Tuesday Open Thread

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UPDATE: There will be a short outage tonight AEST in preparation. Apologies.

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157 comments to Tuesday Open Thread

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      RickWill

      As soon as you see this you should know it is bunkum:

      “This caused the ocean to absorb increased amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which reduced the greenhouse effect, and pushed the Earth into ice age conditions,” she said.

      Cannot possibly occur because the ‘greenhouse effect” is easily proven to be non-existent. It is fictional, convoluted nonsense from a nightmarish mind.

      Glaciation kicks off with ice accumulation on the mountains around the the North Atlantic and the surface of the Arctic Ocean. Once the Bering Strait ices up, the North Atlantic gets cold quickly. So cold that it cools all the way to Antarctica.

      Glaciation is an energy imbalance between the northern and Southern Hemisphere with the Southern Hemisphere creating water vapour that ends up as ice on land in the Northern Hemisphere. If the northern hemisphere does not get warm enough to melt all the ice then it begins to accumulate. The North Atlantic requires heat input from the Pacific through the Southern Ocean and the Bering Strait. The bering Strait is the key factor. Once it is permanently iced over, the North Atlantic goes cold.

      Glaciation is energy intensive. At its peak of ice accumulation, the oceans drop 7mm per year. That takes a lot of tropical sunlight to evaporate all that water.

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        el gordo

        Looking at the phenomenon on a micro level and leaving Milankovitch out of the picture, it might have something to do with angular momentum.

        http://www.warwickhughes.com/climate/Iceberg.htm

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          RickWill

          The process of glaciation is energy intensive. It requires warm water in the Southern Hemisphere to get the water vapour into the atmosphere that deposits on land as snow in the Northern Hemisphere.

          By my observation it occurs when the eccentricity is reducing. The linked plot shows the global temperature reconstruction in red and I have overlaid that with the rate of change of the orbital eccentricity. The black arrows are where the gradient goes negative. With perihelion occurring in the austral summer, the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight than the northern hemisphere. When the eccentricity is reducing. The northern hemisphere is falling further behind the Southern Hemisphere each year on its energy input.
          https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aq1iAj8Yo7jNg0ONoV86hmuEpHGt

          If this was the sole cause of glaciation, then every up arrow would coincide with the onset of glaciation. As you can see it does not quite fit but it is not bad. When the rate of change is positive, the upward crossing of the axis after each arrow, it should forecast the start of recovery. Again not perfect but also not bad. There is some good correlations that consider the July insolation at 65N as being a key. I expect that if this was tied to the difference in January insolation then it might give a very clear result:
          https://web.viu.ca/earle/geol305/milankovitch-65n-vs-epica.pdf
          We should be heading into glaciation now but the eccentricity is the lowest it has been in a million years so the annual variation in insolation is not as much as it has been in previous cycles.

          One other interesting observation I have made is that glaciation affects the whole Atlantic. However the Atlantic side of Antarctica gets considerably colder than the Indian/Pacific side. So the cooling is global but the North Atlantic dominates the loss of surface heat and glaciation.

          I also understand that glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere is not coincident with glaciation in the northern hemisphere.

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            el gordo

            It has been suggested that the phenomenon could be put down to ‘increasing tidal energy via new physics due to the ~215-yr or ~88-yr cycle evidenced in paleoclimate data going back 98 million years and observed as solar cycles.’

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            Chris

            Rick I have read that that the warming of the Arctic Ocean is caused by warm water moving northward from the El Nino effect. Kamis, the man who puts forward “plate climatology’ says that the El Nino / La Nina effect is caused by sea water seeping into a magma chamber along the tectonic plate line between New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This water becomes super heated and is forced out by the pressure. The warmed ocean water becomes the birth of the El Nino which appears to have an impact across much of the world.

            The Indian pacific side of Antartica is West Antarctica and it is well known for its geothermal activity.

            The obsession with green houses and trace gases completely disregards the giant geothermal energy system we live on. I guess there’s just no money to be made from it.

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            John R Smith

            Rick,

            “I also understand that glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere is not coincident with glaciation in the northern hemisphere.”

            Your comment creates fun for me.
            Gaia knows there is little left in BidenCovid world.
            Never realized the Northern Hemisphere Cultural Supremacy (NHCS) of the Ice Ages.
            Something for me too geek out with while John Kerry still allows us to ask questions.
            Any elaboration would appreciated by me.

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              Serp

              When are they going to break out the Reich costumes? It’s obvious Kerry’s yearning for an authority he does not own could be appeased with the right outfit.

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            Rick

            Yes, the movement and orbit of the sun is often cited as the reason for the warmer weather of the Holocene prior to the warming that supposedly occurred due to mans messing around with co2 .

            However we have a lot of prehistoric stone circles and long barrows round here, designed 6000 to 3000 years ago to let the sun and sometimes the moon to shine in to exactly a certain place at certain times of the year.

            I would observe that to this day the sun or the moon still touches those places on the time and days ordained.

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            el gordo

            ‘I also understand that glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere is not coincident with glaciation in the northern hemisphere.’

            Sometimes referred to as the bipolar see-saw.

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              Kalm Keith

              Interesting stuff Rick.

              So many interconnecting factors, but the best point you made was in picking up that bit of “warmer” science: ” As soon as you see this you should know it is bunkum:”

              Charts of Earths temperature going back further than is possible with the ice cores suggest that one day the cyclical regularity of last four glaciations might end. In the meantime Milankovitch’s work provides a good starting point in explaining what has happened.

              It’s interesting to speculate on whether orbital mechanics can predict the next moves in Earths temperature movement.

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              el gordo

              The Antarctic Cold Reversal was a Bipolar Seesaw

              ‘Meltwater pulse 1A was followed in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere by a renewed cooling, the Antarctic Cold Reversal, in c. 14,500 BP, which lasted for two millennia — an instance of warming causing cooling. The ACR brought an average cooling of perhaps 3 °C. The Younger Dryas cooling, in the Northern Hemisphere, began while the Antarctic Cold Reversal was still ongoing, and the ACR ended in the midst of the Younger Dryas.’ wiki

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        PeterPetrum

        Yes Rick Will, I got as far as the CO2 absorption comment too, and then gave up. Absolutely amazing how so called scientists, doing research that might have some basis on what happened, viz a viz, movement of icebergs, can extrapolate to unsupported theories on climate change.

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      OldOzzie

      Bjorn Lomborg: Paris Climate Accord Would Only Lower Temperatures by 0.05°F by 2100

      The Paris Agreement, if fully implemented, would lower temperatures around the planet by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit, stated Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet, on Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

      “If all nations did all of their promises, which include what Obama originally promised, we would see temperature cuts by the end of the century of less than 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit,” Lomborg said in reference to the Paris Agreement, an international agreement brokered by the United Nations and described by the institution as “an international treaty on climate change.”

      U.S. reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in recent years is primarily a function of the increasing share of America’s energy coming from natural gas, Lomborg noted.

      Lomborg explained, “This is not what’s going to make or break the climate conversation. What you also pointed out was that the U.S. has dramatically cut carbon [dioxide] emissions. Some of this because of wind and solar [energy], but most of it is because you found a way to get really cheap gas, and that gas emits about half as much as what coal does, and because you basically made the fracking revolution that made gas incredibly cheap.”

      “A lot of power plants have changed over from coal to gas, and that has dramatically reduced your emissions,” Lomborg added. “This shows how you can fix climate effectively. Europe is spending lots of money on subsidizing inefficient solar and wind, and we cut some C02. We feel very, very proud of that, at the same time. But you guys have managed to cut more C02, and you’ve done so while making money. Of course, that is a much more attractive proposition to make money and cut carbon [dioxide] emissions rather than spend a lot of money and only cut a little.”

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        Kalm Keith

        It’s great that Bjorn is out there punching back at the system, but being a Luke Warmer avoids the real issue which is the role of CO2 in “heating” the atmosphere:

        There isn’t one.

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    el gordo

    This is not a good look, the fascists tighten the grip.

    ‘Thousands of members of ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong who only have a British National (Overseas) passport faced a fresh hurdle in going abroad after the government said it no longer recognised the document for travel.

    ‘They were taken by surprise when the Immigration Department announced that the BN(O) document could not be used for entering or exiting the city from January 31 and residents would need a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport or identity card.

    ‘The move came amid a row between China and Britain over London’s offer of a path to citizenship for Hong Kong residents eligible for the BN(O) status.’

    SCMP

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      So people in HK who are only Brit Nationals can’t leave without permission and a new passport? Can the UK suddenly confer full citizenship on these from afar and issue new passports. I don’t know much about these things…

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        Analitik

        From what I can gather, the HK citizens with a British National (Overseas) passport are entitled to apply for UK citizenship only after spending a year in the UK and can then be issued with a UK passport. The CCP is effectively neutralizing this option which means the offer can only have meaning if the UK rescinds the requirement to spend time in the UK prior to appling for UK citizenship.

        They should have set this up at the handover in 1997 as a check against the CCP reneging on the 1 country, 2 systems agreement. Something I’ve been on about since… 1997

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      MrGrimNasty

      It’s purely symbolic/political.

      It will not in itself stop travel or applications.

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    Chad

    I hope the “Western” world and its key leaders wake up and see the direct parallel between China today , and Germany in the late 1930’s.
    Massive ideology and infrastructure development
    Suppression of minorities
    Elimination of opposition
    Restriction of travel
    Changing documentation requirements
    Expansion of borders
    I guess you could say thay have “invaded” an independent state……HongKong
    How long will we let this continue before we realise the Tiger is on the loose ?
    And has’nt Covid been very conveniently effective in weakening the West in so many ways ?

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      Sirob

      I don’t know, Chad.

      Seems to me the “key western leaders” are implicated on a few levels. Between those who wanted to stir western constituents for a war with China but first setting up the enemy to be the industrial military power it is today and those who are paying lip service to peace but have been backed into a corner so they support sabre rattling because they need to look like they are with the program.

