JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Bush fires in Victoriastan have resulted in a bumper breeding season for Platypus.
https://finterest.com.au/continued-impacts-of-the-black-summer-bushfires-on-native-fish-and-platypus/?fbclid=IwAR2buTgYfUO7Vo7kTJCnluQdRtD7IPnfm2LYpTkiYb9viPGs2aZT_YfpzPY
60
Of course. Without any studies, all you need to know is the easily observable fact that nature is a self regulating system that has biological responses to events. If it wasn’t, there would be no biology left on the planet by now.
Environmental science doesn’t recognize this. It treats nature as a linear model. Like an engine, if you take out the spark plug it won’t work. But nature is not like that. Take out the spark plug and will take another form to work.
We see their attitude at the start of every nature documentary with the phrase ” this delicate fragile ecosystem….”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
So of course nature survives bush fires. Some things lose (like the fish in the study and only temporarily I would suggest) and some win, like the Duck Bill Wonder.
This is why, extinction of species, the greatest hang up of all, is not that significant beyond human emotion.
111
Thing I like the most about this study is they point out the demise of a lot of the Platapus food source yet they flourish somehow .
50
A realization that grid capacity is equally/more important than wind/solar generation capacity. Who’d have thought it?
“If you want everybody to have an electric car, at the moment the grid can’t support that. None of our energy security goals, or the net zero goals, can be achieved unless this problem with the grid is tackled.”
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/02/27/grid-capacity-issues-threaten-net-zero/
110
Lance with two coal fired power stations to close in NSW one very shortly the other in two years and NSW continually reliant on extension cords from other states it’s all looking good for a black event in NSW .
140
“ lance
February 28, 2023 at 2:30 pm · Reply
A realization that grid capacity is equally/more important than wind/solar generation capacity. Who’d have thought it?
“If you want everybody to have an electric car, at the moment the grid can’t support that”…
Well thats a non logical statement..
Everyone cannot have an electric car…not physically possible within a 15-20 year time span.
..so our grid capacity “ at the moment” , is irrelevant !
..and by then we could have a fully Nuclear generation grid ! ( but equally unlikely !)
However,… there IS SUFFICIENT surplus generation capacity “at the moment “, in our grid to support 50+% of our cars being electric . !
07
mmmmm especially in NSW
00
Chad, I can’t even say well typed. Try getting a bot to write for you.
20
Chad, you’re trying in vain to implement the old “ thin end of the wedge ploy “.
We’re all wise to that. Albo is teaching you well!
10
Greens worse nightmare, Arctic and Antarctic creatures flourishing under global warming.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/27/polar-wildlife-report-reveals-arctic-and-antarctic-animals-were-thriving-in-2022/
81
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
If Arctic and Antarctic creatures flourish and the media don’t report it …..
130
DMI’s Arctic sea ice graph shows 100% solid ice cover from 1-6 metres thick: no hysterics from the cheap seats.
NSIDC Antarctic sea ice graph shows typical high-summer loss [it’s an annual event doncha know]: the cheap seats are rioting – panicking even – because summer.
I know a Gabrielle AND a Judy (Cat 2 TC Judy now in Vanuatu) – these poor females will be traumatised from being associated with such CCCCCC weather systems… luckily one’s too young to know and the other laughs at climate silliness… as do penguins and polar bears.
40
Yes, but ice volume according to the DMI model is still on the lower limits. But how relevant is this anyway? There’s still a hell of a lot of ice in layman’s terms.
Im not sure that 2026 ice free summer (yet another prediction of doom) is going to arrive.
30
“is still on the lower limits”
Lower limits since the extreme high of 1979 (up there with the LIA) Meaningless. !.
Reality is that Arctic sea ice is still probably in the top 5% extent of the last 10,000 years.
The world is still very much in a much cooler period of the Holocene.
70
exactly
00
Its a good news story which should encourage the ABC to at least read the report, but it goes against the AGW grain.
40
“If Arctic and Antarctic creatures flourish and the media don’t report it …..“
… then the existence of the media who honestly report such things is at best a conjecture.
50
Just wait. Like Super & 410’s, any large accumulation will be harvested.
Turtle egg or whale blubber anyone?
20
No matter how the climate changes, some things will do well. What thing is not doing so well to allow this?
213
“What thing is not doing so well to allow this?”
Obviously,y ou are unable to list any.
So that means you agree that the slight warming and the increase in atmospheric CO2 are TOTALLY BENEFICIAL.
EVERYTHING BENEFITS !
[snip]
111
Wait! What? No! You are stealing my oxygen by converting it to CO2..
Why does no-one look at this? Every atom of carbon burned takes two oxygens with it, so we are going to suffocate!
This is discrimination against high oxygen users, or people living at altitude, or..something! There can never be a beneficial outcome for all, success comes at a price for someone poor & minority, life is a green zero-sum game!
40
So does every breath we take.
00
“Every atom of carbon burned takes two oxygens with it, so we are going to suffocate!”
I have long wondered when the warmists would notice. It would surely cause them to panic.
00
On another forum I challenged the alarmists to tell what, in their own bailiwick, has changed for the worse due to Climate Change™, not simple development.
I mentioned that there is more sand on the city beaches than EVER before, another summer has passed without a cyclone on the east coat [OK, could still happen] and Althea was 50 years ago. The only thing abnormal about our summer was that it was so normal it was unnatural.
No one could name anything but islands and Venice [strangely] ignoring the fact no one on the forum actually lived on an island or in Venice.
50
It was a cool summer, particularly in December, but obviously not unprecedented.
00
Aye for sure, and in the greening of the Deserts, kreepy crawlies getting lost in the vegetation, for now.
30
I reckon some guy will write something here about a claim that fossil fuel derived CO2 is claimed to be 33% of the atmosphere at any point in time. Before he does, he should have a link to this claim.
212
More like 15% according to actual science from Harde etc (you should read some science some time.. might help you)
We can only strive for more though, like China is….. Wouldn’t you agree.
Would be a massive benefit to the planet if somehow we could reach 1000ppm !
61
Wikipedia and most others
“The current global average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is 421 ppm as of May 2022.This is an increase of 50% since the start of the Industrial Revolution, up from 280 ppm during the 10,000 years prior to the mid-18th century. The increase is due to human activity.”
Which is 33%. I don’t think it could be a clearer claim. And in reality fossil fuel CO2 is about 3.0%.
62
That does not mean that 33% of CO2 in the atmosphere now is from humans. That is simply wrong.
Find a proper link stating the 33%.
00
‘… fossil fuel derived CO2 is claimed to be 33% of the atmosphere.’
That is impossible and nobody in their right mind would even suggest it.
00
TdeF thinks they do. I’ve never seen it
00
This is essentially claiming that ALL warming is due to the CO2 increase, and that increase is purely because of human releases.
