justice.

    In settling for Joe Biden, America is now at war with itself. Not since 1863 have we been so divided, so realigned, and so dedicated to the propositions that all men are created as oppressors and oppressed, haves and have-nots, woke and unwoke.In settling for Joe Biden, we find ourselves in a frightened America, where mob outrage and the use of physical force have become national pastimes. Antifa, BLM, and wannabe anarchists act out like pugnacious thugs — with looters and protesters taunting and dancing amid the mayhem, celebrating the smoke and flames and sirens of rebellion in nihilistic abandon. There is a new bloodlust and appetite for destruction. Luring police officers to crime scenes and shooting them without remorse; murdering a young Georgia man out for a jog; pushing innocent subway riders to their deaths; stalking and killing Asians for no apparent reason…the list is long. More and more, Americans are being forced to surrender to brutality and negotiate with intolerance and bigotry.

    In settling for Joe Biden, we have settled for a mediocrity — a conflicted, petty man with no defining code of values to inform his choices and actions.

    Time will tell if America’s democracy will withstand its Faustian bargain with Joe Biden. Until that day, we would do well to heed the wisdom of William Pitt, when England faced its own constitutional crisis in 1770: “Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where law ends, tyranny begins!”

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      Dave in the States

      The problem with this theory is that assumes that most Americans actually voted for Joe Biden. Anybody who believes that is delusional. 81 million? “Come on man!”

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    John Connor II

    DuckDuckGo – the reality & their wokeness

    I use DDG in 2 browsers, Yandex in a 3rd, and Bing in the 4th.
    I’ve noticed for a year+ that DDG seems to be “limiting” results that Yandex doesn’t.
    Somewhat annoying given DDG’s claims.
    Piggybacking off Bing eh…

    Looks like they’re just another so-so search engine after all.
    I miss the wild west days…

    http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=62949

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    RicDre

    Biden Complains That White House Staff Keep Draping Flags Over Him Every Time He Naps

    March 10th, 2022 – BabylonBee.com

    WASHINGTON, D.C—According to sources, President Joe Biden has been complaining that his staff keeps draping flags over him whenever he naps, apparently mistaking him for a dead person.

    “Hey folks, I’m not dead! I’m just resting my eyes a little! Know the difference, Jack!” said a frustrated Biden. “Whenever I’m napping, just bring your ear really close to my nose and you’ll hear me breathing. I might even wake up and sniff ya! Come on, man!”

    https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-complains-that-white-house-staff-drapes-flags-over-him-every-time-he-naps?utm_source=Gab&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Gab

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    John Connor II

    I’m baaaack. Miss me?

    Delta-Omicron Covid hybrid ‘detected in UK’ as experts warn it shouldn’t be ignored

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/delta-omicron-covid-hybrid-detected-26438267

    Pesky invasions delaying the next scariant release. Our global leaders really need to communicate with each other better if the NWO takeover is to succeed.😅
    What will the symptoms of this one be?
    Voting liberal?
    Getting up for a leak at 3am?
    Wearing a hat while driving?

    Experts warn, the people yawn 😅

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      Hanrahan

      If so, shouldn’t we let the Big O rip to get herd immunity as high as we can before the more dangerous strain spreads?

      Somewhere above it is said that NSW is considering imposing mask mandates again. Are all pollies brain dead?

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        Serp

        Brett Sutton and Nancy Baxter have already advised us that we Victorians should keep wearing masks ubiquitously notwithstanding the cancelling of the mandate.

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  • #
    John Connor II

    Russia threatens to abandon American astronaut in space as sanctions threaten peace aboard ISS

    Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Space Agency and a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Biden in a series of hostile tweets. On Feb. 26, he posted a video in Russian that threatened to leave Vande Hei behind in space and detach Russia’s segment of the space station altogether.

    https://abc7ny.com/russia-international-space-station-mark-vande-hei-iss-american-astronaut/11639556/

    Now now guys..there’s no place for jingoism aboard the ISS…

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    John Connor II

    How YOU can protect yourself from the deadly JE virus as it spreads at an alarming rate across Australia

    The man in his 70s died in a Sydney hospital on February 13, and results of his autopsy showed he had contracted Japanese encephalitis before his death.

    A Victorian man in his 60s died with the infection on February 28.

    There have now been 16 human cases of the virus in Australia, including seven in Victoria, one in Queensland and four in NSW.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10597119/How-protect-deadly-JE-virus.html

    I know…I’ve seen this develop for weeks but didn’t deem it post worthy.

    Meanwhile:

    What If We Used Mosquitoes To Vaccinate People? Japan Actually Did

    https://www.indiatimes.com/amp/technology/science-and-future/mosquitoes-vaccination-carriers-japan-study-538324.html

    2 billion genetically modified mosquitos are about to be released in the US

    https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/2-billion-genetically-modified-mosquitos-205200126.html

    What could possibly go wrong.

    More candidates for the human invention clusterfook hall of fame..

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      OldOzzie

      Scientists to Release GMO Mosquitos Funded by Gates Foundation in California & Florida

      Millions of GMO mosquitoes funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are to be released in California and Florida, according to reports.

      The EPA greenlit the release of the GMO mosquitos as part of a “pilot program” to crowd out natural mosquitos in selected areas of the two states.

      “The mosquitoes were made by UK-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in an effort to combat insect-borne diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus,” reported the Epoch Times. “According to Oxitec, its ‘sustainable and targeted biological pest control technology does not harm beneficial insects like bees and butterflies and is proven to control the disease-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has invaded communities in Florida, California, and other U.S. states.’”

      The pilot program in Florida, which was given a head start last year, has faced backlash from residents who criticized the EPA’s response.

      “The EPA did not require peer review or basic preliminary caged trials in Florida and Texas and excluded adequate public comment by not posting relevant documents when they approved the trial,” said Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety.

      Others felt the EPA didn’t consider unintended consequences.

      “In March, a panel of independent experts testified to the Florida Keys mosquito board that GE mosquitoes could also pose significant threats to sensitive ecosystems and human populations in the Florida Keys,”

      reported the Daily Mail – Florida residents claim ‘pest control trial’ that will release up to a BILLION genetically engineered mosquitos in the Keys to reduce species carrying diseases is ‘TERRORISM’

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        OldOzzie

        Mosquito disease warning

        Mar 11, 2022 | Health

        Locally acquired cases of JE have never previously been identified in NSW in animals or humans. Since late February 2022, the JE virus has been confirmed in samples from pig farms in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

        The JE virus is spread by mosquitoes and can infect animals and humans. The virus cannot be transmitted between humans, and it cannot be caught by eating pork or other pig products.

        There is no specific treatment for JE, which can cause severe neurological illness with headache, convulsions and reduced consciousness in some cases.

        The best thing people throughout the state can do to protect themselves and their families against JE is to take steps to avoid mosquito bites.

        Simple actions you can take include:

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    el+gordo

    Western economic leverage makes Russia an international pariah state, Beijing would prefer to avoid that outcome.

    “My hope is that China will learn the right lessons from Ukraine in relation to its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific [and] that China has noticed the world’s incredible resolve and its extraordinary determination to enact a very high cost against Russia for what it has done,” Senator James Patterson said.

    ‘This week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a $38 billion boost to Australia’s defence capability, including a promise to increase the number of military personnel to 80,000.’ (SMH)

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    OldOzzie

    History Rhyming, Biden Administration Constructs Familiar War Plan Using Qatar as Long-Term Mechanism to Fund Protracted War in Ukraine

    Mark Twain was reported to have said, “History may not always repeat, but it rhymes.” With the Obama foreign policy team back together again in the White House, we are watching Twain’s truism play out in real time.

    Yesterday, the Biden administration specifically designated Qatar as a major non-NATO ally {LINK}.

    The purpose of this designation is brutally obvious. The United States is putting Qatar back into the business of brokering arms sales from the U.S. government into Ukraine. Following the geopolitical intervention models previously used in Egypt, Libya and Syria by President Obama and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken are now repeating the process toward Ukraine.

    In many ways this should not be a surprise. Qatar is the financial hub and support network for the M@slim Brotherhood. Qatar is also the arms broker for covert military operations when the U.S. does not want visible fingerprints.

    By making this designation now, the Biden administration is setting up the groundwork for a long-term proxy war between the U.S/NATO and Russia in Ukraine.

    The designation provides the people around Joe Biden with the mechanism to write finding memos which will authorize the CIA and State Department to conduct the proxy war in Ukraine, and the U.S. Senate will now facilitate authorization as they did in Libya.

    What this designation also tells us is that the U.S. is deploying the Ukraine insurgency model for the long haul.

    We are going to be sending massive amounts of military hardware and financial support into Ukraine, to support the Ukraine ‘rebels’, and Qatar will work as the U.S/NATO broker for the equipment sales. This is what Brotherhood organizer John McCain called the “Libyan model.”

    Senate and House Republicans will be pro-Biden, as they use Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia. The DC Republican class don’t give a rat’s ass about what their voters want. When it comes to war, they and their corporate allies love it.

    In the United States – Democrats, Republicans, Wall Street, Big Tech and the multinational corporations are always aligned in a pro proxy war stance. This is why Big Tech announced yesterday it is okay right now to support N@zis in Ukraine and violence against Russians.

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    OldOzzie

    Clueless Kamala Embarrassingly Showcases Lack of Competence During Visit to Romania

    At the end of their meeting, Kamala Harris and President Klaus Iohannis held a press availability. The level of intellectual incompetence displayed by Harris is off the charts. WATCH:

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      OldOzzie

      Biden Dispatches ‘The Joker’ to Europe

      By Charles Hurt

      This is what you get when you take more than 200 years of hard fought history, fearless progress and unrivaled leadership in the world to build the greatest global power ever devised by humans on earth — and hand it to an imbecile.

      Asked at a press conference in Poland about the massive and growing humanitarian crisis caused by the savage Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris burst into her signature cackling laughter.

      The crazed woman really is the most terrorizing Joker ever played on the big screen. Jack Nicholson and Joaquin Phoenix sit in dark rooms before flickering TVs marveling in jealousy at her terrorizing performances.

      And she does it all without smeared, garish makeup.

      Her stunned host, Polish President Andrzej Duda, proceeded to answer the question about the refugees in light of the hilarity Kamala Harris found in the flood of widowed women and orphaned children gathering at Poland’s border.

