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
Friends of Science Newsletter #416
https://friendsofscience.org/index.php?id=2944
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Topics include:
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Africa Prospers Despite Gloom from the UK’s ‘The Telegraph’
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Study Quantifies Germany’s Disastrous Switch Away From Nuclear Power
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Florida Current Transport Observations Reveal Four Decades of Steady State
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This Hurricane Season is Confounding Experts and Defying Forecasts
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Critique: Roles of Earth’s Albedo Variations and Top-of-the-Atmosphere Energy Imbalance in Recent Warming
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It looks to me that there is an error in the FoS item on albedo and TOA energy imbalance. They say “Note that they assume the temperature is determined only by absorbed solar energy, and then calculate that the recent temperature trend is due to only the trend of absorbed solar energy, which circular reasoning. This means that the conclusion is invalid.“, but if I am interpreting it correctly that is not so. They calculated the temperature trend that would be expected from solar and albedo, and compared it with the actual temperature trend. There was a good match, leading them to conclude that GHG warming was not needed to explain any of the measured trend. The actual temperature trend appears not to have been used at all in the calculated trend, ie, there was no circular logic.
40
Thanks Strop, found this.
‘US meteorologist Ryan Maue suspects the reasons for the lack to tropical storms and hurricanes include the eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano or a lot of Saharan dust over the Atlantic.
‘Maue wrote “Our models no longer work, forecasters can’t figure it out. This is not normal. … The massive submarine Hunga Tonga volcano in 2022 is the obvious culprit for tampering with the Hadley Cell and ITCZ.” The Sahel region is currently experiencing rare heavy rainfall. There is an “anomalous northward shift of African monsoon and ITCZ into the Sahel. “
31
Edward Snowden:
“What Israel just did is – regardless of method, reckless. They blew up countless number of people who were driving, shopping (your children in the stroller behind in the checkout line), et cetera. Indistinguishable from terrorism.”
2130
Snowden’s leaks revealing surveillance methods is probably one of the reasons Hezbollah used pagers. So he is likely indirectly responsible for making the pager weapons possible and is trying to make himself feel better by condemning it.
354
Edward Snowden is a prototype generative AI. Like later AIs that featured polydactyly as a tell tale sign, he is missing the left pad of his spectacles. There are wheels within wheels at play.
22
So the daily rockets into Israel from these same people are not indiscriminate acts of war which have forced 60,000 people from their homes?
War has been running for a very long time and Hezbollah have more soldiers than the Lebanese army, all focused on killing Jews. They are controlled, funded and run by Iran. As are Hamas.
This idea that war is an on again/off again affair with strict rules of behaviour is nonsense.
A state of war has existed for a decade. As in Ukraine. There are no rules. No nice rockets, no duels at dawn. The pagers only hit senior active members of Hezbollah involved in their ongoing war on Israel. Why else have a Hezbollah pager? These are people who have shown zero concern for anyone else in their indiscriminate bombing. And such evil people rely on their anonymity buried safely within a largely peaceful society of innocent people who do not want them. No longer.
5216
FWIW
“Reflections on “Operation Grim Beeper” (what a name!)”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/09/reflections-on-operation-grim-beeper.html
160
A genius operation.
It’s so ironic that the antisemitic terrorists were trying to avoid the use of the cell phone (to avoid being tracked), invented by Martin Cooper at Motorola who was Jewish.
So they switched to pagers (which can’t be tracked because comms is one way, although electronic noise from them might be traceable), invented by Al Gross, also Jewish.
Then they were outsmarted by the Jewish state, in one of the most remsrkable intelligence operations in history, using a Jewish invention, the pager and lots of other smart thinking…
Maybe they should not be using the inventions of the people they are trying to destroy…They could use messengers riding camels instead…
3812
The secrets of Mossad’s fearsome reputation – revealed by ex-Israeli intelligence officers
As the death toll from attacks in Lebanon rises, the Israeli security apparatus is living up to its lethal reputation
“Everything starts with identifying an opportunity,” says one former officer in Unit 81, the secret Israeli weapons division.
“Here, that was Hezbollah’s request to purchase pagers because they wanted to avoid using cellular mobiles because they can all be hacked and traced. But the pager is a device that we can easily control – basically you know how to get into the network and transmit whatever you want to transmit. So when we saw the order for the pagers, they said: ‘OK, we now have an opportunity to put something that we want inside those pagers.’
“Operation-wise you need to think about how to control the whole process. And we know that those pagers came out of a factory in Hungary, but it might be that those pagers left the factory in their original condition. But then maybe the customs diverted it, a delay for a couple of days because of customs issues, and then the [operations team] took care of [inserting the boobytrapped devices]. It might be that the European company is an innocent company.
From the Comments
– Apparently they are stocking uo on pigeons now
– Next, the coffins ⚰️ go bang.
Explosives in the brass handles.
No one will attend the funerals
A bit of cyanide in the egg sandwiches 🥪 for those that dare attend the bun fight.
And what about the bog seats???
Here we go…..back to the stone age.
53
Fancy using terrorist tactics against the terrorists. The latter will be scared sht/less of even getting out ofd bed.
10
“Maybe they should not be using the inventions of the people they are trying to destroy…”
Unfortunately Hezbollah is not likely to accept the killing and maiming in Lebanon without retaliation which when it occurs will be very different from “messengers riding camels…”
01
Retaliation?
Whatever Hezbollah do from here can’t be simplified as retaliation. They’ve put so many rockets into Israel prior to the pager traps that anything that follows is just business as usual.