      I take your point about the enemy but it looks like we don’t learn from past history – could be because much of our ‘victors history’ is either fraudulent as well as leaving out the perspectives of those who saw it from another side.

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        Chad

        Sirob
        February 2, 2021 at 2:27 pm ·
        I take your point about the enemy but it looks like we don’t learn from past history – could be because much of our ‘victors history’ is either fraudulent as well as leaving out the perspectives of those who saw it from another side.

        ? Which other side would that be ?
        The Jews ?
        The Romany’s ?
        The Europeans that were invaded and occupied ?
        .. or even the Russians ?
        ……or are you thinking of the German population whos futures were decimated as a result of their support of the Facist movement ?
        Other conflicts ..Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, ?? Just what perspective do you think those countries would really have if the West has just not interviened ?
        I would not actively seek conflict, but there is a time when you have to draw a line and stop the “Bully”

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          Sirob

          ? Which other side would that be ?

          Well, all of the above.

          Very few conflicts are one dimensional. The obvious protagonists and their obvious motives for these conflicts are usually the ones in official histories. These are the like the “weapons of mass destruction” and masquerade as the desired narratives for those behind the scenes to avoid or obfuscate the truth.

          But these conflicts are never a matter of ‘the good allies against the evil axis, or whom ever you wish to put in as the enemy’.

          The western elite – Jewish bankers included – actively supported, albeit, it via back channels or clandestine money, Hitler, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, etc etc etc

          More recently via western elite think-tanks and policies aided and supported the growth of Chinese industrial and by extension, military power to what it is today. It was Western technologies and capacity that we gave them. A child could have foreseen this was a recipe for a future disaster.

          But the questions remain, why are they repeatedly doing this? What strategic goals have they in mind?
          Why are we again being sucked into another war – hot or cold – that betrays ordinary people on all sides into more suffering and tyranny?

          Why is it that more people don’t smell a rat?

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      PeterS

      In other words, history keeps repeating. Why the new administration in the US is focusing on tearing down everything that Trump has accomplished as well as tearing down Trump himself, “Rome” is starting to burn. China and Russia must be laughing their heads off. They are just waiting for the opportunity to arise when they can step in and pick up the pieces without a single shot fired from any side. Sad really since the founding fathers of the US certainly expected more from Americans of today. It’s now a dream turning into a nightmare. It can be turned around if enough Americans stood up and did something but alas it doesn’t appear to be happening. Perhaps later when the blow torch gets closer to their bellies but by then it might be too late.

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      yarpos

      We turned our backs when they took Tibet
      Nobody seems to want to tread on toes too much in the Sth China Sea
      The Uighurs dont rate much more than “hashtag” campaign
      I suspect not much will actually happen (in reality vs the UN sense) when Taiwan falls

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      Tilba Tilba

      I guess you could say they have “invaded” an independent state……Hong Kong

      I agree that you list shows a long list of illiberal, undemocratic, and oppressive steps, and I have no truck with the CCP.

      However I think it’s a stretch to say that they invaded an independent country.

      The 19thC colonial power handed authority and sovereignty back to the rightful owners – the fact that HK (and its people) have diverged very markedly from the Chinese mainland with its communism and state capitalism, is sort of not relevant.

      Not good for the Hong Kongers of course, but it’s difficult to see what else could have been done. In general these days the West does not condone or support colonialism (unless it suits them of course … there are dozens of tax havens around the world where the British super-rich park their money).

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        iggie

        To draw a parallel example, Portugal handed back East Timor to the Indonesians in 1974. I doubt HK will have the same support that ET received to achieve independence.

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          Tilba Tilba

          I think it was indulgent (and a little crazy) for East Timor to go independent … staying part of Indonesia, or possibly a territory of Australia, would have been far more sensible. Choosing Portuguese as the national language was equally dubious.

          But Gusmão and Horta wanted their five minutes in the sun. And the Australia robbed them over the Timor Sea gas … what a great country we are!

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    Ari Okkonen

    I hope you keep a local backup of your website in case of data loss in maintenance. 🙂

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    Tides of Mudgee

    This is a rather worrying quote from the link below.

    In the UK the Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency has made an urgent request as follows: “The MHRA urgently seeks an Artificial Intelligence Software tool to process the expected high volume of Covid 19 vaccine adverse drug reactions”. ToM

    https://healthimpactnews.com/2020/doctors-around-the-world-issue-dire-warning-do-not-get-the-covid-vaccine/

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      Serp

      No vaccine manufacturer will be held legally liable for its mistakes in manufacturing the nano-lipid technology that is part of the mRNA experimental vaccine being rolled out worldwide.

      I’m not sure what I think about that but then who am I as a person in its eighth decade to speak on the future? The youngies seem to me to regard totalitarianism with complete equanimity –nah, nothing lethal in it mon.

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        Sirob

        Serp, I’m not in my eighth decade and I’m happy to say quite frankly that any reasonable and rational person would think taking any vaccine that hasn’t been tested with a true inert placebo with long follow-up time frames is playing Russian roulette with very bad odds.

        I have five children and three grandchildren, so the future matters, not just for them but for our whole civilisation.

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          Serp

          Exactly. It’s a wanton dereliction of duty to our species. Pity it’s counter to government policy and on the verge of criminal to publicise such reservations.

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      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      G’day Tides,
      Seems to me that we’re on the receiving end of the same propaganda techniques and practices as we continue to receive from the climate mob: some bad “science” promoted ad nauseam via a complicit media which also suppresses any dissenting voices. Usually with insults, in this case “anti-vaxers”.
      I just hope we can counter these (same?) nasties sufficiently rapidly this time round to save some lives.
      Cheers
      Dave B

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    Kevin a

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOL0S0_sY4
    Tucker Carlson Tonight 2/1/21 Full | Tucker Carlson Feb 1, 2021
    “Good video will not be up for long”

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    greggg

    Evidence That Quinine Exhibits Antiviral Activity against SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro.

    (From the PDF)
    ’50-100 mg Quinine, present in 1 l of e.g. tonic water, could lead to a plasma concentration of ~0.5 µg/ml, which corresponds to a molarity of ~1.5 µM [47, 48], which would reach values that are
    effective in our in vitro systems.’
    ‘Quinine appears to exert a higher antiviral effect against SARS-CoV-2 with a significantly better toxicity profile in vitro, and has a predictable better plasma availability when compared to the controversially discussed drugs H-CQN and CQN’

    https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202007.0102/v1

    Can’t find evidence of quinine being a zinc ionophore though.

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      OldOzzie

      Hope Gin helps as well

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      Chris

      Hydroxy- chloro – quinine

      Hydrogen, Oxygen, Chlorine, Quinine maybe chlorine is the ionophore.

      The American Journal of Medicine has now blessed HCQ as a treatment for Covid 19 and FaceBook has apologised for removing doctors posts who have supported HCQ.

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        Lucky

        The journal has an article favorable to HCQ. It has not taken a position (AFAIK). This is quite an advance on the group-think of outright denunciation.

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        Sirob

        The American Journal of Medicine has now blessed HCQ as a treatment for Covid 19 and FaceBook has apologised for removing doctors posts who have supported HCQ.

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        It’s all too late, the prevailing idea is that the many Cv19 vaccines are the only answer by ad nauseam repetition. Since most people can’t think any more and governments have spent so much money and political capital the program will be rolled out. Coercion will used if it’s needed.

        The retractions are never able to bring public opinion back to a realistic perspective.

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    greggg

    Treat covid with chocolate.

    ‘“Mpro in SARS-CoV-2 is required for the virus to replicate and assemble itself,” Xie said. “If we can inhibit or deactivate this protease, the virus will die.”’
    ‘The chemical compounds in green tea and muscadine grapes were very successful at inhibiting Mpro’s function; chemical compounds in cacao powder and dark chocolate reduced Mpro activity by about half.’

    https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/11/food-chemical-compounds-can-inhibit-a-key-sars-cov-2-enzyme/

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      Annie

      How much chocolate? Query from a chocoholic who tries to severely limit intake! 😉

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        greggg

        Chocolate might actually worsen covid. The study was on flavanols and procyanidins extracted from those foods and not the whole food. Chocolate can trigger herpes viruses because of the high arginine to lysine ratio. Taking lysine with chocolate prevents that from happening.

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    OldOzzie

    This COVID-19 health advice is making us sick

    Adam Creighton

    Do you floss every day? Have no more than 10 standard alcoholic drinks a week? I confess I follow this health advice less than religiously, especially over the summer months.

    Stay out of the sun, exercise for 20 minutes a day, don’t smoke. Let’s face it, most of us ignore much of the health advice in our daily lives, judging life is about living as well as simply being alive.

    None of this advice is trifling, either. More than three million people die of alcohol-related diseases year after year, according to the World Health Organisation.

    The “health advice” for COVID-19, however, has become almost sacred, dominating other considerations. Leaders bat away any criticism of restrictions by ­reference to it.

    In what must be the greatest overreaction in health policy history, Western Australia’s government put Perth, a city of two million people, in hard five-day lockdown on Sunday because one perfectly healthy man in his 20s tested positive for COVID-19.

    Why? “The health advice,” said Premier Mark McGowan.

    If the health advice is to shut down major cities for a week and put travel plans in disarray whenever someone tests positive on a PCR test for COVID-19, the health advice — just as it so often is for drinking, flossing and smoking — should be politely declined. Thanks but no thanks. Just as war is too important to be left to the generals (as Georges Clemenceau once said), civil liberties and livelihoods are too important to be left to health bureaucrats.

    In an interview last week, South Australia’s Chief Medical Officer suggested checking in with QR codes should remain after the pandemic had passed so we are better prepared for the next one, which climate change had, she said, made more likely.

    Last week, the International Monetary Fund said the pandemic had cost governments $US14 trillion. Here, combined federal and state government debt is on track to rise from the equivalent of 42 per cent of GDP in 2018 to 74 per cent by this year — a much bigger increase than any other major country.

    That’s about an increase of $640bn. Let’s hope we’ve saved a lot of lives. Servicing this debt is cheap now but may not always be.