      Perhaps realizing that she was — yet again — in the deep end without her water wings, The Joker retreated to her worn bag of gags, tricks and squeaky noses to pull out a cartoonishly awkward cliche for the solemn moment.

      It might be tempting to think that as Democrats facing reelection in November abandon the Biden White House, the administration dispatched The Joker to eastern Europe simply to destroy her political career. Kind of like putting her in charge of our own southern border.

      To put it in cartoon imagery that the Joker and the rest of the White House might understand, sending someone to preside over the catastrophe in Ukraine is like the Roadrunner handing Wile E. Coyote an anvil just as he is about to disappear off a jagged cliff to a barren ravine below — followed promptly by a grand piano.

      But the sad truth is that as hopelessly unqualified and ridiculous as The Joker is, she is probably the very best this White House has to offer. Sent to patch up relations with allies after the U.S. nixed Poland’s plans to send fighter jets to help Ukraine, The Joker flat-out lied.

      And then she wandered into another one of her incomprehensible word salads.

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    OldOzzie

    Blackout Policy

    As energy prices soar, some states press on with anti-fossil fuel strategies at odds with reality.

    But apparently the times haven’t been extraordinary enough to deter some states from their war on fossil fuels. Governors and legislators in several states are plunging ahead with a pipeline ban, new taxes, and added regulatory oversight—all aimed at raising prices further and weaning Americans off natural gas and oil.

    Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is pursuing closure of a major oil and gas pipeline, the Enbridge Line 5, which carries supplies from Western Canada to energy users in five midwestern states. Whitmer says the line, in operation since 1953, would present an environmental problem if it were to rupture in the portion that runs underwater beneath the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron—though that hasn’t happened in nearly 70 years. To allay fears, the pipeline owner, Enbridge, wants to move it into a tunnel dug below the straits, but Whitmer has decreed instead that the line be shut. A new study estimates that individuals and businesses in the five affected states would spend $23 billion more on energy costs over the next five years if the line closes, on top of any additional energy costs resulting from a sustained war in Ukraine

    With fuel prices soaring, the Ukraine war has placed new attention on Russia’s efforts over the years to fund anti-fossil-fuel “green” groups in Western Europe and the U.S. Their lobbying has helped deepen the world’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels while sapping the U.S. oil and natural gas industry of its momentum—even as the shortcomings of green technologies become more obvious, with power outages and rolling blackouts in places like California.

    “I understand how Russian propaganda about climate change successfully suppressed domestic energy production in the United States until now,” political commentator and cartoonist Scott Adams wrote recently. “What I don’t understand is why it is still working. Must be massive corruption or massive cognitive dissonance.”

    Part of the answer may be that some politicians have staked so much of their political identity on the green agenda that to backtrack now would be to admit that they’ve been dangerously naïve. It seems far easier to continue to pursue strategies at odds with reality—even as the price, both economic and otherwise, for doing so grows higher by the day.

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      OldOzzie

      Will Dems’ Green Dream Fuel GOP Red Wave?

      President Biden and other White House officials dramatically changed their tune this week in defending their green agenda in the face of skyrocketing gas prices and Russia’s energy supply stranglehold over Europe.

      Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden for months blamed increasing gas prices on supply-chain issues and pent-up post-pandemic demand for travel, deflecting questions on whether his push to move the country off fossil fuels was a factor.

      Now the administration is laying the blame directly on Russia. After announcing a ban on Russian oil imports to the U.S., Biden on Monday described the spiking gas prices as a necessary cost all Americans must bear to strike a blow to Putin’s “war machine,” as attacks on Ukraine intensified.

      Asked what he plans to do to bring down gas prices, Biden threw up his hands earlier this week, essentially saying there’s nothing he can do.

      “Russia is responsible,” he told reporters. The latest intransigence came Wednesday during White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s briefing with reporters. Would Biden ever resurrect the Keystone XL pipeline, as some top officials in Canada are calling on him to do?

      Republicans are already hitting the most vulnerable Democrats for their green legislative agenda, highlighting specific votes on bills limiting oil and gas production or shutting down the Keystone pipeline. Democrats can expect an avalanche of attacks as long as gas prices remain high.

      Just a few months ago, House Democrats were the ones itching for a fight over oil and gas.

      What a difference a few months makes, along with $5-a-gallon gasoline. A new poll conducted by leading Democratic pollster Impact Research and released Wednesday found that voters in several midterm battleground states favor continued natural gas production and export as a way to achieve energy independence from foreign sources and help U.S. allies become less reliant on Russian energy supplies.

      Even though Democratic leaders are bracing for attack ads highlighting these votes, they didn’t help themselves this week when pressed on their plans to soften the blows and address energy prices. At a Tuesday press conference, House Democratic Conference Chair Hakeem Jeffries said the issue of record gas prices “hasn’t come up” during his party’s caucus meetings.

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        OldOzzie

        Democrats Would Lose Control Of Congress If Election Were Held Today, New Polls Show

        According to WSJ’s latest poll numbers, just 42% of Americans said they approved of President Biden’s performance in office, which was virtually unchanged from the previous WSJ poll in mid-November.

        But on the question of who would win control of Congress in November if the vote were held today, the Republicans have a commanding lead at 46% to the Democrats 41% of respondents.

        Voters also gave Democrats poor marks for handling inflation and the economy, which 50% cited as the top issue they want the federal government to address. The Ukraine conflict was No. 2, with 25% of voters saying it was most important.

        Inflation is also an issue where President Biden has seen his popularity erode. A majority of voters, 63%, said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of rising costs on everything from oil to consumer goods. It was the worst rating for Biden among six policy issues addressed in the poll.

        20

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    John Connor II

    Nearly 2.8 Million Birds (Mostly Chickens And Turkeys) Have Died In The First Month Of America’s Raging New Bird Flu Pandemic

    You don’t say..
    Who could see that coming…months ago…😆

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    OldOzzie

    CDC Lowers Expectations for Child Development, Raising New Questions for Parents

    The CDC has changed its list of children’s developmental milestones for infants and young children, marking the first update of its kind since 2004.

    However, the update essentially moves the milestones later and later – following a similar trend in academic standards across the nation.

    Is this something to be celebrated, or is it one more example of lowering standards?

    The supposed reasoning behind the update is that the earlier milestones used only 50th percentile data, which means that only half of the children were expected to reach them at a specific age.

    What the article doesn’t highlight, however, is that the changes effectively move developmental milestones to older ages.

    An article from the American Academy of Pediatrics details the changes. In short, one-third of the original milestones were moved to different ages, and of those moved, just over two-thirds were moved to an older age.

    In other words, the CDC is shifting developmental goalposts later and later for infants and young children.

    One reason for moving the developmental goalposts may be the learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Theek says the widespread use of face masks could be affecting children’s speech development, as babies start learning how to read lips as young as 8 months old.

    “There’s no research out there yet saying that this could be causing speech and language delays. But, most definitely, I’m sure it’s a factor,” she said. “It’s very important that kids do see your face to learn, so they’re watching your mouth.”

    Other detrimental effects on children have included a decrease in academic performance after widespread remote and virtual learning options, which tend to hurt minority and low-income students hardest.

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    John Connor II

    War In Ukraine Is The WEF’s Doorway To Global Technocracy

    Don’t be fooled by the deluge of propaganda stating the war is between Russia and Ukraine. Rather, it is a war between Technocracy and the rest of the world. As the nation state model of government dissolves, it will be replaced by leaders of the corporate world, central bank oligarchs and private financial institutions.
    During the breakdown of the global supply chain, the financial and currency systems will also break down, allowing central banks emergency powers to replace currencies with a system of digital currencies. Digital currencies require digital identity. Digital identity will enable Universal Basic Income and rationing of all necessities of life. Governments will bow, Technocracy will take over and the Great Reset will be complete.

    Stage 2 – war.

    https://www.technocracy.news/war-in-ukraine-is-the-wefs-doorway-to-global-technocracy/

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    John Connor II

    US Biolabs In Ukraine Created Bioweapons To Target Certain Ethnic Groups

    The Russian Defense Ministry stated on Thursday that one of the objectives of the US funded biological research laboratories in Ukraine was the development of bioweapons having the capability of targeting specific ethnic groups.
    Kirillov stated that 350 cryocontainers containing blood serum specimens were sent from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health’s Public Health Centre to a reference laboratory for infectious illnesses at Australia’s Doherty Institute under the guise of evaluating antibody titers.

    https://greatgameindia.com/ukraine-biolabs-target-ethnic-groups/

    Document shredders on standby in Oz…

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      OldOzzie

      Kirillov stated that 350 cryocontainers containing blood serum specimens were sent from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health’s Public Health Centre to a reference laboratory for infectious illnesses at Australia’s Doherty Institute under the guise of evaluating antibody titers.

      The Russian Defense Ministry procured files affirming that high-risk biological study in Ukraine is being led by US experts. The records also revealed that the US Defense Department bankrolled biological research in Ukraine, according to Kirillov.

      He further claimed that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland “indirectly” acknowledged American engagement in Ukrainian biological research as she stated that Washington was anxious about Russian seizure of Ukrainian biolabs.

      Yep – Document shredders on standby in Oz…

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      TedM

      I post this link a second time if permitted.
      Virologist Steven Hatfill’s reply to these claims.

      https://rumble.com/vx44wp-steven-hatfill-on-the-biolabs-in-ukraine.html

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    OldOzzie

    Alec Baldwin’s despicable defense in the shooting of Halyna Hutchins

    In the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at his hands, Alec Baldwin knows who is to blame: Halyna Hutchins.

    In jaw-dropping court documents filed on Friday morning, Baldwin says she’s the one that asked the gun be pointed at her; that the production was a smooth, well-oiled machine; that her widower, Matthew, has inexplicably gone from amenable to vengeful — and oh, how confusing and upsetting this is to Baldwin; and that hey, no matter what, Baldwin’s contract indemnifies him for any damages.

    That $1.75 million antique Vermont farmhouse that Baldwin and his wife just bought must be top of mind.

    That’s how delusional Baldwin is, how confident that he’s been that Matthew Hutchins would never sue — he’s busy adding to his NYC-Hamptons real estate portfolio, despite facing multiple lawsuits for pointing a gun at that poor woman.

    Yes: Alec Baldwin did that.

    Alec Baldwin is a liar and a coward. Blaming the dead — how unspeakably reptilian.

    Another lie. The L.A. Times reported that guns had accidentally been fired on that set three separate times before Halyna’s death, that there were no safety meetings to follow, that the low-budget production was cutting corners — the armorer was a 24-year-old with next to no experience — and overworking the crew.