… and there are MANY places where this is said, IPCC, and in fact, MOST of the AGW stall warts. !.
Here is Zeke… https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-scientists-think-100-of-global-warming-is-due-to-humans/
“However, the science on the human contribution to modern warming is quite clear. Humans emissions and activities have caused around 100% of the warming observed since 1950, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) fifth assessment report.”
Seems you don’t even read the IPCC propaganda, let alone any actual science.
00
Two more relatives in the UK have been diagnosed with cancer in the last week. One more in the brain, the other in the toes. The poor soul with the brain tumour also has a tennis ball-sized blood clot in his thigh.
So, over the past year we have had:
One person suffer seizures that are still unexplained, though he lost his license. Over the past three months, he has developed severe breathing difficulties, also uninvestigated but they have at least given him an oxygen tank.
One person suffer seizures subsequently diagnosed as a large, pre-cancerous glioma. It was surgically removed and we know just hope he’s OK.
One person diagnosed with abdominal cancer which spread like wildfire, killing her in less than five months.
One person diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer that was undetected with no symptoms till two weeks ago. He has just weeks to live. He also had a massive blood clot in his thigh.
One person diagnosed with some form of cancer affecting his toes. Two were removed but they have now said it has spread to the other toes on the same foot and are testing for spread elsewhere.
90
Three of the above had multiple Covid vaccinations. Unsure of the rest.
121
Steve,
In the UK everyone gets shot . Survivors get shot again . No one escapes . Get shot or become a prisoner . The worst thing is that its no ones fault….(sarc)
40
QUOTE In the UK everyone gets shot . Survivors get shot again. END QUOTE
It’s like how they give one member of a firing squad a blank cartridge so everyone can absolve their conscience and think that they may not have fired a lethal shot.
40
Sorry to hear all that Steve.
80
American pathologist, Ryan Cole, has been talking about the increase in cancers and the unusually aggressive nature of them.
00
El Nino Modoki on the way, no matter what BoM thinks.
‘The southern oscillation index (SOI) has bounced back into positive phase which indicates the climate pattern is La Nina-biased and able to create an increase in trade winds across the equatorial East Pacific Ocean. Consequently, despite the weakening oceanic La Nina, the climate pattern remains La Nina-biased.
‘The latest Nino34 SSTA forecast by all dynamic models indicate El Nino is likely by July with Australia Bureau of Meteorology indicating the strongest (El Nino) intensity. Conversely, the Climate Impact Company projection for July is +0.5C which is a marginal and weak El Nino outlook.’ (Climate Impact Company)
30
It looks like Florence might stand (or lie) as a monument. To something. Along with the ground it is buried in.
In the 1930s the NSW Government Railways commenced construction on a new line from Sandy Hollow near Muswellbrook to Maryvale near Dubbo.
Construction stopped during WWII, and resumed after the war, but in about 1950 it was abandoned, after appearing to be almost complete. Except for the No 3 tunnel, near Bylong.
AT about 2 km it was to be the longest railway tunnel in NSW. And apparently they had heaps of trouble digging it. When I moved to Bylong in 1970 the old hands who had worked on the line talked of it. Every third day they haad to take up the skip rails and dig out the floor, Apparenttly the rock was too soft to hold up.
It was lined with concrete as they went, using wooden formwork.
In about 1980 White Industries bought the Ulan coal mine and got an agreement to build the line from Ulan to Sandy Hollow. They let the contract for completing the tunnel to tunnelling specialists. Who found heaps of trouble. So much so that when it became clear that the tunnel could not be completed on the terms of the contract Whites sacked them, brought in coal mining gear and bored the tunnel oversize, rockbolting mesh to the walls and roof, and lining it with shotcrete. That let them complete the digging, and then they came back and upgraded the lining. Still, so far as I know, using shotcrete.
The digging there was in the coal measures. There was volcanic formation (basalt) not far away, but I do not know if there was any basalt at the tunnel.
I would expect the conditions for the proposed Blue Moumtains tunnel to be fairly similar to those at Bylong. Snowy? More difficult.
Note that in the case of the Sandy Hollow line, the railways authorities kept no records of the job.
80
Sometimes I miss the laugh emoticons they have on facebook.
20
>”There was volcanic formation (basalt) not far away, but I do not know if there was any basalt at the tunnel.”
Basalt is an external (extrusive) igneous rock, flowing along surfaces. Even if such flows eventually become buried with accumulating sediment, they have generally been exposed on the surface for long geological periods sufficient to weather them into clays.
The coal measures at depth around Bylong do contain some intrusive dykes/sills, though not many. The issue with them is that they are non-magnetic (fairly rare in NSW sedimentary deposits), making them difficult to find using magnetic exploration techniques. The Ulan mines have suffered a little from this.
10
Basalt, like any fluid under pressure, follows the line of least resistance. That means in many directions as various cracks open and close with seismic upheaval.
The coal was there before the basalt. The volcanic rock is younger. And the volcanic material didn’t all go to the surface. It also intruded horizontally into the sedimentary formations.
I think there is at least one dyke to be seen in the new road cutting at Curran’s Cutting near the river. There certainly was at the old cutting. Not basalt.
20
G’day Ted1,
The pedant in me would like to add that that tunnel is in daily use, taking trainloads of coal to Newcastle, a useful exercise in this part of the world.
Cheers
Dave B
50
The next war on self-funded retirees seems to have been kicked off by a PM and Treasurer who seem to really hate the idea of success, inheritance, and independence.
120
Inheritance is the one they really hate. They think everybody should start with nothing.
I can’t recall who he was addressing, but about a year ago I saw a report that Anthony Albanese declared the greatest cause of social injustice is family wealth.
I fear for my plans for my family’s welfare.
20
I have heard various envious types complain that superannuation should not be handed on to children when the the superannuant dies. I guess they want the Gummint to have it sort of like a death tax. Now if you had a farm and you had a son or daughter who was crazy enough to want to continue farming you would hand it over when greener pastures beckoned. There is no difference between super, cash, shares held outside super or other property including aunt Sophie’s heritage listed chamber pot. The last people you would want between you and yours is the man from Canberra or Sydney for that matter. It is not theirs it is yours. The aspect that bugs me most is that while X scrimped, saved and worked going without many little luxuries and builds a sizable estate his neighbour Y spent much of his time and treasure trying to dissolve the urinal at the local pub. In the latter years we now have Greg Combet, the walking cadaver who treated Ms Juanita Phillips to a first class trip to Europe at taxpayers expense and is currently enjoying a large parliamentary pension plus his pay from the union super fund, thinking that people with big, define big, super balances should subsidise those with small super balances. Like the pigs they are more equal than the rest of us.
20
I think something has happened to the bold, italics, quote functions etc.. There are just empty squares, at least on my phone with two different browsers.
20
Yep, Jo explained that she tried to implement something… and like most things computer.. oops ! 😉
40
It’s probably a result of climate change.
