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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Dr Peter Ridd has been researching the Great Barrier Reef since 1984, has invented a range of advanced scientific instrumentation, and written over 100 scientific publications.
Since being fired by James Cook University for raising concerns about science quality assurance issues, Peter Ridd receives no payment for any of the work he does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-3-hJPO3h4
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But, but, I’ve read that Malcolm & Lucy – The Trumbles – have AUS$444,000,000 ‘put aside’ for that very porpoise … unless the climate dog ate it.
260
I am yet to see an account of how that $444 million of Aussie taxpayer money was spent or whose pockets it went into.
Australia needs a DOGE to investigate.
I’d be happy to do the job. If given the power I’d guarantee I’d be RUTHLESS and spare no faction of the Uniparty, no politician or any public serpent, “university” or any other individual or institution in receipt of taxpayer money.
330
In Oz?
Any such DOGE will be carefully constituted so that it will NOT bite the hand that feeds it.
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In Oz anyone setting up a DOGE will be locked up in solitary confinement or fired upon with rubber bullets as you run from the scene.
Neither side of government in Oz want an investigation, they are all earning a good crust from the taxpayer. No one and I mean no one will get in the way of that. Love to be proved wrong but it’s not going to happen. DD just told all enquiries that he has no memory and nor do any of those involved. AND that was enough to close the investigation.
100
Seen this before about some American style wasteful spending here in Oz , no idea if true but was originally posted by MP Jane Hume .
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1191016142384534&set=a.279362380216586
10
Melvin and Lucrecia.
10
The only answer they could give, the women in the little ‘business’ which was gifted the cash for Lucy’s committee, was that while they had no idea what they would do with the money let alone in ‘saving’ the Great Barrier Reef, they were certain to spend $132,000,000 ‘administering’ it. It may all be gone by now in ‘administration’ fees.
I would like to know why they cannot pay the $14 Million which turns up every year in the Federal budget on the borrowed cash? The 7 years means we have paid an additional $100Million in interest on the missing money and will continue to do so for all time.
Have these people no conscience?
50
It seems Ridd and Marohasy have fallen out.
‘The truth is relentless. And it can be hard to sometimes get to the truth, especially when Peter Ridd so often just makes stuff up, as I explain in this blog post,’
https://jennifermarohasy.com/2024/07/cyclone-causes-increase-in-coral-cover-if-you-believe-their-nonsense-number/
20
Not sure about that. Some people are just so attracted to colourful coral, which has taken its usual hammering.
Ridd is far more concerned with coral survival and cover than prettiness as such. Cyclones and bleaching come and go.
But there is also the great disappointment of the gardener at the end of the blooming season and the roses have to be cut back. So what one sees as a loss of beauty the other sees as part of the cycle of renewal.
The same is true of the Ring of Thorns starfish which was being exterminated until the Tahitians pointed out it renewed the reef and they celebrated its return in song and ritual and decoration. This was a blow to researchers building swimming robots to inject cyanide into the starfish.
Llomberg and Ridd are just the usual brutal technologists. And they point out that regular devastation is just part of the cycle in the tropical maelstrom.
101
https://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Your-Inner-Zelensky-Unexpected-ebook/dp/B0BQGH1Y4D
Kanzer herself has a bit part in Zelensky’s life story, acting in one of his movies filmed in the States. She’s a self-described “spiritual nerd” who followed Zelensky long before he stood before a blue and yellow backdrop on the national stage. She writes, “What is so incredible about our man Volodymyr is that his belief in himself stems not from seeing himself as special, but from seeing himself as ordinary and from knowing there is great power in this ordinariness.”
By the same author: Don’t just sit there, Do Nothing – I think it’s what we’re all hungry for–a reminder of our own intrinsic worthiness. a naval-gazing opus I can only imagine is beyond words (or any words I would like to read in a book anyhow): https://jessiekanzer.com/dont-just-sit-there-do-nothing-book
40
Sorry to share anything from Guardian, but their hysterics feel a bit like winning…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/09/covid-five-years-right-narrative-outbreak
Before the next outbreak, we need a serious conversation about how to cope – but first, the more strident, misguided voices must pipe down
The response was far from perfect, these experts say, but the purveyors of the new narrative have picked the wrong target: science. The mRNA vaccines prevented millions of deaths. The technology for building new, effective vaccines quickly came on in leaps and bounds. Masks worked. And as with every pandemic in recent history, subsequent reviews have found that the advice to go early and hard with containment was correct. Did the scientists make mistakes? Of course, but they were working in conditions of high uncertainty. But they were also often ignored or countered by the politicians they advised, as well as by others in positions of influence – and yet those people aren’t the villains of this piece.
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About the millions saved by vaccines: https://www.aussie17.com/p/breaking-news-slovak-government-official
130
Taiwanese loved their masks before covid. Almost half the people caught Covid 19 (before April 2024). On whose planet was it a success? Sweden? I hear you ask. About a quarter.
30
Greg Hunt (former federal minister for Health) has been back in the news papers,writing an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review.
https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/how-we-undo-the-damage-victoria-s-covid-response-did-to-public-trust-20250311-p5lil2
His piece is mainly about increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates which in his view have dropped off alarmingly and he does not explain how or why Victoria is or was responsible.
The article is behind a pay wall but you can read the first two paragraphs by looking at the link above. I found little that I could agree with.
He starts off:
The early pandemic seemed particularly extreme and scary, especially the bit about bodies from New York City being piled into mass unmarked graves.
It turns out that his claim is partially true, but exaggerated for effect. Bodies are buried in coffins laid 3 deep and two wide in trenches on Hart Island, NYC every day. It is a paupers cemetery. The coffins and trenches are numbered and recorded.
It was not an emergency response to a pandemic crisis.
His other claims may be equally suspect, when the truth is finally known.
340
Greg the Stop Sign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KSRrqTVuOU – Greg the stop sign
“Got a tumour in my brain, it’s creeping to my lungs.
And I’ve searched around in vain, can’t find me a better one.
I always confuse him with Dan Andrews (they look the same to me) – I think it is the whole accident thing with Dan + this song
100
The evil flows strongly in both those creatures.