    The morning Halyna was shot, six crew members walked off over these unsafe conditions.

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    John Connor II

    Italian Truckers Declare Force Majeure Over Gas Pains, Halt Deliveries Starting Monday

    “The road transport block will have direct effects on the community, suspending the supplies of goods in the commercial sector and leading to a surge in retail price lists in shops and supermarkets – says the president Carlo Rienzi – An inevitable consequence, considering that the 85% of goods sold in Italy travel by road, and a further damage for consumers, exhausted like companies by expensive fuel “. “In this situation, a shameful immobility arrives from the Government, and it is not clear what awaits the executive to immediately cancel the VAT on petrol and diesel and reduce excise duties

    https://mishtalk.com/economics/italian-truckers-declare-force-majeure-over-gas-pains-halting-deliveries-starting-monday

    Major hikes on food & fuel abd severe shortages are looming large.
    The catch-22 & propagation delays I mentioned before are the limiting factors for now but not much longer…
    Luckily I don’t own a fuel guzzler and am not lumbered with a mortgage.

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    John Connor II

    Thought for the day: have we reached herd intelligence yet?

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      KevJ

      Not quite.. covid was supposed to drop the average IQ 10 points..
      But don’t worry, covid mkII(tm), will be a better solution..😉

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    OldOzzie

    Floods build up pressure for insurance premium overflow

    Jarden analyst Kieren Chidgey anticipated insurance claims could blow past $3 billion and help fuel average home premium rises of 10 per cent next financial year. And that was after premiums had already been far outpacing inflation.

    Multiple industry sources say reinsurers, who offer insurance for insurers in big disasters, would seek to pass on costs from this deluge to their Australian general insurers such as IAG and Suncorp.

    The reinsurers were already wincing after €8 billion ($12 billion) in losses from flooding in Germany last year, and the Australian floods extinguished hopes the southern hemisphere would even out the effects with a benign year.

    One insurance executive also told AFR Weekend that cost inflation would increase with this disaster – a plasterer, for instance, might charge between 15 per cent and 30 per cent more on their rates to repair places now.

    The water came about shin height into Ms Gittins’ two-storey home in Brisbane’s western suburb of Indooroopilly. It destroyed the kitchen and soaked plasterboards, which have been ripped out.

    The family knew when they moved into the house in 2020 that it had been flooded to about a metre in the 2011 deluge. They had taken some precautions, such as having bedrooms on the second storey.

    They also took out flood insurance, costing about $4000, through their bank Westpac, with the cover underwritten by Allianz. Another insurer wanted to charge almost $13,000, Ms Gittins said.

    That echoes what AFR Weekend has heard in discussions with numerous flood victims about large variations in pricing.

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      OldOzzie

      Cleaning up the mess from last week’s floodwaters, Kirsten Gittins is bracing for higher insurance premiums and thinking of ways to make her property more flood resilient.

      That includes inventive steps such as installing water-resistant boarding for the lowest 600 millimetres of the family’s Brisbane home.

      Ms Gittins’ house is among tens of thousands of properties damaged when the torrential rain devastating eastern Australia flooded a nearby creek and water infiltrated her home’s bottom level.

      Ms Gittins has flood cover, but if premiums go too high, she says her family will weigh up the risk of not taking flood insurance. “It’s just going to be an economic balance,” she told AFR Weekend.

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    OldOzzie

    Ukraine Worked With Democrats Against Trump in 2016 to Stop Putin. The Bet Backfired Badly.

    By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations
    March 10, 2022

    Six years ago, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country, the Ukrainians bet that a Hillary Clinton presidency would offer better protection from Russian President Vladimir Putin, even though he had invaded Crimea during the Obama-Biden administration, whose Russian policies Clinton vowed to continue.

    Working with both the Obama administration and the Clinton campaign, Ukrainian government officials intervened in the 2016 race to help Clinton and hurt Donald Trump in a sweeping and systematic foreign influence operation that’s been largely ignored by the press. The improper, if not illegal, operation was run chiefly out of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, where officials worked hand-in-glove with a Ukrainian-American activist and Clinton campaign operative to attack the Trump campaign. The Obama White House was also deeply involved in an effort to groom their own favored leader in Ukraine and then work with his government to dig up dirt on – and even investigate — their political rival.

    Ukrainian and Democratic operatives also huddled with American journalists to spread damaging information on Trump and his advisers – including allegations of illicit Russian-tied payments that, though later proved false, forced the resignation of his campaign manager Paul Manafort. The embassy actually weighed a plan to get Congress to investigate Manafort and Trump and stage hearings in the run-up to the election.

    As it worked behind the scenes to undermine Trump, Ukraine also tried to kneecap him publicly. Ukraine’s ambassador took the extraordinary step of attacking Trump in an Op-Ed article published in The Hill, an influential U.S. Capitol newspaper, while other top Ukrainian officials slammed the GOP candidate on social media.

    At first glance, it was a bad bet as Trump upset Clinton. But by the end of his first year in office, Trump had supplied Ukrainians what the Obama administration refused to give them: tank-busting Javelin missiles and other lethal weapons to defend themselves against Russian incursions. Putin never invaded on Trump’s watch. Instead, he launched an all-out invasion during another Democratic administration – one now led by President Biden, Barack Obama’s former Vice President, whose Secretary of State last year alarmed Putin by testifying, “We support Ukraine’s membership in NATO.” Biden boasted he’d go “toe to toe” with Putin, but that didn’t happen as the autocrat amassed tanks along Ukraine’s border in response to the NATO overtures.

    In the meantime, a comprehensive account of documented Ukrainian collusion – including efforts to assist the FBI in its 2016 probe of Manafort – is pieced together here for the first time. It draws from an archive of previously unreported records generated from a secret Federal Election Commission investigation of the Democratic National Committee that includes never-before-reviewed sworn affidavits, depositions, contracts, emails, text messages, legal findings and other documents from the case.

    RealClearInvestigations also examined diplomatic call transcripts, White House visitor logs, lobbying disclosure forms, congressional reports and closed-door congressional testimony, as well as information revealed by Ukrainian and Democratic officials in social media postings, podcasts and books.

    – Prelude to Collusion 2014:

    – 2015: The Move Against Manafort Commences

    – January 2016: High-Level Meetings With Ukrainians in the White House

    – February 2016: Obama White House-Ukraine Coordination Intensifies

    – March 2016: Chalupa Engineers Manafort Messaging Assault With Ukrainians

    – April 2016: Chalupa Solicits Ukrainian Dirt on Trump, His Campaign, and Manafort

    – May-June 2016: Manafort Dirt Spreads

    – July 2016: Ukrainian Officials Attack Trump Publicly

    – August-September 2016: The Phony Manafort Ledger Leaks

    Epilogue

    After Trump won the election in spite of her efforts to sabotage him, Chalupa predicted: “Under President Trump, the Kremlin could likely invade U.S. allies in Europe without U.S. opposition.”

    Not only did Russia not invade Europe “under Trump,” it didn’t even invade Ukraine. Rather, the invasion came under Biden, whose campaign Chalupa supported. Yet she continues to blame Trump. Recent tweets show a still-obsessed Chalupa has not dialed back her extremist views about Trump or Manafort, whom she believes should be prosecuted for “treason.”

    In a Feb. 28 post on Twitter, for example, Chalupa claimed that Putin installed “a puppet regime in the U.S. with the help of Paul Manafort.” The previous day, she tweeted, “We had a Putin installed Trump presidency.” A day before that, she wrote: “Now would be a good time to release the Putin-Trump treason calls.”

    And on Feb. 25, Chalupa tweeted another wild conspiracy theory: “It’s important to note that Putin’s imperial aspirations are of a global criminal empire, as we saw when he installed Donald J. Trump president and tried to turn the U.S. into a Russian satellite state.”

    Heck of long but very fascinating read By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigations

    [Just way too long Old Ozzie.]AD

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    Hanrahan

    Sadly the old Qld style of building on stumps is history. I look out my window and there are 4 homes with the living areas high. Spare rooms, garages, laundries etc are underneath.

    WHS makes working above ground prohibitive. Mine was built by a small builder who bent the rules and did it at a reasonable price. I could not afford it today.

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      Len

      I had a friend who had a house in St Johns Wood in Brisbane. It was a normal house build on the ground. He and some friends had the house jacked up and put in long posts and has the area underneath concreted and had a car garage and his workshop there. It worked out well.

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        Graeme#4

        If you read the story of how Chicago raised their brick buildings to avoid future flooding, most were done with a lot of adjustable jacks. Sacramento also raised their entire Main Street to avoid further flooding. I think another city in the U.S. was also raised to prevent flooding.

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    US FUNDED BIO-WARFARE LABS IN UKRAINE

    One state department document says that a lab near Odessa has the most deadly virus of all, the gain-of-function Q-Fever virus. This coincides with the most advanced penetration into the Ukraine by Russian forces to the outskirts of Odessa. So if the Russians bomb the lab, then we can blame the Russians for being the bad guys in causing a “REAL” pandemic. The CIA started up its operations in Ukraine because Obama banned gain-of-function research in America. The CIA agent Michael Callahan laundered money to Ukraine through Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance, to perform bioweapons research in China, the Ukraine and 28 other countries under the CIA project called PREDICT. According to the Chinese, the US funds 336 gain-of-function labs throughout the world. See page 396 of Kennedy’s book for further details, plus this: https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/07/investigative-reports/darpas-man-in-wuhan/

    The UN Security Council will convene on Friday at Russia’s request to discuss the claims.

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      John Connor II

      Most deadly of all?
      I’d skip CNN from now on.
      Ukraine has been working on bigger projects like H5N1 PLAGUE since the early 2000’s.
      That I would worry about.

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        TedM

        “Ukraine has been working on bigger projects like H5N1 PLAGUE since the early 2000’s.”

        Yes monitoring for any potential outbreaks. That is the purpose of those labs, “Monitoring”.

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    John Connor II

    Darwin parents put on alert for hand, foot and mouth disease as cases rise

    Darwin parents put on alert for hand, foot and mouth disease as cases rise
    by Independent Staff | Mar 11, 2022 | News | 0 comments

    Around 70 cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease have recently been recorded from several childcare centres in the Top End region, and health authorities are advising parents to take precautions to protect their children from getting infected from the virus.

    https://ntindependent.com.au/darwin-parents-put-on-alert-for-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-as-cases-rise/

    Cases of everything rising everywhere!
    The only thing you won’t find a case of is Russian Vodka 😅

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      KP

      “Cases of everything rising everywhere!
      The only thing you won’t find a case of is Russian Vodka”

      Love it!