I noticed it too, on my laptop, and phone.
50
Our hostess has confessed:
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/china-approves-two-new-coal-plants-every-week-to-ensure-stability-when-renewables-fail/#comment-2635030
41
A few fools (Bowen and Kean for example) probably believe that China is using it’s coal plants to firm up their extensive and super efficient renewable power network but we do know better. They build coal plants because they are efficient, cheap to run and reliable 24/7, everything renewables are not.
00
That war on self funded retirees is, of course, daylight-robbery
by those entrusted by citizens to protect rule of law, which involves
private property including cits’ lawful life savings.
Shame on them,
50
They have no shame .
10
“It’s Coming”
” And now… it’s coming… out. They were played. Absolutely snookered. All. These. Brilliant. Morally unassailably upright. Good. People. Taken for a ride. Spoofed. Put-on. Conned. And they sold out their country in the process. And now they cower on the verge of being unmasked for the mendacious fools they are. One might empathize at how horribly painful this is, the ethical wreckage of a whole social demographic! But don’t confuse empathy with sympathy. They are about to sink in historic disgrace and ignominy, and that’s why their official interlocutors react so harshly.
Another part Woody left out is what happens after the suckered people take the cartel’s drug over and over. They get sick and many of them die. We are just getting started with that chapter of the story and, as statistical investigator Edward Dowd said recently, the mRNA “vaccines” have already killed more Americans than all the wars this country ever fought. This is the kind of mis-misinformation that the managing elite really don’t want to face. But get ready. It’s coming.”
More at
https://kunstler.com/clusterf*-nation/its-coming/
100
Pretty much everything that is subject of one of these “its gonna blow!” stories in recent years has failed to happen, just like climate doom predictions.
My prediction is that when something eventually does blow up it will come from a completely unexpected source and spiral out of control immediately.
10
Hi Jo Ozzians,
couple of curious events here in America that perhaps you haven’t heard much about.
Actor Woody Harrelson made a sideways conspiracy joke on SNL, something like … “someone brought me a script where drug cartels bought the news media, fabricated a scare, locked everyone in their homes and told them they couldn’t come out until they took the cartel’s drugs forever … I threw it away cause no one would believe a crazy story like that”.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/well-at-least-elon-musk-liked-woody-harrelsons-saturday-night-live-monologue/ar-AA17ZyWY
And, US Gubmint has now officially surmised that the V prolly leaked from a lab.
https://interestingengineering.com/health/us-doe-says-covid-19-result-of-lab-leak
We can wear our Tin Foil Hats proudly now.
Until the the next round of ‘conspiracy theorist’ accusations start next week.
I think the moon is a hollow alien spacecraft containing reptilian aliens that have taken human form as Klaus and Bono.
(I need a conspiracy I can hold on to, that doesn’t get un-theoried.)
I searched to see if this was real, no luck.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/77/53/1c77530408dd0cc5b5b018ca69bf1031.png
So I’m getting nervous.
60
Or see another ian’s better comment #10.
Sorry ai, didn’t see you there when I started my rant.
Although I don’t think there will be any accountability.
They societal structures that once performed that function perpetrated the crime.
The next PSYOP is likely already in the works.
Look, a squirrel!
20
“I need a conspiracy I can hold on to, that doesn’t get un-theoried.”
All the lying, cheating and corruption by our politicians is to hide some secret, noble work they are undertaking for the greater good of Humanity. They don’t want to be revered by history.
Big Pharma is unselfishly assisting them in this endeavour. They are embarrassed, horrified and ashamed by the record profits they have accidently made in the process.
——————
There you go, Honk. That’s my conspiracy theory.
I wonder how long before facts prove it to be true.
50
It’s Indigenous Culture, Nothing but the Culture
24th February
Ron Pike
I watched with a mixture of dismay and disgust the rancour which came to a head on this year’s Australia Day, all the while wondering why our Australian way of life is the target of such widespread enmity? The happy, relaxed, egalitarian and successful society we have built appears very much under attack from a vocal leftist brigade hell bent on destroying the best of what we have achieved while rewriting our nation’s history to focus not on admirable milestones but on myths of genocide and the like. It is a warped, irrational and profoundly dishonest perspective and, alas, also the one that has taken root in schools, the mainstream media and the young hearts and minds of those who have been denied the opportunity to know better.
I am reminded of the age-old wisdom Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat — Those whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad. This quote seems an ideal diagnosis of so many of our present so-called leaders. Sadly, across all spheres of government and all major political parties, we have people who personify that mental and cognitive deficiency, many of them policy-setting bureaucrats and heads of departments. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the handling of Aboriginal affairs, an area of failed management that has seen billions of dollars wasted. At last assessment, Aboriginal affairs cost taxpayers in excess of thirty billion dollars per year ($30,000,000,000.) Yes, that is the bill year after year to sustain the obvious failures of policy we see being played out on, amongst too many other locations, the streets of Alice Springs.
Those of us who have not been stripped of our wits can only be taken aback by so little benefit, if benefit at all, flowing from such stupendous sums.
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/the-voice/2023/02/its-indigenous-culture-nothing-but-the-culture/
120
Yes the ancient society of Britain knew nothing of violent invasions for loot, rape, slaves, treasure, animals, food? There was much to steal and it went on for a thousand years. So after the Celts settled came the Angles, the Saxons, the Picts, the Scots, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Normans. And in later years the Pirates of Barbary enslaved whole villages in Ireland, perhaps a million white slaves until their destruction by the newly formed US marines in the daring raid on Tripoli. The deadly mongols wiped out a third of all the people of Europe and did not reach Western Europe but the black death regularly wiped out half of all countries, mercilessly. Then that little problem with Napoleon and Hitler trying to invade. Luckily it was an island.
But we are told Christian British settlers and farmers in Australia were worse. Really? What was there to steal, occupy? Early Australians had absolutely nothing, not a pot or cloth or shoes or a house or metal or gold or treasure or crops, even a potato or animals. They had no idea where they lived or how big it was or that Australia was a continent and now they want to charge rent. Isn’t $30Billion a year enough? Around the world people are looking for a better life and somewhere to live which is better. The settling of Australia was the most peaceful in human history and so far has prevented real invasion say by the Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese. None of whom have a great reputation for toleration of first occupiers.
About 40% of current Australians were born overseas and perhaps 90% of people arrived after 1900 or are descended mostly from such people. At what point do they stop paying support at a rate of $30Billion a year? You have Vietnamese, Turks, Greeks, Hindu, Sikhs and Japanese saying sorry. That’s nuts.
Too much of our wealth is given away to support an overgrown government, bloated universities and perhaps half the population receive more from other people than they contribute and pay no nett tax. Then you get the cost of windmills and solar panels built into the price of electricity. But others get to own them, even the City of Canberra is making a fortune from Australian electricity user funded windmills. That’s theft.