40
Unfortunately
01
Did you also admire Mossad’s ingenuity when they set up their Australian passport factory to do assassinations? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-26/mossad-factory-churned-out-fake-australian/343612
“Consider the fact that Australians speak English and it’s an easy cover to take, very few people know very much about Australia,”
21
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1836725630001381576.html
1) This is one of the most astonishing intelligence operations in history. It is a reworking of the story of the Trojan Horse for the digital age, and it deserves to become nearly as legendary as its iconic predecessor.
2) It is the first mass targeted killing in history. Every one of the thousands of persons killed or maimed was selected individually, yet they were hit at the same moment. The great genius of the operation is that the Israelis relied on Hezbollah itself to select their targets for them.
I can’t think of another case like this where the attackers just sat back and let the enemy perform a key part of their work for them.
If we map the attacked men we map Hezbollah’s org chart, including the blinded Iranian ambassador to Lebanon who is an IRGC officer.
3) The large ratio of maimings to deaths is a sign of success.
In military terms, a maiming is preferable to a death because it ties up more resources and stresses enemy systems to a much greater degree.
4) Israel’s mass targeted killing foiled Hezbollah’s human shield tactic.
Whereas Israel places itself between its enemies and its public, Hezbollah, like Hamas, places the public between it and the IDF, secure in the knowledge that confused or corrupt Westerners will blame civilian deaths not on the terrorists but on Israel.
5) Operation Grim Beeper was not only conducted within the very narrow rules of war that are imposed on Israel but on no one else, but it is also morally laudable.
Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
3612
“In military terms, a maiming is preferable to a death because it ties up more resources and stresses enemy systems to a much greater degree. ”
I doubt it, you have to balance that against either the person being gone and the family/friends thinking of him less and less as time goes by, or the cripple being in their face every day encouraging them to take revenge.
40
There is no doubt in that, its just a statement of fact about the battle at hand. Any balancing is for others to think about. I doubt that is even a consideration. People thinking about people less I dont get at all. The injured person , maybe so but so what there will be plenty of injured to go around.
30
The military doctrine is consumption of resources and a presence of a maimed invalid discouraging others from going to war. But who knows with exploding muslims? They do it to themselves all the time. But with all that said, they have a tremendous problem with communications now and a fear of modern technology.
20
If one were to visit Israel right now I do believe all visitors would be wondering why Israelis have a special spring in their step, a “ knowing “ grin on their faces & a new feeling of confidence in their government.
I certainly envy them when I consider the sorry excuses we have in government
In Australia at the moment.
177
If I was the one designing the explosive I would make it a shaped charge directed inward toward the target. Perhaps that was done anyway.
149
It’s amazing how so many favour the exploding battery theory despite the ridiculously low probability.
Getting all the batteries to explode simultaneously and not just catch fire would be impossible.
The pagers use 2 batteries so replace one with an explosive charge and use a substitute 3v for the other 1.5v battery.
The trigger could be the speaker or motor.
As for the explosive and detonator we’ll have to wait for forensics, but it’s a clever design regardless.
70
Well call me a tin foil hatter, but:
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1836857315485700111
What if the CCP was behind it all along to screw Taiwan?
10
How many. BAC products. on ebay this week. Next week?
Is that BAC anything to do with Airbus?
00
A very clear and relevant perspective which has been dismissed by the wider media push which is dominated by “professors” on their ABCCC discussing Israeli “war crimes ” in defending themselves.
123
>So the daily rockets into Israel from these same people are not indiscriminate acts of war…?
Inverse fallacy is an invalid argument because the truth of the premise does not guarantee the truth of the conclusion.
An act of terrorism from one side of a conflict does not mean acts of terrorism from the other side are magically now not terrorism.
It is tempting to think that because one side is bad, the opposition must be holy, but it seems to me in that particular conflict there are no saints.
94
OK, it’s terrorism! What are you doing about it ‘cept lighting up your keyboard?
110
>What are you doing about it
Prezactly nothing.
What do they need me for?
There’s already way too many people trying to do something about it.
10
Religious wars are archaic, fanatics and moderates on both sides.
The Ukraine war has nothing to do with religion, thank the gods.
25
You got a lot of +ve response to that post TdeF, 29 other than me.
Isn’t it time those people pushed back against the anti-West educated idiots who turn this forum into a platform for propaganda?
213
All’s fair in love and war
152
If you aren’t cheating at war you aren’t serious.
34
Unlike the Hamash-les and Hezbollah, Israel doesn’t deliberately target civilians or embed its military in civilian areas such as schools, hospitals, places of worship, UN headquarters etc.. To equate Israel’s legitimate self-defence actions with terrorists who kidnap, rape, torture and bomb Israeli civilians is grossly disingenuous.
And for all those Leftist members of the slave army of useful idiots that support the terrorists, when they’ve done with the Saturday people they’ll be coming for the Sunday people. They are especially intolerant of LGBT issues and routinely kill them and are also intolerant of women’s rights. They will come for you as soon as useful idiots of the Left are no longer required. Yes, we know you try for acceptance by them by supporting instruments of female oppression like the hijab and niquab and you ignoring their failure to educate girls, but they see through your BS.
Also, muslims kill other muslims including civilians all the time e.g. 600,000 in the Syrian civil war, 1,000,000 in Iran Iraq war. Why is that not subject to any criticism as Israel is criticised for self-defence?
369
You’re correct, anyway the land clearly belongs to the Israelis, or so it has been written.
Jacob mind wrestled an alien until dawn, however it was a draw and the angel wasn’t pleased.
“Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”
24
Wars and terrorism aren’t your run-of-the-garden problems, like dealing with inflation or improving an education system. If the enemy is hiding among civilians – and launching deadly missiles from those same locations – then I blame Hezbollah for the collateral injuries, not Israel. Extraordinary threats require extraordinary counter measures.
Israel’s leaders are trying to protect their own citizens from a murderous regime which, if it succeeded in destroying Israel, would find some other use for the weapons and militias suddenly left with nothing to do.
Any guesses as to where they would be deployed next?
246
Jeez, apologies for the mixed metaphor, me brain ain’t grammaring well this morning.
I mean, it isn’t rocket surgery, is it?
120
Looks like ActBlue is a huge fraudulent money laundering operation for the Left.
Rand Paul Review
160
Netflix and the publishing houses that give huge advances on books unlikely to be popular are there with them. And the left is awash with money. Where does it come from other than Soros?
40
Netflix and the publishing houses that give huge advances on books unlikely to be popular are there with them. And the left is awash with money. Where does it come from other than S0r0s?
30
Another #Walkaway Democrat now ex-Democrat
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democratic-operative-announces-party-exit-after-volunteering-at-dnc-impossible-to-unsee-what-i-ve-seen/ar-AA1qNA8F?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=b549030fb6724725a062d979c2f6c96c&ei=23
70
This video made me think about the way western governments have legalised theft primarily in pursuit of the UN Climate Change™ agenda.
Taking Australia as an example, the majority of people living in Canberra are beholding to government for their livelihood. Every academic is beholding to government for their livelihood. All these people have incomes that are disconnected from what the produce.
Likewise there are a huge number of Australians, me included, benefittiong from the sanctioned theft from electricity consumers to those producing electricity from wind and solar. Most western societies have legalised theft through various forms of subsidies. And the people making the rules are the big winners because they pay themselves whatever they want.
Canberra has the highest proportion of households in Australia earning more than $3,000/wk. I expect this will be the same in Washington DC. The government bureaucrats pay themselves obscene amount of money for their pointless paper shuffling.
242
The benefit is debatable. You are forced, logically, to save money on communally produced electricity by buying things you should not have to buy to avoid embedded theft you should not have to pay. Personally I refuse.
And I wonder that no one sues to overturn this utterly illegal theft in the High court. Say the carbon credits all big companies are now forced to buy. All the airlines. 35% tax on CO2. Add that to their cost of fuel and next time you fly, you have to pay it. What are you going to do? Buy your own aircraft?
Theft is theft. And it works, forcing the victims to build walls they should not need. And it works because governments do not tell you how much legislated theft there is in everything you buy, cash that goes to their friends. No one even mentions it.
And every one of these Acts requires a government department. And all the costs. Robbing Australians has become standard practice of all governments. Taxation is legal, in General Revenue, Debated and explained at budget time, but not the theft.
160
So, which components of our solar and wind arrays should we now be expecting to explode when it can do the most damage?
130
Firstly, the destruction of windmill and solar plantations would be a good thing. Electricity prices would go down.
However, I’d be willing to bet that the Chicomms have “backdoors” built into all the windmills, solar panel and battery banks and other energy infrastructure they sell to the West so they can disable it when they feel like it.
That’s why Trump banned the importation of grid-scale power transformers and other infrastructure from China and other enemy states.
That’s also why Biden rescinded the ban as Biden’s handlers are trying to destroy the United States.
https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2020/05/trump-administration-limits-acquisition
https://www.heritage.org/cybersecurity/commentary/could-china-hack-our-electric-grid-joe-biden-just-made-it-easier
https://www.powertransformernews.com/2021/04/23/us-department-of-energy-reverses-trump-ban-on-chinese-electrical-equipment/
250
Even the Pigeons are worried – https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary
140
Hezbollah orders urgent investigation into device fires
JACQUELIN MAGNAY
Hezbollah leadership has ordered an urgent investigation into the massive security breach to calm chaos and fear that has paralysed the militants’ ranks.
The shock of Tuesday’s astounding attack as thousands of pagers exploded in a direct targeting of more than 3000 of Hezbollah’s commanders was followed by mass panic when a second wave of blasts was triggered by manipulated walkie-talkies. The two days of blasts killed scores of people and injured thousands.
Hezbollah issued an urgent alert on its social media channels for its 100,000 militants to check all mobile and electronic devices “to make sure they are not captured”, and to “disconnect the batteries of any wireless technology device”.
Beirut locals are pondering “Will the fridge be next?” as neighbourhoods rip out batteries and unplug the internet connections.
Their anxiety about Israel’s aggression has switched from concern of being on the frontline to whether their home is safe. Two large solar panel systems and recently installed electronic devices such as fingerprint scanners were also damaged in Beirut on Wednesday, adding to a sense of paranoia, locals say.
From the Comments
– I’m busily breeding carrier pigeons.
– I find it interesting and depressing that every photo we see from Gaza or Lebanon shows no women. It is a horrible reminder of the male authority that women in that part of the world live under.
Where are the women, and what are they doing, I wonder.
It puts a spotlight on one of the basic differences in Western and European cultures, and the middle east and indicates how difficult it is going to be for those M@slim countries to tolerate peace with Israel which is a modern nation, albeit with their own strong religious beliefs and customs.
What a brave nation is Israel.
– Can we expect a run on Post-It notes in Lebanon, as Hezbollah scours shops for these handy communication devices?
– I wonder if Mr Bowen is concerned about his batteries that he is buying from China. Will we see solar panels explode Will we see wind turbines explode. Will we see electric cars explode? Time to reassess where our electronics are coming from
80
Who wants to blow up your system?