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    John Connor II

    Biden: NATO-Russia Conflict Would Be “World War 3”, Warns Kremlin Of “Severe Price” If Chemical Weapons Used

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-nato-russia-conflict-would-unleash-world-war-3-warns-russia-severe-price-if

    Anyone smell “false flag coming up”?

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    yarpos

    Saw this in passing on a US blog. I admire the optimism.

    Jussie Smollett is going to jail.

    Kyle Rittenhouse is innocent.

    Michael Avenatti is going to jail.

    Donald Trump is a free man.

    CNN is being sold for parts.

    Nic Sandmann is a multimillionaire.

    Perhaps, there is hope for America yet…

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    OldOzzie

    Solar Panel Safety During Floods: Beware of Risks

    As rising floodwaters continue to wreak havoc and devastation across New South Wales and Queensland this week, homeowners with solar panels are being warned of the dangers associated with inundated electrical systems. Even if the power supply is cut and turned off at the switchboard, solar panels can still produce electricity and pose a serious safety risk. Master Electricians Australia CEO Malcolm Richards has issued an urgent warning, urging homeowners to be careful around solar panels during a flood event.

    “Homeowners who are forced onto their roof due to flooding need to be extremely careful around solar panels as they present a real electrical safety risk,” Richards said.

    “This also applies to people in boats or other craft moving around near submerged homes,” he said.

    “Even if the network supply is turned off, solar panels still produce electricity and the associated wiring is also live.

    “This is a very serious threat affecting thousands of homes and has the potential to cause death or serious injury if people come into contact with the wiring to the panels.

    What you can do if your home is affected

    Richards has advised homeowners in flood-affected areas to take the following precautions:

    “Flood-affected residents can use the shutdown instructions to safely turn off the isolation switches located next to the solar inverter and these instructions are usually located on the switchboard,” he said.

    “If you’re unsure of anything we urgently recommend engaging a fully qualified electrician. Where a solar PV system has been flood inundated, an electrician can check the system and safely isolate water-damaged components.

    “It is vital that residents ensure that the system is electrically safe before it is recommissioned.”

    The Clean Energy Council agrees, stressing that homeowners should not attempt to turn on their rooftop PV system after a storm or flood, and should stay away from the solar panels and wiring until they are professionally assessed as safe to approach.

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    OldOzzie

    Tucker Carlson Outlines Biden Strategy To Blame Russia for Outcomes of White House Economic Policy

    March 11, 2022 | sundance

    Tucker Carlson used his monologue tonight to give a big picture review of how the White House is using the Ukraine-Russia conflict to hide the economic outcomes created by their policy.

    Massive inflation on basic necessities, combined with rising gas, fuel and energy costs are crippling the working class. The White House is now using the Russia-Ukraine conflict as an excuse to hide their responsibility. It’s an accurate outline. WATCH:

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      OldOzzie

      These Graphs Prove Biden LYING Through His Teeth About Russia Causing High Inflation & Gas Prices

      But this graph from GasBuddy.com shows that gas prices rose by over 60% since Biden came into office before spiking another 15% following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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      OldOzzie

      Perhaps Tucker Carlson’s most profound monologue ever

      I won’t lie: I’m a Tucker Carlson fan. He is willing to speak honestly about topics others ignore, sugarcoat, or lie about. Even when I don’t agree with him, I find him worthwhile, and never more so than his Friday-night monologue about Biden’s latest, terrifying power-grab and how our government is destroying the American economy. It was a tour de force, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

      Tucker opened with something I’d meant to write about and now don’t need to: without a single pause, the Biden administration slipped effortlessly from COVID emergency powers (which are now passé thanks to polling) and is, instead, assuming war powers, even though we’re not at war:

      Tucker could have added that, earlier on Friday, Biden creepily and gleefully whisper-shouted into the microphone a boast about destroying the economy of a country with which we are not at war:

      Hillary could have been his role model:

      Tucker explained that what happened is unprecedented and incredibly dangerous for the American people:

      If Tucker had stopped there, he still would have said something incredibly important that should cause all Americans to question the power Biden has seized for himself and how, once seized, it will be kept and used in the future. But Tucker didn’t stop there. He segued smoothly to the vast, unimaginable power the tech monopolies have over American minds and how they are steering us inexorably to accept treating Russia as a nation to be destroyed just because we don’t like it.

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    OldOzzie

    2022 Mazda BT-50 SP price rise: Now more than $70,000 drive-away

    The Mazda BT-50 SP edition – a recently-introduced rival to the Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain – has dropped its launch pricing and now tops $70,000 drive-away.

    When the Mazda BT-50 SP went on sale in November 2021 it was priced from $63,990 drive-away for the six-speed manual and $66,990 drive-away for the six-speed auto.

    The unexpected and sharp price rise for the Mazda BT-50 SP follows several price rises for the Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain since it was launched in the second half of 2020.

    The Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain was priced at $58,990 drive-away from September 2020 to the end of December 2020, climbed to $59,990 drive-away from January 2021 to end of July 2021, before switching to full retail pricing from August 2021 to 24 September 2021.

    During this period, the Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain was listed on the Isuzu Ute Australia website with drive-away costs of between $68,000 and $71,000, depending on stamp duty variations in each state and territory.

    Since late September 2021 to today the Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain is priced from $62,990 drive-away.

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      OldOzzie

      Soaring metal costs could push new car prices even higher

      The cost of a new car in the U.S. could soon climb by thousands of dollars as some metals used by automakers to build cars, such as nickel and palladium, skyrocket in price.

      Price increases will likely hit electric vehicles the hardest, according to S&P Global Mobility. That’s because nickel is used to make batteries found in Tesla’s Model Y, the Audi e-tron, the Mercedes EQS and other electric cars. For example, the price for an EQS, which starts at $102,000, is expected to jump as much as $11,000 due to higher metal prices, researchers at S&P Global Mobility said. Low inventory has already prompted dealers to raise prices on the cars they do have in stock.

      Even higher car prices could appear at dealerships within three months depending on activity in commodities markets, one expert said. Vehicle costs are rising as inflation drives up the price of everything from food and rent to clothing and appliances. Consumer prices in February grew at an annual rate of 7.9%, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday — the fastest pace of inflation since 1982.

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        OldOzzie

        More Microchip Headaches: Ukraine Halts Half of World’s Neon Output

        Ukraine’s two leading suppliers of neon have halted their operations as Russia continues its attacks on the country. Neon is an essential component in microchips which were already struggling with severe shortages, harming American businesses in sectors ranging from consumer appliances to auto manufacturing.

        Around 50 percent of the world’s semiconductor grade neon comes from two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin, according to figures from the market research firm Techcet.

        The stoppage will likely add to the already growing shortage of computer chips worldwide. Estimates vary widely about the amount of neon stocks chipmakers have on hand, but according to Angelo Zino, an analyst at CFRA, chip production could take another hit if the conflict in Ukraine continues.

        “If stockpiles are depleted by April and chipmakers don’t have orders locked up in other regions of the world, it likely means further constraints for the broader supply chain and inability to manufacture the end-product for many key customers,” Zino said.

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    OldOzzie

    Wall Street Journal survey released on Friday shows. – 17 Page PDF

    The survey also shows very little support among Americans for direct United States intervention to stop the Russian war in Ukraine, though Americans do support providing aid to the Ukrainians in terms of both weapons and humanitarian assistance.

    When asked which nation poses the greatest economic threat to the United States, an overwhelming supermajority of 73 percent of respondents answered China—whereas only 14 percent said Russia. Two percent said North Korea and 1 percent said Iran, while 3 percent said another nation and 8 percent did not know or refused to answer.

    When asked which nation poses the greatest security threat to the United States, a majority—52 percent—also said China, while only 32 percent said Russia. Four percent said North Korea, 1 percent said Iran, 3 percent said another nation, and 9 percent did not know or refused to answer.

    In addition to continuing to view China as a much greater threat to America than Russia both economically and militarily despite Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Americans are very skeptical of U.S. intervention in Ukraine. When asked what America should do in response, only 10 percent said the U.S. should send troops into Ukraine. What’s more, only 25 percent said the United States should send more troops to other European nations nearby—a high level of skepticism among the public of involving the United States military in yet another war just months after ending the nation’s longest one ever in Afghanistan in the middle of last year.

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    el+gordo

    By year’s end we should expect either a Modoki La Nina or a weak El Nino.

    https://climateimpactcompany.com/march-2022-monthly-enso-outlook-2-2/

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      Graeme#4

      That’s still a very big pool of cooler water across the Pacific though. My thought is that it won’t reduce in a hurry, so it’s going to be a long, hot protracted summer here in Perth. Thank goodness we don’t cop many of these in our lifetimes.

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    KP

    ..and in support of the biolabs being for decidedly nasty research, the American Air Force issued a tender for the acquisition of Russian synovial tissue/RNA samples in 2017.

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rDc8fTYE0hs/WfpOUwWUA0I/AAAAAAAAY_Y/dRwGMyRW6Xs2Wr9k3e5HjDu895ka2tAYQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-01%2Bat%2B7.22.54%2BPM.png

    This is after news last week they took a thousand samples from Ukrainian soldiers and sent them back to labs in the USA.

    If you can hand-make a coronavirus and test it, you can start work on one hits only hits certain racial groups. Welcome to the future of warfare.

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    OldOzzie

    Tucker Carlson: Vladimir Putin Is ‘Not Why You Can’t Afford to Fill Your Tank’

    Friday, FNC host Tucker Carlson criticized the Biden administration for economic policies that have led to rampant inflation.

    Carlson said while “bad,” the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not why gas prices were as high as they were, despite what White House press secretary Jen Psaki had said.

    Transcript as follows:

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      OldOzzie

      The Week in Pictures: Biden Degringolade Edition

      Do we really need any more evidence that the Biden Administration is a complete failure? Who you gonna believe—Jen Psaki or the your lying’ eyes looking at the gasoline pump? I’m tempted to wonder whether Biden can even make it to this November, let alone November 2024. And then it hits me—he has the world’s greatest political insurance policy: Kamala Harris. The ghost of Spiro Agnew smiles.

