Sunday Open Thread

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292 comments to Sunday Open Thread

  • #
    New Chum

    The labor Party and the Greens support metallurgical coal mining and if it is cheaper than thermal coal could it be used in power stations?

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    • #

      There are four types of coal, ranging from the highest Carbon Content to the lowest.

      Anthracite – 86 to 97% Carbon
      Bituminous- 45 to 86% Carbon
      Sub Bituminous – 35 to 45% Carbon
      Lignite – 25 to 35% Carbon

      Lignite is brown coal, and the other three are Black Coal.

      Bituminous and sub bituminous are the Black Thermal coals used in black coal fired power plant Units.

      Anthracite is referred to as Metallurgical coal and is used in steel production.

      The black coals (and Lignite) for use in coal fired Units are crushed to the consistency of talcum powder and injected with forced air as well into the furnace.

      Stand up and place your arms out full in front of you, making a 90degree angle. Now imagine someone standing opposite you doing the same thing.

      Fill that space between your both outstretched ars to your height at the top of your head with crushed coal.

      That’s about one Tonne of coal.

      That same amount, one tonne is burnt by a 600MW coal fired Unit in sixteen seconds.

      Tony.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        Can I catch you for an answer to a query: What is the average power output of the National Grid? Around 5GW?

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        • #
          yarpos

          The minimum is around 18GW ish it only goes up from their.

          Average demand is an odd number to chase, what are you trying to work out?

          As I type this its about 25GW according to https://www.aemo.com.au/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/data-nem/data-dashboard-nem#nem-dispatch-overview

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          • #
            Graeme#4

            I was trying to work out the average figure over the entire year, to see what was required for future energy sources. A lot more than I thought! And the min/max figures are also very helpful.
            There are unfortunately many commentators in the msm who cherry-pick data, and it’s very handy knowing the actual data.

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        • #

          Graeme#4,

          I saw this in the earlier Thread, but I wasn’t quite sure what you were after.

          So, on the off chance, I’ll take it as being you want to know how much power the grid needs at any one point in time, so, the year round average power Consumption, keeping in mind that this is also the same as year round average power generation.

          Speaking in averages can be somewhat misleading, so what I have done here is to include an image of the year round average for all the indicators, and that image is a Load Curve.

          Load Curve Average Yearly Power Consumption/Generation.

          Here, what I have done is look at the power generation from all the sources for the whole year (on a day to day basis) and then find the one day of the year where all those indicators are as close as is possible to the year round average.

          The upper black line is the daily power consumption on an hour by hour basis. The line across the page is the hourly average. The four coloured areas along the bottom, are for the four renewables, each one labelled as to what it is.

          EACH of these is the year round average pictured on a single day. (and thankfully, nearly all of them within a one percent difference)

          So, the average power needed to keep Australia in operation, the average hourly power consumption, every hour, every day of the year is …..

          23242MW

          The black line along the top is the ACTUAL, and the line across the page is the average.

          I, umm, hope that is what you were wanting.

          (Spooky, eh!)

          Tony.

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          • #
            Graeme#4

            Thanks to both Tony and Yarpos for prompt responses. Yes Tony, this is exactly the what I was seeking – sorry to put you off with my β€œ5GW” figure. A great graph as well. Very good info.

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        • #

          Graeme#4
          March 6, 2022 at 6:12 pm Β· Reply
          Can I catch you for an answer to a query: What is the average power output of the National Grid? Around 5GW?

          Graeme#4..
          Be aware that the figure Tony gave you..(23.242 GW ).. includes the output of RoofTop solar, ( approx 2 GW). which technically is nothing to do with the β€œGrid demand”.

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          • #
            Graeme#4

            Ok thanks Chad. Good to discuss actual data with all its implications. Solid engineering stuff.

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            • #
              Jonesy

              Also, G4. To stress the point, electricity is generated exactly to meet demand. As the demand, or the potential for demand (anticipation) generation is bought on stream to match it. England From Above had a good episode on this. The main UK control room knew WHEN the evening peak was to occur…the first add break on East Enders… they knew the magnitude of the impending load so had to bring online a number of assets in readiness, the event occurs as anticipated and a number of fast start gas fired and hydro assets kick in exactly as needed. Electricity cannot be stored except in short term batteries and pumped storage. Imagine the consternation as wind or solar energy impinges on the market whenever it is generating. Base load has to be brought offline or reduced output which is both very inefficient and expensive for the generator. What happens is a seesaw effect with intermitents and fast start gas fired stations balancing the load at considerable cost. Baseload is all bid for the previous day at the last price in to complete the balance requirement. (A potential for a large scale scam if a large percentage of generators is owned by the one company) There is no compensation for a baseload station ordered to cut generation. A baseload station also has to buy certificates off the intermittents to compensate for the carbon dioxide produced..they get no discount for certificates not used. (As yet, I do not know the volatility of these certificates regarding expiry date.)