From MeAgain’s link above:
We are all Corn!
A photo of Greg and Dan and their extended families queueing for randomnly sourced ‘GMO Corn Shots’ would be reassuring to those taking their advice to be boostered. ….. (into the permanent hell some recipients have endured).
60
He’s like wombat girl, just he likes to hassle betongs: https://www.greghunt.com.au/
(his latest photo)
30
when the truth is finally known
For most Aussies, the worst thing that happens is a change to the menu at KFC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrCx87neJC0
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Hunt was a former* WEF employee and also was responsible for banning HCQ and IVM for covid treatment in Australia. A terrible “health” minister.
*Can you ever be truly a “former” WEF employee?
He’s not even ashamed of his WEF employment, it’s in his biography. A true globalist.
https://www.greghunt.com.au/about-greg/biography/
Hunt was also responsible for stopping PM Abbott’s request for an inquiry into data fraud at the Bureau of Meteorology.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMIA-EHS7vM
Some religious references with your management speak – imagine a Saudi Government ‘Vision statement’ – the mind boggles….
20
There are also additional comments about the Saudi, The Line project, a 170km long linear building in the desert, meant to be a megacity of the future, at:
https://youtu.be/4JI5I4NjV-U
The project is so bizarre, ridiculous, expensive and impractical and with no obvious demand, that it could easily have been conceived by an Aussie politician like Turnbull, Bowen or Dan Andrews.
210
Interesting, but a lot of blue sky projections in there.
40
FWIW
“The Irony”
https://patriotpost.us/memes/115400-the-irony-2025-03-15
Via SDA
90
It’s only a matter of time before the UK Government bans Nineteen Eighty Four as too much of it is coming true.
220
If I recall correctly, Orwell has already been black listed in UK schools for several years now.
60
Even a UK “university” has placed a “trigger warning” on it.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10430597/University-slaps-trigger-warning-George-Orwells-Nineteen-Eighty-Four.html
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The funny thing is that 1984 is popular in China, along with Animal Farm. Unrestricted and uncensored.
50
Amazing isn’t it.
A fictional book called 1984 has a better success rate of predictions than the gerbil warming doomsayers with all their GIGO computer modelling.
Who would have thought “the science” could be wrong so often and we are still supposed to trust the eggspurts.
50
Additional powers to disperse people: Very sinister, sounds like they can send you to the disintegration chamber!
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It needed a camera on the post too.
00
Here is a 17 sec video clip from JD Vance saying how Germany and Europe are killing themselves by mass importing people who are utterly culturally incompatible with Western values.
And JD didn’t say this but I might add that these people are among the world’s most violent and uneducated people. And why is it mostly only military age males going to Europe, few women and children?
Of course, Australia, Canada and NZ are doing the same.
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1900919329736028619
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It is a technology called ultra sound where you can identify the sex of the child in the womb. Someone has made the comment before particularly in relation to the excess of young men in China, ‘we are undertaking an experiment the scale and nature of which we have never before attempted in the history of the human civilization.’
10
DEEPSEEK draws an obvious conclusion:
If Blackout could think logically then he would know he is leading Australia into economic oblivion.
Wirth regard yesterday’s topic and questions for Blackout.
Can you name the ten top countries by wind and solar penetration?
Can you name the ten countries with the highest retail power price?
Where does Australia sit on these lists and where are your policies taking the country?
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This is DEEPSEEKS answer to the first question for economies having GDP greater than USD1tr:
Here are the top 10 countries by wind and solar power penetration (as a percentage of total electricity generation) with a GDP greater than USD 1 trillion (based on recent data):
Germany: ~35% (wind and solar combined).
Spain: ~25% (wind and solar combined).
United Kingdom: ~25% (wind and solar combined).
Italy: ~20% (wind and solar combined).
Australia: ~20% (wind and solar combined).
France: ~15% (wind and solar combined).
United States: ~12% (wind and solar combined).
China: ~10% (wind and solar combined).
Japan: ~10% (wind and solar combined).
India: ~8% (wind and solar combined).
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And my argument as a taxpayer is this…They don’t make sense coming out of my pocket as a tax credit.
20
And DEEPSEEK on the second question:
Let me revise the list of top 10 countries with GDP greater than USD 1 trillion in descending order of electricity prices:
Germany: ~0.40 USD/kWh.
Italy: ~0.35 USD/kWh.
Belgium: ~0.33 USD/kWh.
United Kingdom: ~0.30 USD/kWh.
Japan: ~0.28 USD/kWh.
France: ~0.22 USD/kWh.
United States: ~0.15 USD/kWh.
China: ~0.08 USD/kWh.
India: ~0.07 USD/kWh.
South Korea: ~0.10 USD/kWh.
60
In NSW Central Western Tablelands, residents have just been given notice of the construction of a “battery energy storage system” (BESS) adjacent to an existing coal fired power station (Mt. Piper) that will, according to Energy Australia, “”Storage ‘time-shifts’ renewable energy by capturing electricity when it is abundant….”
It is projected that the batteries will use possibly use Lithium “however, the final battery composition for this project is yet to be determined”.
This information is being distributed at local venues, but would probably be available via Energy Australia. The project is known as the “Mt Piper BESS”.
From other sources it is suggested that Shell Energy will finance this endeavour. I would imagine that the considerable cost of this “courageous” endeavour will ultimately be borne by consumers in higher energy costs.
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Bowen is a genuine simpleton in charge of Australia’s economic future, enacting anti-energy policies which are guaranteed to destroy Australia as a viable, modern, Western economy.
271
Yes, but is there any evidence he thinks up his carp all by himself or is he led by public serpents and consultants eager to keep the gravy train rolling?
After all, those around Biden worked very hard to pretend he was sentient.
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Blackout lives on a diet of BS fed to him by the BoM, CSIRO and AEMO. And ABC never call out Labor politicians because they always grow Their ABC. The people from these organisations that he deals with all need their job and we know Blackout is quick to knock down anyone not aligned. He is the worst sort of bully and the sole reason he is where he is. The worst possible individual to be controlling Australia’s energy policy.