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      OldOzzie

      Biden’s America-Wrecking Climate Agenda

      President Biden is driving fossil fuel-powered America into a wall so that he can replace it with a “green energy”-powered America.

      The Biden administration euphemizes this as a “transition.” It is not. It’s just a collision that will result in America being totaled.
      Since Joe Biden became president, he has done everything in his power to de-power America. On Day 1, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline, halted new oil and gas drilling on public lands, and rejoined the Paris climate agreement, which commits America to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions but not China’s.

      Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency reinstated Obama-era rules to make it more expensive to produce oil and gas, issued rules to make internal combustion engine-powered cars more expensive, and gave “green” California the unprecedented (and probably unconstitutional) authority to dictate what kind of cars all Americans can drive. Biden has empowered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with the authority to block new oil and gas pipelines on the basis of climate concerns, and is continuing to halt new oil and gas drilling on federal lands in defiance of a federal court order.

      These and many other anti-fossil fuel actions have raised gasoline prices roughly one dollar per gallon since Biden took office. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, exacerbating an ongoing global energy crisis (worsened by European climate policies). Gasoline prices have increased another 60 cents since the Ukraine invasion, and are not likely to stop rising any time soon.

      The result? Americans are made to suffer unnecessarily and national security is imperiled, all for an agenda that is junk science-fueled and impractical, regardless of how you feel about United Nations’ “climate science.” This is not rational policy. It is intentional nation-wrecking.

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    OldOzzie

    ‘Tensions Flare’ at NYT After Reporter Appears to Drag ‘Woke’ Colleagues in Project Veritas Sting

    Internal tensions at the New York Times have reportedly flared after reporter Matthew Rosenberg apparently mocked his colleagues who were “traumatized” by the January 6 Capitol riot and dismissed the “woke” faction of the Times’ newsroom in a Project Veritas undercover video sting.

    On Friday, Politico Playbook reported the fallout within the Times from the divulged videos of Rosenberg:

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    OldOzzie

    Report: US Army Mandates Training to Help Soldiers Shake off Their Sex ‘Assigned at Birth’

    If you weren’t aware, last June, the Army announced all soldiers may openly serve in accordance with their gender identity.

    Army directive 2021-22 changes the service’s retention, separation, in-service transition, and medical care standards for transgender personnel and refines entry criteria for individuals with gender dysphoria, following Department of Defense guidance, said Maj. Gen. Douglas F. Stitt, military personnel management director.

    “People are the strength of our Army,” Stitt said Tuesday. “Our ability to assess and retain qualified personnel provides a more diverse and stronger Army, enhancing readiness.”

    Of course, nothing creates a stronger Army aside from better means by which to thwart, penetrate, and destroy things. But these are the days of language as symbolism rather than conveyance of fact.

    We’re a softer society, and the military’s attempting to undo its unrefined rep:

    Concerning the Armed Forces, our branches are waving in the wind of wokeness:

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    OldOzzie

    Majority of Americans Sense Something Doesn’t Add Up in the Media Ukraine Narrative

    March 12, 2022 | Sundance

    The bad news is the propaganda from the global media and intelligence apparatus is astronomical surrounding the Ukraine narrative. The good news is that most Americans can sense the background manipulation, even if they cannot quite put a finger on it.

    You can see the general sense of distrust across the broad spectrum of discussions online and in almost all social media platforms. The majority of people sense something just doesn’t add up. While the people who follow political events closely are the ones who can see the more specific details of the manipulation. Those who were paying closest attention, in the 2014 Ukraine story line, are the ones who see the same methods deployed.

    To get a sense of where the close political following group are, I asked the question last night. The results are not surprising to the high-info crowd, but the responses have stunned the moderate observers:

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    OldOzzie

    Interest in electric aircraft grows as NASA nears test of X-57 Maxwell

    The first crewed flight of NASA’s plane will take place at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Center, part of Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. NASA is currently aiming for May for the flight, Tim Williams, NASA research test pilot, told UPI in an interview.

    Williams plans to fly the plane, a modified Italian-made plane known as a Tecnam P2006T, in the first test of its all-electric propulsion system, he said.

    The use of a modified Tecnam, a proven flight vehicle, means he doesn’t have to “worry about wearing a parachute, but I’ll be worried about plenty of other things,” Williams said.

    “The first thing that you have to worry about is electric motors, and how to get power out to them throughout the flight, and … you’re going to have electro-magnetic interference that is potentially an issue,” Williams said.

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      Hanrahan

      Electric aircraft will never progress far past pilot training and air taxis.

      There is one BIG problem with electric airliners – landing weight. Jet engines today give enormous thrust and can lift planes with full crew, passengers, baggage, freight and fuel for an 8 hr flight. This gross TO weight greatly exceeds its max landing weight.

      A modern airliner gets lighter as the flight progresses and needs less power to maintain flight. But batteries don’t get lighter as they discharge so an EA lands at the same weight as it took off.

      SO: Max TO weight must equal standard landing weight. Either TO weight is reduced with corresponding loss of flight efficiency or extra bogies with much heavier brakes need to be fitted with, again, a loss in payload.

      PS. It might work for short hop European trips, but Europe has a pretty good rail system already.

      PPS. Going back to pre jet travel speeds and aerofoils might work but who wants to fly on DC3s today? Cairns to Sydney would need three stops minimum and take all day to arrive late at night.

      IMHO 🙂

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        Graeme#4

        A good point about the aircraft weight not decreasing. And I note that the Uber air taxi concept now has added wings, I presume to try and obtain more lift.

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      Graeme#4

      Interesting to note that they haven’t tried to instal batteries in the aircraft yet. And I’m not sure why they are testing with only two motors when their future proposal is for 18 motors. Even if it does eventually fly, a range of 160 kms and a flight time of only 40 minutes seems useless. I cannot see electric aircraft as having any future, as they won’t be able to have payloads.

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    OldOzzie

    What did Biden get wrong on crypto? His new order threatens to smother innovation.

    The Biden administration needs to recognize that the biggest threat to financial stability with regard to cryptocurrency is overregulation.

    President Joe Biden released an executive order Wednesday that could curtail opportunities that cryptocurrency provides for economic advancement, notwithstanding the order’s hopeful tone about crypto’s potential to promote efficiency and financial inclusion. Ironically, the order may also introduce new financial risks in the name of preventing them.

    The White House fact sheet on the order notes correctly that the rise of cryptocurrency “creates an opportunity to reinforce American leadership in the global financial system and at the technological frontier.”

    That cryptocurrency advances American values such as liberty and democracy has been shown by Ukrainian leaders’ and citizens’ creative use of cryptocurrency byproducts like stablecoins and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to raise funds to fight Russian forces and advance a message of freedom.

    Pro-democracy movements

    Crypto assets have also played an essential role in recent protests in Hong Kong and other pro-democracy movements.

    U.S. may issue its own crypto

    If the Fed – rather than the private sector – were to issue its own cryptocurrency, the U.S. government would have direct access to the digital ledger that records financial transactions for individuals using that currency. As Paul Jossey, cryptocurrency attorney and adjunct fellow at my organization, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has written, current “know your customer” rules governing banking “will ensure governments track, record, and identify every or nearly every CBDC transaction.”

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    OldOzzie

    Get rid of masks on planes

    There isn’t a single study with a control group that shows they work. Follow the science!

    Officials at the Transportation Security Administration are telling media outlets that their agency is poised to extend mask wearing on airplanes for another month while they await guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Like everything else, through the length of the pandemic, this move lacks logic.

    The idea that a piece of cloth will protect you while you sit sandwiched between 200 other passengers inches away from you is an idea only our incompetent and compromised CDC could invent.

    Then, a short while into your flight, all of the passengers remove their magic cloth covering and eat and drink, spitting their particles into the air to travel about the cabin. They then diligently replace their talismanic mask, content in the idea that they are staying “safe.”

    It’s maddening how little sense any of it makes. We’re two years into the pandemic and we have to face reality, even if the CDC wants to stand in the way of that. Masks don’t work. There has not been a single study, with a control group, that proves otherwise. This should be damning to the pro-mask argument but the CDC continues to deceive Americans. Last month they put out a graphic allegedly proving masks work. The graphic was actually based on phone surveys where people would self-report on what kind of mask they wear and how often and whether they have gotten Covid. Even with this completely non-scientific poll, cloth masks were found to have no effect. The cloth mask was marked “not statistically significant,” as if the other self-reported wearing of masks was somehow statistically significant.

    Airlines have to fight back

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    OldOzzie

    And the next COVID scare continues

    New omicron variant is one of the most infectious diseases ever known

    A new strain of omicron coronavirus, believed to be among the most infectious diseases known to mankind, is predicted to cause another nationwide surge of cases during autumn.

    But new studies have confirmed vaccines and antiviral medicines seem to be as effective against the BA.2 “stealth” omicron variant as the original BA.1 strain.

    The reassuring studies came as health authorities look to expand the vaccination booster program ahead of an expected national autumn wave from the more contagious BA.2 variant.

    The wave is coming earlier than was predicted putting pressure on authorities and businesses to gear up for a period of high worker and student absenteeism and demands for rapid testing.

    The BA.2 variant is “fitter” than the original BA.1 omicron variant and is already dominant in the UK, Denmark, Hong Kong and India, with Australia predicted to follow the UK path, where the BA.2 variant is now being seen in 80 per cent of cases.

    Virologists and modellers had observed the BA.2 variant is very different to the earlier omicron variant that saw a massive spike in case in January, suggesting that it may escape from vaccines and other antiviral treatments.

    In Denmark, there are some BA.2 cases where people who were infected with the original omicron variant have been reinfected.

    But the UK Health Security Agency reported Thursday studies confirming “vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease was similar for BA.1 and BA.2 sublineages of omicron”.

    At the same time a Japanese study released in The New England Journal of Medicine showed antiviral therapies, including Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, remained effective against the BA.2 omicron variant.

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      OldOzzie

      Pfizer CEO Backpedals, Claims Pressured Into Producing ‘Counterintuitive’ mRNA Injections

      “mRNA was a technology, but we had less experience, only two years working on this, and actually, mRNA was a technology that never delivered a single product until that day, not vaccine, not any other medicine,” Bourla admitted.

      “So it was very counterintuitive, and I was surprised when they suggested to me that this is the way to go, and I questioned it,” he continued. “And I asked them to justify how can you say something like that, but they came, and they were very, very convinced that this is the right way to go.”