    It’s now 10 months since state and federal governments began enforcing the health advice to the letter. In the space of six weeks, three state capitals have been fully or partly locked down. No sane civilisation can lock down like this in perpetuity. It’s time we question the sustainability and logic of the health advice. A death is no less a loss ­because the cause wasn’t “contagious”.

    Shopping at Coles on Monday in Sydney’s Kings Cross I was surprised at how many young people were still wearing masks. Compulsion ended last week; no one in a state of eight million people was in ICU with COVID-19, and there hasn’t been a new case for more than a fortnight. Is it the ritual aspect of COVID rules that appeal? Perhaps they don’t realise the costs of the health advice fall most heavily on them, not only in terms of higher taxation in the future, but through fewer economic and social opportunities.

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      Len

      I recently received the following information. Victoria’s CHO, Brett Sutton is the brother of Trevor Sutton, who is the husband of Jane Halton, who represented Australia at EVENT 201 on October 18, 2019 in NYC, which held a pandemic simulation exercise. She is chair of the board at the W.H.O. and works for the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. She is Australia’s Covid Coordinator and she is the person that both our Federal and State governments answer to. So there you go

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        Serp

        Don’t forget Brett Sutton’s marvellous work in climate science; but how could we since it’s all of a piece? Sit back and watch the globalist chariot being dragged helter skelter across sprawled humanity by its two harnessed beasts Climate and Pandemic.

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      Lucky

      I think that address has been taken down, instead this may be close.
      https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6224016703001

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    RossP

    Some one should alert Scomo to this development (if he does not already know about it)

    https://decrypt.co/56086/google-competitor-presearch-launches-decentralized-search-engine

    The Government does not need to be bullied by Google.

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      Chad

      There are already many alternative search engines available, and ScoMo does know.!
      So that is not of concern.
      The problem is all the other Apps and functions that Google Search interacts with ?

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        RossP

        Correct Chad, there are other search engines, but this one seems to be more sophisticated and there has the opportunity to out last or out perform others.

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    OldOzzie

    If Donald Trump impeachment trial goes ahead, dark days will grow darker

    Editorial By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

    Despite 44 members of the U.S. Senate having agreed with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s objection to the upcoming trial of former President Donald J. Trump, it remains scheduled to begin on Feb. 9.

    If it goes ahead, the dark days we have recently experienced will grow darker. The Founders intended impeachment and trial as safeguards against tyranny, as the ultimate sanction for those holding offices of public trust who had abused their power and authority.

    We suspect political gamesmanship is again at the heart of the whole business. The impeachment document itself was thin at best and should not have been taken seriously. Those who demand Mr. Trump be “held accountable” for the events of Jan. 6 consistently refer not to the power to remove him from office upon conviction, but to the Senate’s power to ban him from ever again seeking office. Can they be so afraid that the man who won 74 million vote might attempt a comeback? Do they believe they must secure his disqualification from running in 2024 now just to be sure he can’t? If so, they’re making a mockery of the Constitution and the principles they say they are trying to defend.

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      Tilba Tilba

      If it goes ahead, the dark days we have recently experienced will grow darker. The Founders intended impeachment and trial as safeguards against tyranny, as the ultimate sanction for those holding offices of public trust who had abused their power and authority.

      Yeah well … you put twenty Americans in a room and you’ll get twenty-five different views on what the founders meant or intended on any issue. Including a bunch of Supreme Court justices.

      We could argue all day whether Donald Trump incited the mob that stormed the US Capitol, and then we could argue whether that is an impeachable offence – setting aside the political reality that an impeachable offence is whatever Congress decides is an impeachable offence.

      But I strongly disagree that someone cannot be impeached and then convicted just because they are no longer in office – in my view (and logic tells us) they must be impeachable if your intent to is to prevent their holding public office in the future.

      Otherwise someone could resign ten minutes before a Senate decision to convict, and escape the penalty. I’m sure the founders didn’t “intend” that either.

      The Democrats aren’t “afraid” of Trump, in my view.

      As I have said previously, I don’t think the Democrats will be too concerned when Trump is acquitted – I’m sure a lot of the hard-heads in the party are quite happy to have him around causing mayhem and division among Republicans … there is certainly a lot going on at the moment.

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        Neil Crafter

        No you couldn’t argue for a millisecond that Trump incited the Capitol ‘storming’. His exact words on the day could not possibly incite what occurred. And then it began at least half an hour before he finished speaking.
        Let’s say that you want to argue for that day you think is needed – what were his exact words that you are going to argue your case with?

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          Tilba Tilba

          The Democrat case against Trump will not be limited to the morning of 6 Jan – it will be more comprehensive than that … going back months, including when he claimed that if he lost the election it would only be because it was rigged.

          Whatever your politics, it was a pretty outrageous thing to say, and a poke in the eye to voters – and it would have cost him many centrist votes, I expect.

          See – we have gone more than a millisecond already – seem to me it’s always imprudent to claim that there is no issue to be discussed, since it always leads to a discussion!

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            GD

            The Democrat case against Trump will not be limited to the morning of 6 Jan – it will be more comprehensive than that … going back months, including when he claimed that if he lost the election it would only be because it was rigged.

            And he has been proven right. The election was stolen. The failure of the courts to even examine the evidence is further evidence that the fix is already in.

            Trump had to go in order for the combined Republican and Democrat elite, ie swamp, to continue their subjugation of the populace and continuation of their self-serving policies which benefit no-one but themselves and their international partners.

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              Tilba Tilba

              And he has been proven right. The election was stolen. The failure of the courts to even examine the evidence is further evidence that the fix is already in.

              That is the very point – he has not been proven right at all! Over 85 judges in 60 law suits, and many Republican state officials, failed to find evidence of election fraud.

              Trump and his worshippers can claim FRAUD till the cows come home, but the obligation was on them to put up something that would hold up as evidence in a court. And they could not.

              I remain deeply sceptical that the election was rigged or stolen, but it is certainly not the case that anyone can say it has been “proven” that it was. I trust no-one is seriously arguing that 85 judges were corrupt.

              The other possibility to explain Trump’s loss is far more likely: a lot of people voted against Donald Trump (rather than adoring Joe Biden) – because they did not like Trump’s presidency, and especially his performance on the pandemic.

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                Chad

                Tilba Tilba
                February 4, 2021 at 5:36 am ·
                – ….Over 85 judges in 60 law suits, and many Republican state officials, failed to find evidence of election fraud.

                TT..
                I guess you are working on the “Costanza” theory that a lie is not a lie if you believe it when you say it “
                …..but in your case , you do know this is a lie.. because you have been reminded before when you stated similar , that few of the suits were ever admitted to court, and even less (none?) of the evidence was ever heard in court..
                Posting lies…. reflects on your credibility.

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        MrGrimNasty

        Well, what can be stated definitively is that the actions and words of top level people in the Biden administration (Harris/Pelosi etc.) have far more blatantly incited insurrection/riot/harassment/murder (BLM etc.) with their actions and very explicit words during the Trump administration, and you cannot have 2 standards of justice depending on you political allegiance.

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          PeterS

          Good points. That means to be consistent Biden as well as Trump ought to go to trial to be judged whether both should be impeached.

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            MrGrimNasty

            Errr no, but there are certainly other grounds Biden should be impeached on, dodgy financial matters, misuse of position, and compromising foreign influence/connections.

            Biden is on video clear as day boasting about doing in Ukraine the same sort of thing they tried to stick on Trump.

            It’s as plain as the nose on the end of my face what Biden and his son have been up to over the years, but we all know his influence and the ‘deep state’ vested interests will bury it, just as Clinton was not charged.

            Trump was harassed and persecuted relentlessly on rumours and innuendo, barely a wisp of smoke, yet Dems are smoking like a mountain of diesel soaked tyres aflame and the tumble weed rolls.

            Two standards of justice, it isn’t acceptable.

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              PeterS

              I was making the same point that the Democrats are not consistent because there are two standards of justice as you stated. Yet you disagree with me by saying no and going off at a tangent needlessly??!! I agree with the other points about how Biden could be impeached for other reasons but that’s not the point. Double standards is the point.

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                MrGrimNasty

                I thought you were suggesting Biden himself should be put up for insurrection just to make it ‘fair’, still reads like that to me. Anyway……

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          Kalm Keith

          You’ve expressed that very well MrG.

          The only difference between Burma and America is that they have been taken over by different power groups with Burma being taken by the army and the USA by the swamp.

          At least the Burmese group has been honest and transparent and stated clearly; we are taking over.

          KK

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    RickWill

    The Hadley Centre sea surface temperature data for Nino34 region shows the Pacific has been in El Nino since 2015:
    http://climexp.knmi.nl/data/ihadsst3_120-170E_-5-5N_n_1980:2020.png

    So the BoM have it all wrong or the Hadley SST3 data set is rubbish.

    My lying eyes suggest we are in La Nina – greenest, coldest January in Melbourne I have experienced in the 28 years here. Maybe BoM have it right for once.

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      sophocles

      Rick:
      NOAA proclaimed a La Ninja in late August 2020 (last year), so your eyes aren’t `lying.’ I made a bit of noise about it here a some months ago (about October, I think).

      I haven’t looked at your BoM’s prescription, but if it reinforces the NOAA, then they can be counted to be right, and the Hadley Centre as rubbish (obsolete). Last I looked, the current La Ninja was cited as increasing in strength/depth and predicted to be around for a while (years).

      If you can, I suggest you could check the Japan Meteorology data. It’s always reliable.

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    Hanrahan

    It looks as if the short squeeze on silver was a one day wonder. Still, it did wake me from my slumber. 🙁

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    tonyb

    I have seen no mention here of a severe lockdown in Perth as one person tested positive. Is that happening? Is it still just one person?

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      TedM

      So far but a bit early to tell. The lockdown is a bit more than just Perth, I live about 300km south of the city and am in lockdown.

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      RickWill

      Australians have recognised that being Covid free is quite precious. They also know that the sooner they isolate the shorter the need for isolation.