The tender process for new capacity that AEMO has taken charge of is their way of trying to keep Labor in power. There is no way the population would accept increasing the RET in time and amount needed to get above 35% penetration. The only way you get above 35% is to build storage and Snowy 2 is the lowest cost prospect for that but look at its cost and December 2028 remains fanciful. Batteries do not offer useful capacity. Australia is facing trillions in cost to get to 82%.
By now, Blackout knows his days as a minister are numbered. He will be thinking about his pension.
Dutton’s first step will be to undo the AEMO capacity contracts with the least amount of costs.
100
Apart from the United States under TRUMP, another Western country governed by a sensible person is Argentina.
In just one year it has gone from an economic basket case to a booming economy under the leadership of Javier Milei.
Milei believes in free enterprise after the Austrian School of Economics (Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek etc.).
Video: https://youtu.be/jGnl4Re8Gpk
Oh, and Milei has announced he is considering withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Both factions of the Uniparty in Australia remain fanatically committed to it.
If only Australia had a Uniparty politician who had a clue.
310
Yet another article deliberately muddying the distinction between rapidly sinking land and tiny sea level rises to spin a climate scare story.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14486497/scientists-chilling-warning-hawaii-sinking-faster-expected.html
40
Some young, freshly degreed, Bwitish weporter on their BBC bweathlessly awfulised the horror of man-made sea level rise [sic] after the WMO’s announcement they had discovered it had risen worldwide in 2024 by… 0.59 cm.
[crickets]
If it had been The Goon Show or the Pythons or even The Young Ones, it would’ve been a hoot! But no, this was News You Can Thrust (as the Irish would spell it). Half a centimetre? Saunter, Forrest, saunter!
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I heard that figure was grossly understated.
The real figure was much more like 0.591 or even 0.5914159 cm to be precise.
40
True that ✔️
Or as I’ve seen before:
“approximately 0.5914159 cm”.
Stranglesh, I call it.
20
Subsidence is probably human induced.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/15/you-almost-got-it-right-new-york-post-subsidence-is-sinking-coastal-cities-climate-change-isnt-raising-seas/
10
As I’ve repeatedly posted, but it’s not climate;oil/gas/water extraction, dams up river trapping replenishing silt; removing mangroves and other coastal changes, etc.;
10
Here is a cheery explanation of the Hawaiian volcanics
Scientific explanation of sinking islands at 1:4:0
20
And this is DEEPSEEK’s projection for 2030 on current Labor policy:
Using the trend line slope derived from the correlation between wind/solar penetration and electricity prices, and Australia’s federal policy target of 82% renewable electricity by 2030, we can forecast the 2030 electricity price in Australia. Here’s the step-by-step calculation:
Key Data:
Current Wind & Solar Penetration (2023): ~25%.
Target Wind & Solar Penetration (2030): ~82%.
Current Electricity Price (2023): ~0.30 AUD/kWh.
Trend Line Slope: 0.021 AUD/kWh per 1% increase in wind and solar penetration (from previous calculation).
Forecast Calculation:
Increase in Penetration:
82%−25%=57%.
Price Increase:
57%×0.021AUD/kWh=1.197AUD/kWh.
Estimated 2030 Price:
0.30AUD/kWh+1.197AUD/kWh=1.497AUD/kWh.
Forecasted 2030 Electricity Price: Based on the trend line and Australia’s renewable energy target, the 2030 electricity price could be approximately 1.50 AUD/kWh.
So if you are happy to pay $1.50/kWh for your electricity then make sure Blackout gets another go. If not, make sure he gets the message in the strongest possible way.
I would hope that AEMO has done these projections and is the reason for their new tender process so the real cost of electricity can be hidden and absorbed into general revenue. But that sets Aiustralia up for rampant inflation.
210
It becomes apparent that to reach the 82% penetration by 2030, we would need to be tolerating electricity price annual inflation of 25% – that gives the 5-fold increase over the 2023 price. We are currently running at annual inflation of 10% so it is very unlikely the 82% will be achieved by 2030.
Most of the future cost increase will be paid out of general revenue so it will not hit electricity bills directly. But it will fuel rampant inflation.
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The Liberal faction of the Uniparty will not be much better.
Dutton remains committed to the Paris Agreement.
Dutton claims to want nuclear but it is ONLY to replace coal for baseload power. He still wants more windmills and sun farms.
And in any case, I can’t see nuclear power stations coming online in less than 15 years, if ever, even if a decision to build them was made today. Australia will be a failed state by that time and Dutton no longer in power.
Yes, I know a nuclear power station can be built in much less time in proper countries but Australia is a land of lawfare, extreme Leftist anti-energy radicals, feral unions, massive regulation and a general “can’t do” attitude etc.. The Liberal faction of the Uniparty has even banned nuclear power twice, in 1971 and in 1998. In a proper country, a nuclear power plant generally takes 6 to 8 years to build and as little as 3 to 5 in some cases according to Goolag AI.
And even if Dutton got elected and did start to build them (probably after years of court battles) the next Liberal leader who replaces him or the next Green Labor government would cancel them again.
Recall that it took years of wrangling just to replace the medical isotope and research reactor HIFAR with the OPAL reactor. Green Labor would have been quite happy for Australia not to be able to produce medical isotopes, some with such short lives they can’t be imported. And cyclotrons can’t make all the required isotopes. How much harder would it be trying to build a power reactor when the anti-energy, anti-nuclear lobby is so strong in the Stupid Country?
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NEVER forget that the eco-nazis are DEATH CULTISTS.
50
Referring back to 9.2 , 0.30 AUD/kWh comes out at about 0.20 USD/kWh and that is a 2023 price so now we are well up there in the top 10. Problem is that no one in the Uniparty bothers to look further than the Gore/Thunberg/UN woke whinge myth. Like Peter Ridd , John Nicol was a James Cook Uni lecturer and that seems to upset wokies. One of these days after Ping and Co have taken over some dedicated Aussie might take the trouble to study Nicol’s CO2 analysis.
10
Australia has the highest electricity cost in all of Asia.