Still, its a far better country than most. But the complaining and demand for more never ceases. And while we have to thank First Nations for all they have done when opening a new stadium, the extreme left want us to pay rent as they claim Sovereignty, despite having not the slightest evidence of a sovereign state. It’s always about the money.
110
The “newly formed US marines” did carry out a daring raid on Tripoli but they certainly did not destroy the Barbary pirates. Their raid was simply one of a number of military actions carried out by other countries going back as far as April 1655 when the British Admiral Blake attacked Tunis.
Robert Blake (admiral)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Blake_(admiral)
“In April 1655 Blake was sent to the Mediterranean again to extract compensation from the piratical states that had been attacking English shipping. The Dey of Tunis refused compensation, and with 15 ships Blake destroyed the two shore batteries and nine Algerian ships in Porto Farina, the first time shore batteries had been taken out without landing men ashore.”
In 1675 another Royal Navy squadron led by Sir John Narborough negotiated a lasting peace with Tunis and, after bombarding the city to induce compliance, with Tripoli.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirates
Sweden was already at war with the Barbary pirates when the United States got involved. Portugal and Sicily had also fought against them at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. The American attack on Tripoli was an important victory but it did not put an end to the Barbary pirates’ activities. Once the Napoleonic Wars were over Britain and the Netherlands turned its attention to the Barbary Pirates again. On 27 August 1816 an Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers. The battle was the subject of a famous painting by George Chambers, That victory forced the Dey of Algiers to free around 3,000 slaves following the bombardment and sign a treaty against the slavery of Europeans.
Bombardment of Algiers (1816)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Algiers_(1816)
Despite the Anglo-Dutch victory at Algiers in 1816 the Barbary Pirates later started causing trouble again and therefore in 1824 Sir Harry Burrard Neale, the commander of the British Mediterranean fleet was ordered to ensure that the Dey of Algiers kept the treaty signed a few years earlier.
https://morethannelson.com/officer/sir-harry-burrard-neale/
Finally in 1830 the French invaded Algeria and the days of the Barbary Pirates came to a permanent end.
40
I first met that as “they first make confident”.
Not much different result as I guess they have to be confident of their madness.
00
OldOzzie:
That’s what Pauline said 27 years ago.
30
The long history of Aboriginal violence — Part II – https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/bennelong-papers/2013/05/the-long-bloody-history-of-aboriginal-violence/
7th May 2013
Tony Thomas
It is not polite to say that pre-contact Aboriginal society was abusive to women and generally violent. This would undercut the long-standing official view that current violence in Aboriginal communities reflects colonial dispossession and on-going victimhood.
Aboriginal lawyer Dr Hannah McGlade in “Our Greatest Challenge” similarly blames colonialism: “The linking of Aboriginal culture to family violence and child sexual assault diminishes the grave harm inflicted on Aboriginal people through colonialism…the way in which colonization systematically deprived Aboriginal people of basic human rights.”
Part I: Yabbered To Death
Part II: A Long Bloody History of Violence
Part III: A Blacked-Out Past
Part IV: When The Horrific Is Mundane
It wasnt Lindsay’s statement that disturbed me so much. It as the deafening silence of the human rights activists, the opponents of capital punishment, of the feminists and domestic violence activists, of that army of righteous whitefellas inflamed by any public expression of what they deem to be racism or sexism that happens to pop up in the public domain…So I can only assume that threatening to execute women is OK in Australia as long as it is done by someone who is male and indigenous, it is done for cultural reasons, and the women threatened are also indigenous. It’s OK. It’s their culture. They know the rules. They have to cop it sweet.”
Violence levels are evidenced for thousands of years into pre-history.
Paleopathologist Stephen Webb in 1995 published his analysis of 4500 individuals’ bones from mainland Australia going back 50,000 years. (Priceless bone collections at the time were being officially handed over to Aboriginal communities for re-burial, which stopped follow-up studies).[15]
Webb found highly disproportionate rates of injuries and fractures to women’s skulls, with the injuries suggesting deliberate attack and often attacks from behind, perhaps in domestic squabbles. In the tropics, for example, female head-injury frequency was about 20-33%, versus 6.5-26% for males.
The most extreme results were on the south coast, from Swanport and Adelaide, with female cranial trauma rates as high as 40-44% — two to four times the rate of male cranial trauma. In desert and south coast areas, 5-6% of female skulls had three separate head injuries, and 11-12% had two injuries.
From 1788, British and French arrivals were shocked at local misogyny.
First Fleeter Watkin Tench noticed a young woman’s head “covered by contusions, and mangled by scars”. She also had a spear wound above the left knee caused by a man who dragged her from her home to r@pe her.
Tench wrote, “They are in all respects treated with savage barbarity; condemned not only to carry the children, but all other burthens, they meet in return for submission only with blows, kicks and every other mark of brutality.”[18]
He also wrote, “When an Indian [sic] is provoked by a woman, he either spears her, or knocks her down on the spot; on this occasion he always strikes on the head, using indiscriminately a hatchet, a club, or any other weapon, which may chance to be in his hand.”
Marine Lt. William Collins wrote, “We have seen some of these unfortunate beings with more scars upon their shorn heads, cut in every direction, than could be well distinguished or counted.”
50
..and I thought the image of a caveman with a club dragging a woman along the ground by the hair was a joke…
20
How Biden’s ‘Green Energy Economy’ is Benefiting Left-Wing Billionaires
https://freebeacon.com/energy/the-winners-of-bidens-clean-energy-economy-emerge-liberal-billionaires/
Dem megadonors Bill Gates and Laurene Powell Jobs see green energy investments flooded with taxpayer cash
60
Yesterday and this week I attended the Australian International Airshow, one of the top five airshow events of the world. It is at Avalon Airport in Vicdanistan.
All beautiful, fossil fuelled flying machines. Not replaceable by electric except for certain short range niche applications.
Of course, under the “15 min city” doctrine (not a conspiracy theory), the Left don’t want people (non-Elites) leaving their village anyway, there will be no need for a lot of air travel.
40
I was invited on a demonstration flight of Honeywell’s 757 test bed aircraft to demonstrate high speed Internet connectivity via Inmarsat geostationary satellite. Flew to Tasmania and back.
Interestingly, the cockpit was open during flight and you could see pilots. Trust. And trusted people on-board. Just like the good old days before 9-11. That was itself a wonderful experience. Of course, it wasn’t a commercial flight, the aircraft only has about 20 seats and is either empty floor or full of equipment racks.
Info. on Honeywell test aircraft:
“A Look At Honeywell’s Bizarre Boeing 757 Flight Test Aircraft”
https://simpleflying.com/a-look-at-honeywells-bizarre-boeing-757-flight-test-aircraft/
40
Somewhat related I was pleased to find on recent flights that Qantas provided on board internet and USB charging ports. I was a bit puzzled that I had to put my phone into flight mode before it worked but work it did.