      “They felt that the two years of work on mRNA since 2018 together with BioNTech to develop the flu vaccine made them believe that the technology is mature and we are at the cusp of delivering a product.”

      “So they convinced me. I followed my instinct that they know what they are saying. They are very good, and we made this very difficult decision at that time,” he added.

      Bourla also admitted that despite pushing the “more risky” mRNA technology on the public, Pfizer felt it had “all the features required” to combat the COVID pandemic.

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      Serp

      I upped my password length to twenty characters three years ago so it’s gratifying to note that beyond eighteen characters no figures are given in the linked chart; should the promise of quantum computing be fulfilled there’ll still be a password length which will defeat brute force.

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      Hanrahan

      How many of your accounts with passwords are critical? My main bank has just sent me a dongle with a constantly changing key AFTER I have logged in. Another texts a key to my mobile. Another, after log in, shows two numbers as JPEG [I assume] that I need to decode from a unique card.

      If someone wants to break into my email all they will find is spam and jokes. No hard core, no kiddie porn, no state secrets.

      If I had overly complex passwords, I would need to store them somewhere non electronically.

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    OldOzzie

    Washington’s Betrayal Has Only Just Begun

    03/11/2022

    We are about to be scapegoated.

    In 2014-2015, in their efforts to sell their original cataclysmic nuclear deal with Iran, Obama and his advisors ran a campaign to demonize Israel and its supporters in Congress specifically and in U.S. public life more generally. Now that Biden has agreed to an even more dangerous nuclear deal, Israel can expect for the demonization campaign that awaits it to dwarf its predecessor. In fact, as we see with the administration’s efforts to scapegoat Israel directly, through its media partners and through the Ukrainian leadership for not being sufficiently anti-Russian, the campaign has already begun.

    The Saudis and the Emirates clearly already recognize the sucker’s game that Biden and his team are playing. Wednesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Prince M@hamed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince M@hammed bin Zayed of the UAE both refused to accept phone calls from Biden this week. Israel’s leaders should follow them in accepting reality and acting accordingly before the situation deteriorates still further.

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    John Connor II

    How the Australian media has backflipped on Covid

    https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZXvt5OZzANZAklu2VuUrqO2WLQ9H9gLI12leOQ0G0sztCX8ZWBjwUqlC3fH-joHzpMRf7B3PheLUTJeS3naQSlD8gscUErgQsAMyGtapC-5ByK-hmJWAMpd8OaazqmVWHaIIpJZudBoXB4IcGZfY_CWuRCrsZ48yXwav8BRjFuCdtwWf31qX-52Oeug=s320

    And now the same media that lied to you every day for 2 years, failed to engage in investigative journalism, failed to fact check and failed to question, now want you to trust them with Ukraine.

    Ha. Best of luck with that.

    Reminder to watch the following doco’s:

    Ukraine on fire

    All wars are bankers wars

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    John Connor II

    How the west reported on Ukraine before the invasion

    https://64.media.tumblr.com/87aefa98dd5de0bfea29ee1a3f37aff9/4e0c97c85092fd17-d3/s1280x1920/10f86e696373540d36f9eaf911a901c050c1f0c7.jpg

    The reality, as we learned from Covid, is the opposite of what you’re being told…

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    OldOzzie

    President Donald Trump Rally LIVE in Florence, SC 3/12/22

    Gates Open in Florence, South Carolina — Trump Rally Tonight at 7 PM – Guess Who’s Not on the Speaker’s List?

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      OldOzzie

      Trump Lights Up Rally and Takes Biden to the Woodshed for His Weakness

      Trump went after the big topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “terrible atrocity” that never would have happened under him. Then he noted that when he was in office, he didn’t get us into any wars, noting that it was his “personality” that “kept us out of war.”

      There’s a lot of truth to that, in that you would know he wasn’t afraid to respond and you wouldn’t necessarily know what that response would be. Unlike Joe Biden, who tells you ahead of time what’s off the table, so you know what threats you will never have to deal with and how weak that makes him.

      Trump said it was a dangerous time to have someone in the office who was “physically and mentally challenged” like Biden.

      He also noted how Biden — instead of removing restrictions on energy production — was begging “on his knees” for oil from other countries including our enemies, when we are such an energy-rich country.

      Trump took a little time to take note of the fact that he had been proven right yet again, when it came to how Germany was endangering NATO and the EU by making themselves reliant on Russian oil.

      Then he got down to one of the most important reasons for being there — pointing out how Republicans needed to win in November to beat back the radical Democrats. But first, they needed to weed out the RINOs in the primaries, Trump declared.

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    John Connor II

    Children in China Diagnosed With Leukemia After Taking Chinese Vaccines

    The leukemia cases span across different age groups from all parts of China. But Li and others particularly pointed to a rise in patients from the younger age group in the last few months, coinciding with the regime’s push to inoculate children between 3 and 11 years old beginning last October.

    https://theepochtimes.com/children-in-china-contract-leukemia-after-taking-chinese-vaccines_4332657.html

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    OldOzzie

    Did flawed PCR tests convince us Covid was worse than it really was? Britain’s entire response was based on results – but one scientist says they should have been axed a year ago

    It has been one of the most enduring Covid conspiracy theories: that the ‘gold standard’ PCR tests used to diagnose the virus were picking up people who weren’t actually infected.

    Some even suggested the swabs, which have been carried out more than 200 million times in the UK alone, may mistake common colds and flu for corona.

    But could they have been right all along?

    Today, in the first part of a major new series, The Mail on Sunday investigates whether ‘the science’ that The Government so often said they were following during the pandemic was flawed, at least in some respects.

    In the coming weeks we will examine if Britain’s stark Covid death figure was overblown. We will also ask if lockdowns did more harm than good.

    Last month a report by the research charity Collateral Global and academics at Oxford University concluded as much, stating that as many as one third of all positive cases may not have been infectious.

    If they are right, that’s a potentially staggering number – roughly six million cases.

    The Oxford scientists branded the UK’s testing programme – which cost an eye-watering £2bn-a-month – as ‘chaotic and wasteful’.

    It is, say these critics, not simply important that we learn from our mistakes.

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    OldOzzie

    Now Boris maps his way OUT of Net Zero agenda: PM sets up oil and gas taskforce to plot a way out of the energy crisis gripping Europe and cut UK reliance on Putin’s Russia

    – PM will set up energy task force to grow Britain’s oil, gas and nuclear supplies
    – Two senior industry experts at its head will report directly to the Prime Minister
    -Sources said the task force aims to boost the UK’s energy self-sufficiency in the wake of the war in Ukraine and keep energy bills down

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    Neville

    It seems like the MSM is agog with stories of terrible Aussie flooding because of their so called climate EMERGENCY.
    So how often does lake Eyre fill and when since 1885?
    Here’s the Wiki quote for the biggest floods since 1885 and NOTE the DATES.

    “In strong La Niña years, the lake can fill. Since 1885, this has occurred in 1886–1887, 1889–1890, 1916–1917, 1950, 1955, 1974–1977,[13] and 1999–2001,[14] with the highest flood of 6 m (20 ft) in 1974. Local rain can also fill Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre to 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft), as occurred in 1984 and 1989. Torrential rain in January 2007 took about six weeks to reach the lake but only placed a small amount of water into it”.
    Observe that only once so far in the 21st century have we seen a FULL lake Eyre. THINK about it.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Eyre#Floods

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    OldOzzie

    Ron Paul: Is Putin the New Coronavirus? – summed up by The Shift Change Cartoon

    Over the past two years, many leading Internet companies did the government’s bidding by “de-platforming” anyone who expressed skepticism of vaccines or promoted alternative treatments — even when they presented evidence to support their claims. These companies are once again helping the government by de-platforming those who question, or are suspected of questioning, the official narrative regarding Ukraine. Yet these companies’ concerns with “fake news” have not led them to stop people from sharing widely debunked stories supporting the US-backed Ukrainian government.

    The lockdown and mandates did more harm than the coronavirus itself. They were based on lies promoted by the government and its allies in the “private” sector.

    Yet too many Americans refuse to even question the US government’s claims regarding the Ukraine crisis or question whether Russia is really responsible for our economic problems as opposed to a spendthrift Congress, successive spendthrift Presidents, and an out-of-control Federal Reserve.

    The only way to stop authoritarians from using crises like these to grow their power is to make enough people understand a simple truth: authoritarian politicians will always lie to the people to protect and increase their own power.

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    PeterS

    Facebook OKs Violent Speech – But Only Against Russians!
    FB/Meta has made moves to allow violent hate speech against Russia but would allow praise of the Azov battalion, which is a neo-Nazi military group supported by and often used by the Ukraine government. Double standards are nothing new to mainstream social media but this is most definitely evil. Praise neo-Nazis but hate Russians?

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    OldOzzie

    H/T – Val – Michael Smith News – https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2022/03/commercial-tv-raises-25m-for-floods-at-least-theyre-trying-abc-nil.html#comment-6a0177444b0c2e970d02942f9e2d29200c

    Open Letter To Atagi, TGA and Federal Health Department

    Open letter addressed to A/Prof Crawford, Dr Murphy, Prof Kelly, Prof Skerritt, Hon Minister Hunt, members of ATAGI and ACV

    Withdraw the experimental gene-based treatment to the general public and especially children
    Tuesday 8th March 2022

    We, the Covid Medical Network and co-signatories, are writing to you to follow up on prior correspondence to ATAGI, the TGA and the Health Minister, and FOIA requests to the TGA, where answers have either been not forthcoming or have indicated the TGA has lacked critical information for making its provisional approval of the gene-based vaccines, namely Pfizer’s BNT162b2 & Comirnaty, AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1-S and Moderna’s Spikevax/mRNA-1273.

    This letter pertains to:

    . Correspondence you and the TGA received that the Pfizer (and AstraZeneca and Moderna) data via the companies themselves or via the FDA was likely too limited in scope to make a proper determination of safety and efficacy.

    . FOIA requests to the TGA with respect to reproductive toxicology issues that have been responded to late and with heavily redacted documents.

    . FOIA request with respect to micro-RNA sequences and related molecular genetic issues as to whether the TGA had assessed these.

    . Peer-reviewed published in vitro research that gene-based vaccine generated spike proteins can migrate into human cell nuclei to disrupt DNA repair mechanisms, and vaccine-derived RNA can be reverse transcribed with evidence pointing to possible integration of this sequence into human genome.

    . That a release of some Pfizer data from a FOIA request to the FDA in the US indicated high adverse events reporting by 28 February 2021.