00
And depending what list you look at, we are the eighth or ninth country on the world’s expensive electricity list.
10
All I’m hearing/reading is that S.E. Aus is under ‘warm weather warnings’ or WWW due to a brief nor’wester blowing off the desert, yet like that previous con-job back in the time of 2020 Vision, the Voice Of Authority fails to mention the side-effects: there’s a deep cold front pushing all that ‘warm’ air ahead of itself, ergo today –
Tasmania’s mountains: Snow to 900m, hail, thunder, 0*C by sunrise tomorrow, freezing.
Victoria’s Baw Baw & Buller mtns: Snow to 1,500m, -2*C tomorrow.
NSW’s Thredbo Monday: Snow to 1,700m, -4*C.
Technically speaking it’s still summer – next Thursday is the autumnal equinox, thanks Annie – so what’s up, has the climate caught a cold? Then on Tue/Wed that same system will hit our Southern Alps, with back from the dead snow forecast to ‘winterise’ the granite and schist (GAS) mountain peaks of the South Island and possibly even Mt Ruapehu in the North.
Climate Weirding Or Whiplash (WOW) or simply what happens every year, give or take, as it’ll all be gone in a day or two – just don’t mention the cold.
120
The winds are out of control.
‘A vigorous cold front crossing the nation’s southeast is set to deliver a day of extremes on Sunday as gusty winds drive heavy rain over Tasmania while upping fire danger to extreme in NSW.’ (Weatherzone)
21
So they mention ‘fire danger’ but no hail nor snow nor freezing nor hypothermia, to offer a balanced report of the whole situation, just in case some foreign hiking influencer decides to go walk like a wombat up on the tops?
20
Its a typical whiplash phenomenon.
00
Talking with a reasonable Climate Change believing friend, I asked … “how would you feel if tomorrow it became clear to you than human caused Global Warming has been a hoax, not a scientific error, but fraud?”
Answer, “not a problem, because the intent was good.”
I think my friend already has an inkling, but does not care.
This is second person I know that has expressed this sentiment.
This is where we are.
The stalemate and disconnect will remain.
Same with Pandemic.
Same with TDS.
It doesn’t matter what Trump actually said or did, any action against him and his supporters is justified.
It doesn’t matter the origin of the ‘virus’, nor does it matter the result of the lockdowns and vaccine.
It is the dominance of ideology above all else.
All the principle values that I had been taught were the foundations of liberal thought, have been abandoned by large swaths of the most educated and powerful people in Western society.
It is the lower class ‘populists’ like myself, to whom they taught these value foundations, that they now fear and hold in contempt.
240
The core problem is the ideology of Post Modernism, the belief that there is no such thing as objective truth or reality. The “truth” is whatever you think it is or want it to be. That’s why Leftists always use expressions like “my truth is…” not “the truth”.
See my next post.
70
Rational thinkers need to understand that the modern Left is based upon post modernism.
It is an extremely dangerous and irrational ideology and at its core is the belief that there is no such thing as objective reality.
How do you debate or even reason with someone who believes “reality” is whatever you think it is?
The following points of view of Enlightenment vs post modernist thinking are excerpted from the link below. I have edited them for brevity but only deleted material, not changed any words. The paragraph following the number is the Enlightenment thinking and the post modernist view follows:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy
1. Enlightenment There is an objective natural reality, a reality whose existence and properties are logically independent of human beings—of their minds, their societies, their social practices, or their investigative techniques.
Postmodernists dismiss this idea as a kind of naive realism. Such reality as there is, according to postmodernists, is a conceptual construct, an artifact of scientific practice and language. This point also applies to the investigation of past events by historians and to the description of social institutions, structures, or practices by social scientists.
2. Enlightenment The descriptive and explanatory statements of scientists and historians can, in principle, be objectively true or false.
The postmodern denial of this viewpoint—which follows from the rejection of an objective natural reality—is sometimes expressed by saying that there is no such thing as Truth.
3. Enlightenment Through the use of reason and logic, and with the more specialized tools provided by science and technology, human beings are likely to change themselves and their societies for the better. It is reasonable to expect that future societies will be more humane, more just, more enlightened, and more prosperous than they are now.
Postmodernists deny this Enlightenment faith in science and technology as instruments of human progress. Indeed, many postmodernists hold that the misguided (or unguided) pursuit of scientific and technological knowledge led to the development of technologies for killing on a massive scale in World War II.
4. Enlightenment Reason and logic are universally valid—i.e., their laws are the same for, or apply equally to, any thinker and any domain of knowledge.
For postmodernists, reason and logic too are merely conceptual constructs and are therefore valid only within the established intellectual traditions in which they are used.
5. Enlightenment There is such a thing as human nature; it consists of faculties, aptitudes, or dispositions that are in some sense present in human beings at birth rather than learned or instilled through social forces.
Postmodernists insist that all, or nearly all, aspects of human psychology are completely socially determined.
6. Enlightenment Language refers to and represents a reality outside itself.
According to postmodernists, language is not such a “mirror of nature,” as the American pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty characterized the Enlightenment view. Inspired by the work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, postmodernists claim that language is semantically self-contained, or self-referential: the meaning of a word is not a static thing in the world or even an idea in the mind but rather a range of contrasts and differences with the meanings of other words. Because meanings are in this sense functions of other meanings—which themselves are functions of other meanings, and so on—they are never fully “present” to the speaker or hearer but are endlessly “deferred.” Self-reference characterizes not only natural languages but also the more specialized “discourses” of particular communities or traditions; such discourses are embedded in social practices and reflect the conceptual schemes and moral and intellectual values of the community or tradition in which they are used. The postmodern view of language and discourse is due largely to the French philosopher and literary theorist Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), the originator and leading practitioner of deconstruction.
7. Enlightenment Human beings can acquire knowledge about natural reality, and this knowledge can be justified ultimately on the basis of evidence or principles that are, or can be, known immediately, intuitively, or otherwise with certainty.
Postmodernists reject philosophical foundationalism—the attempt, perhaps best exemplified by the 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes’s dictum cogito, ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”), to identify a foundation of certainty on which to build the edifice of empirical (including scientific) knowledge.