00
You know the Left’s narrative is unravelling when even the Far Left New York Times carries a piece as follows:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/opinion/do-mask-mandates-work.html
The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?
Feb. 21, 2023
The most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses — including Covid-19 — was published late last month. Its conclusions, said Tom Jefferson, the Oxford epidemiologist who is its lead author, were unambiguous.
SEE LINK FOR REST (PAYWALLED)
Paper referenced is at:
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full
Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses
30 January 2023
QUOTE
The pooled estimates of effect from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster‐RCTs for wearing medical/surgical masks compared to no masks in the community suggests probably little or no difference in interrupting the spread of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; moderate‐certainty evidence), or laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.42; moderate‐certainty evidence).
END QUOTE
Note, it is an unusually long and comprehensive paper.
30
I’m convinced that much of government response to covid was based on Kevin Rudd style logic. We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it.
On the other hand I always worry when somebody coughs or sneezes in a confined environment. Maybe the medical world will redeem itself over time. If of course it is allowed to.
30
If of course it is allowed to.
10
Locals In South Lebanon: Hizbullah Using Environmental Organization As Cover For Activity Near Israel-Lebanon Border
https://www.memri.org/reports/locals-south-lebanon-hizbullah-using-environmental-organization-cover-activity-near-israel
20
A young woman brought her fiancé home to meet her parents.
After dinner, her mother told the girl’s father to find out about the young man.
The father invited the fiancé to his study for a talk.
“So, what are your plans?” the father asked the young man.
“I am a biblical scholar,” he replied
“A biblical scholar, hmmm?” the father said. “Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter?”
I will study,” the young man replied, “and God will provide for us.”
“And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?” asked the father.
“I will concentrate on my studies,” the young man replied, “God will provide for us.”
“And children?” asked the father. “How will you support children?”
“Don’t worry, sir, God will provide,” replied the fiancé.
The conversation proceeded like this…and each time the father questioned, the young idealist insisted that God would provide.
Later, the mother asked, “How did your talk go, honey?”
The father answered, “He’s a Labour voter. He has no job, he has no plans, and he thinks I’m God.”
90
“What Would We Do Without Peer Review?”
On journal retractions
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/28/what-would-we-do-without-peer-review-18/
10
“No Accountability For COVID Masking, Lockdowns, and More Spin, with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew”
https://youtu.be/9taUaEWilkY
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/28/they-got-everything-wrong/
10
And
“These folks performed a screen for myocarditis damage due to you-know-what, and found a fifty percent, roughly, positive rate.”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248202
10
“A must-watch interview”
Tucker Carlson on covid
“If you haven’t already watched Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ed Dowd about the massive casualties being inflicted by COVID-19 vaccines, you really need to make time to do so. I regard it as essential viewing. It exposes the massive scale of the cover-up that’s continuing to this day, and demonstrates why the “establishment” is completely untrustworthy when it comes to this issue.”
Rumble link and comments at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-must-watch-interview.html
60
Certainly was a brilliant interview!
20
An Absolutely Detailed Analysis from Past to Present to Future
The Changing Face Of War – Future of the Russian SMO
Simplicius The Thinker
“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.” – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
How historical conflict inflections steer us into modern unknowns.
An Amazing Read
In the end, we can’t predict how long the Ukrainian conflict will last, though it’ll likely be some time, at least several years, barring any unforeseen black-swan events. And that’s more than enough time to witness a truly epochal turning of the page in the evolution of combat systems, which will forever change the face of all warfare.
One day we’ll look back at these dim birthing moments of consumer-grade drones crudely hoisting bomblets into trenches in the same light we took to that seemingly lawless, antediluvian world of aerial pistol shoot-outs, long before the Red Baron’s Fokker scourged the Allied skies. And with the galvanized national spirit, the unprecedented solidarity of the Russian narod, and fervor of ingenuity seen daily in their fighters, it’s clear that Russia will be the one who takes the reins—and leads the world by the hand through the inchoate darkness of this new era.
20
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/the-changing-face-of-war-future-of
Autonomous drones fly through Chinese bamboo forest
South China Morning Post
00
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/the-changing-face-of-war-future-of
He Who Controls The Chips Controls The Future
We’ve established that those who have the biggest computational power will have the most advanced AI systems, with the most possible pure instruction/operations-churning abilities. And that means, those with the best chips, i.e. semiconductor industries and capabilities, will be the kings of the coming AI wars.
The Intel CEO at Davos said that: “Chip supply chains will shape geopolitics more than oil over the next 50 years”.
U.S. and China, of course, are among the leading nations in this regard, while Russia nurses here one of its most glaring weaknesses. However, not all is lost. U.S. has the technological base, but relies heavily on H1B visa emigres from many other countries like India, China, Russia, etc. (how many, for instance, are aware that Intel’s Pentium line was named after its Russian chief designer, Vladimir Pentkovski?)
This is a major weak point for the U.S. because, as the world continues to de-dollarize, and the worth of American fiat and lifestyle continues to plummet in comparison to the ascendant home countries which these emigres come from, it will become less and less attractive to come work in the U.S., and alternatively, more competitive to stay home. This will lead to a severe degradation of American ‘innovation’ in these fields.
And on the topic of actual human capital as regards the programming and designing of these future AI systems, Russia can be said to have no equal in the world. And its newer generations are shining ever brighter. Just take a look at these results for the renowned ‘International Collegiate Programming’ championships:
Sure, the U.S. finally snatched a single victory in the most recent event. But the entire past two decades have been dominated by Russia.
The institutions with the most wins:
And if you want to see how far U.S. has fallen in its intellectual human capital and native education system, just look at previous decades of the same contest:
The U.S. was nonpareil, back before the disastrous neo-liberal policies condemned the very fabric of society.
One could argue that the future belongs to those with the technology, but the technology will belong to those with the human capital to dream it up and innovate it.
Recall, one of the only reasons for Russia’s putative ‘backwardness’ when it comes to tech advancement in comparison to the West, is due to the vast and unfair handicap artificially imposed upon it—Russia has had its wings clipped at every turn. Via overwhelming sanctions. Obstacles and sabotage imposed for decades. When it came to critical industries, the West had always selfishly ‘hogged’ the tech amongst themselves for iterative development.
And as I touched on in this article, just as the West feigns Russia’s dependence on their chips, they in fact conceal their own, true dependencies on both Russia and China for the resources by which to make those chips. You see, the West has the (H1B imported) technological know-how, but not the raw materials. This article from a U.S. think-tank calls it a national security threat of the highest priority.
30
Interesting.
10
The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine
BY JAMES RICKARD
In yesterday’s issue, I addressed the biggest and most complex topic on the geopolitical landscape today — China.