      The tennis players winged like crazy when they were put into quarantine upon arrival in Australia. A number of players and their staff tested positive proving the value of the quarantine. The players are now competing in front of moderate crowds and behaving in their usual interactions with little risk of Covid.

      Apart from wearing a mask in the supermarket, Victoria is operating as normal. I expect that borders will be temporarily closed to WA though. The Perth Big Bash cricket team will have to play their semi-final on neutral ground despite the right to a home semi; now gone through the WA lock down.

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      Kalm Keith

      So the brilliant WA President has spent all his energy this year managing the dreaded CV19 and forgot the practical measures needed to ensure the safety of his citizens from bushfires.

      Only 59 houses lost so far.

      To a politician it’s not much, but to the owners and residents of those properties it’s everything.

      Lives shattered with maybe a rebuild available in three years if the insurance comes good.

      All completely avoidable but sadly they have been sacrificed to the Dog of Global Warming.

      And this bloke is in charge of managing the state.

      Politics is a modern tragedy and it doesn’t matter much where you live it’s the same fantasyland stuff.

      KK

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        Kalm Keith

        Latest count is 71 homes.

        Totally preventable.

        It makes me sick.

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        Graeme#4

        All the TV footage of burnt-out houses has shown that the native forest was right up to the walls of the houses. As yet I haven’t seen any images of burnt houses with adequate bush clearance.

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          robert rosicka

          There’s a video just been released of Bushy Gray walking through a burnt out National park , he was blaming greens for lack of back burning which I’m assuming he meant fuel reduction burns .

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      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Jo,
      Hope you’re well away from this?
      Cheers
      Dave B

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Hunter Biden’s Attorney Just So Happens to Be Tied to White Collar Crimes Official in Biden DOJ

    In the Swamp, there are no coincidences.

    The Biden administration tapped an official to work in the white collar crimes division of the Department of Justice that is directly linked to a Hunter Biden lawyer.

    The official’s selection was announced shortly after the Biden inauguration.

    “Nicholas McQuaid, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who served as a White House lawyer during the Obama presidency, has been named the acting leader of the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal division,” the announcement said. It explained it is “a role that will come with oversight of the Biden administration’s early white-collar enforcement efforts.”

    An Axios report documents that McQuaid is tied to former federal prosecutor Chris Clark, who is a partner at the firm Latham & Watkins. In December, Hunter Biden hired Clark. The report states bluntly that, “Clark worked on multiple cases with Nicholas McQuaid, another partner in the firm’s white-collar defense and investigations practice who is now leading DOJ’s criminal division.”

    It gets even more coincidental: “The two were jointly representing at least one Latham client when McQuaid” was picked for the Biden DOJ position.

    On mere appearances alone, the Biden administration is already failing.

    The reactions to the news that the Biden administration has appointed a lawyer connected to Hunter Biden’s legal team to serve in the Department of Justice is equally unsettling.

    This is hardly reassuring, just like the vanishing former Attorney General’s knowledge of the Hunter Biden probe, and his subsequent decision not to appoint a Special Counsel. That is a decision that grows more questionable by the day.

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    OldOzzie

    Opinion: The House Was Always Rotten

    With the revelation that John Weaver, co-founder of Never Trump outfit The Lincoln Project, engaged in sexually explicit conversations (and possibly more) with at least 21 men, including one as young as 14 years old, a reckoning has begun. The grifters who make up the rest of the organization are scurrying for cover, with most claiming they simply had no real relationship with Weaver. That seems improbable, especially for his fellow co-founders.

    Meanwhile, the media are circling the wagons for the most part, taking The Lincoln Project’s denial of knowledge at face value and refusing to press key figures on just how aware they were of Weaver’s activities.

    But there should be a different kind of reckoning stemming from this ugly episode, and it should target the Republican Party itself.

    Most of the Lincoln Project’s leadership is made up of has-beens that populated the campaigns of figures like George H. W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and John Kasich. Is anyone going to bother asking why? Why were these obviously immoral grifters constantly given influence at the highest levels of the party across such a wide swath of time? Does that not say something about the condition of the party’s leadership before Trump ever even arrived on the scene?

    Very few people kidded themselves about Trump’s personality and moral failings. He was certainly never one to try to hide them anyway. Yet, he was treated as some kind of unique pariah in comparison to the old guard of the GOP, supposedly stalwart and pure in their precious decorum. Meanwhile, John Weaver had been allegedly making passes at young men for decades (if you believe Karl Rove) while trying to get John McCain elected president.

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      OldOzzie

      Karl Rove: I’ve Known About John Weaver’s ‘Pattern of Behavior’ Since 1988

      Veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove on Monday said he has known about Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver’s “pattern of behavior” since 1988 following a bombshell report in which Weaver was accused of sending unwanted sexually explicit messages to nearly two dozen young men.

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      OldOzzie

      George Conway Denies Close Ties to Lincoln Project Co-Founder John Weaver, Penned an Op-ed Together

      Anti-Trump Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway tried to put distance between himself and his colleague, John Weaver — who has been accused of online harassment, sending sexually explicit messages to young men — on Monday, contending that he did not know him “very well.”

      Conway reacted to the allegations lodged against his colleague during a Monday appearance on Morning Joe, calling it “terrible and awful and appalling and unfathomable.”

      “I didn’t know John very well,” he claimed. “Frankly, I only spoke to him a couple of times on the phone early on in the Lincoln Project.”

      “I just, it’s almost — I don’t even know what to say,” he continued, adding that the turn of events left him “speechless.”

      However, in late 2019, Conway strongly promoted an op-ed penned by himself, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, and John Weaver, the last of whom faces accusations of sending provocative messages to young men. One of the accusers said he began receiving the messages as an adolescent.

      The introductory op-ed served as an explainer on why they decided to start the Lincoln Project, citing the “corruption and corrosive nature of Donald Trump” and describing the super PAC as a joint effort to “highlight our country’s story and values, and its people’s sacrifices and obligations.”

      “Over these next 11 months, our efforts will be dedicated to defeating President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line,” Conway wrote alongside Weaver and other co-founders.

      “We do not undertake this task lightly, nor from ideological preference. We have been, and remain, broadly conservative (or classically liberal) in our politics and outlooks,” they continued.

      “Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain, but our shared fidelity to the Constitution dictates a common effort,” they added:

      While many of those associated with Weaver, who worked with the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have pleaded ignorance, political consultant Ryan James Girdusky, who broke the story, slammed the Lincoln Project’s statement, calling it “an absolute lie.”

      “Members did know. Young men approached them about the accusations. Members knew I was writing the story and warned John Weaver,” he said:

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    OldOzzie

    Why Donald Trump Is Politically Stronger After His Presidency

    On Friday, Politico reporter Tara Palmeri noted that Donald Trump has actually gained — not lost — political clout after leaving office. Why is that, exactly?

    “People don’t want to hear anything against Trump,” Palmeri said on MSNBC. “Actually, the more he stays out of the media, the more that he becomes this martyr, this looming figure over the GOP.”

    Palmeri claimed that many conservatives are waging a “crusade” on behalf of the former president in places like Wyoming, where Trump is “way more popular” than Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

    The Politico reporter came to this conclusion after speaking with locals at an anti-Cheney rally led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

    “I actually went out of my way to try to find someone who would defend her and I really could not,” Palmeri told MSNBC. “She didn’t have that much name recognition, considering she’s a Cheney. … I mean, I said her name at a hardware store, and someone shouted a threat.”

    “A lot of people said they aren’t really Republicans, that, like, they’re for Trump. That’s it,” the Politico reporter explained. “I think the base is getting stronger, truly. I think an impeachment would make him even more powerful — a conviction, is what I mean.”

    “It feels like another world,” Palmeri said. “I don’t think that we can ignore it and I’m really happy that I went out there and saw it because I think there’s a huge disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country.”

    As Biden’s policy weakens America, Trump’s record will look better and better. The president should store up this political capital and use it to secure GOP victories in the House and Senate in 2022. He should also pick a successor and prepare the ground for that candidate — whether it be Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tom Cotton, or Ron DeSantis. A reinvigorated GOP should resurrect Trump’s agenda without the former president’s downsides.

    Trump has a strong policy legacy. It’s time for him to build a political legacy that will silence the Left’s threats to America, from China appeasement to climate alarmism to Marxist critical theory to transgender radicalism.

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    OldOzzie

    Toyota CEO Agrees With Elon Musk: We Don’t Have Enough Electricity to Electrify All the Cars

    Let’s stipulate a couple of facts right at the top: Toyota makes a lot of cars, so many that it’s the world’s largest or second-largest auto manufacturer every year. Toyota makes a lot of good, reliable cars. The Corolla, for instance, may not be flashy but the little things will go for a quarter-million miles or more and they mostly just run without breaking down much. Change the oil when you’re supposed to and you’re probably good to go.

    Let’s stipulate one more fact: Whether cars keep burning gas or run on electricity, Toyota is poised to make and sell millions of electric vehicles. It already has the game-changing solid-state battery coming on line. It launched the Prius way back in 1997. Toyota has not only not resisted the adaptation of EVs, it has led the way. Fundamentally, Toyota does not care if cars are powered by gas or nuclear fusion engines as long as it maintains its position and sells millions of them.

    So Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s comments at the company’s year-end press conference deserve notice and no little amount of respect. He knows more about cars and their economic ecosystem than just about anyone else on the planet.

    The Wall Street Journal was in attendance and noted the CEO’s disdain for EVs boils down to his belief they’ll ruin businesses, require massive investments, and even emit more carbon dioxide than combustion-engined vehicles. “The current business model of the car industry is going to collapse,” he said. “The more EVs we build, the worse carbon dioxide gets… When politicians are out there saying, ‘Let’s get rid of all cars using gasoline,’ do they understand this?”