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      • #
        TdeF

        That’s carbon content ratios of 3:1 or 4:1 but measured wet. And coal can be very wet
        often 66% or 2/3 in lignite. Even more from peat.
        When dry they are much more comparable energy sources despite the vary amount of compression even metamorphosis

        So
        Anthracite 32-33 Mj/kg
        Bituminous 23-33 Mj/kg
        Sub bituminous 18-23 Mj/kg
        Lignite/Brown 17-18 Mj/kg

        The high water content of brown coal is used by the Greens to shut down power statios, as in Germany and Victoria arguing that the CO2 output is far higher, per wet ton. Lower carbon just means more dirt because the CO2 per Mj is almost identical

        CO2 per mj
        Coal (anthracite) 228.60
        Coal (bituminous) 205.40
        Coal (lignite) 216.24
        Coal (subbituminous) 214.13

        So they are equally good fuels which means they are the same stuff.

        Around 2005 Victoria sold $400Million of brown coal to India, which deal was prohibited by the Labor government, using this very argument. Of course we were going to compress out water. No one wants to buy a product which is 2/3 dirty water but the campaign run by The Age newspaper was that the company was going to make the coal ‘blacker’ and everyone knows coal is dirty because it is black because all black things are dirty. So much for science and the fact that CO2 is invisible.

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        • #
          TdeF

          And dried the carbon content is

          Anthracite 86-92%
          Bituminous 76-86%
          Sub bituminous 70-76%
          Lignite/Brown 65-70%
          Peat <60%

          the water content of peat is often over 80%, but it has been shut down as a fuel in Ireland because of the fake arithmetic which makes out it is 5x less power for the same tonnage and therefore 5x as much CO2.

          By simple stoichiometry, CO2 is directly proportional to carbon not water content. The Green nonsense is that if the energy per ton is 20% then the CO2 is 5x worse. Yes, you need 5x as many tons, even 10x for the same energy but that does not mean 5x to 10x as much CO2.

          Victoria is on track to keeping hundreds of years of FREE lignite in the ground by destroying perfectly good power stations running on free coal. Because of fake arithmetic. And of course fake science that CO2 is a danger to humanity though global warming.

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        • #

          Germany’s coal fired plants use brown coal, and the Germans introduced a means of drying the coal out first before it was injected into the furnace.

          In this manner they have implemented the UltraSuperCritical (USC) technology for use with brown coal, and gained a 4% increase to the efficiency of USC when used with brown coal, and while 4% sounds little, that is a large incrtease in Efficiency.

          The first of these to utilise the drying process was the Neurath (F and G) constructed back in 2012.

          This same brown coal drying process technology was also going to be used as part of a major Upgrade retrofit for the Hazelwood plant in Victoria, before the Labor Government decided that blowing up the plant was the better option.

          Tony.

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          • #
            TdeF

            As I understand it, the patented process developed in joint venture between Monash University and a Bacchus Marsh company used compression and it worked well. Coal is mainly carbon and brown because of the water, so it did look blacker. Which offended the Greens. Black is bad, dirty. Children. Carbon dioxide is not smoke. It is colourless and the best carbon is diamond but I’ll bet the Greens have no idea.

            Consider the scene in James Bond’s Diamonds are Forever where the body stuffed with diamonds goes through the crematorium and the diamonds turn up in an urn. Clearly no one involved in the film understood diamonds are pure carbon with an ignition point of 900C. Diamonds are not forever.

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          • #
            Geoff Sherrington

            Tony,
            These properties of coal were taught to us in High School when I was there in the 1950s. Was anyone else here surprised that Tony and TdeF had to spell out such (excellent) detail because people did not know?
            Is there a lesson about education (about subjects that matter a lot to your living standard) or perhaps a lesson in distortion or suppression of valid information when zealots impose upon the educational system?
            Heavens, if greens cancel education about important, abundant coal, with what subject do the replace it? Unicorns? Geoff S

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      • #
        John Hultquist

        Hi all,
        I’ve said this before but it’s Sunday – give me a pass.
        I’m from the part of Pennsylvania where Bituminous coal has been mined; that is the western hills.
        Eastern PA has Anthracite.
        For a visual stimulus, search images for β€œpeacock coal”

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      • #
        Disco Stu

        Hi Tony,

        Going to have to pull you up on the Metallurgical coal. Coking coals are usually Bituminous with some PCI coals being semi-Anthracite. Anthracite is a thermal coal. This is because the “coking” properties have been driven off through heat and the hydro-carbon chains have shortened.

        Otherwise, good summary.

        Cheers,
        Stuart

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        • #
          TdeF

          Tony is logically right. It seems contradictory that the best coal with the highest carbon and fewest impurities often used for smoke free heat is not suitable for producing coke, but that seems to be the case.

          It seems that when anthracite coal melts it does not produce the porous carbon structure we know as coke and is therefore far less useful in steel making. Pure carbon, yes. Useful for coke production, not so much. And besides, top quality anthracite commands a better price for other applications.