But today I’m discussing what is by far the most alarming topic on the geopolitical landscape today. That’s the war in Ukraine and the dangers of escalation.
I’ve written extensively about two facets of the war in Ukraine that you don’t hear from legacy media in the United States or U.K. The first is that Russia is actually winning the war.
U.S. outlets such as The New York Times (a channel for the State Department) and The Washington Post (a channel for the CIA) report endlessly about how Russian plans have failed, about how incompetent they are about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have pushed back Russians in the Donbass, and how NATO weapons such as U.S. Abrams tanks, U.K. Challenger tanks and German Leopard tanks will turn the tide against Russia soon.
This is all nonsense. None of it is true.
Reality Check
First off, the Ukrainian advances that took place in late summer were against lightly defended positions that the Russians quickly conceded to conserve forces. The Russians were willing to give up the land so that they wouldn’t lose valuable men and materiel.
The Russians withdrew to more defensible positions and have been badly mauling Ukrainian attacking forces ever since. Ukraine has wasted incredibly large amounts of men and equipment in these futile and ill-advised attacks.
In all, credible reports indicate that AFU casualties are nearing 500,000 and are increasing at an unsustainable rate. On the other hand, reports of 100,000 Russian dead are almost certainly wild exaggerations put out by Ukraine. The BBC attempted to verify these numbers and could only find about 20,000 confirmed Russian dead based on extensive searches on funeral notices, public records, etc.
Send in the Tanks — Eventually!
What about the tanks NATO is supposedly sending? Well, the tanks have not been delivered yet and most won’t be for months or longer. Our own M1 Abrams tanks might not even arrive for a year or more.
We actually have to custom build these tanks so that they don’t have the special armor and other advanced systems that our own M1s have. The Pentagon doesn’t want them falling into Russian hands if they’re destroyed or captured. Besides, we’re only sending 31 tanks anyway.
When the NATO tanks do arrive, they’ll likely quickly be destroyed by Russian artillery, anti-tank weapons and precision missiles. They’re good tanks, but far from invincible. For decades, the Russians have been developing powerful weapons specifically designed to destroy these NATO tank models. The Russians aren’t particularly worried about them.
Aside from that, tanks rely on effective air cover for protection, which Ukraine lacks. They’ll be sitting ducks on the battlefield. It doesn’t really make sense to send tanks to Ukraine unless you send combat aircraft to give them cover (more on that below).
Russia’s Winning on the Battlefield
Meanwhile, Russian forces have nearly encircled the city of Bakhmut, which is a major transportation and logistics hub, with several key roads and rail lines passing through it. It’ll probably fall to the Russians within weeks.
Losing Bakhmut will be a major blow to Ukraine, despite claims in the western media that it really isn’t very important. Ukraine’s entire 800-mile defensive line would probably begin to crumble, and they don’t have heavily fortified positions to fall back on. Ukrainian troops, while brave and competent soldiers, are exhausted and running out of supplies as it is.
On top of that, it appears likely that Russia is preparing a devastating offensive with massive amounts of men, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, helicopters, drones and fixed-wing aircraft.
This Russian army is not the same army that invaded Ukraine a year ago. It’s much better trained, led and equipped. It’s learned from the mistakes it made during its initial invasion last February. Ukraine shouldn’t expect them to repeat those mistakes.
Does all this mean I’m cheering on a Russian victory in Ukraine? No, I’m just observing the facts on the ground and consolidating them to perform an objective analysis.
That analysis leads me to believe that Russia will win the war militarily. Western military assistance may prolong the fighting but won’t affect the ultimate outcome. It’ll just delay the inevitable and get a lot more people needlessly killed.
The Much Greater Risk
The second facet of this war not reported in the media, or at least downplayed, is the growing risk of nuclear war.
This risk increases with every escalatory step by both sides. The U.S. is the leader in reckless escalation by supplying long-range artillery, Patriot anti-missile batteries, intelligence, surveillance, and now the tanks. Russia responds at each step.
There’s a number of steps before the two sides arrive at the nuclear level, but neither shows a willingness to step back.
By the way, Russia has every legal right to attack those NATO countries supplying arms to Ukraine. By supplying arms to a party to the conflict, they’ve given up their neutrality and have become, in effect, combatants. Russia hasn’t done this because it doesn’t want to bring NATO directly into the fight. But legally, it can.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
Ukraine’s demands on the U.S., UK and the rest of NATO for advanced weapons to fight Russians know no limits. The West began by supplying Ukraine with cash, intelligence and anti-tank weapons such as the Javelin missile. Soon we were supplying long-range artillery, drones, and more cash.
As Russian advances continued, Zelensky demanded and got Patriot anti-missile batteries that can destroy incoming Russian missiles. The U.S. artillery was aimed at Russian Crimea. Several drones struck inside Russia at sensitive air bases with nuclear weapons nearby.
The next demand for more weapons involved advanced tanks that are in the process of being supplied by the U.S., UK, Germany, and Poland. In the latest move, that comes as no surprise, Ukraine is now demanding F-16 fighter jets from the U.S., one of the most advanced aircraft in the world.
But Russia has the most sophisticated air defense system in the world and is very capable of shooting down F-16s in large numbers.
Biden has denied Zelensky’s request so far, but he previously ruled out sending tanks before finally giving in. The same thing will probably happen with the planes. But they won’t turn the tide against Russia.
Once these advanced systems show they can’t help, what’s the Ukrainian’s next demand? Russia can escalate just as quickly and lethally as the U.S.
This entire scenario is a long slow march toward nuclear war or the complete disintegration of Ukraine.
Is Anyone Really Prepared for This?
The U.S. won’t end the weapons deliveries because Joe Biden is afraid of losing face and his closest advisors such as Victoria Nuland have an irrational hatred for Russia and are total warmongers.
Now, we can add a new danger, resulting from desperation. This is the fact that the U.S. itself may be the biggest loser in the war.
As Ukraine disappears under a massive Russian onslaught, the U.S. will grow increasingly desperate. Its credibility is on the line after committing so much money, materiel and moral weight to Ukraine’s defense.
The Biden administration has essentially turned the war in Ukraine into an existential crisis for the U.S. and NATO, when it never should have been. Ukraine has never been a vital U.S. interest. But the war is existential for Russia, and won’t give up.
Is the U.S. just going to throw up its hands and concede Russian victory? NATO may actually disintegrate in the face of such spectacular failure. So, we’ll probably double down.
Maybe a desperate Biden orders troops into western Ukraine as a buffer against a complete Russian takeover of the country. You can imagine what could go wrong. That situation may quickly devolve into a direct war between the U.S. and Russia rather than the proxy war that it is now.
The American people and investors in particular are not prepared for any of this. They should be. It’s becoming increasingly likely.
50
FWIW
“Losing Bakhmut, losing Donbass”
https://rumble.com/v2ba0ow-losing-bakhmut-losing-donbass.html
10
“Ukraine has never been a vital U.S. interest.”