8. Enlightenment It is possible, at least in principle, to construct general theories that explain many aspects of the natural or social world within a given domain of knowledge—e.g., a general theory of human history, such as dialectical materialism. Furthermore, it should be a goal of scientific and historical research to construct such theories, even if they are never perfectly attainable in practice.
Postmodernists dismiss this notion as a pipe dream and indeed as symptomatic of an unhealthy tendency within Enlightenment discourses to adopt “totalizing” systems of thought (as the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas called them) or grand “metanarratives” of human biological, historical, and social development (as the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard claimed). These theories are pernicious not merely because they are false but because they effectively impose conformity on other perspectives or discourses, thereby oppressing, marginalizing, or silencing them. Derrida himself equated the theoretical tendency toward totality with totalitarianism.
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Which is a subset of a previous comment I made:
“If you want to understand reality then move sideways”
Reality is all around you not on a different plane; you need only have the ability to see it.
Religious zealots are brainwashed as children, before the age of reason, to embrace religious nonsense.
If it was illegal to teach any religious content before the age of reason, all religions would be gone in a generation.
Lefties, despite their age and reasoning ability, CHOOSE to believe what suits them and reject all attempts by others at education and factual reality.
Comforting lies are more appealing than inconvenient fantasy-dispelling truths.
“I think, therefore I am”
– more like “I think, therefore something is”
41
Dubito, ergo Cogito
Somehow, we have lost the doubt
10
“It is the dominance of ideology above all else.”
…and yesterday I read in the SMH-
“The trend towards media outlets aligning with particular ideologies has also curtailed cartoonists”
You take a stance and hold onto it come hell or high water..
40
How the EU is driving itself into oblivion-
“According to information from the Financial Times, the Commission plans to present a “proposal” next week according to which it intends to act as a “central procurement authority for arms” on behalf of the member states. The model, who would be surprised, is the “joint” vaccine purchase, in which Ms. von der Leyen, through opaque channels, exceeding the official authority assigned to her and circumventing all transparency and accountability obligations, acquired a (significantly) excess quantity of vaccine at a (significantly) excessive price from a (very) dubious potency drug manufacturer that belongs to the network of the inefficient US money-making firm Blackrock (cf. FTZNFRTZ). The Commission’s draft also contains “further details on the financing options presented by Commission President von der Leyen last week,” the essence of which appears to be the (magical) conversion of private savings into (armament) investments.”
…and why would you need to vote when the big countries can just bully the smaller ones into agreement-
“European Council decides by consensus: Consensus means a proposal will only be adopted if all member states are in agreeance. Formal voting does not take place, the member states deliberate until they reach general agreement. Traditionally, this is the most used method of decision-making in the European Council.”
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/03/nato-sec-gen-on-ukraine-accession.html#comments
30
Great going Greg, another ‘weather equals climate’ claim . Just get Nature to publish it and Jo can close down her blog.
09
Miasma,
Since climate is average weather over 30 years, climate is *obviously* 100% dependent on the weather.
Odd thing is that the climatologists get this backwards and constantly tell us how the changes to the climate are causing bad weather. Weird.
160
Robert,
Weird that you didn’t address Greg’s specific short term example supposedly refuting MSS.
06
Who knew barking spiders were real.
miasma: infectious matter or pestilential vapours floating in the air.
Greek, miasma, defilement.
You may also want to look up humour while you’re at it, with regard to medieval beliefs of the day: some things have moved on since then.
30
Miasma: The best explanation for the plague at the time- obviously wrong.
Also applicable to the ‘alternative science’ sceptics cobble together.
04
Miasma,
Please explain how the climate can change without the weather changing first.
Share your wisdom oh foetid one.
80
I think you need to look at the weather ,globally , over a long time period ( as has been done ) ,oh flaccid one .
04
FWIW – from last Thursday
“Australia 7 Day: Cold front coming, but heat surges first”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFm92Tn1Oo
00
This bloke seems to have a better view of the weather in Oz from New Zealand
00
It all depends where the wind is blowing from.
00
In 2020 Senator Malcolm Roberts posted this picture of former “health” minister Greg Hunt in his parliamentary office.
You can see a copy of Klaus Schwab’s book “The Great Reset” on his shelf.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15h8XXTSL1/
110
They knew in March 2020 Covid was in all probability from the Chinese lab. The government’s scientific face of the pandemic smashed the idea down, now he’s a Lord!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14503159/Labour-Wuhan-lab-leak-pandemic-Boris-johnson.html
Additionally, in an interview recently, Sunak said they weren’t following the science, with masks etc., they were just some ideas the scientists had and they decided to go with that.
30
Is it any wonder TRUMP put a tariff on Australian products?
Our three most important officials PM Al-bozo, Foreign Minister Wrong, US Ambassador KRudd and also former PM Turnbullsh-t all have severe TDS, TRUMP Derangement Syndrome, which is now TEDS, TRUMP and Elon Derangement Syndrome.
You don’t mock and hate the leader of our greatest ally and not expect consequences. I hope President TRUMP realises these clowns don’t represent real Australians.
153
I expect Trump’s team has looked at the subsidies being paid to Australian industry to keep them viable in the face of rampant rises in energy costs. It is hardly a level playing field.
And subsidising these industries hurt all Australians. It is government making choices rather than letting the market choose. I am yet to hear an Australian reporter point out to Also that he is subsidising these industries.
The Trump team are insulating the US economy from global mobsters. It is not getting back at the clowns.
110
Here ya go DM:
Minnesota Senate Republicans Propose Legislation to Classify ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ as a Mental Illness
The proposed bill, SF 2589, introduced in the Minnesota Senate and referred to the Health and Human Services Committee, seeks to amend existing mental health statutes to define “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as:
“‘acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons’ triggered by reactions to Donald J. Trump’s policies and presidency, characterized by symptoms such as intense verbal hostility toward Trump and potential acts of aggression against Trump supporters.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/minnesota-senate-republicans-propose-legislation-classify-trump-derangement/
Dunno about the “otherwise normal persons” given they’re lefties…
40
To my mind, If Donald Trump imposes tariffs on Australian exports, we should retaliate by immediately removing any Australian tariffs on American imports. The point is that the Australian economy will benefit more from cheaper imports. Maybe only useful imports, though, ie. with stuff like booze and cigarettes excluded.