    Toyoda is getting at two things. One, EVs are not powered by magical unicorn emissions, they are powered by the means we use to generate electricity. In Japan, the United States, and everywhere else, that’s fossil fuels to the tune of a huge majority of our electric power generation (61% in the U.S., with wind and solar making up about 17%, while Japan relies more heavily on nuclear power than most due to its lack of indigenous oil). Imagine taking every car in Japan or the United States and powering it not by gasoline or diesel, but by electricity. This will require a dramatic expansion of the amount of electric power we currently generate. There is no getting around this fact. We would be displacing gasoline or diesel for another power source

    The second issue Toyoda is getting at is that petroleum isn’t just a fuel, it’s the foundation of thousands upon thousands of products we rely on every day. Cars alone have plastic and other petroleum-based parts throughout their systems and interiors. There is, as of yet, no reliable or economical replacement for the petroleum used to manufacture those parts. So if oil and natural gas stop coming out of the ground tomorrow, once the supply has gone through all the refining and other processes, our entire way of life takes a wallop.

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      OldOzzie

      The ‘battery fairy’ and other delusions in the demand to replace gasoline powered vehicles with electric cars and trucks

      Studies detailing the carbon emissions necessary to manufacture an electric vehicle reveal that on a net basis, there are more emissions for vehicle bought and used for its expected lifetime, than would be generated by buying and using a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle.

      Then there is the small matter of batteries. The very large batteries needed for electric cars use lots of expensive lithium (and some other rare elements) whose supply is limited, and whose mining requires lots of scarce water. In fact, powering the world’s vehicles by battery is simply impossible, given the limited world supply of lithium, as this clever post by Powerline’s Steve Hayward makes clear. The title gives away the punchline:

      WHO WILL TELL THE GREENS THERE IS NO BATTERY FAIRY?

      For the longest while I have been asking, “Where do environmentalists and Democrats think all these batteries for our oil-free transportation fleet are going to come from?” It seems they think there is a Battery Fairy out there somewhere who will magically supply the ginormous battery capacity, and additional supply of electricity to charge them, in order to deliver us to our blessed fossil-fuel-free future.

      He cites an article in Wired, The Spiraling Environmental Cost of our Lithium Battery Addiction:

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      Chad

      …….Imagine taking every car in Japan or the United States and powering it not by gasoline or diesel, but by electricity. This will require a dramatic expansion of the amount of electric power we currently generate

      This was debated last week on the “SUVs”. Thread.
      Simple estimates show that if every vehicle was an EV, the extra electricity generation capacity required would only be in the order of 25% more.
      Considering the likely time scale required for such a change in transport technology, (25-30 years?).. increasing the generation capacity by 25% over that timeline is no big deal.
      However, making that generation “Zero Carbon” is another issue , unrelated to the EV question.
      Eventually, , the world will have to realise that currently, Nuclear is the only way that can be achieved.

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        RicDre

        “However, making that generation “Zero Carbon” is another issue , unrelated to the EV question.
        Eventually, , the world will have to realise that currently, Nuclear is the only way that can be achieved.”

        In other words, it is not possible to achieve “Zero Carbon” without Nuclear and the people pushing the “Zero Carbon” goal are against Nuclear, so the only alternative is to greatly reduce our use of electricity to reach the “Zero Carbon” goal. This is not a bug in the plan, this is a feature of the plan.

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          Chad

          it is not possible to achieve “Zero Carbon” without Nuclear and the people pushing the “Zero Carbon” goal are against Nuclear, so the only alternative is to greatly reduce our use of electricity to reach the “Zero Carbon” goal.

          No, !….that is not the only alternative…
          Once the economic reality of that option is realised,..another option , such as political pressure from public opinion and backlash, may just force a change of attitude to Nuclear options !
          See… i have a Crystal ball also !

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      Dave in the States

      The nasty little secret is; they are not really planning on replacing the current ICE fleet with EVs, but taking away privately owned vehicles. (refer to AOC’s descriptions of the GND)

      In the dystopic future they envision only elites will have access to vehicles. The remainder will have limited access to “public transportation.” All controlled by the state.

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    OldOzzie

    Whoa: We Now Know How Many Guns Were Purchased In January

    The FBI conducted 4.31 million background checks in the month of January, its highest on record since November 1998.

    “January’s NICS figures clearly spell out that the demand of law-abiding Americans to purchase firearms isn’t abating. It is growing. Three of the top 10 weeks and one top 10 single day for the highest number of FBI NICS background checks occurred in January,” he explained. “Taken into context that all but one of the top 10 weeks and four other top 10 single-day records occurred during the 2020, when 21 million background checks were conducted, these are a jaw-dropping figures to start the New Year. Americans are claiming their Second Amendment rights to provide for their own safety in record numbers.”

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    OldOzzie

    Enemies of the State vs. Enemies of the People

    I didn’t declare war on the establishment; it declared war on me.

    It declared war on me when it supported energy policies that could enrich Saudi Arabia and Russia and would cost me more money at the gas pump or on my power bill.

    It declared war on me when it told me my ideas weren’t worthy of debate and discussion or that they were even so dangerous they couldn’t be shared publicly.

    It declared war on me when it used the police powers of the FBI and CIA to first spy on a presidential candidate and then worked to undermine the administration of that candidate after he was elected.

    It declared war on me when it told me my religious beliefs did not deserve the protection of the First Amendment.

    It declared war on me when it told me boys could compete against girls in high school sports and that they could shower together afterwards.

    It declared war on me when it offered citizenship to illegal aliens and shipped American jobs to China.

    It declared war on me when it mocked the usefulness of a wall on the Mexican border and simultaneously put up a razor-wire fence around the Capitol.

    It declared war on me when it tried to defund the police so that millions of Americans would be left defenseless against mobs from antifa and Black Lives Matter.

    It declared war on me when it said America was never great.

    It declared war on me when it told my children they are not good enough because they are white.

    It declared war on me when it said that defending the Constitution’s rules on federal elections is sedition.

    It declared war on me when it told me that I was a domestic terrorist if I didn’t believe the government’s official pronouncements about elections, about free speech, and about right and wrong.

    Let’s just say it plainly: The establishment declared war on me and on all conservative Americans when it decided that leftist orthodoxy was more important than the Constitution.

    A shocking example was provided Wednesday when Douglass Mackey of Delray Beach, Fla., was arrested for creating memes that allegedly misled voters in 2016 to think they could vote by texting instead of by actually going to the polls. This is the equivalent of arresting Sacha Baron Cohen for exposing the gullibility of the rich and famous. The FBI offered no evidence that Mackey actually convinced anyone not to vote, but even if it did, so what? Would you rather live in a country where the FBI is hunting down pranksters — four years after the supposed transgression — or a country where voters are expected to be able to recognize a joke when they see one?

    I don’t know, but I do know this: If Americans can’t have liberty, we can’t have America either — at least not one that is distinguishable from China. The time has come to make a choice.

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    OldOzzie

    Trump: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

    March weather, according to folklore, comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, although late March often has its share of nasty winter storms where I live. Donald Trump’s presidency has followed a similar pattern.

    He came to the White House four years ago like a lion, handily defeating the “smartest woman in the world” that virtually every pollster confidently predicted would win the election. Trump’s agenda was that of a lion king.

    Trump accomplished all of this while corrupt agents of his own executive branch lied and conspired against him and his administration, with bogus claims of Russian collusion. There were active plots to overthrow his constitutionally legitimate presidency through nonsensical impeachment and discussions of invoking the 25th Amendment.

    Lions, although the king of the jungle, travel with an entourage, their pride. Trump’s only pride, and joy, is his family. His own party is part of the pack of hyenas eager take the lion down, as in the Lion King movie. The hyena pack is huge, including the entire Democrat party, much of the GOP, media, sports, Hollywood, finance, and most of corporate America.

    Trump was a lion for most of his four years, campaigning for reelection with far more energy than the last dozen or so presidential candidates could muster combined. The 2020 presidential election was filled with irregularities, anomalies, and statistical impossibilities that might lead one to suspect that it was stolen in a coordinated manner, although the word “steal” is verboten, the new S-word not to be mentioned in woke society.

    A reasonable investigation and airing of irregularities and accusations would clear up this matter, but the verdict was delivered without benefit of judge or jury, leaving half the country believing fraud was likely.

    He now awaits a Senate trial to remove a sitting president from office, which he is not. So what? In Washington, DC, a tax is a tax until it is not, as Obamacare and Chief Justice John Roberts’ interpretation illustrated. Impeachment is whatever Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer deem it to be. How soon until Baron and Melania are impeached and convicted for the unforgiveable crime of living with the Orange Man?

    Trump exited the national stage like a lamb, a couple of classy and dignified speeches, dutifully ignored by the media who were busy gushing over Biden’s Rolex watch, perhaps a token of appreciation given to “the big guy” by some foreign interest. Where was the lion of four years ago? Did he finally concede to the cackle of hyenas surrounding him with bared teeth?

    But then again, we were told to “trust” Sessions and Wray. How has that worked out? They said, “the hunters become the hunted” and that “nothing can stop what is coming.”

    That last statement was prophetic as nothing did stop what was coming, from a dodgy election and impeachment, to a senile grifter occupying the Oval Office systematically undoing all of Trump achievements. Was the past four years all for naught, a short blip in the steady decline of America? Was it like a few warm sunny days in mid-January when everyone comes out to play before hunkering back down for the rest of a brutally cold winter?

    At least 75 million Americans are awake, perhaps many more if anyone cared to investigate, but to what end? We no longer have “government of the people, by the people, for the people” as Abraham Lincoln promised in the Gettysburg Address. Instead, we have government by and for the elites, the ruling class, the “big club” of which none of us are a member.

    Spygate is going out like a lamb, no indictments, no punishment, no reckoning, only promotions and rewards. The big club is taking care of itself.

    Does Trump still have a trump card to play? As time passes, this glimmer of hope is fading faster than our freedom of speech on social media. It’s not in his nature to lose, especially in such fashion, exiting the biggest stage in the world like a lamb.

    He has hinted at things to come, as when he mentioned in passing while golfing, “we haven’t finished yet.” I hold out hope, although dwindling, as without hope there is nothing. Is the lamb actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing? We’ll see.