    . Analysis of the TGA’s own Database of Adverse Events Notifications (DAEN) data and what Australian clinicians are increasingly witnessing as a high rate of injuries from these gene-based vaccines.

    Read The Full Letter – 52 Page PDF

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    OldOzzie

    Interesting Analysis – Leadership: Breaking The Cycle of Military Incompetence

    The failure of the Iraqi military to defeat anyone other than fellow Iraqis is not unique in the Arab world, but it is the best example of a collection of cultural values and bad habits that consistently prevent Arab forces from defeating non-Arab forces. Western analysts have determined what factors make Arab forces much less effective than all others. It’s a collection of bad habits but can be summarized in an ancient adage accepted worldwide; there are no bad troops, only bad officers (leaders). The Arabs suffered centuries of domination by Greek, Roman, Iranian, Turk and European armies that had better officers and leadership in general.

    All Arab nations had to overcome some debilitating customs to establish effective armed forces and governments. Except in rare cases Arab officers have no respect for their troops nor trust in their fellow officers, both superiors and subordinates. The Arab educational tradition favors memorization, not literacy and reliance written knowledge. Iraqi officers were dismayed at the American reliance on the written word in the form of training and technical manuals.

    While the most effective armies, especially Western ones, depend on literate troops who are expected to learn as much as possible about military skills and think for themselves in combat, the Arab tradition sees all of that as an invitation to chaos, insubordination and revolution. This is one reason why few Arab armies have effective NCOs (sergeants). In this, Arabs saw the Russian military system as confirmation of the Arab system because the Russians had no effective NCOs. The post-Soviet Russians realized their error and have been trying, for the last three decades, to fix it. Success has been slow in coming. The situation is worse in Arab armies because effective NCOs are seen as an invitation to societal collapse.

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      OldOzzie

      Why the Kremlin Invaded Ukraine

      Vladimir Gel’man on what guided the Russian government’s military decision making

      In any case, most of the steps taken by the Kremlin, both before and after February 24, 2022, look quite rational; there is no reason to consider the launch of this military campaign in this regard as something exceptional. Rather, it should be assumed that this decision fits into the general logic of public administration in Russia. Its perniciousness was due not to the specifics of Russian policy towards Ukraine, but to more fundamental factors. These include (1) the characteristics of the Russian political regime, (2) the mechanisms of governance of the Russian state, (3) misconceptions about the possible consequences of decisions made, and (4) likely assessments of the consequences of one’s own actions based on previous experience.

      Moreover, over time, in many autocracies, experts are replaced according to the principle «we don’t need smart, we need loyal ones»: when preparing decisions, the competence of officials gives way to their loyalty.

      Repetition of the past

      It is very likely that a military operation in Ukraine was seen by the Russian authorities as an extrapolation of the previous experience of the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the decision on which Putin, in his own words, made unilaterally. It is worth bearing in mind that Crimea in the eyes of the Russian leadership looked like a «success story»: while domestic political support for this step turned out to be very high, Ukraine was unable to resist the Kremlin’s steps, and the costs caused by the actions of the West did not look so heavy

      Therefore, the scale of opposition to the war in Ukraine and abroad was not too calculated: most likely, the Kremlin considered that in 2022 everything would follow approximately the same scenario as in 2014, only on a larger scale.

      However, it turned out that one cannot enter the same river twice.

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        el+gordo

        Putin is a mad dictator and the West is creating a currency crisis in Russia to dethrone him.

        ‘Vladimir Putin is suffering from a brain disorder caused by dementia, Parkinson’s disease or ‘roid rage’ resulting from steroid treatment for cancer, intelligence sources have claimed.

        ‘Citing sources close to the Kremlin, senior figures in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States – believe there is a physiological explanation for the Russian president’s globally reviled decision to invade Ukraine.’ (UK Mail)

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          PeterS

          Putin is a dictator but he is not mad but angry. He is doing what any logical leader would do in his position; protect his people from aggression from the West, which started a long time ago. The gradual march of NATO forces towards the Russian border began many years ago and like any angry bear, once prodded too many times they tend to fight back. What is mad is the West not expecting it to happen that way. What did the West expect Russia to do? Invite NATO into Russia?

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    PeterS

    PM Morrison, take note. Either you disband the anti-fossil fuel nonsense or risk being the most despised Australian leader.

    Bill Riley on Biden & Progressives

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    “GREAT Video”

    https://www.brighteon.com/32df4dec-f41c-4466-b75d-f873077417e8
    Steve Quayle and Mike Adams issue red alert for nuclear war preparedness

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    OldOzzie

    Telstra hastens Fetch TV pursuit to take on Apple, Google

    Telstra is planning to buy a 51 per cent stake in subscription video service Fetch TV for an undisclosed sum, with plans to merge its streaming device and build an aggregation platform that can compete against international companies such as Apple and Google.

    Meanwhile, Telstra’s pay TV and streaming company Foxtel, which is jointly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is in the final stages of deciding whether to push ahead with a public listing after spending months building a prospectus. Should they go ahead, both transactions could dramatically reshape the local media landscape.

    Fetch TV, Telstra and Foxtel declined to comment.

    Multiple media industry sources expressed confusion earlier this month when this masthead revealed Telstra’s plans to takeover Fetch TV, given its 35 per cent ownership of Foxtel.

    Foxtel, which also runs Kayo Sports and Binge, has long been considered a competitor to Fetch TV despite the latter never bidding against it for major sporting rights or exclusive content agreements.

    Industry sources said Telstra’s strategic interest in Fetch was related to its established position as a local aggregator. If it does succeed, it would mean that Telstra TV users (more than 1.4 million in 2019) will use Fetch TV. Fetch TV chief executive Scott Lorson said last year the product operates in 670,000 households and has 750,000 billings when including people who run the service in multiple rooms. This combined figure would give it scale to compete against products like the Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast.

    Takeover talks with Fetch TV coincide with the impending expiry of Telstra’s existing set-top box partnership with US provider Roku, which has provided the equipment for the Telstra TV product since 2015.

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    OldOzzie

    Paper crisis could put news titles out of business

    Paper shortages fuelled by soaring electricity prices and shipping costs could put some Australian newspapers and magazines out of commission, as publishers grapple with the rising cost of newsprint.

    One of the world’s biggest paper suppliers, Norwegian-owned Norske Skog, is in the middle renegotiating contracts with newspaper and magazine publishers as it battles to keep its only Australian paper mill running and profitable.

    However, its proposed price increases, which industry sources say are between 30 and 40 per cent, could prove fatal to some mastheads or lead to a reduction in the size or number of newspapers distributed in the lead-up to the federal election.

    Tony Kendall, managing director of regional publishing company Australian Community Media (owner of The Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald, as well as hundreds of regional publications), said the price hike, scheduled for July, posed the worst crisis for local publishers since World War II.

    “[The full price increase] will push some of our publications into negative profitability,” Mr Kendall said. “I think there’ll be widespread closures. I don’t know how independent publishers will cope.”

    Norske Skog is the main provider of paper to the local publishing industry. It runs a mill in Tasmania and until recently ran a New Zealand Mill. The Tasmanian mill – known as Boyer – produced Australia’s first newsprint in 1941 and remains one of the state’s major employers. But industry sources, familiar with the position of Norske Skog, said it had lost money in Australia for more than a decade and was told by its parent company that it can only support local publishers if it is profitable to do so.

    The company told publishers last year it planned to increase the price of newsprint by about 30 per cent and the cost of glossy paper – used for real-estate pullouts and suburban titles – by between 35 and 45 per cent. The decision was related to electricity prices, high cost of freight shipping and reduced newsprint demand rather than an attempt to generate large profits.

    Paper is expensive because of the amount of energy needed to produce it. Publishing companies are competing against packaging and toilet paper companies for limited fibre resources globally, which are driving up costs. Failure of Norske Skog to secure the price increases will result in the closure of the Tasmanian mill, which would cause major problems for the local publishing industry.

    Companies including News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun, and Nine Entertainment Co, the owner of this masthead, are trying to renegotiate their prices.

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    OldOzzie

    ‘Through the roof’: How one school turned reading and writing results around

    Less than three years ago, students at Minchinbury Public School were struggling to read and interpret even simple texts.

    Principal Rebecca Webster said she knew something had to change and the western Sydney school embarked on a new literacy program which focused on the explicit teaching of phonics.

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    OldOzzie

    The Unsung White House Official Who Warned President Trump in 2017 that the Deep State Was Trying to Prematurely End his Presidency

    After serving in the National Security Council in the Trump administration for less than 3 months Mr. Higgins assessed the situation as dire for the Trump policies and the Trump administration, with a chance of a coup and he wrote this MEMO that nailed down the dangers for Trump and those who wanted him to succeed.

    Remember, this memo was written within 3 months of Trump assuming office in late January of 2017 — Rich Higgins was a very alert and perceptive man. I can say with confidence — he was smart about the deep state and other threats.

    Mr. Higgins died recently after complicated surgery.

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    OldOzzie

    Benghazi II? Biden White House oddly silent about Iran’s missile attack in Irbil

    Other reports say that it was a U.S. military base or U.S. military/intelligence complex inside Irbil airport, as the WaPo reports, that got hit. Whatever it was, it was close.

    Which is some amazing timing given that Joe Biden is poised to give the mullahs the deal of a lifetime with his determination to revive the Obama-era Iran deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), even if he’s got Vladimir Putin brokering it. President Trump scrapped it and took out Iran’s terrorist leadership instead. It’s not know why Biden is still sticking to this bad idea, especially with Putin involved. Perhaps the m@llahs think Biden will give them their pallets of cash without the deal. But most likely, they smell weakness from the White House and are comfortable giving handsy Joe a beating. One is certain, though: The attack shows that they have absolutely no fear of Biden or losing the deal he wants to hand them.

    But Biden is indeed planning to get that deal through, attack or no attack, and despite his current disputes with Putin, who wants sanctions exemptions for Iran trade that Biden doesn’t want to give. According to the Wall Street Journal, the show must go on:

    If Joe Biden had a scintilla of self-respect or advocacy for America, he’d cut off those Iran deal talks right then and there. You don’t negotiate with thugs still trying to kill you on the side.

    Now we have this, and a Biden administration determined to get its wretched deal with the mullahs through. Suddenly, they are looking the other way on that attack in Irbil. What’s wrong with this picture?