00
Rita Panahi’s latest episode of “Lefties Losing It”.
https://youtu.be/HOfuV1lsrbI
141
Surely, China would target reliable fuel-based power, not wind turbines or solar panels. They want to damage America, not help.
71
You won’t see this on the Leftist controlled Lamestream media. There is also a 1min 40sec video testimony.
200
Australia has always had bad governments with massive missed opportunities no matter which faction of the Uniparty rule, although on rare occasions the pretend conservative Liberal faction has been slightly less bad than Green Labor.
However, I think that the present governments of Australia, especially the Federal and Sicktoria state regimes are without question, the worst ever. The Whitlam regime of 1972-75 actually looks good by comparison and far less destructive.
240
The worst thing, IMO, is that the Labor fraternity know what they are saying and doing will not benefit Australians but they proceed anyway. Politics and theatrics for the sake of power! Even the CFMEU debacle will likely get modified by our lefty Judges.
170
FWIW
“Brilliant reader research – Pakistan’s Government officially honours Mehreen Faruqi for ‘Services To Pakistan.”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/09/brilliant-reader-research-pakistans-government-officially-honours-mehreen-faruqi-for-services-to-pak.html
140
Present members of the thinking community excepted, I don’t think most Australians have any clue what a serious threat to free speech and democracy the Uniparty’s “mis and disinformation” censorship laws, before the Senate now will be.
These laws were first proposed by the Liberal faction of the Uniparty and are now being attempted to be implemented by their partners in the Labor faction of the Uniparty.
I noted in my submission against these laws that the Government is the main purveyor of misinformation.
This is my submission about the censorship bill.
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/acma2023-31735-david-s-maddison.pdf
The laws are designed to silence criticism of Government misinformation.
These laws are what the Left have always wanted for their assault on free speech, democracy and Western Civilisation in general.
260
Here is a good discussion about the censorship legislation (link below).
The legislation attempts to control ALL platform content, whether or not it originates in Australia. It is global in scope.
This means that free speech platforms like X will either have to shut down operations in Australia or Elon Musk will fight it as he did before.
The Woke Leftist platforms are already censoring in favour of the Official Narrative so will likely not be affected. Zuckerberg disingenuously apologised for his previous censorship but will no doubt reinstate it for Australia (not that it was ever really removed).
https://youtu.be/pOMxJMM3O0w
Australia has a very dim future. It started as a free range prison and it will end up as such. Except this time most of the masses are so dumbed-down they won’t even know they’re in a prison, just like the Proles in Nineteen Eighty Four.
180
> they won’t even know they’re in a prison
They’ll start noticing the bars and the chafing cuffs when China’s 996 rule is introduced here for parity. In China, the managerial class work 9am to 9pm 6 days a week. Blue collar workers have longer hours. They get 1 day off per month.
90
With censorship goes tracking and surveillance.
Rob Braxman dropped a shocker the other day.
You think clearing your cookies and using a VPN helps you stay safe from big brother?
Watch and be horrified.
https://youtu.be/zVZCWQUIgnY?si=1nsULwKyt8H5dcSL
50
JC II, you left YouTube’s tracking token in the URL. That’s how Big Brother knows who’s spreading what counter-revolutionary material.
Delete everything after the question mark, including the question mark.
Apart from that, Australia’s e Safety Kommissar wants all social media posts linked to your digital person number.
100
Am wondering how all those doomers & climate refugees who fled to Tasmania to escape the oppressive heat of the mainland are doing today, and if they are having second thoughts, as yet ANOTHER wave of cold wet windy snow pummels their ‘safe zone’. Lentils and fern-root soup AGAIN? Ugg!
210
Perhaps Penguinite might comment.
30
They have probably moved further South – as per the statements
“1988: UN — world will be 4℃ warmer and Antarctica 5.5℃ by 2030”
“2004 Antarctica is likely to be the world’s only habitable continent by the end of this century. Prof. Sir David King, Government Chief Scientist ” and
“2008 Climate change study predicts refugees fleeing into Antarctica” The Telegraph Oct 13″
They believe the propaganda regardless of the facts.
140
I recall in the height of the last drought cycle that the wine industry was going to sell up in SA and move to Tasmania. They do make a nice drp in northern Tassie but the migration appears to have been slightly exaggerated
90
I warned family members not to leave the mainland, because a mini ice age is coming, but they laughed and went anyway.
62
Did they really?
Meanwhile, back in the boiling hot tropics we are having the most benign weather I can remember, been so all year. It rained enough to JUST fill our dams but there was no flooding, warm but not too hot summer, cool but not cold winter. I’ll have another climate change please waiter.
Check out our 5 day predictions here: https://www.windy.com/-19.257/146.824?-27.473,153.022,5
30
‘Did they really?’
Yes they did.
Townsville is good, but the humidity is a killer. I’m on the Central Tablelands the other side of the Great Divide, the wind chill is numbing but the frosts have eased off.
43
I live here because I’m settled here but I could not live in a big city. Given an open choice I’d see if Bundaberg is still as good as I remember it.
30
Your mini ice-age was meant to start 7 years ago by my reckoning.
03
🛴
03
Climate changes slowly and is devilishly hard to forecast. Now that Hunga Tonga has upset the ITCZ and put lots of extra water vapour into the stratosphere, all bets are off.
12
During prolonged hot weather spells in Perth, Tasmania and New Zealand look very attractive. On returning earlier this year from NZ back into another spell of hot weather in Perth, if I had the money, I would have immediately purchased another flight ticket and gone back to NZ.
40
Following the recent outbreaks of common sense in NZ I am looking foward to another visit. I hope uts contagious and spreads to OZ.