An interesting statement.
It has certainly been a vital “Biden” interest !
40
He never mentioned the numbers of NATO troops the Russians are capturing, the NATO commanders that the Ukie soldiers say run from the battles to avoid capture, and the English-language helmet cam videos appearing on social media.
NATO is already involved with boots on the ground, and Putin knows this is a existential war for Russia. It appears NATO doesn’t know its an existential war for Europe as well… The Yanks, well, they don’t care either way.
30
How would the collapse of the Biden administration effect the war?
Granted Kamala would do as told but who wants her in the top job?
00
iPhone’s ‘Clean Energy Charging’: the beginning of dystopia
Flat White
iPhone users raged on social media after they discovered why their devices have been a bit sluggish on the charging front… ‘Clean Energy Charging’ is a new feature introduced to iOS version 16.1 by Apple to ‘reduce the carbon footprint’ of their iPhone. Like all things ‘environmental’, it’s also a pain in the @rse.
When enabled, the setting only charges a person’s iPhone if the energy grid tells the phone that it is being powered by so-called ‘clean’ energies like solar and wind – which means your phone can be plugged into a perfectly good power source and do absolutely nothing, rejecting energy flowing through the grid (which isn’t saved). It’s about as pointless as the energy wastage that goes on during Earth Hour.
Apple says their new feature ‘lowers your electricity usage’ as well as making you feel all warm and squishy about being a virtuous climate warrior – although they might have phrased it slightly differently in the fine print nobody read.
According to makeuseof.com, ‘When you connect your iPhone to a charger, iOS downloads a carbon emission forecast automatically in the background and relies on your device’s location to find the nearby energy grid. Having retrieved this forecast from the load balancing authority for your region, iOS has the knowledge it needs to automatically restrict charging to lower carbon emission electricity.’
In true Silicon Valley style, this feature kicks in when you connect to your favourite locations, ensuring maximum irritation and inconvenience. Most people who plug their phone in, expect it to charge – not behave like a vegan at an all-you-can-eat BBQ.
So much for the good old days when your iPhone only stalked you for the purpose of Google Maps. Now, in a Chinese-dystopian-style upgrade, your phone is stalking you to place moral limitations on your energy use.
This virtuous upgrade wasn’t exactly well publicised, because furious users are turning it off in fits of anger. They thought their phones were broken, now they find out they’ve gone Woke. It’s almost worse.
How do you fix ‘Woke’?
Thankfully, Apple hasn’t spread this ideological infection to all its users. Americans are the lab rats, but rest assured your phones in Australia will soon start having a sook, going flat in the presence of perfectly good charging outlets.
While Apple include this as part of their ‘battery optimisation’ function, telling your phone not to charge itself because its Silicon Valley parent prefers wasteful, short-lived, Chinese-owned power systems has nothing whatsoever to do with the future health of your battery.
Clean Energy Charging is turned on by default by the upgrade without users being made aware of their phone’s sudden eco-fascist identity disorder.
40
Heavy-lifting drone (300 Kgs) developed in China raises bar for high-altitude construction work 1 Min 28 Secs
South China Morning Post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88vS7IhUI54
I love the fact that the goods arrive on the back of Mules/Horses?
00
THE LOCKDOWN FILES
The UK Telegraph has a massive dump of Matt Hancock messages.
Things are about to get interesting.
First rumoured revelation, he ignored advice to test every oap discharged back into care homes.
This is a breaking story.
30
I was just reading that before coming here. My poor mother was deprived of proper family visits and hugs for ages; disgusting.
10
S.O.S for the U.S. Electric Grid
PJM Interconnection sounds the latest alarm that fossil-fuel plants are shutting down without adequate replacement power. The political class yawns.
By The Editorial Board
The warnings keep coming that the force-fed energy transition to renewable fuels is destabilizing the U.S. electric grid, but is anyone in government paying attention? Another S.O.S. came Friday in an ominous report from PJM Interconnection, one of the nation’s largest grid operators.
The PJM report forecasts power supply and demand through 2030 across the 13 eastern states in its territory covering 65 million people.
Its top-line conclusion:
Fossil-fuel power plants are retiring much faster than renewable sources are getting developed, which could lead to energy “imbalances.” That’s a delicate way of saying that you can expect shortages and blackouts.
PJM typically generates a surplus of power owing to its large fossil-fuel fleet, which it exports to neighboring grids in the Midwest and Northeast. When wind power plunged in the Midwest and central states late last week, PJM helped fill the gap between supply and demand and kept the lights on.
That’s why it’s especially worrisome that PJM is predicting a large decline in its power reserves as coal and natural-gas plants retire. The report forecasts that 40,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation—enough to light up 30 million households—are at risk of retiring by 2030, representing about 21% of PJM’s current generation capacity.
Most projected power-plant retirements are “policy-driven,” the report says. For example, the steep costs of complying with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, including a proposed “good neighbor rule” that is expected to be finalized next month, will force about 10,500 MW of fossil-fuel generation to shut down.
At the same time, utility-company ESG (environmental, social and governance) commitments are driving coal plants to close, the report notes. Illinois and New Jersey climate policies could reduce generation by 8,900 MW. Do these states plan to rely on their good neighbors for power?
Many states have established ambitious renewable goals, and the Inflation Reduction Act lavishes enormous subsidies on wind, solar and batteries. But the report says the “historical rate of completion for renewable projects has been approximately 5%,” in part because of permitting challenges.
In an optimistic case, the report estimates 21,000 MW of wind, solar and battery storage capacity will be added to the grid by 2030—about half as much as the expected fossil-fuel retirements.
There’s another problem: Demand for electric power will increase amid the growth in data centers and the government’s push for the electrification of vehicles, heating and everything else. Loudoun County, Va., boasts “the largest concentration of data centers in the world,” the report notes.
The report doesn’t say this, no doubt owing to political reticence, but the conclusion is clear.
The left’s green-energy transition is incompatible with a growing economy and improving living standards.
Renewables don’t provide reliable power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the progressive campaign to shut down coal and gas plants that do will invariably result in outages.
During an arctic air blast this past December, PJM ordered some businesses to curtail power usage and urged households to do the same. PJM narrowly avoided rolling blackouts as some generators switched to burning oil. But what will happen when those power plants shut down? A power shortage at PJM has the potential to cascade across much of the U.S.
Government officials have been raising alarms about the risks of cyber and physical attacks on the grid. But what about the accelerating danger from climate policy?
00
If the cant comprehend the basics of supply levels, imagine trying to explain issues like FCAS or a black start with “renewables” dominant.
It seems inevitable that we are going to see major first world cities and region go dark.
It will be interesting to see how deep the veneer of civilized society is when that happens.