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      • #
        Jonesy

        maximum particle size of 250–300 ΞΌm, 200 mesh. talcum powder is 325 to 1250mesh. Water is retained by a 30 mesh filter

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    • #
      David Maddison

      New Chum, ultimately Labor believe it is possible to economically produce metals by “green” methods without having any concept of the huge amount of cheap energy required to reduce metal oxide to metals. This cannot be done ecomomically with windmills or solar plant. Not now. Not ever.

      If Labor get into power they will destroy coal mining and reliable energy production even faster than the Liberals.

      https://www.alp.org.au/policies/powering-australia

      Allocate up to $3 billion from Labor’s National Reconstruction Fund to invest in green metals (steel, alumina and aluminium); clean energy component manufacturing; hydrogen electrolysers and fuel switching; agricultural methane reduction and waste reduction.

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      • #
        TdeF

        And smelting, which is the conversion of oxides of metal into raw metal almost always by using raw carbon from fossil fuels.

        However they will have to invent a replacement for concrete too. That is heated limestone which releases CO2.

        And a replacement for nitrogen fertilizers where Nitrogen is bonded to hydrogen from ethane.

        All because of a story that in a certain narrow invisible infrared band, tiny CO2 absorbs infrared. And a 50% increase in CO2 over 150 years is a threat to our existence. How anyone managed to popularize such a crazy idea without proof is beyond science.

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        • #
          David Maddison

          There is a warmist fantasy of “green steel” whereby iron ore is directly reduced to iron by hydrogen in a furnace. The hydrogen acts as a reducing agent similarly to CO. The hydrogen would be produced via windmills or solar panels by electrolysis or in a coal to hydrogen process and the CO2 is sequestered.

          It is theoretically possible but not practical or necessary and will result in steel being a rare luxury and expensive commodity.

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          • #
            James Murphy

            It is theoretically possible but not practical or necessary and will result in steel being a rare luxury and expensive commodity.

            That’s the point, isn’t it? The useful idiots supporting this rubbish will be sorely disappointed when they are not afforded the same access to luxuries as the people in power.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Steel is by far the world’s single biggest commodity. It is the basis of modern civilization and the industrial revolution. We are in the steel age. The aborigines were in the stone age. Early Egyptians the bronze age. The Assyrians the iron age. But steel ushered in machinery, engines, gears, cylinders which changed our world, freed the slaves, enabled automation, transportation, automation of agriculture, steel reinforced concrete and created cities and freeways and all other metals and machinery.

            And we would not have had steel without the discovery of coal as coke, a discovery which saved the forests of a denuded Europe
            and is freeing the planet so that humans are using less and less land every year.

            Without steel, we have nothing. Cancelling steel is the dream of Green madmen who think we can live without it. But they are utterly and proudly science ignorant people who think opinions beat facts and that all science is make believe, subject to their opinions.

            Greens are not farmers, not workers, not truck drivers, not scientists, or delivery men or real workers in the fields or smelters. They are utterly insulated from reality, the Eloi, the elites of the modern world who do not care about the massive cost of their ignorance.

            Since when did their ridiculous Green ideas ever lower any costs or do any good for anyone? When have their massively expensive unreliables or indulgent electric cars made life better or cheaper for anyone, subsidized by everyone else. Wreckers. They are a plague on our lives, utterly impractical people who do not pay their way. And not a single prediction made in 34 years of alleged global warming has come true.

            Hydrogen is a vastly expensive joke, impossible to store and transport and requiring that we hide carbon in the ground because it is evil and dirty. Is it however a way to make billionaires rich on other people’s money? Of course. What part of Green is not about making money by stealing from the public? It has to end.

            And China is ignoring our self indulgent Green idiocy. Their new religion is science and business and steel and coal. Not Green nonsense.

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            • #
              Geoffrey Williams

              Great commentary TdeF, at your best on this blog . .

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            • #

              Dont worry,….”Twiggy” has it all sorted..

              Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group has stunned investors with the announcement it will construct Australia’s first green steel production plant in 2021 and develop massive renewable power resources to produce green hydrogen.
              .

              Forrest said: β€œWe aim to start building Australia’s first green steel pilot plant this year, with a commercial plant in the
              Pilbara, powered entirely by wind and solar, in the next few years.”
              FMG is now undertaking feasibility studies that could lead to some 300 GW of power – more than four
              times what Australia can produce.

              The company is targeting hydro-electricity and geothermal, and solar, with a β€˜final aim is 1,000 gigawatts of zero-emissions energy’.
              …………
              Forrest said FMG was studying two methods of green steel production.

              β€œIn one, you replace coal in the furnace with our old friend, green hydrogen, (and) you get steel – but instead of emitting vast clouds of CO2, you produce nothing more than water vapour.

              β€œTo strengthen the steel, you simply add the carbon separately. It bonds into the metal rather than
              dispersing into the atmosphere. Beautiful.

              β€œThe other way to make green steel – the radical approach – is to scrap the blast furnace altogether and
              just zap the ore with renewable electricity.

              β€œFortescue is trialling both methods.”
              ………
              Forrest is already taking action, revealing that by the end of this year FMG’s trucks would be powered by renewable energy.