00
I have been discussing the precession cycle with DEEPSEEK. I asked it to summarise our discussion:
The precession cycle, which shifts the timing of Earth’s closest (perihelion) and farthest (aphelion) points from the Sun relative to the seasons, has changed the peak solar intensity between the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) by approximately 6.84 W/m² since 1582. In 1582, aphelion aligned with the NH summer solstice, meaning the NH received less intense sunlight than it does now, while the SH received more. Over time, precession has gradually shifted this alignment, increasing the NH’s peak solar intensity and decreasing the SH’s. This change in solar intensity distribution affects the Earth’s energy balance, contributing to long-term climate trends.
The thermal response to this change in solar intensity is amplified in the NH due to its higher proportion of land, which heats and cools more rapidly than water. The NH’s thermal response is roughly twice that of the SH, leading to a predicted global temperature increase of ~3.44°C since 1582. This warming is driven by the NH’s larger seasonal temperature swings and its greater sensitivity to changes in solar radiation. However, this prediction is based on a simplified model that assumes a direct relationship between solar intensity and temperature, without accounting for feedback mechanisms or other climate influences.
The observed global warming of ~1.9°C since 1582 is less than the predicted 3.44°C due to several factors. Climate feedbacks, such as increased cloud cover and ocean heat uptake, have moderated the warming. Natural variability, including volcanic eruptions and solar cycles, has introduced cooling effects at times. Additionally, anthropogenic factors like aerosol emissions and land-use changes have further influenced the climate. These complexities, along with simplifications in the model, explain why the observed warming is less than predicted. The precession cycle remains a key driver of long-term climate change, but its effects are modulated by a range of other processes.
So the observed warming is not as much as expected and it does not mention CO2 directly as the possible cause for the muted response..
130
That is one of the most coherent arguments about climate I’ve seen in a while.
Deepseek for UN President!
20
This was DEEPSEEK’s thanks for your praise:
Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m glad the explanation resonated. If you or KP would like further clarification, additional details, or a deeper dive into any specific aspect of climate change, feel free to ask—I’m here to help! 😊
10
So its ok to put moronic tariffs on a whole country , like a petulant child, because some individuals criticized you ?.
114
Australia also dumped aluminium below cost because aluminium production in Australia is heavily subsidised due to expensive “green” electricity. Steel is subsidised as well.
Selling things below manufacturing cost is not considered fair in international trade. And I also object to my taxes being spent on subsidies.
The Americans were 100% correct in rejecting subsidised products.
https://www.9news.com.au/world/steel-aluminium-us-tariffs-on-australia-penny-wong-peter-dutton-trade-blows/4115539d-b985-4e45-ac22-98995e6603c4
100
No industry should have on going subsidies. If they do, then SURELY the business has to pay a share of ALL profits back to the government each year in EXCESS of the normal level of taxation.
If not….. Why not? A business making a profit does not need a subsidy.
110
Sure, let’s play even. The fossils have always been subsidized !.
08
How are fossil fuels subsidised? It’s a common claim by the Left but no evidence is ever offered.
40
FMD !, you guys keep demanding evidence for AGW ,when it’s on every scientific institution’s website , now you need to be dog walked through the history of fossil fuel subsidies ?.
Next you’ll be demanding evidence for the age of the Earth !.
05
I agree with Miasma that there should be no subsidies or mandates or taxes or charges for any kind of energy, including fossil fuel energy, other than ones that apply to everything. ie, nothing that singles out energy or any kind of energy. Will we then sit back and enjoy watching the fossil fuel industry collapse while the renewables industry thrives? Only one way of finding out.
10
Yet you cannot detail at least one? The lists I’ve seen include ridiculous items such as pensioner rebates, port expansions, and modelling that somehow claims that the use of fossil fuels generates a range of unsubstantiated costs.
And these claims are NOT generated by any scientific institution, only by climate activist organisations.
At least I can list the relevant reports generated by these organisations.
30
>fossils have always been subsidized !.
No, they are taxed, not subsidized.
The collected tax is supposed to be used for road maintenance.
Primary producers who use diesel on the farm or in the minesite are not using the roads so they can claim a tax rebate.
The Left are either confused about that or are deliberately untruthful.
80
Another Australia industry hits the skids, a glass factory, which supplied all the glass in the new parliament house, the last one in OZ has shut down, never to restart.
80
The company is Oceania Glass, an architectural glass maker using the float technology.
AU still has makers of glass bottles {think wine}, so stores and buildings may have brick fronts, but you can still go in and buy a bottle of your favorite liquid.
30
Or if you are manly, to make your own drinkware from: https://www.artofmanliness.com/skills/how-to/how-to-make-a-drinking-glass-from-a-bottle/
00
We have a treaty … the free trade agreement … which has the full force of law in the USA.
If they believe that below cost dumping is going on, there’s a procedure for that, but they need to provide proof.
10
‘Petulant child’,? Try lobsters, wine, beef, coal, timber, etc. Guess who?
40
I’d regard throwing around incorrect assertions as far more petulant than applying tariffs.
40
I am confused – I thought your lot were all about zero growth measures:
There is near unanimous consensus among economists that tariffs are self-defeating and have a negative effect on economic growth,
(- there it is again, that near unanimous consensus thing….)
The history of tariff reduction is relatively short, there is limited empirical evidence to properly measure their impact – many nations have not really reduced their tariffs, and many operate systems of ‘paratariffs’ in place. (eg. Australian quarantine – did you know it is easier to import a weapon than a banana)
But, nations and traders over 100s of years of history were moronic. Go figure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff
20
You think the US doesn’t have subsidies ?.
Seeing green steel and aluminum don’t exist , Australia can’t be dumping anything . You need to get your lies in the right order .
011
Of course Australia is dumping. If the true price of the “green” electricity was included in aluminium it would be unaffordable by anyone.