20
Rumblings in Transnistria, the Russian-leaning part of Moldova that broke off 20years ago – Romanian Gepard (German anti-aircraft tanks) and American HIMARS are being transferred to the Western border of Moldova.
Ukraine is amassing 20,000 troops on the Eastern border of Transnistria.
Moscow says the Ukrainians and Moldovans have formed a joint military committee with leadership of British and Americans, so an invasion of the Russian-language Transnistria from West and East is on the cards. Russia has thousands of troops guarding the continent’s biggest arsenal, thousands of tons of USSR weapons stored in underground bunkers in Transnistria.
Moldova was part of Romania, so as the war spreads Moldova might cease to exist, as will Ukraine. Poland has already expressed a wish for the parts of Ukraine that were Poland to be returned.
Transnistria is just to the North-West of Odessa, a part of Ukraine that I’m sure Putin would love to be Russian again.
https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/i-yperdneisteria-kalei-sta-opla-tous-polites-anastoli-ptiseon-apo-pros-ti-moldavia-sta-synora-roumanikes-dynameis-kai-20-000-oukranoi/?_x_tr_sl=el&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB
10
Crikey’s Landlord List: how many politicians own multiple homes?
With fewer Australians owning their homes, Crikey is keeping an eye on how many politicians own several properties.
It’s hard not to notice that Parliament looks very different from the electorate when it comes to home ownership. In 2021, two-thirds of households were inhabited by their owners. In the 47th Parliament, there are 510 properties owned by 227 federal members of Parliament (MPs). That’s an average of 2.25 properties per MP.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/09/07/politicians-houses-list-how-many-properties-do-they-own/
Meanwhile
Albanese rules out touching capital gains tax on family home
Phillip Coorey – Political editor
Anthony Albanese has ruled out removing the capital gains tax exemption on the family home, as the government scrambled to contain the fallout from its decision to lift taxes on superannuation accounts worth more than $3 million.
After Treasurer Jim Chalmers declined repeatedly on breakfast television to categorically rule out targeting the CGT exemption, the Prime Minister moved to clarify.
“We are not going to impact the family home. Full stop. Exclamation mark,” he told ABC Radio.
“Because it’s a bad idea. Because people who save for their home, and you know that they live in with their family, is something that we have no intention, we will not be making any changes there.
“I have never heard in all of the meetings that I’ve been to … over the years, and I’ve been to a few at the Labor Party, cabinet, caucus, branch meetings, I have never heard anyone raise that as a proposition.”
The government has spent the morning being questioned about what other tax concessions were in its sights following its decision on Tuesday to double the tax rate from 15 per cent to 30 per cent for superannuation earnings on funds above $3 million.
The $3 million cap will not be indexed, meaning more and more people will be pushed into the higher tax rate over time. The government promised before the election not to touch super and stands accused of breaking that promise.
Election promises
Mr Albanese said that was not the case because the tax rate would not kick in until July 1, 2025, which was after the next election.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would repeal the tax cap if elected.
“We’re not going to stand by and watch Australians attacked,” .he said.
“There are 80,000 (affected superannuants) that they’re talking about now but that figure of $3 million is not indexed so in 10 or 15 years’ time, there will be tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Australians who will be affected by this,” he said.
“The message that it sends otherwise to a lot of other Australians who are next in line when the Labor Party needs more and more money, those people know that they’re next on the hit list.″
“We’re not going to be a party to the government’s broken promise. They went to the last election saying there would be no changes to superannuation and we’ve now seen the first change, of what I think will be many changes in the superannuation and tax space over the term of this government and into the next term of government if they’re re-elected.″
The government used the release of Treasury’s annual Tax Expenditures and Insights Statement, which details $243 billion in revenue foregone across 52 tax concessions, to bolster is case for the raid on super.
While super tax concessions amount to $48 billion this financial year, capital gains tax exemptions total $71.7 billion. This includes $48 billion on CGT exemptions for the family home, and another $23.7 billion in revenue foregone on CGT discounts for individuals, such as property investors, and for trusts.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Dr Chalmers was asked repeatedly on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program about the family home and was less than forthright.
“We haven’t been focused on it. We haven’t been working on it. It’s not something that we have been contemplating,” he said.
Similarly, Labor is facing questions on negative gearing, trusts and franking credits, all of which it promised to rein in before the 2019 election which it lost.
Mr Albanese played down the prospect of going after negative gearing again, which has been suggested by Independent Senator David Pocock.
“[David Pocock] has a range of proposals and good luck to him,” he said.
“We announced what we are doing. We said exactly what we are doing yesterday and the speculative thing about someone, who’s an independent, raising some issues, has no track with me whatsoever.”
00
Climate change: short on proof, drowning in nonsense
“In Australia (and elsewhere) [climate alarmism] has provided the rationale for policies that discriminate against fossil fuels and subsidise wind and solar-based electricity, raising energy costs 2-3 fold above those previously prevailing. Further such policies are planned and will drive additional cost increases and reductions in reliability.”
https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/climate-change-short-on-proof-drowning-in-nonsense/
00
A recent paper by Lindzen and Happer warns there could be mass hunger if net zero is adopted. They point to the situation in Sri Lanka as an example of poor agricultural policy.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/27/challenging-net-zero-with-science-lindzen-happer-co2-coalition-paper-released/
00
Paper out on the decline in births following covid jabs in Europe. It notes that Govts are hiding the statistics..
“All of the nineteen countries studied saw accelerating declines in births in 2022, beginning at nine months after peak COVID vaccine uptake.
Looking at Sweden, he found that if he overlaid month-to-month change in births, that the strong dip in births beginning in November—December 2021, lines up very tightly with the percentage of people who were unvaccinated 9 months earlier. [6] This was consistent with the R Hagemann, U Lorré, et al. findings. And births in Sweden have not yet shown signs of recovery from this decline.”
“One might think that male reproductive effects would have been tested for in Pfizer’s trial on rats. However, only the female rats were vaccinated; the male ones were not. [21] When Pfizer pronounced the male rats’ reproductive organs free of toxicity, they neglected to emphasize the earlier fine print: male rats had not been vaccinated at all.”
https://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/2023/02/birth-rates-plunge-in-heavily.html
10
..and catfish with long jaws and lots of teeth-
“fish farms in the United States produced an estimated 307 million pounds of catfish for human consumption. But aquaculture is complicated by infections and diseases, which kill millions of farmed fish year after year.
Alligators have a gene that helps them produce an antimicrobial protein called cathelicidin. Scientists say cathelicidin helps prevent infections from developing in the wounds alligators sustain while fighting with each other.
The catfish researchers wondered whether this same gene might also be able to help catfish ward off disease. To find out, they used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to insert the alligator gene that contains a blueprint for cathelicidin into the genomes of catfish.”
https://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/2023/02/scientists-are-injecting-alligator.html
Not that fish EVER escape from fish farms of course…
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