20
HENRY ERGAS
It’s time for Labor to junk the crazed Greens
Historically, Australia’s major parties have never condoned the use of violence as a means of achieving political objectives. The Greens’ decision to whitewash last week’s anti-Israel riots in Melbourne therefore marks a grim moment in Australian political history.
It is, of course, true that the Greens have a long record of advocating lawlessness.
Already in 2019, the party’s leader, Richard Di Natale, vaunted the Greens’ “strong and proud tradition” of breaking the law. Describing himself as the only Green parliamentarian who had “not yet” been arrested, Di Natale claimed it was entirely “appropriate” to breach “bad laws” – that is, laws with which the Greens, but not a democratically elected parliament, disagreed.
But even with that record behind them, excusing the violence that left 27 police officers injured has taken the Greens’ defence of illegality to new and dangerous heights.
At least originally, when their focus was on the environment, the Greens’ disdain for the law reflected a mindset dominated by premonitions of the end of days. Showing all the hallmarks of an apocalyptic eschatology – that is, a vision that combines a terrifying image of the last things with an announcement of their impending arrival – that mindset centred on the “climate catastrophe”.
100
Labor’s ‘friends-with-benefits’ style bond with the Greens is now an unhappy marriage where Labor can’t afford the divorce
Labor’s head-butting with the Greens over housing policy and climate legislation is forcing voters to look to the conservative side of politics to get a better deal, writes Caroline Di Russo SkyNews.com.au Contributor and Political Commentator.
In the immediate aftermath of the last Federal Election, I wrote an article saying Labor needed to temper its hard-left predilections and that, for at least the next two election cycles, the ALP needed to preference the Greens last to ensure its own political survival.
That was June 2022.
Fast forward two years and not only has Labor fed the crocodile to appease it, but it appears to have started a breeding program within its own ranks.
During this term, the Greens have consistently shown us their true colours – the tree-loving hippies of the Bob Brown era, chaining themselves to bulldozers, are long gone.
They have since been replaced by a mish-mash of fringe misfits, who are bound together only by a mutual hatred for Australia’s past and a laser-focused intent on tearing down the social and economic norms that underpin our civilised and functional society.
They use words like inclusion, reconciliation and equality as the cute sparkly billboard for division, retribution and “let’s eat the rich”.
Labor have had their political beer goggles on for some time, but the political party they woke up next to the morning after is not the political party they went to bed with the night before.
Save for the Gillard era of Labor government, the Greens have been tolerated as a party of protest because they have been largely politically impotent.
However, with Labor’s primary vote being squeezed from both sides by the Liberal Party and the Greens respectively, what was once a friends-with-benefits type relationship is now an unhappy marriage where Labor can’t afford the divorce.
We have continued to see the Greens’ entitled absolutism and lack of political pragmatism: it takes place in a fairyland where they have the luxury of promising the world, without ever having to consider the real-world consequences of their impetuous demands.
It’s easy to holler about policy change, without so much as brushing past a calculator, when you never have to be accountable to the electorate.
120
‘We’re stuffed’: Young Australians have ‘no national pride’
Sky News host Caleb Bond has claimed Australia is “stuffed” as a country following new data from a recent poll by the Institute of Public Affairs.
According to a new poll from the IPA it revealed if Australia was being invaded and going to war, barely a third of people aged 18 to 24 would stay and fight, and 27 per cent would defend their country.
Nearly half, 48 per cent, said they would flee the country which is up eight per cent from the last survey.
“You mightn’t think that’s a revelation but the numbers on this are so stark,” Mr Bond said.
“Young people don’t feel pride in Australia – they feel shame. They’ve been taught to feel shame.
“The great irony of course is that the left has sown these thoughts because they’d like to eventually take over with their kumbaya version of inclusion and equity and happy feelings.”
140
The first question they would reasonably ask is – What flag are we fighting under?
https://www.redlandcitybulletin.com.au/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/124197620/abae3ef6-96e4-449b-be1f-2c939c1bc71b.jpg/r0_143_4281_2778_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
The second is – Whose Australia are we fighting for? They are being fed a constant stream of globalism. Globalism is destroying national identity. Immigration is a free for all that is eroding the standard of living.
Why would anyone go to war these days. It is a silly concept for Australia. Australia is a pacifist nation because we have not developed the ultimate weapon/deterent. Sending young people off to a ground war is moronic.
130
Its a good thing mainly, if nobody wants to support the political system they live in by dying for those at the top, we might not have so many wars. “What if they threw a war and nobody came”.
They really need to ask, ‘what do you think ‘Australia’ is defined by?’ What would we lose if someone invaded and the Govt changed? We would just work for different people at the top..
The bad side is that those people unwilling to die for their politicians are going to be more accepting of a world Govt, knowing there is nowhere to move to anyway. They won’t have objections to multinational companies buying up the land or setting up biolabs in a vassal country, even if they realise killing people for an imaginary line on a map is stupid.
The ultimate question is, why should anyone be forced to join an army and fight for your comfort, yet in every war that comes along politicians immediately do that! I would call no man ‘my leader’ since the ones who led the army at the front!
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Progressive climate of fear as nuclear support takes hold
Chris Bowen will weaponise government modelling warning of blackouts under the Coalition’s energy policy and demand-supply gaps of up to 49 per cent by 2035, amid growing support for Peter Dutton’s nuclear pitch in inner-city seats.
Recent polling for independents in some teal seats, where cost of living and housing still rank as top priorities, revealed about 40 per cent of voters were open to nuclear as an option, with about 20 per cent opposed.