              β€œWe also aiming to develop green iron ore trains – that are powered by either renewable electricity
              or green ammonia.
              .”

              https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/andrew-forrest-stunning-aim-to-build-green-steel-plant-in-2021
              Well !, i will be impressed by that 1000 GW of electricity capacity..!
              I must remember to check how that plan is working out for FMC ..!

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              • #
                TdeF

                And that I read he appealed to the Federal Government to subsidize him with taxes. Forrest openly wants to get on the Green taxation gravy train, robbing the workers to pay for the feel good virtue signalling fantasies of billionaires like himself. Like Cannon-Brookes with AGL. And Bill Gates and his open disappointment that Omicron is vaccinating the world rapidly and for free. Sobbing not cheering. Whose side are these users on? Their own.

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              • #
                David Maddison

                https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/subsidised-green-hydrogen-to-future-proof-nsw-economy-20211013-p58zio

                Subsidised green hydrogen to β€˜future-proof’

                Angela Macdonald-Smith
                Oct 13, 2021 – 2.15pm

                NSW is expecting its bumper $3 billion of subsidies on offer for green hydrogen production will lure interest from energy importers in Japan and South Korea, despite the state being up to two years behind rivals Queensland and Western Australia in launching a strategy for the clean fuel.

                Fortescue Metals Group’s green energy arm also immediately voiced its keen interest to explore green hydrogen investments in NSW, alongside its existing ventures proposed in Tasmania and Western Australia.

                SEE LINK FOR REST

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              • #
                yarpos

                Just a hop,skip and a jump from Cannon Brookes’ Singapore extension cord project also, so power aplenty.

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              • #

                And further FFI plans from their own news desk…

                Construction of the world’s largest electrolyser facility has commenced today, the first stage of Fortescue Future Industries’ (FFI) Green Energy Manufacturing Centre (GEM) in Gladstone Queensland.

                The GEM will be powered by green energy and become a major new pollution free green manufacturing hub. The GEM will help create hundreds of new direct and indirect jobs in regional Queensland.

                Stage one is the A$114 million (US$83 million) electrolyser facility, which will be expanded as current demand indications crystalise. The GEM has several growth stages already planned into its factory footprint which includes green manufacturing technology such as cables, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.

                The GEM will adopt world leading technology and manufacturing practices and will help transform Queensland into a green energy superpower.

                The electrolyser facility will have an initial capacity of two gigawatts per annum – more than doubling current global production, and enough to produce more than 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each year.
                ………..

                FFI is targeting the production of 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year by 2030

                ..Try estimating how many Solar panels or Windmills it will take to produce that 15 million tonnes of H2 each year ?
                Or even just that initial target of 200,000 tons/ yr !

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              • #
                Jonesy

                This stuff goes by another name that a lot would have heard of before “Briquetted Steel” BHP tried it with lower grade iron ore and local natural gas and failed back in the early eighties…Good Luck,Twiggy

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              • #
                Jonesy

                Unless Twiggy has a secret catalyst up his sleeve. If he thinks he is going to produce 15million tonnes of H2 a year, he is going to need 479,000Tw/hrs of energy!

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              • #

                I thinks it more than that Jonesy,..
                It takes 55 kW of energy to produce 1 kg of Hydrogen by electrolysis..

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              • #

                That should read 55 kWh…..

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        • #
          Geoff Sherrington

          TdeF,
          Yes, aluminium oxide (approximately bauxite or alumina) takes a lot of energy plus heated carbon to make the metal aluminium.
          Look at it in reverse. Likewise, it takes a lot of energy to convert Carbon Dioxide back into Carbon (like as in coal).
          Yet, we have chemical engineers and others who are researching carbon dioxide capture, storage and conversion back to C or other targets.
          How can they fail to realise just how much energy this takes, plus the logical silliness of putting useful energy back into a process that exists to produce useful energy? Geoff S
          Plenty of links, see for starters
          https://energy.stanford.edu/research/fossil-nuclear-energy/co2-capture-storage-conversion

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      • #
        New Chum

        Thanks David but there has been a significant increase in the coal price in the last week, one price that I have seen $418.75 USD/t 8:03 pm 06/03 (AEDT) coal type not indicated

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    • #
      Mark Pawelek

      Metallurgical coal is low in ash, moisture, sulphur and phosphorus. It is either anthracite or bituminous coal. It is the most expensive kind of coal.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Which is why Australian black coal sell for much more, up to double. Our great competitor is Indonesia which only has thermal coal. We should be burning our own thermal coal and concentrating on maximizing exports of our quality metallurgical coal. Cities do not exist without steel and cities are stopping the spread of humanity across the fertile fields needed for agriculture. But that fact escapes the Greens. Then they see other people as the problem.

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  • #
    tonyb

    I have linked to todays entire Daily Sceptic instead of one article. Why? There s a very scathing article on how Australia has handled the pandemic and on how History is being rewritten. Do restrictions still remain in some places or is it now largely in your rear view mirror as it is here in the UK?