    The lion left the building like a lamb, and the only storm is one being unleashed on those not in the “big club,” punished and castigated for supporting the lion in his quest to make America great again. Instead of a steaming cup of covfefe, all we are left with is a flaming bag of disappointment and dwindling hopes.

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    OldOzzie

    Unsurprisingly, Mitch McConnell Backs Liz Cheney

    Posted on February 1, 2021 by Sundance

    The DeceptiCon crew will always cover for each-other. They won’t fight the leftist onslaught, but if patriotic and conservative Americans ever point out the duplicity of a Decepticon member…. THAT will bring out the GOPe defense.

    For historic reference a person only needs to remember what the DeceptiCon crew did amid the rise of the Tea Party. They hated the Tea Party, and they hate MAGA; it’s the Same/Same.

    This isn’t hard. 75+ million Americans voted to support President Donald J Trump. More people supported President Trump than any Republican in history…. Enough with this nonsense, is simply enough! We The People are not the problem, they are.

    Support those patriotic and high-information voters, or don’t. The DeceptiCon crew doesn’t. It’s time for them to leave. Done-is-Done.

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    OldOzzie

    By his own definition, Biden is already governing like a dictator

    “I have this strange notion, we are a democracy … if you can’t get the votes … you can’t [legislate] by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”

    Those are the words of Joe Biden. And, no, this isn’t a matter of unearthing a clip from the 1980s or ’90s in an attempt to play a game of gotcha on some antiquated flip-flop. That’s Democratic nominee Biden, less than three weeks before the 2020 presidential election, talking to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about the dangers of governing like a dictator.

    In President Biden’s first week alone, he has signed 37 executive orders and actions as of Thursday. That’s 33 more than the guy he indirectly referred to as a dictator, in the form of predecessor Donald Trump. It’s 32 more than his old boss, Barack Obama, and 37 more than George W. Bush, who signed zero in his first week as president.

    “With unity we can go do great things, important things,” Biden said during his inaugural address. “Unity is the path forward. We must meet this moment as the United States of America. We’ve never failed in America when we’ve acted together.”

    “Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward,” he also said, in a speech lauded by those on both sides of the political aisle.

    Even the New York Times editorial board is calling on the president to pump the brakes on governing exclusively by executive fiat.

    If history is any indication, most executive orders derive from a president’s thirst to bypass Congress. And on Day 1 of the new administration, as a specific microcosm that underscores this point best, the Biden team – in a rush to satisfy the thirst of the party’s left-of-left flank – decided to shut down expansion of the XL Keystone pipeline and the 11,000 full-time and temporary jobs that went with it.

    He did this during a pandemic. With jobs already at a premium.

    Multiple unions that endorsed Biden, including the Teamsters, expressed their dismay with the unilateral decision by the president.

    In a related story, Russia and Venezuela will benefit nicely from a Keystone-less U.S. in filling the energy void, while China will be quite pleased that the U.S. rejoined the Beijing-friendly Paris climate accord, which was among the 37 executive orders and actions signed.

    Biden hasn’t been asked any direct questions by the press on the job-killing Keystone order, of course. That’s what happens when the leader of the free world requires a staffer to call on a predetermined list of invariably friendly reporters

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      OldOzzie

      Biden hasn’t been asked any direct questions by the press on the job-killing Keystone order, of course. That’s what happens when the leader of the free world requires a staffer to call on a predetermined list of invariably friendly reporters

      The Circle Woman: Report Shows Biden Staff Prescreening Psaki Press Briefing Questions

      Biden staffers have prescreened reporters ahead of Jen Psaki’s briefings to see what they plan to ask the White House press secretary, according to a report from the left-wing Daily Beast.

      The outlet cited “three sources with knowledge of the matter” and “written communications” that revealed that the Biden administration has “already on occasion probed reporters to see what questions they plan on asking new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when called upon during briefings” less than two weeks into the new administration.

      The report suggests that Psaki would have some idea of what reporters plan to ask prior to formally presenting their questions. Despite that, her “circle back” answers on tough questions have become a staple of her press briefings. It remains unclear which, if any, reporters cooperated with the administration’s inquiries. Leaders of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) have reportedly urged reporters not to accommodate the administration in that capacity:

      According to the Daily Beast, the Biden administration’s actions have sparked a sense of paranoia among the White House press corps, “whose members, like many reporters, are sensitive to the perception that they are coordinating with political communications staffers”:

      However, the Biden administration’s pre-screening of questions continues to cause concern among reporters.

      “The press can’t really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want,” a White House correspondent said, according to the Daily Beast. “That’s not really a free press at all.”

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        OldOzzie

        The Circle Woman: Jen Psaki Under Fire for Constant Pledges to ‘Circle Back’ on Tough Questions

        White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday addressed growing social media mockery of her repeated promises to “circle back” on tough questions.

        “I often note I’m going to circle back. I hate to disappoint conservative Twitter but I’m going to circle back on a number of things as we often do directly,” she said, before following up on questions from last week on Hurricane Maria relief funds, the extended White House fence, and FEMA requesting troops.

        Last week, several media outlets noted Psaki’s repeated promises to “circle back” with reporters on questions for which she had no answers.

        A montage from Grabien gained over 47,000 views on YouTube and received wide circulation on social media platforms like Twitter.

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    OldOzzie

    Nonvoters, Registered Democrats Among Those Arrested at Capitol Protest

    Nonvoters and registered Democrats were among those who were arrested at the January 6 Capitol protest, an analysis of voting records show.

    The January 6 event, which has been overwhelmingly branded as a pro-Trump protest, sparked the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump as Democrats, primarily, blamed him for the incitement of insurrection after he delivered a speech to supporters earlier in the day. Not once during the speech did Trump encourage supporters to engage in acts of lawlessness or destruction.

    Nevertheless, House lawmakers, some of whom indicated that they feared for their lives as protesters stormed the Capitol, voted to impeach him for the second time. The trial in the Senate is expected to begin next week. Meanwhile, some Democrats are offering Republicans an ultimatum, continuing to blame them and their supporters for the events that transpired on the day Congress convened to certify the electoral vote.

    While the dominating narrative remains that Trump supporters and voters, specifically, rushed the Capitol that day to protest the election results, voting records show that some of the individuals involved in the riot were registered Democrats, and others did not even cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.

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    OldOzzie

    Biden Begins Unraveling Middle East Peace

    He continues to undo the Trump administration’s historic achievements.

    But instead the Biden administration is well on its way to reversing the significant gains in Middle East peace brokered by the Trump administration. By undermining the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel and strengthening the Palestinian Authority and Iran, the Biden administration will greatly undermine prospects of peace in the region. The Biden administration will likely undermine other current and potential normalization agreements through the following:

    Weakening relations with the UAE

    The Biden administration has begun to sour U.S. relations with the UAE by pausing the sale of F-35s promised by the Trump administration and by calling out the UAE (in addition to Turkey and Russia) for its role in the Libyan Civil War. The pause on the sale of the F-35s could very well become permanent. As senator, Vice President Kamala Harris voted for a resolution (S.J. Res 37), vetoed by President Trump, which called for preventing arms sales to the UAE. A cancellation, or even a significant postponement, of the sale of the F-35s may cause the UAE to slow the growth of UAE–Israeli relations, as this sale was what the UAE had wanted most in exchange for normalization of ties with Israel. Souring relations with the UAE can also put the Israeli–Sudan normalization deal in jeopardy, as well as prospects of an Israel–Mauritania deal, as the UAE was a broker and possibly a patron in the former and has significant economic sway over the latter.

    – Weakening relations with Saudi Arabia

    – Strengthening Iran

    – Strengthening the Palestinian Authority

    – Potentially alienating Morocco

    – Potentially ignoring Indonesia

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    OldOzzie

    Leftists Impeach Trump But Endanger Biden

    They need not unity, but disunity, to pull Biden in their direction.

    Whatever leftists hope to accomplish with Trump’s impeachment, it is not the unity Biden espouses. By ignoring Biden’s call, leftists are throwing down a gauntlet and demanding he choose between them and unity. Whether they admit it or not, the presidency they are threatening is not Trump’s but Biden’s.

    Following the horrific Capitol riots of two weeks earlier, Biden repeatedly called for “unity” in his inaugural address: “Together we will write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division.” Despite Biden’s call for unity, the Left’s calls for impeachment predated it … by over four years.

    House Members from the left repeatedly challenged the certification of Trump’s election in 2016. Failing there, the Left then clamored for his impeachment ahead of his inauguration. When Democrats won the House in 2018’s midterms, the Left demanded impeachment be the new majority’s first priority. Despite the Senate‘s acquittal, the Left continued their impeachment chorus. In the waning days of Trump’s presidency and their fourth general attempt, the Left achieved the unprecedented second impeachment of a president.

    The third and most important problem with the Left’s latest impeachment is its irrelevance to most Americans. To a nation over a year into a global pandemic and a depression-worthy economy, this trial will not be high drama but sideshow. To them, Washington will not be focusing on their life-and-death struggle, but on a moot exercise that cannot succeed, and if it did would remove a president from office who is no longer in office.

    Of course the Left’s latest impeachment trial is not unifying either, but the definition of disunity, because that is all it can really accomplish. For leftists, though, this is not a problem. Disunity is precisely what they hope to accomplish.

    The Left wants to drive a wedge between America and conservatives and believes impeachment could do so. This impeachment is not of Trump, or even the rioters, but of conservatives in general.

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    OldOzzie

    The For the People Act and ‘Democracy Reform’

    The use of the word “democracy” in HR 1 is a Trojan horse for Democrat control.

    If you peruse the various polls that purported to measure voter priorities during the run-up to the recent election, you will find no mention of “structural democracy reform.” Nonetheless, that nebulous yet unnerving abstraction is the stated objective of the flagship legislation offered by the Democratic House majority in January. HR 1, the “For the People Act of 2021,” was introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) ostensibly as a response to the “rampant voter suppression” experienced by Americans in 2020. If this seems an odd claim to make about an election that produced the highest turnout since 1900, it isn’t the only problematic feature of this 800-page bill.