Internal Liberal Party polling is also showing support for nuclear in key electorates, with some teal seats reporting majority support for the zero-emissions power source.
Geoff Chambers and Rosie Lewis
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Is the Australian Labor Party running America?
FCC Commissioner Slams Kamala Harris’s $42 Billion Broadband Initiative: ‘Not One Person, Home, or Business Connected in 3 Years!’
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr slams Kamala Harris’s $42 billion broadband initiative, calling it a colossal failure in a scathing testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Thursday.
Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, didn’t hold back, accusing the regime of prioritizing political agendas over practical solutions for millions of Americans still lacking access to high-speed internet.
“It’s been 1,039 days since Vice President Harris agreed to spearhead this massive program, yet not a single person has been connected to the internet. Not one home. Not one business. Not even a shovel has hit the ground,” Carr declared in his opening statement.
“It gets worse—no infrastructure builds will even start until sometime next year at the earliest, and in many cases, not until 2026. This makes Vice President Harris’s $42 billion initiative the slowest-moving federal broadband deployment program in recent history.”
The program, known as BEED (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), was designed to extend internet access to millions of Americans in rural and underserved communities.
But according to Carr, the initiative has been bogged down by bureaucratic mismanagement and a focus on advancing a “wish list of progressive policy goals” rather than delivering on its core mission.
“The $42 billion program led by Vice President Harris is being used to push a climate change agenda, DEI requirements, price controls, preferences for government-run networks, and rules that will lead to wasteful overbuilding. All of this will leave rural communities behind,” he said.
The FCC commissioner pointed to the Biden administration’s broader failure to support rural America, citing the revocation of Starlink’s commitment to provide internet to over 640,000 homes and businesses.
“Frankly, it would not be the only time the Biden-Harris administration has left rural America behind.
In 2020, the SEC secured a commitment from Starlink to provide Internet to 640,000 homes and businesses for about $1,300 per location in federal support.”
“But the government revoked that award last year after President Biden gave agencies the green light to go after Musk.
The administration is now spending dollars on the penny to connect locations through its own initiatives.
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Interesting Detail – U.S. Secret Service Agent Was Less Than 10 feet Away When He Shot at Ryan Routh
September 19, 2024 – Sundance
Perhaps this was already known, but it was a new detail to me.
The U.S. Secret Service gave congressional investigators a briefing on the Trump assassination attempt by Ryan Routh at Trump National in Florida. According to Florida Representative Mike Waltz, who is a member of the committee investigating, apparently the U.S. Secret Service agent walked up on Routh from the fence line and saw the barrel of the SKS rifle.
The proactive shots fired by the agent were from within 10 feet of Ryan Routh.
Mike Waltz repeats how the FBI are keeping all of the pertinent details surrounding the assassination attempt concealed from the investigating committee under the auspices of an ongoing investigation. Waltz is calling for transparency in both the Pennsylvania attempt and the Florida attempt; however, despite the USSS providing information, anything from the FBI is not being shared.
The detail of a single USSS agent, accidentally discovering Ryan Routh on the fence line further emphasizes just how fortunate we are that this assassination attempt was foiled.
It appears the agent just coincidentally walked up on Routh’s position during a standard security sweep, and immediately fired shots after seeing the barrel of the gun. Yikes!
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Oh and Routh was CIA funded
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Boy Yep he is CIA
as comments said in Interesting Detail – U.S. Secret Service Agent Was Less Than 10 feet Away When He Shot at Ryan Routh
– Routh has never served a sentence in prison even though he has a rap sheet a mile long.
Who receives that kind of gentle treatment?
– Let me guess…
a Deep State plant?
– His background is a cutout for 3 letter agencies. Knowingly or otherwise, he’s working for the man…
– Not only travel, but international travel.
Who paid for that?
– What am I missing? The guy was in a bush with only the barrel showing and we don’t even know how much of the barrel was showing. The agent was shooting at bushes not a person. There were no particulars about what the agent aimed his gun at or how many shots were fired.
I agree if the agent was spraying the area with bullets where he assumed a body would be, the shooter was incredibly lucky not to have been shot.
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“I agree if the agent was spraying the area with bullets where he assumed a body would be, the shooter was incredibly lucky not to have been shot.”
The agent saw the barrel of the rifle exactly where he had been told it would be and fired shots into the air, the signal for Routh to escape..
Really? 3M!! across a bedroom ..and shooting at bushes? That guy should not be allowed to own a gun, never mind how poor he is with it!
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Wouldnt be so quick to condemn really. If he didnt perceive the treat until late, then had to do a quick draw and fire to get rounds in that direction it’s quite likely they wont be accurate if he is not well practiced. It a characteristic of real world handgun exchanges that many rounds are fired and a small number hit.
A well practiced competition practical shooter can get the first shot away from a holster in a second to a second and a half with good accuracy (say 10cm target). But that just with competitive pressure not the pressure of having someone there that can shoot back.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz: There are Five Known Assassination Teams in America Out to Kill President Trump, Three of Them Foreign in Nature (AUDIO)
President Trump’s life may be in greater danger than anyone, including himself, realizes according to a Florida congressman.
As Breitbart reported, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) appeared on Breitbart News Daily on Thursday and dropped a bombshell: he had met with a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who revealed there are at least five known assassination teams in the United States out to kill Trump.
Three of these are foreign in nature: Iran, Ukraine, and Pakistan.
As TGP readers know, the Trump campaign was made aware of an Iranian assassination plot against the 45th President before his fateful rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I am starting to get the impression that we do not have enough force protection of supporting President Trump that we ought to have, given the threat environment,” he told host Mike Slater, “Three of these (five) teams are foreign-inspired, from my understanding: Iranians, Ukraine, Pakistan. And you know, the work is obviously challenging to protect — protective detail, like a presidential campaign that is vigorous and out campaigning.”