    Closely followed by an article on Trudeau and the truckers then one on the IPCC. So its interesting reading and the comments are always worth scanning through

    https://dailysceptic.org/todays-update/

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    • #
      James Murphy

      Here in France, the need to “show your papers” will be suspended on March 14, just under a month before the rounds of presidential elections begin. Suspended though, not removed…
      https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20220304-france-to-suspend-covid-vaccine-pass-from-14-march-as-situation-improves-masks

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      • #
        dinn, bob

        super-slick Macron.
        US subsidizes the Putin regime by buying their fuel https://balance10.blogspot.com/2022/03/us-subsidizes-putin-regime-by-buying.html
        Klaus Schwab said on video that Macron, Merkel and Putin attended his Young Global Leaders school

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        • #
          James Murphy

          the WEF or not, I thought there was a problem with Macron from the start, given his heritage as an investment banker (a la Turnbull) and how much the media loves him.
          The media approach to him prior to election was very similar to that of Kevin Rudd and John Howard – seen as some sort of new, dynamic breath of fresh air after the career public servant, Hollande.
          If you read French news in English, all the key organisations love to label his fellow presidential candidates as “far right”, or “extreme right wing” with no real description of their policies or stance on relevant topics. French language media is more diverse in their coverage, thankfully.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      In Western Australia, restrictions are still very much in place. One major one is the hospitals all going to β€œ red alert”, significantly limiting access to dying patients and cancelling most elective surgeries. We are still obliged to wear masks in public places and numbers are limited in most bars, restaurants, etc.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Their is no Australia answer, it varies State by State. Seems to be mostly waning to gone except in the hermit kingdom of WA. They will follow in due course I guess.

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        Who knows what McClown will do next. Think some of the rules changed today, and may change tomorrow. Of course, no real explanation of the reasons.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        Qld has dropped the mask mandate. AFAIK it still doesn’t allow me into a restaurant or pub. DIGAS?

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        • #
          Ian1946

          You are correct, as a fellow pure blood we are not allowed in Pubs and clubs, live music etc. a sufficient amount of revenge has not been created for our decision not to follow the sheep but to follow the real science.

          The CHO’s powers have been extended to October. He was recently quoted as saying masks could come back for the flu season.

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        • #
          Steve of Cornubia

          I suspect that most cafes and restaurants are already forgetting to check the vaccination status of patrons. For many running such businesses, the choice is: challenge every customer on their vaccination status, which may result in lost business and/or a confrontation, or simply ask no questions and pay the rent for another day.

          This is pure speculation, of course πŸ˜‰

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          • #
            yarpos

            Agree but they do run the risk of getting pinged by some officious health inspector ahole relishing their little bit of power.

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        • #
          Grogery

          There is a very detailed explanation from the QLD gov public health and social measures webpage. /s

          Questions and answers about changes to restrictions in Queensland

          “Are you penalising unvaccinated people?
          No. This isn’t about penalising unvaccinated people.
          What we’re doing here is by no means unique to Queensland. Other states also have restrictions on what unvaccinated people can and can’t do.”

          Beautifully explained don’t ya think?

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            Unvaccinated not allowed to fill sand bags to control the floods. Tell me that the Qld. Government is sane (but I have my doubts).

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Restrictions continue to operate throughout Australia. Vaccination is still compulsory for all employees and employers everywhere, AFAIK.

        And no unvaxxed Australian is allowed to leave the country, except for rare, hard-to-get exemptions.

        And in Vicdanistan, the unvaxxed can’t even get haircuts or go to beauty parlours or attend restaurants or public events.

        The restrictions might be invisible for most but they most definitely remain.

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    • #
      yarpos

      I wonder what the ideal model they , with hindsight, think should have been followed?

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      • #
        Graeme#4

        Will our state Premiers and public bureaucrats ever properly analyse what they have done and admit their mistakes?

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Graeme #4:

          Are you kidding? Of course not. The lttle tin gods think they are made of platinum.

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        • #
          yarpos

          If ever there was a case for a Royal Commission to determine lessons learnt, extent of abuses, and structural changes needed this is it. I dont expect anything to happen along those lines of course.

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          • #
            Philby

            What another sham royal commission with a very compliant ex judge like Andrews instigated. He wouldn’t even tell the true story and so a whitewash.Millions squandered on a sham inquiry but the legal mob did extremely well out of it.

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        • #
          another ian

          There will be Antarctic size crevasses in the egg on face the day that happens!

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    • #
      John Hultquist

      Starting with different dates in mind the US west coast governors colluded to lift mask mandates simultaneously at 11:59 p.m. March 11.
      Why not last week, or today?

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Thanks Tony, there’s some good reading in there.

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  • #
    James Murphy

    is it just me that thinks it’s weird to see the Bureau of Meteorology issue a statement saying there is no Tsunami threat to Australia from an earthquake in Mt Barker (South Australia, for those unaware)?