    First, it can hardly be a response to the 2020 election. It is all but identical to the “For the People Act of 2019,” which died in the Senate after it became clear that it would usurp the power of states to write election laws and assault the First Amendment. It was such a grotesque example of Beltway overreach that it was opposed by entities as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the GOP leadership. The former balked because the bill would “unconstitutionally burden speech and associational rights.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote, “From the First Amendment to your ballot box, Democrats want to rewrite the rules to favor themselves and their friends.”

    Think about how truly awful this legislation must be to get the American Civil Liberties Union and Mitch McConnell singing the same tune.

    Beginning with election security, HR 1 would prohibit states from enforcing voter ID laws and make it all but impossible to remove ineligible voters from their registration rolls. It would require states to provide automatic registration by virtually all agencies with which their residents interact and mandate online registration for everyone 16 years of age or older. You read that correctly. HR 1 would require states to preemptively register 16- and 17-year-olds to get their names on voter rolls before they reach 18. It would also mandate the metastasis of mail-in voting by requiring states to provide pre-paid postage on mail-in ballots and restrict the use of signature matching for verification.

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      Tilba Tilba

      [HR 1] is all but identical to the “For the People Act of 2019,” which died in the Senate after it became clear that it would usurp the power of states to write election laws and assault the First Amendment.

      I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I know that, while the states have powers to prescribe the manner in which federal elections are held in their states, Congress has the express power to over-ride such regulations (Article 1).

      But setting aside jurisdictional squabbles, we have two imperatives that are always colliding:

      1. Republicans believe they will never win elections (federal or otherwise) if “everyone” was allowed to vote, and they exercised their right by voting, while
      2. Democrats believe (a) the more people who vote – particularly minorities and the most marginalised – the better their chances, and (b) that just about everywhere they can, Republicans have, since the 1960s onwards, suppressed the vote in every way they could think of.

      I don’t know what the resolution is, however without having read the proposed Bill, it does sound like a very blunt instrument, where more nuanced solutions might be required.

      For example, Democrats might agree that Voter ID be required, but if and only if every state – especially red ones – makes the maximum effort to get everyone registered, and issued with appropriate ID.

      At the moment it’s an unsubtle tool for suppression, disenfranchising a large swath of minorities, poor people, those with less than stable homes, and so on. In some blatant cases, a Student ID was not allowed as Voter ID, because it was felt that a big majority of the student body in various college towns would not vote Republican.

      But it seems to me one very good thing such an Act should do is establish uniform rules and procedures across all states, for printing, issuing, storing, tracking, and counting ballots – to pick an obvious example.

      The 14th Amendment enshrines equal treatment and equal protection, and having uniform election rules should fit exactly within that principle.

      Making registration mandatory for 16-17 year-olds does seem over-the-top to me (at first blush), particularly when voting is optional. Having effective education programs, plus easy access to registration forms at government agencies, should be encouraged however – for those 18 and over.

      The issue is that red states want as few people as possible to vote … that is what has to be faced by the Democrats.

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    OldOzzie

    Biden is the most radical left-wing president in US history, period

    JoeBama is off to the most left-wing start of any Democratic president in recent memory.

    Just two weeks later, the dulcet tones of Biden’s inaugural address already seem an artifact of a bygone era. Republicans will hammer him for the rest of his presidency for failing to deliver on his unifying message, but the fact is that Biden is governing as he promised — further to the left of his own record, further to the left of his ex-boss, former President Barack Obama, and further to the left of any Democrat who made his career prior to the ascendency of the cultural left.

    It isn’t new for Democratic presidents to want to tax, spend and regulate, even if Biden seeks to do more of all three than his immediate predecessors. Biden layers on top of this a cultural agenda that represents a new dimension of radicalism that would be alien and baffling to bygone Democrats, who may have wanted to extend the New Deal but never sought to transcend the gender binary.

    Biden is willing, too, to go it alone via rapid-fire unilateral executive actions.

    The lesson is that the most important thing that any movement can do is influence the direction of a major political party. If the center of gravity of a party moves, the entire establishment moves with it. So it is that Biden, who has never been woke or surrounded himself with radicals, is attempting to deliver victories to the left-wing of his party almost unimaginable eight or 12 years ago — and do it quickly.

    We can’t really say we weren’t warned, even if Biden did everything he could to obscure the message with his mood music of moderation and unity.

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      Tilba Tilba

      I won’t judge the Biden Administration on whether it is left or right … seems to me (notwithstanding the frothing of certain commentators and columnists) that it isn’t really the relevant consideration.

      Joe Biden will be judged over the four years on the degree to which he provides solutions to some of the most urgent problems in America … and there are a lot of big problems. Trump and McConnell pushed through tax breaks for the rick … more money to those who don’t need a cent of it.

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        Hanrahan

        Do you ever fact-check yourself by doing a non-google search on a topic and reading opinions from a genuine variety of sources? Trump’s tax breaks DID put significant money in wage earners’ pockets but tax breaks, by definition, give larger $ cuts to high earners because they pay more $ in tax.

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          Tilba Tilba

          It is not the amount that matters, it is the rate. From a Guardian article on the matter (from October 2019):

          They were billed as a “middle-class miracle” but according to a new book Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.

          In 2018 the richest 400 families in the US paid an average effective tax rate of 23% while the bottom half of American households paid a rate of 24.2%, University of California at Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman calculate in their new book, The Triumph of Injustice.

          Taxes on the rich have been falling for decades. In 1960 the 400 richest families paid as much as 56% in taxes, by 1980 the rate had fallen to 40%. But Trump’s tax cuts – his most significant legislative victory – proved a tipping point.

          Thanks to the controversial tax package the top 0.1% of US households were granted a 2.5% tax cut that pushed their rate below that of the lower 50% of US earners.

          The US has essentially a regressive tax system (why not – the rich paid for the politicians). And the new Tax Act made the regressive rates even more so. So I stand by my comment.

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    CHRIS

    Really an Open Thread…talking about everything from Global Climate to Global Politics. Well, here’s my 2 cents worth: with the Myanmar coup, China must be laughing. This is the CCP’s strategy: annex HK and Taiwan…take over SE Asia, including Malaysia…invade and conquer India…stretch the limits of the South China Sea, prepatory to invasion of the Phillipines. And what will the rest of the world do? Keep whining a la Neville Chamberlain…appeasement, appeasement, appeasement. If anyone thinks that the USA would stand up to China, now that Lefty Biden is POTUS, think again.

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      el gordo

      Your fears are misplaced, none of what you write will happen.

      Its not appeasement, negotiation is better than a hot war and Biden is fairly knowledgeable on international relations.

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    James

    After Peter Rathjen resigned from the University of Adelaide VC position, in not entirely good terms, the Uni of Adelaide how now appointed Peter Hoj as the new VC. Hoj was involved in a scandal of persecuting a Hong Kong student for protesting against human rights abuses in China. I am very disappointed that my Alma Mater has hired this man. He is a good communicator and a good teacher, but his record with China is not good. The Universities around the Western world seem to have become a corrupt swamp!

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    Dave in the States

    There has been some critics of including politics in the AGW wars. But they are inseparable. Only a complete novice does not know that the policies proposed are ineffective as far reducing human co2 emissions, even if co2 is really a problem-which it isn’t. In fact they actually increase emissions.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/27/bright-green-impossibilities/

    So what is the real rationale behind the push? Its the policies themselves. The whole issue is really about politics.

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      Len

      The only reason for the AGW drivel is to destroy the economies of the Western World. Note China and Russian are not involved in these draconian measures.

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      PeterS

      So true. In fact if CO2 is really a problem (which it isn’t) then the solution is quick, simple, easy and cost efficient; the West shoudl just build nuclear power plants. Non-existent problem solved instantly! Of course most of us know that’s not how it works. To promote the CAGW lie they must continue to support measures to reduce our CO2 emissions by other means to avoid the truth that CO2 is not a problem. Both major parties here are on a unity ticket for that lie. The only difference between them is by how much and how quickly we ought to reduce our emissions.

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    robert rosicka

    Just watching Fox News weather and heat kills more than anything else , forget the truth as long as you can come up with a bedtime story that sounds scary I suppose .

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    RicDre

    A Mixed Up Mixed Layer

    A recent post here on WUWT entitled “Claim: Marine heatwaves becoming more intense, more frequent” referenced a study as saying:

    “When thick, the surface layer of the ocean acts as a buffer to extreme marine heating–but a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder shows this “mixed layer” is becoming shallower each year.”

    Those who know me know that I take the UK Royal Society’s motto, “Nullius In Verba”, very seriously. So I went off to find out what I could about the mixed layer.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/02/02/a-mixed-up-mixed-layer/

    Here is a link to the original article, “Claim: Marine heatwaves becoming more intense, more frequent”:

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/31/claim-marine-heatwaves-becoming-more-intense-more-frequent/

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    robert rosicka

    Just switched over to their ABC and caught the Craig Kelly rant from them demonising Kelly over continued misinformation campaign about unproven treatments for COVID , mainly poo pooing HCQ and how dangerous Kelly is and how Scomo must do something now to silence Kelly .
    I think Kelly should sue the ABC for spreading their own misinformation.

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      Chad

      ABC local ..James Valentine. (Actually worth listening to ! ) has just followed up on this by interviewing Prof R Clancy (E Prof of virialogy ETC at Newcastle Uni).. who has said Kelly is 100% correct regarding HQC and Invermectin as effective treatments for COVID in the early stages ..up to 80% reduction in death rate…..Multiple studies and trials verify this .
      He also says that no one on Gov health services with discuss with him.
      ABC/Valentine seemd open to and even convinced of his claims

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    RicDre

    Climate Model Failure

    By Andy May

    On January 22, 2021, John Christy presented a new online talk to the Irish Climate Science Forum. The talk was arranged by Jim O’Brien. … In this post we present two interesting graphs from the presentation. These compare observations to the IPCC Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 climate models (CMIP5, 2013) and CMIP6 (current set of IPCC models) climate model projections.