“And, with that type of activity, I don’t think we should be allowing people to set up for an extended period of time and wait to take their shot outside of his golf properties or his other properties,” he added.
Surprised at this revelation, Slater followed up to make sure he was hearing this correctly and Gaetz maintained that they are “aware of at least five teams in-country that are geared toward killing Trump” with three of them foreign.
LISTEN:
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Good thing he was a lousy shot, might get some intel.
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Video.
Can 25 Leftist college students outsmart one conservative?
The cluelessness is staggering.
But you’ll have to watch the video to see who the clueless one(s) is(are). Or maybe you won’t, LoL.
https://youtu.be/WV29R1M25n8
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Dr. Gilbert Doctorow: Is Russia Prepared for War with US? (video)
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FWIW – “Elbow” musters more “Dracons”
“DRACONIAN MANDATORY CLIMATE REPORTING LAWS ARE YET ANOTHER ATTACK ON OUR ECONOMY!”
https://richardsonpost.com/cliff-reece/37367/draconian-mandatory-climate-reporting-laws-are-yet-another-attack-on-our-economy/
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IT’S PROBABLY BEST TO GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF THE GENE POOL, TO BE HONEST:
When climate anxiety leads to childlessness: The sad result of a society soaking in dystopianism.
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Western society is one long descent of keeping people in the gene pool who shouldn’t be there! How many current Aussies could arrive here on a sailing ship and build this country with their hands?
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‘ … build this country with their hands?’
In fact convict slaves built Australia well into the mid-19th century, it was hard for free settlers to get a job in the early colony.
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The Daily Chart: A New Look at the Ideological Gender Gap
We’ve presented graphs and charts before of the ever- widening ideological gender gap between especially younger males and females.
There’s fresh data out from Gallup that goes beyond general dispositions (i.e., “liberal” vs. “conservative”), and adds a look at specific issues:
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Editorial: An electricity crisis is looming for Illinois. Is anybody paying attention in Springfield?
The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune
In 2021, Illinois enacted a comprehensive clean energy law mandating the closure of all coal- and natural gas-fired power plants by 2045.
As part of the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature legislative accomplishments, a large number of gas-fired facilities were to be shuttered by 2030.
At the time, there were warnings from industry and others that the intermediate 2030 mandate would jeopardize electricity reliability in the state. With Illinois then producing more power than it consumed, Pritzker and the many environmental groups that backed the law said such predictions were alarmist and off-base.
Just three years later, it appears the alarmists were right, and Pritzker and the green lobby were wrong.
Payments to power generators in return for their promise to produce to their capacity when demand is highest — as established via an auction overseen by PJM Interconnection, the grid manager for a large swath of the U.S. from northern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic — are set to soar more than 800% and will raise all our electric bills beginning next June.
That charge is embedded in the rates users pay for power and is in addition to the cost for the electricity itself.
In effect, it is akin to an insurance premium — in this case, a payment each month to plant owners for their promise to deliver when the need arises.
In the northern Illinois territory served by Commonwealth Edison, average residential electric bills will increase by $15 per month beginning in June due to this effect alone, according to ComEd. That increase will be significantly more pronounced for single-family homes, since ComEd’s averages are skewed lower than in less urban areas by the large number of Chicago apartment dwellers it serves. (The blow will be softened a bit due to a ratepayer credit under state law of nearly $4.35 per month from nuclear operator Constellation Energy Group.) All told, even after that credit, ComEd residential bills will rise by about 10.5% due to this charge alone — and that’s before a possible ComEd power delivery rate hike.
Get prepared for worse beginning in mid-2026.
Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley projects this insurance-like charge could be up to 2,200% higher than it is today, inflating average monthly ComEd residential bills by more than $35 compared with current charges.
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WHOA: Even MSNBC Just Admitted the Biden-Harris Economy Is in Trouble
While “at first glance, the U.S. economy, appears to be doing ‘basically fine,’ as Fed Chair Jerome Powell put it in his press conference earlier this week,” MSNBC’s Helaine Olen wrote on Thursday, “under the surface, signs of trouble are increasing.”
Well, yeah. As the ZeroHedge guys put it on Wednesday, “The economy is so great, it needs a crisis-level rate cut 2 months before the election.”
(The Fed usually makes quarter-point adjustments except when the waste matter has collided with the rotating air-flow acceleration device.)
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CEOs Scale Back Hiring Plans Amid Weaker Sales Projections, Cooling Economy
America’s corporate leaders plan to pull back on hiring over the next six months and expect a slowdown in sales, according to a survey of CEOs, which comes as cooling in the jobs market has prompted the Federal Reserve to deliver a significant 50 basis-point rate cut.
The Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey, released on Sept. 18, paints a picture of a softening labor market and expectations for a decline in consumer spending.
The survey’s composite index, which measures CEO expectations for capital spending, hiring, and sales over the next six months, fell five points, to 79, in the latest survey. This marks the first time that the index has dipped below its historical average of 83 this year.
The drop in the index is largely driven by reduced hiring expectations and a sharp decrease in anticipated sales, despite a slight uptick in capital investment plans.
“This is the second consecutive quarter in which CEOs have reported they are moderating their hiring plans,” Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten said in a statement.
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FWIW
“Labor’s Victoria is a basket-case – here’s proof.”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/09/labors-victoria-is-a-basket-case-heres-proof.html
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Surely the imbalance of events in the run up to the US election can not go on? Would a ‘sweep’ be in order, where you could pick a day when a correction occurs? The narrative calls for it!