    More charitably, perhaps the BOM person in charge of Twitter account has a sense of humour?
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-06/adelaide-earthquake-tremor-mt-barker/100886238

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    • #
      yarpos

      meh, its the weekend and its probably on a checklist for some junior operations person to follow unquestioningly.

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    • #
      Ian Hill

      I was at my computer at 7:20am and felt the earthquake. At first I thought it was a large truck going past, but quickly realised it was a quake. The floorboards in my old house rumbled and the wine glasses in the cabinet tinkled. I estimate it lasted 5-8 seconds. It’s the biggest I’ve ever experienced.

      My sister rang me from Queensland and said it was set off deliberately by the “white hats”. Part of the great reset apparently.

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      • #
        James Murphy

        If Adelaide and its surrounds are the…err…epicentre… for an earthquake machine test, then I would be very surprised!!

        The vast majority of data contributing to the understanding regional stress regimes has come from oil and gas wells. This would be considered bad by some, I guess.

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      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Me too at computer and dismissed it as vehicular. I slept through the last one a few years ago.

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        • #
          James Murphy

          In the interests of science, you can report your experiences via this link:
          https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au/event/ga2022enjnky

          the “I felt this earthquake” button leads to a short survey.

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          • #
            Ian Hill

            Thanks James. I just filled out the survey.

            Note the one which comes up when the link is clicked is for a less severe (2.4) event a couple of hours later. I found the correct, magnitude 3.7 quake which happened at 7:20am and reported for that one. It’s easy to find using the search facility.

            I tried to do a link for that one but it came up with the same, smaller quake.

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  • #
    beowulf

    Report of Toddlers Death Disappears from VAERS and CDC Has No Records as to Why

    On December 16, 2021, ICAN, through its attorneys, issued a Freedom of Information Act request to the CDC seeking any documents reflecting why a certain VAERS report was no longer available in the VAERS database. The report described an extremely disturbing incident wherein a two-year-old boy β€œbegan bleeding out of the mouth, eyes, nose and ears within six hours” of his first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on November 18, 2021, and died later that night. On February 14, 2022, the CDC finally responded to ICAN’s request, stating: β€œA search of our records failed to reveal any documents pertaining to your request.”

    https://www.icandecide.org/ican_press/report-of-toddlers-death-disappears-from-vaers-and-cdc-has-no-records-as-to-why/

    110

    • #
      Klem

      Why would anyone in their right mind even consider giving a healthy two year old an experimental vaccine? What were they thinking?!

      210

      • #
        yarpos

        For some people people their children are just accessories or props for their virtue signalling and social media “lifestyle” Its just another kids get abused.

        120

      • #
        Gerry

        Fear will make people do extraordinary things. The fear that many have is real. The cause often less so.

        20

  • #
    beowulf

    The END of ATMs in Australia? Thousands of cash machines are removed across the country as banks go digital.

    The analysis revealed close to 460 bank branches have shut down across the nation in recent years, and dating back to 2020, approximately 3800 previously active ATMs have been removed.

    NSW alone now has 140 fewer in-store banks, and almost 300 suburbs don’t have a singular ATM to withdraw cash.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10561999/The-END-ATMS-Australia-Thousands-cash-machines-removed-banks-digital.html

    80

    • #
      yarpos

      didnt we do this just a couple of days ago?

      21

    • #
      tonyb

      They are trying to make everyone do online banking over here in the UK. Many ATm’s have been removed. Bearing in mind the likely hacking of banks by Russians it would be as well to withdraw some cash as cards won’t work

      40

      • #
        yarpos

        Are there options? here you can get cash out at point of sale or go to a PO as an alternative, or does the lack of ATMs really slam the gate in the UK.

        I can see POs becoming a soft target for armed robberies here if the trend continues. We live in a rural area and it isnt that unusual see a local handing over significant cash while paying bills at the counter (while we wait to post a box) In conversation with the council about rates the lady said it was not unusual for farmers to turn up with large amounts of cash to pay rates. The cash is out their, in fact I paid cash just the other day to get some trees topped that were just beyond my capability. So I guess I am part of the “problem”

        30

        • #

          Atm’s are of course open 24/7 whereas post offices aren’t. It’s likely you will have to queue to get money out of a post office assuming there is a branch in the place. You can get cash back from some shops but would have to make a purchase.

          Some towns have lost their banks and Atm’s so getting cash can be difficult. Our suburb is very fortunate in having a bank, post office and four Atm’s

          50

          • #
            yarpos

            Yes we are at the stage of having to think about it, and we have the advantage of being out and about a lot , so in an average week we are in at least 3 regional towns. If restricted to one it becomes tougher.

            20

    • #
      Klem

      They are preparing people for their digital ID future and the digital currency that wil be used to track them.

      (Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean the world isn’t out to get me)

      170

      • #
        Chris

        Scott Morrison in his speech to Davos reiterated his full support for the digital currency.

        The Digital currency is the “Great Reset’.