    The difference between the models and the observations is statistically significant and shows that the models have been invalidated. It is also significant that the CMIP6 spread of model results is worse than the CMIP5 spread. Thus, the newer models show less agreement to one another than the previous set. “Houston, we have a problem.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/02/02/climate-model-failure/

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    Furiously curious

    Has the BOM declared 2020 hottest year ever?? I think NOAH put it equal with 2016. Anyway Poinciana’s. There are some lovely ones in my area, and I have previously labeled some photos of laden branches, as ‘Christmas in Australia’. Well this year, start of February, they are just starting to flower. Obviously they missed the adjustment messages.

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    another ian

    Next in Pointman’s series on selling the coup

    “SELLING THE COUP TO THE FLOATERS.”

    https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/selling-the-coup-to-the-floaters/

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      Hanrahan

      “Deplorables under the bed” doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Reds under the bed” but both are propaganda.

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    another ian

    “Y2Kyoto: Enjoy The Decline”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/02/02/y2kyoto-enjoy-the-decline/

    Suggesting start reading there as a lead to

    “A Remarkable Decline in Landfalling Hurricanes”

    https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/a-remarkable-decline-in-landfalling?mc_cid=0396ba786a

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    another ian

    And Chiefio points to another bump on that carbon-free EV road

    “Oh, and note that modern tires are about 90% synthetic petrochemical rubber. Only 5 to 10% natural rubber. So no tires unless you get custom made all natural rubber… that lasts about 5000 miles and tends to get flats…”

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      Hanrahan

      So you shed a tyre every 1,000 miles approx. Matter is neither created nor destroyed so where is Wally that rubber? A little will stay on the road and be washed into the waterways when it rains. We know this from motor racing where the cars lay down rubber on the racing line but it gets washed off if it rains.

      So is the rest, like diesel soot, just another airborne contaminant?

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      • #

        Tyre degredation/wear pollution has been studied and there is lots held in soil near and not so near roads, suspended in water and in sediment.

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          Hanrahan

          But as the Another Ian says, using natural rubber will increase that by a factor of 5. So to reduce the fictitious contaminant CO2 we increase a real contaminant X5 if we stop pumping oil.

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    Hanrahan

    What’s with the banks? Is a banking career so unattractive that competent people don’t stick around?

    I’m hissed ATM. I asked that a credit card be cancelled a couple of years ago and they also cancelled the linked account. Today the beef is them rolling over a term deposit with no notification that the interest payable would be 0.25%. I objected and they would do nothing except release the funds in 30 days. Time’s up and the money has not been released so I contact my “personal banker” and he can’t explain why but promises that the money will be released within two working days.

    The real question is: Is institutionalised incompetence a matter of culture or policy?

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    Chrism

    Bloomberg covid vax
    104 million doses worldwide
    33.7 million US (first doses), 1.37 M per day US

    the new case rate on Worldometers for US
    has the weekly wave effect (an epiphenomenon related to less weekend processing is my guess)

    has # Day of Year, # new cases numbers in thousands as peaks and troughs ::

    as in 8, 308 means on 8th Jan was a peak (the highest ever for US as it happens) of 308,000 new cases

    8, 308 : 11, 219 : 15, 249 ; 18, 150 ; 22, 195 ; 24, 142 ; 29, 172 ; 31, 111

    a linear fit suggests zero cases on or about 8th of March
    Trump, via ‘Warp-speed’, will have cured Covid 47 days into Bidet’s dementocratic maladministration

    (also posted by moi on catallaxyf)

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    Chad

    Much media and Government PR noise again about the “Hydrogen Economy” and Public investment in Hydrogen technology “clusters” to fast track the development of “Zero Carbon” energy .
    So….i just guestimated a few numbers to give it some perspective as to the Capital investment needed
    Suppose it is decided to use Hydrogen as an energy source for the Grid when the sun is not shining and there is no wind…..by using daytime Solar to produce H2 for Fuel cells and keep the grid live.
    Assuming approx 25 GW generating capacity would be required (18GW min , but with variability), and a daily (overnight) consumption of 240 GWh …

    So,.. a minimum of 25 GW capacity of Fuel cells would be needed at a capital cost of $160 bn .!
    And Electrolysers to produce the 6000+ Tons of H2 daily ……another. $60 bn
    ..and of course 25 GW of dedicated Solar (or wind) generation to power those electrolysers..$25bn
    Already we are talking about $250bn without any costs for hydrogen processing , compression, storage, transport, etc
    And of course no contingency for those “not so sunny” days , when the Solar doesnt generate enough H2 for the overnight needs !…Maybe add $25bn for Backup from GAS generators ?
    As a comparison, 25 GW of advanced Nuclear could be installed for a mere $150 bn….
    ..but that would also provide “zero carbon” power 24/7 , (so no need for all the other RE investment for daytime power) !
    And GAS generation could do the same job for just $25bn !

    (Note:- costs are derived from 2019 EIA report)

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      Graeme No.3

      Chad:
      Most solar PV generation occurs in the 5 hours in the middle of the day, so you need to adjust either for storage for extra hydrogen then, or lesser amounts when the sun is closer to the horizon.
      Also how are you going to generate the hydrogen? The gullible think that the ‘cheap electricity’ from solar panels is all that is needed for hydrolysis, but the continuous process (under pressure) is only around 62% efficient** and the intermittent process, which they probably saw demonstrated at school, is a maximum 38% efficient. The lower the efficiency the higher the cost of hydrogen.
      So much for cheap no-emissions fuel.
      Neither of these ways is able to compete with high pressure steam reforming of natural gas, and if you use that method what are you going to do with the 85% carbon dioxide generated?

      **the efficiency figure of 75% sometimes used is when extra heat is added, i.e. it is really 75 out 120.

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        Chad

        Graeme 3,…
        I was using cost data from the EIA report, which listed Solar build cost at US$1.0/ per watt.
        ..with a comment that it was based on actual AC power supplied to the grid.
        But i now realise that is still only “Nameplate” capacity effectively, not a average actual daily output after the operational Capacit Factor is applied ,..(20% CF )
        So yes, to allow for the normal variation in output and still produce the 6000+ tons of H2 required daily would need 330 GWh of solar output.
        That would need a dedicated 69 GW (nameplate) of PV Solar, at a cost of $69bn .(rather than the $25bn i stated before)
        Also, the Electrolisers system would need to either be able to “power match” the solar (IE 69GW peak output) or some form of battery “Buffer” storage used to smooth the peak
        For simplicity , lets assume we use 69GW of Electrolysers @ $2.3bn per GW …$158 bn total !
        So the total cost of Solar Hydrolisers, and Fuel cells is now $390 bn !!
        All this is so rediculous it is laughable to even think anyone might consider it
        ……but they are !!

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    el gordo

    Shortwave flux at top of atmosphere shows a downward trend, should we be alarmed?

    https://watertechbyrie.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/sw.png

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    another ian

    In the footsteps of GME, Robinhood etc?

    “Easterday feedlot in Washington sued for shorting tyson 200,000 head of cattle in feedlot.”

    https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/137900-easterday-feedlot-in-washington-sued-for-shorting-tyson-200000-head-of-cattle-in-feedlot/

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      Hanrahan

      The chat site tells you little so what do I make of it?

      My guess is that Tyson has 200,000 cattle in a feed lot who charges them for feed and veterinary, that’s business.

      So the feedlot forward sold the cattle which weren’t theirs. They were probably still in the feed lot being cared for, so who pays the bill? Tyson is clearly saying that if the cattle have been sold it ain’t them. But not so fast, TITLE to the cows hasn’t changed all that’s happened is that an option has been written.

      Everyone is lawyering up I’d guess.

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    Hanrahan

    Post first, search later – That always works.

    Seems the cattle don’t exist. I read “shorting” to mean selling an option. While unclear this article doesn’t mention this:

    My keyboard is giving spurious commands so I can’t post a link.

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    Gbees

    What’s with Morrison/LNP Zero Emissions by 2050 fluff? Where to now? Who to vote for? How to stop the Green New Deal in it’s tracks?

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      Hanrahan

      Morrison is the best we have and we are not getting Abbot back. He is too timid for my liking generally and on this he is trying not to scare the Karens but I doubt he will do anything REALLY stoopid.

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    robert rosicka

    I have no idea if this is real but my god it’s funny unless of course your Jerrold Nadler .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3_ALLadQ1M&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3NrMzrwSbR7pbTDdUCCDx6KefUIfqcnZ8K1j-8H0T8i7fJijChGYL_az4

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    angech

    Climate Driver Update
    Climate drivers in the Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans and the Tropics
    2 February 2021
    The 2020–21 La Niña has likely passed its peak, with all of the international climate models surveyed by the Bureau anticipating NINO3.4
    will return to borderline or neutral values by mid-autumn.
    Fascinating.
    The graph shows 7, count them, Climate models.
    BoM,CanSIPS,ECMWF,JMA,METEO,NOAA,UKMO.
    A change from the 19/1/2021 Climate Driver Update which featured 8 international climate models.
    Missing?
    Only NASA.
    Why? Surely not because NASA correctly predicted the moderate La Nina and had the temerity to predict
    that it would keep going for at least 4 months
    The opposite to BOM.
    The sea surface temperature anomaly was predicted to go to -2.4 C for February, 2.6 C for March and 2.4 for April.
    I am at a loss to fathom why they would drop the most highly respected data set, NASA after relying on it for years.
    Perhaps someone could use the wayback machine on it.
    I certainly feel they need to offer an explanation even if it is only a technical error.
    It does seem a rather crude attempt to not publish data that disagrees with theirs.

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  • #
    CHRIS

    Scott Morrison (my local member) is a pure politician with no moral fiber. He just goes with the flow, depending on the current situation; whatever has the most votes, he’ll support. He has no character and no soul…and this is particularly true with CAGW.
    His support of zero emissions by 2050 is a total laugh. I would love to know who is advising him; Tom Foolery, maybe?

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