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      OldOzzie

      Biden is letting Putin run the Iran nuclear talks

      By Michael Goodwin

      Some stories make so little sense that all you can do is scratch your head. Others are so infuriating that you want to pull your hair out. Then there are those that are so outrageous your head feels as if it will explode.

      This story provokes all three ­reactions.

      It starts with a strange, little-known fact: Russia is acting as a go-between for the United States in nuclear talks with Iran.

      Biden got played again

      The surface explanation of why is simple: Iran refuses to meet directly with American negotiators, so a go-between was needed. But why Russia?

      The most likely reason is that Iran and Russia maneuvered the US into endorsing the Russian role. Count that as yet another foreign policy screwup by Biden, Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, a k a the Three Blind Mice.

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    OldOzzie

    Russia-Ukraine War Threatens Wheat Supply, Jolts Prices

    Poor harvests have left global wheat inventories low and fighting has jeopardized Black Sea exports

    Rising wheat points to further inflation of food prices and another force blunting the post-pandemic economic recovery. Global food prices hit an all-time high in February, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. U.S. food prices in February were up 7.9% from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, taking a big bite out of Americans’ purchasing power.

    Analysts and traders don’t know yet the extent to which global wheat supplies will be dented by the war. What remains of last year’s crop has been kept off market due to the closure of Ukrainian ports and shippers’ hesitancy to enter a war zone to fetch Russian wheat. Meanwhile, it is unclear if growers in the region will be able to harvest winter wheat, which was planted in autumn, or plant spring crops in the coming weeks.

    “Russian ports are operating normally but no one is willing to pay extremely high insurance costs to book cargoes from there,” said Will Osnato, senior research analyst with Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data firm.

    Since wheat is priced in dollars, exporters in Russia, where the currency has plunged about 40% in 2022, could take cues from South American growers who in years past hedged their own currency devaluations by holding on to grains.

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    OldOzzie

    Another Round of Ukraine Hoaxes Discovered?

    The propaganda out of the Ukraine/Hollywood association is continuing unabated. In a Twitter video today, pushed by Buzzfeed Journalist Christopher Miller {SEE HERE}, the claim is, “President Zelensky walked to a hospital today to visit wounded Ukrainian soldiers and award them with state honors for their sacrifices.”

    However, alert researchers noted {SEE HERE} the woman to Zelenskyy’s left, in the video, is a physician named Inna Derusova. She was reported to have died on February 26th.

    TechnoFog took a look at the Mariupol maternity hospital story. That too looks faked and manufactured for western media consumption intended to influence the mind of U.S. and allied citizens: “Assessing the alleged Russian strike on the Mariupol maternity hospital” {SEE HERE}

    The other story of the U.S. journalist shot and killed today?… Also, very sketchy.

    Pay attention to how articles are worded for sourcing:

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    OldOzzie

    ‘The British Have Been Slaves’ – Comedy Icon Cleese Has Mic Taken for Mocking Reparations

    British comedy legend John Cleese had his mic taken by woke co-panellists at an event in Austin, Texas, after pointing out that British imperialism was not unique and that the British, too, were once slaves.

    Riffing on an alleged joke about colonialism by Daily Show correspondent Dulcé Sloan, who is black, Cleese is said to have remarked that people “forget the British Empire was the basic political unit of organization for 6,000 years – the British didn’t start [colonising].”

    “[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed,” Cleese went on, noting that “We were oppressed, the English, by the Romans for 400 [years], from about 0 to 400” — apparently earning a testy response from Sloan and fellow co-panellists Dan Pasternack and Ricky Velez.

    Unperturbed, Cleese reportedly said he wanted “reparations from Italy” — a remark which the Hollywood Reporter claims drew “shocked gasps” — and from the French, noting that “the Normans came over in 1066… they were horrible people from France and they came and colonized us for 30 years – we need reparations there too, I’m afraid.”

    (It is unclear whether Cleese misspoke or was misquoted here, as the so-called Norman Yoke remained upon the English for many centuries after the conquest in 1066. )

    Britons were also carried off into slavery in significant numbers by the Vikings and the Barbary Pirates of North Africa for hundreds of years, although Cleese did not get around to mentioning them, as Sloan took away his microphone shortly after the reparations exchange.

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    OldOzzie

    The William Barr Code

    The former attorney general’s memoir is one deep state revelation after another.

    By Lloyd Billingsley

    One Damn Thing After Another shows how FBI and Justice Department bosses mounted operations against a duly elected president. Barr holds them above the law and extends the same privilege to former presidents and vice presidents. As Barr explains, “I made it clear that neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden were [sic] in [U.S. Attorney John] Durham’s crosshairs.”

    The “forcible breach of the Capitol by rioters” on January 6, 2021 “was reprehensible,” Barr writes. But he neglects to mention the only person shot dead that day. Unarmed Trump supporter and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was gunned down by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd. Barr fails to mention this shooting and also seems unaware of the FBI role in January 6 events, as Julie Kelly has charted in great detail.

    As One Damn Thing After Another reveals, the deep state is deeper and more powerful than embattled Americans have imagined. The CIA, once headed by a Gus Hall voter, meddles in domestic affairs. The vaunted Justice Department functions as the pro bono law firm of the deep state. The FBI, the U.S. equivalent of the KGB, has become the strike force of the Democratic Party.

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      OldOzzie

      The Stench of Spygate

      It won’t go away, no matter how much the media ignores it.

      The more we learn about the Obama administration’s spying on Donald Trump, the worse it looks. The investigation into his alleged collusion with Russia never had any foundation to it. Feverish partisans pushed for the probe. Chief among them were John Brennan, Obama’s CIA director who despised Trump, and Peter Strzok, Brennan’s FBI liaison who texted his mistress that he was going to “stop” Trump.

      The partisan origins of the probe are impossible to deny. But were they illegal? Can an administration just open up an investigation on a political opponent based on partisan hunches? This remains to be seen. Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has said that “quite a few more indictments” are likely to come from special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the probe. “[Then-Attorney General] Bill Barr, John Durham, and I, all looking at this intelligence, agreed there was not a proper predicate to open a criminal investigation into the Trump campaign, yet that happened,” he said.

      The probe was a partisan fishing expedition from the beginning, evident in the fact that the FBI resorted to the outlandish use of a quasi-Republican spy, Stefan Halper, to infiltrate the Trump campaign. The media has almost completely ignored this sensational part of the story. But Mark Hemingway at RealClearInvestigations has done the reporting on Halper that the mainstream media won’t. His illuminating story on Halper raises more embarrassing questions for the FBI — questions that Durham’s final report will hopefully answer.

      It is hard to imagine the FBI making use of an apparent Democrat with a checkered record to spy on a Democratic presidential campaign.

      Were the FBI ever caught doing so, the media would go berserk. But it has yawned at the Halper story, even though, as Hemingway shows, it reeks of the Washington swamp.

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    OldOzzie

    Something to lighten the Day – Watched SBS on Demand – Without a Clue

    Comedy Drama 1h 43m 1988 English

    Crime solving genius Dr Watson, creates the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, but when he needs an actor to play the part of Holmes, he can only find the hapless Reginald Kincaid. The pair become victims of the villainous Moriarty.

    Countries: United Kingdom
    Directors: Thom Eberhardt
    Cast: Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Jeffrey Jones, Lysette Anthony, Paul Freeman, Nigel Davenport, Pat Keen, Peter Cook

    Lighted hearted and enjoyable as Michael Caine, hapless Reginald Kincaid. plays Sherlock Holmes and Ben Kingsley plays Crime solving genius Dr Watson, the Real Brains

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    Slithers

    The Russian attack on western Ukraine tells me that this was a desperation attack.

    Putin wanted to be able to use those facilities to forward his aspirations and was reluctant to destroy them

    Beware his advance towards the Balkan states.

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    OldOzzie

    I don’t know – some Canberra Bureaucrats seem to be having fun

    Wild logo for Prime Minister and Cabinet’s ‘Women’s Network’ roasted on social media

    The logo for the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s new “Women’s Network” – which is intended to promote gender equality – has been roasted online.

    The logo for the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C) new “Women’s Network” – which is intended to promote gender equality – has instead been roasted online for its phallic appearance.

    A description for the Network says that it “champions equal opportunity on behalf of its members and is an inclusive, volunteer-based organisation built by members, for members”.

    “The Women’s Network assists PM&C and is enabling cultural change aspirations expressed in the Department’s 100-1000 day plan for transformational change by helping implement PM&C’s Gender Equality Action Plan and Embracing Inclusion and Diversity Program,” the description continues.

    “The Women’s Employee Network promotes gender equality and supports members to succeed in their personal professional lives. The network priorities are founded on driving cultural change and encouraging men to drive this cultural change, particularly in areas where men can make a significant contribution.

    “The network promotes women’s career success by facilitating opportunities for learning, networking and career mobility and encouraging flexible approaches to work.”

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    OldOzzie

    Image of America’s most infamous anti-vaxxer exposes ridiculous Covid rules

    Stunned fans believe the plight of NBA star Kyrie Irving proves Covid rules have finally gone too far in a ridiculous scenario.

    Kyrie Irving has made a mockery of New York’s vaccine mandate, turning up to his team’s NBA clash on Monday (AEST) despite not being able to play.

    The Brooklyn Nets star refuses to get the jab and is barred from playing in his home stadium because of a mandate for employees in the Big Apple, requiring them to be vaccinated in certain industries

    The bizarre situation was too much for NBA fans, who couldn’t understand the double standards. While there was an acceptance at the start of the season Irving had cost himself the chance to play with his anti-vax stance, many believe the latest development has turned the scenario into a complete farce and if he is allowed to enter the Barclays Centre to watch, then they suggest he should be allowed to play.

    The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Irving was even mingling with teammates and coaches in the locker room at halftime.

    “Irving is able to move freely inside Barclays Centre as a spectator — a special one, at that — but is not able to play,” Charania tweeted.

    NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote: “Is there a reasonable/sane/choose your adjective explanation to account for the Nets’ Kyrie Irving being allowed to attend games Saturday and Sunday at Barclays Centre as an unmasked courtside spectator but not be allowed to play at Barclays Centre?

    “Smarter colleague than me notes that the rule was enacted because threatening one’s job led to more vaccine compliance than merely barring citizens from social stuff.

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    CHRIS

    Hey Old Ozzie…isn’t it about time you THINK FOR YOURSELF?? I’m sick and tired of your ” Contributions” to Jo’s website. Where do you stand on AGW? I’d love to know LOL

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