        The Governor of the Reserve Bank stated a few weeks ago, that Australians had stuffed a lot of money under their mattresses during covid. If they shut down the ATMs and banking went off line for a few days, we would need to spend that money under the mattress and they would then have us by the throat.

        30

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Mrs H, more than I, has always wanted a “hollow log”.

      I assume that should the banking system fail I have enough in those hollow logs now to see us out.

      I do not consider my house is “negotiable”. My gold stocks are.

      61

      • #
        el+gordo

        Old people who are digitally ignorant might be inclined to stash cash under the mattress.

        21

        • #
          yarpos

          When my mum was cleaning house following the passing of her dad she found a shoebox with $10k in it. A good house deposit at the time. There wasnt that much to be digitally ignorant of at the time but Grandad seemed to want to keep some funds out of the banking system.

          40

  • #
    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Sorry, tried to listen.
      One thing for NATO to absorb out to Ukraine.
      I would feel better if the absorption didn’t involve a sitting Vice President’s drug addled son being paid huge $ from a corrupt Ukraine energy firm, and said VP stopping said absorbee from investigating.
      But hey, the Cold War is back, and the Foreign Policy Egg Heads can now unscramble themselves after having their high horses uncomfortably Trumped.

      110

      • #
        PeterS

        Some would say the cold war never went away. In any case, it could too quickly turn into a hot war not only with Russia but also with China if NATO persists on protecting Ukraine…..Russia warns against offering airfields to Ukraine
        1. Russia warns against offering airfields to Ukraine
        2. China opposes moves that β€˜add fuel to flames’ in Ukraine
        Hopefully cool heads will prevail and current talks on all sides come to some sort of resolution without escalation to a world war.

        51

        • #
          Honk R Smith

          I got some idea who’s in charge in Russia.
          Not so much the USA.
          Calculating tyrant versus I don’t know what.

          52

          • #
            PeterS

            Putin like all other world leaders are just puppets to higher order and far more sinister puppet masters.

            20

        • #
          yarpos

          Wonder why Vlad doesnt withdraw to the Eastern provinces he professes to care so much about? Then he could claim a victory of sorts and deescalate the situation. Seems he is all in on regime change , Iraq style.

          22

          • #
            PeterS

            That would have been the right thing to do but he decided for whatever reason to take it all, perhaps to push back or even destroy NATO. Whether he succeeds only time will tell. It’s a lot like playing chess except the stakes are much higher. Who do you think would win in a game of chess between Putin and Biden? Not sure as I don’t know who well each of them play it, if at all but I suspect Putin would have a better chance at it even if both never played the game before.

            43

            • #
              yarpos

              If they played regulation with a timer , I doubt Biden could stay awake or focussed after move one (unless drugged up and earphone equipped)

              22

          • #
            farmerbraun

            “why Vlad doesn’t withdraw to the Eastern provinces:”
            He will withdraw completely from the Ukraine as soon as he has hunted down and eliminated every single one of his targets.
            That is his stated purpose.
            Nothing more ; nothing less.

            23

            • #
              yarpos

              They could have done that assassination style like the US and Israel , no need to invade. How many Iranian nuclear scientists and high level Hamas officials have we been through?

              11

          • #
            Steve of Cornubia

            Possibly because provoking the west is the whole point. He wants to embroil NATO and the US in an actual shooting war. This would also explain his attacks on civilians. The real question is why. One answer could be that he is, as I have long expected, making the opening gambit in a joint Russia/China war. Only when/if NATO and America engage properly, will China make a move on Taiwan.

            20

  • #
    Grogery

    I posted this on the weekend open thread before I realised the Sunday open thread was available, so here it is again.

    This has probably been posted already, but if you haven’t seen the video, it’s worth the 20 minutes. It was taken down by facebook, this is an alternative link.

    COVID-CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST-IN-AUSTRALIA

    51

    • #
      PeterS

      All good to know how we got to where we are now but how about we all do something to prevent it from getting any worse? Vote accordingly. If not then don’t blame the major parties if they become even more draconian. Just look in the mirror to find out who to blame.

      42

  • #
    PeterS

    Welcoming the New World Order
    …but it will be NOTHING as even Schwab expected.

    30

  • #

    good

    [Good what? Good spam? – Jo]

    00

  • #
    Jojodogfacedboy

    Is it just me?
    Or do you think the UK government teaching people how to throw molotov cocktails weird?

    https://thesaker.is/sitrep-

    The chances of blowback and boomerang against it’s own governments and politicians is quite high.

    20

  • #
    John Hultquist

    I’ve tried to replace the image of the Brown Bear with a drawing of a Shamrock.
    This didn’t work on this site.
    I’m busy working on this conundrum.

    30

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Whoa…appears to suggest that it may have only been possible to get people to take a covid “vaccine” due to the “pandemic”?

    “Would you be willing to take gene or cell therapy and inject it into your body?’ we would have probably had a 95% refusal rate”.