Australian aluminium is not viable without taxpayer subsidies due to some of the world’s most expensive “green” electricity.
I assume you know how aluminium is made and the amount of electricity required to make it?
E.g.:
60
Refining aluminium is so electricity intensive that it is sometimes called ‘congealed electricity’.
40
Canada has NO bauxite….but the electricity in the province of Quebec is so cheap that they are able to import bauxite from around the world, convert it into aluminum and make a profit.
90
Of course aluminium is just coagulated electricity.
Oops. Hadn’t read Ronan’s post.
30
ABC radio were talking about people positing conspiracy theories on the recent TC Alfred, saying that the govt caused it or the Chinese can control the weather and the recent Chinese warships caused it.
Therefore , using their parameters, you could say the global warming narrative is nothing more than a conspiracy theory, which says that humans can control GLOBAL climate.
100
With that logic I can see why you’re stuck here.
06
So what’s your excuse.
30
I thought this being eventless Sunday you could enjoy a longish story from my childhood:
A salesman reports to his boss:
– visited that distributor, signed that other deal, a boring trip really,.. but on the train back home, saw couple of gents, playing Black Jack.
– so?
– they played in a strange way. One deals, another checks his cards, announces the total, the dealer does the same and winner grabs the money.
– what, should not they show their cards? !
– exactly, what I asked !
– and ?
– both were rather offended, one said: we are Navy officers, if I saw 17 in my cards there could not be 16, or 18, or whatever, just logically could not.., by the way would you like to join us? I said – OK, I do not mind.., and you know, boss, I never had that much luck in my life !
This is the story of Chinese and Russian Emperors signing anything, from a minor trade contract upwards…
30
I found a reference that explained Russian 4D’s negotiation tactic:
Delay, Distract, Deceive, Demoralize.
then Rinse and Repeat.
05
Mmmmm sure, Minsk 1, Minsk 2 , Istanbul…and it the Russians deceiving.
70
If so, they obviously learnt from the masters of the art – all’s fair in love and “special military operations” where Putin is concerned.
23
“If so, they obviously learnt from the masters of the art”
The British! Centuries of running an expanding empire at the cost of those subsumed. There were many empires before, but none as successful in the industrial age, right up until the Americans took it away.
20
I pray for Ukraine – one special military operation seems to lead to lots more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coalition_military_operations_of_the_Iraq_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_operations_in_the_war_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)
The use of the ‘Special Military Operation’ is more cost effective – if you call it an ‘invasion’ you are then bound by the Geneva convention to pay the same rate to any Locally Engaged Staff as you do to your own staff on the ground in the invaded territory.
If the true costs of invasion were borne, we would see a lot less invasions.
Ukraine is going to be a fun place for the foreign contractors soon – much better facilities than has been found in recent operating theatres – they even have some rubbish removal and don’t burn all their rubbish. But it will not be that great for the majority of Ukrainians for some time, sadly. Wherever the borders and empty zones between are drawn.
00
Every politician, in all eras was a bit loose with the truth but only soviets are open & proud of their lies.
Just few minutes ago I talked to a schoolmate who settled in US, and after long screams at each other, we agreed at a single point – had we never emigrated and Putin would take over Ukraine peacefully, we probably be as content as majority would be.
But the monster wants domination, the bloodier the better..
13
“But the monster wants domination”
Sure sure… and he’d be happy with NATO missiles right on the Russian border, aimed at Moscow 10minutes away..
Just like Kennedy was happy with Russian missiles in Cuba!
Vlad, he explained everything very clearly before he started, why he was invading, what his aims were and how to make it so he wouldn’t invade, but it was all ignored by the West who just wanted him to invade so they had an excuse to try and break Russia.
Well, they’ve got their war and they are losing! The Ukrainians?? Just another bunch of expendable Slavs as far as the elites in the UK and USA are concerned…
Anyone who thinks Putin is to blame for this mess has the wrong colour spectacles on!
50
If they never looked their faith in others could never be doubted.
As DM pointed out above – the officer’s reality is different to the salesman’s reality.
Quite a few voters have the view that politicians are there for the good of the people. In reality, they are where they are for their own good and that often means at the expense of the voters who put them there.
20
Ocean’s ‘heart’ is slowing down — and it will affect the entire planet’s circulation
OMG!
Fastest? Must have been done by the smartest. Can’t be wrong.
Likely? As in not sure it will not strengthen it by 20%?
50
Some here will be familiar with Lifeline Book Fairs, where publications of any type can be bought at a reasonable cost with the added bonus of helping out.
A great recent buy was “Climatic History and the Future” by H.H. Lamb first published in 1977. Lamb was Director Emeritus of the infamous Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia at the time. It is a fabulous, unbiassed summary of climate data available at the time – the claim “due to climate change” does not exist within any of the 835 pages.
The following extract is relevant:
Could there be natural cycles at play, that do not lead to catastrophism?
130
Great find Rowjay!
60
Here’s another gem regarding an ice-free Arctic:
Climate researchers at the time relied heavily on written historical observations.
30
Oh goody, something else just over the horizon (arent they always) to be very scared about.
20
Still pivoting o that “could” word
20
FWIW
US meat trade days away from getting ‘kicked out’ of China
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-14/3-billion-united-states-meat-trade-to-china-at-risk/105052220
Oops!
Good luck exporting it to anyone else, except maybe Russia and North Korea.
30
Well, it should bring down the cost of high quality protein in the USofA. That’s a win.
50
Perhaps the CCP will ramp up (if that’s even possible) their illegal global fishing operations, destroying the oceans fish stocks.
Then what China?
20
I notice the Lefties never complain about the massive overfishing and destruction of fish stocks by the Chicomms using monstrous ships which basically remove all living things from the oceans they trawl through.
Meanwhile, Australian fishermen are barely allowed to catch anything.
80
According to ABC’s Landline today, Australia is already fielding enquiries from China to replace the US components.
10
Similar tp the passive aggressive BS they pulled with us in a number of areas.