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The food industry is owned by the tobacco industry!
Tucker Carlson and a big pharma lobbyist expose the truth about what you eat.
Decades ago, the tobacco industry had its nails clipped by governments worldwide as the addictive, dangerous and deadly nature of tobacco was exposed.
What isn’t known is that the tobacco industry then shifted their focus to the food industry and invested heavily in it.
They deliberately created the same addictive, sickness causing products to keep the cash flowing.
The biggest industry in the world is the “wellness” field. I wonder why.
We all know the food pyramid, but it was created by the tobacco industry!
All the health organisations, heart associations, cancer groups, lose weight clubs, gyms, schools (remember my post days ago about school food, or how fat has been shunned for decades in favour of the sugar industry?) and everyone followed the food pyramid, but obesity and sickness just increased.
Now you know why!
The current demonisation of meat, butter, healthy oils etc is just a continuation.
The truth is the opposite, and everyone’s been lied to for decades.
https://youtu.be/MQ1PEEu_VZk?si=OMA3UTlnww28EOd7
The same with vaccines.
Create the problem then offer the solution.
Vaxx everyone so the next generations are ill by default so you can profit from it.
How low can you go. Mariana trench depth by the looks of it.
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Th tobacco industry expanded into food in the 1990’s, most of that is history now as they divested and boke up over time
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“I’d Vote For Trump – I Don’t Trust Harris” Jordan Peterson On Election & ‘Criminal’ Trans Surgeries (video)
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Most of the glyphosate in our rivers may not come from farming
The hypothesis is that certain aminopolyphosphonates used for example in laundry detergents are converted to glyphosate in the sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plants.
https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/news-and-publications/press-releases/press-releases/article/most-of-the-glyphosate-in-our-rivers-may-not-come-from-farming/
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Let Them Eat Crickets!
France has a long history of well-heeled elites telling other Frenchmen how to live. These days, those prescriptions mostly have to do with the environment. Or that is the claim, anyway. So the Mayor of Paris wants municipal employees not to eat so much meat:
The vegetarian meals given to Paris’s 51,000 council workers are being touted as a victory in the fight against global warming.
Yet many of the workers do not see it that way. Gardeners, road sweepers and others with outdoor jobs are furious that municipal canteens serve dishes such as broccoli gratin, chilli with vegetables and bulgur wheat or pasta with beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, onion and garlic. They are demanding a return of the meat dishes that have been removed from council canteen menus on Wednesday and Friday.
Why are the liberals doing it?
Audrey Pulvar, the assistant mayor in charge of “sustainable food and agriculture”, said the new menus would reduce the city’s carbon footprint, ensure “a better respect of the diversity of diets” and enable canteen operators to save money.
You could laugh at the fact that the Mayor’s office has someone in charge of “sustainable food and agriculture,” but you shouldn’t: this is where the rubber meets the road. Do you want to eat meat, or bugs? Broccoli today, crickets and mealworms tomorrow.
Happily, Paris’s anti-meat campaign is generating a lot of opposition:
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FWIW
“The climate scaremongers: BBC blame child marriage in Bangladesh on climate change”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-climate-scaremongers-bbc-blame-child-marriage-in-bangladesh-on-climate-change/
Put “Muhammed child bride” into an internet search other than the googler
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Two birds, one stone, so to speak. In one article the activist ‘journalists’ at the BBC stoke the climate fear while also excusing misogyny and pedophilia among one of their protected victim groups.
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A year ago the Brit Home Office finally set up a national grooming gang task force. In a year they have identified over 4000 victims, and arrested 530 perpetrators. A 9 week trial in Rotherham has just concluded for 7 abusers. This had gone on for years, and most were charged with 1 or 2 rapes. It was covered by 1 reporter.
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I think that perhaps ‘lies by omission’ or simply looking the other way when something damaging to the left occurs bothers me more than simple lies.
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Tommy Robinson [not his real name] has been persecuted for many years for campaigning on this. Prison authorities have tried their damndest to have him Epstiened. He was given a tip once that he was a target so attacked a warder to get solitary.
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This feels like a whitewash.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13869687/lab-leak-Covid-animals-Wuhan-wet-market-scientist-publish-major-genetic-study-virus-origins.html
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FWIW
Instapundit lead-in –
“KIND OF LIKE THE NEWS SUDDENLY TOOK AN INTEREST IN THE RALLY IN BUTLER PA? ”
“Mere coincidence, isn’t it?”
From “X”
“QUESTION: Why was MSNBC filming Trump on his golf course moments before he was shot? How did they know to be there? Who told them? Remember, CNN hadn’t covered a Trump rally live until the Butler Rally. Is it weird left-wing media seems to be there every time?”
https://x.com/amuse/status/1835783747742159284
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FWIW
“Russia Wins, Europe Loses, Washington Lets Brussels Down”
“In order to understand Russia’s current strength, stance and strategy, it is necessary to understand developments since 1990. Only then will it become clear why President Putin is doing what he is doing and why he will be successful.”
Much more at
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-wins-europe-loses-washington-lets-brussels-down
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Is the EV Dream Over? Europe’s Spectacular Sales Crash (video)
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Palestine visas: ASIO checks done after entry granted
Thousands of Palestinian visa-holders were referred for security checks after they were granted special visitor permits, with the Department of Home Affairs providing a list for review in March.
Geoff Chambers, The Australian. (paywalled)
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Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Can Ukraine Make It to Nov 5th? (video)
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They have to make it to Jan, 25. If they do I doubt Trump will abandon them.
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