20
Study Finds That AI Search Engines Are Wrong an Astounding Proportion of the Time
Conducted by researchers at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the analysis probed eight AI models including OpenAI’s ChatGPT search and Google’s Gemini, finding that overall, they gave an incorrect answer to more than 60 percent of queries.
It should tell you something that the most accurate model to emerge from these tests, Perplexity from Perplexity AI, still answered 37 percent of its questions incorrectly. The village idiot award, meanwhile, goes to Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok 3, which was wrong a staggering 94 percent of the time. Impressively bad.
https://futurism.com/study-ai-search-wrong
/So much for the training data.
60
“Wrong”
ooohh.. THAT’s a good word! 94% WRONG..
Is Trump a good President?
Is capitalism the best economic model?
Are humans causing global warming?
..and a 100 other questions that have no right answer… Not that I’d expect any truth out of a journo’s organisation!
40
A recent Lancet paper said that a massive proportion of papers were not reproducible, and about a third were fabricated. If these AI researchers are of similar quality to the medical researchers then Grok must be impressively good.
10
FWIW –
Memories of the covid pandemic
https://instapundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/siraj_hashmi_glenn_greenwald_june_2020_health_care_pandemic_pivot_12-28-21-600×553.jpg
“As Greenwald wrote in his follow-up tweet, “That episode single-handedly destroyed trust in public health officials, proving they’d politicize their expertise when convenient. Corporate media celebrated a douchebag-lawyer shaming families at deserted beaches, then — overnight! — cheered densely packed street protests.” ”
https://instapundit.com/708558/#disqus_thread
Mimicked here IIRC
20
Quote for the day:
“This is not precision work, this is make it work.”
20
FWIW
“A Fundamental Problem We Must Address”
“Remember Jimmy Carter?
One of his key E/Os, which amusingly isn’t prominently on display at his library (I went looking for it 10+ years ago) was his order halting all civilian nuclear fuel reprocessing.”
“But today there is no reprocessing because when Carter destroyed the investments in that industry which had been made, even though Reagan reversed that order immediately upon taking office no commercial firm has been willing to take that risk of its investment being destroyed a second time.
Now the Supremes have been asked to rule on whether a private company can be licensed to store said waste away from the inherently dangerous reactor it is associated with.”
And more at
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=252970
40
FWIW – that “could” word again
“Met Office Peddle Ridiculous NAO Scare Story”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/15/met-office-peddle-ridiculous-nao-scare-story/
20
FWIW
“The Great Mauna Loa Meltdown: NOAA’s Hilo Office Faces the Chop, and the Sky Is Falling (Apparently)”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/15/the-great-mauna-loa-meltdown-noaas-hilo-office-faces-the-chop-and-the-sky-is-falling-apparently/
Read it all!
And the comments! In there
“Actually, the EPA was more clever. They actually usefully solved the clean air and water problems. Uh Oh. So then they invented the linear no threshold harm model to justify continue spending more and more to gain less and less. And, they found that spending more required more staff. So did measuring less. DOGE.”
Even Parkinson gets a mention
10
Re that EPA comment
I guess that explains why when diesel Tier 2 had reduced Tier 0 emissions to < 1 % the Tiers kept coming and the cost kept kiting?
00
When asked to contribute to Houti attacks in the Red Sea, we managed to send not a ship, but five or six people. If our contribution to the Ukraine problem is to be small scale, how many Australian personnel will be offered?
50
We could send food and two or three army food distribution logistics experts to do a kind of ‘meals on wheels’ type thing with maybe some high protein pasta made in australia and our LEGO brand pasta sauce.
20
asked to contribute to Houti attacks in the Red Sea, – I think you mean preventing, of course.
The command and control headaches for the lead agency to incorporate lots of small contingents are not really worth the benefit each additional contingent brings.
It is peeing into the Wind what we are doing – a little relief, but with big risk it will blow back at us. For what?
I am for whole hog deployment or stay home – I prefer the stay home option, but if you are going to do it, get real.
20
We will end up with our meals-on-wheels detachment surrounded in some kettle and the PM whining to Putin about “Don’t kill those poor soldiers, it would a horrible massacre” or whatever Trump said last week when he was told there were a sh1tload of NATO ‘mercs’ stuck in Kursk.
Staying home is the safest option, between Trump, Starmer, Macron and whoever runs Germany this week, you just never know what will happen in Ukraine.
20
Remember the ‘Me Too’ movement?
Here’s an interview with Tara Reade, a former aide to Joe Biden, that came forward with sexual assault allegations.
But apparently, not her too.
How the DC Mob attacks Whistlebowers, Project Cassandra & Life in Moscow w/ Tara Reade
https://rumble.com/v6qn9zk-how-the-dc-mob-attacks-whistlelbowers-project-cassandra-and-life-in-moscow-.html?e9s=src_v1_epp
She ended up seeking up asylum in Moscow after traveling there, and being warned that the Biden admin was seeking her arrest if she traveled back to the US through the EU.
I was just remembering, how Lee Harvey Oswald easily returned to the US after defecting to the Soviet Union, returning with his new Russian wife.
I just notice little things sometimes.
And have little ability to ascertain what’s true expect through visceral analysis.
If Harris had won, maybe she could have come back without interruption through Mexico.
30
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/businessman-built-unofficial-toll-road-10006855
If it weren’t for the £25,000 in legal fees to deal with the Council he would not have ended up bearing a £10-15 K loss.
I reckon he should be able to get a carbon credit for this somehow – cutting all those vehicle journeys by more than 90%.
20
A long walk through State-led markets towards surveillance and social control under the banner of environmentalism
https://escapekey.substack.com/p/fabric-of-control
along with some calming reggae – after this track, Carlene Davis went towards gospel. An incredible voice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSwDn92nnAE
00
A skilled reviewer might be advisable here, as some people who died weren’t considered dead: “Patients were considered to have critical illness if they were admitted to an ICU, died, or both. Death was identified at each individual site and was defined as a death while hospitalized or ≤ 28 days after hospital admission.”
Let me know if you could figure out what counts as a death.
https://trusttheevidence.substack.com/p/us-cdc-and-covid-19-vaccine-statements
10