    Um……

    Video here :

    https://twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/1499525335762620416

    https://www.bayer.com/en/board-of-management/stefan-oelrich

    50

  • #
    tonyb

    I don’t know if this story is going the rounds in Oz that Shane Warne had some pre existing health conditions and had perhaps exacerbated them with an extreme diet?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10582245/Shane-Warne-completed-extreme-14-day-liquid-diet-dying-heart-attack-Thailand.html

    10

    • #
      RickWill

      Full of life – heavy smoker (remember he was paid $200,000 to advertise Nicoretteo quit bu); heavy drinker, binge dieter from overweight to lean and trim on more than one occasion; essentially enjoyed life enthusiastically and partied on. Warnie did not grow old and now never will.

      31

      • #
        yarpos

        Some people burn brightly but briefly and others lead very safe beige lives. As long as we are free to chose.

        30

    • #
      Tides of Mudgee

      This might seem like a picky little point, but Cricket Australia has said that they’re going to name the Great Southern Stand at the MCG after him and call it the S.K. Warne Stand. Why not the Shane Warne Stand? No-one knows him as S.K. Warne. It seems unnecessarily and unidentifiably formal. I think naming it in his honour is fabulous, but Shane not S.K. Maybe it should be β€œWarnie’s Stand”. That’d be good. ToM

      40

    • #
      Ross

      Yes, its definitely doing the rounds in Australian MSM. You can predict they way the narrative will go. He was a great bloke who didnt look after his health.

      20

      • #

        True… and was true even during his playing days.

        23

      • #
        Mantaray Yunupingu

        Ross. Still gene-jab defending BS….and obviously so…

        Go to any public place to note the THOUSANDS of totally 100% unfit slobs, aged well over 52, getting about. Check out the pubs and bottle shops packed with the same type of unfit slobs loaded down with booze AND ciggies……also aged well over 52. If Warne is to be portrayed as a “heart attack waiting to happen” then how come he is the only 52 year old it happened to?

        All too clearly the triple-vaxed Shane had some other causative factor involved. Wonder what it might have been for the triple-vaxed legend?

        BTW: Anyone busily preparing to defend the gene-jabs might consider that since the dosages are probably staggered (ie some full strength, some half strength, some quarter strength, and some placebo etc) it is the RANDOM accumulation which causes some of the gene-jabbed to last longer than others. Them that gets the fatal early on goes out first!

        24

        • #
          yarpos

          “….then how come he is the only 52 year old it happened to?”

          how would you, me or most of Australia be able to say that?

          40

        • #

          What a bizarre rant. Plenty of people Warne’s age die in a similar manner and have done since forever.

          23

          • #
            Mantaray Yunupingu

            Names Gee Aye? There are “plenty”, so a few names should be easy.

            And to help you in your efforts, here’s a list of 175 celebrities who died of heart attacks..https://www.onthisday.com/people/cause-of-death/heart-attack

            Remember: it’s not the very young who’s congenital heart problems become known suddenly, nor middle-aged types (like Warne) who have been long diagnosed before we’re interested in.. Warne is that very rarest death: illness not detected, and not young.

            Is this combination even possible in an elite sportsperson?

            BTW: Elvis at 42? Please tell us you have more than THAT!

            12

            • #
              yarpos

              just getting weird now

              00

              • #
                Mantaray Yunupingu

                It got weird the moment the population were cajoled, coerced, threatened, bullied etc into getting known clot-causing injections, as you now realise. Weirder AND weirder.

                Then we get a tripling or quadrupling of active sports-people with serious, often deadly, clot-related complications.

                Now we get a true great, with no history of heart disease going out from what? Clotting of the heart? Myocarditis? Pericarditis? Yes: VERY weird!

                20

              • #
                yarpos

                No asking for names of deceased 50 year olds as an argument is just plain weird.

                00

              • #

                Agree Yarpos. Plus Warne did have warning signs and he was not an elite sports person. You might look at deaths in former elite cyclists and footballers. Dead early for drugs or brain injury (or suicide because of brain injury)

                00

    • #
      Chris

      There has been an article in the press today that stated that Warnie has had heart trouble only for the last few days, it did not indicate that there has been an ongoing problem. One friend commented that he would eat lasagne wrapped in heavily buttered bread rolls and then the next day decide to go on green smoothie diet. The article went on to say there was blood scattered around the room, it was thought this was the result of friends giving him CPR before the medics came.

      10

  • #
    Mark Pawelek

    [Duplicate]AD

    10

  • #
    PeterS

    Rescues are desperately need in the floods up north but are being blocked by the COVID-19 mandates. People are dying. PM Morrison where are you? By doing nothing you have exposed your true colours.

    50

    • #
      • #
        beowulf

        It seems we can send help to Fiji or Tonga after a cyclone quicker than we can to Lismore in our own backyard after a flood. We are not talking some remote outpost β€” this is on the road from Brisbane to Sydney. Apparently we can mobilise the Army to check up on people isolating with Covid, but not to provide timely help to our fellow citizens in need even when given warning of an impending disaster.

        The Lismore SES was stretched beyond its limit, but the directions given by its commander to the public not to launch boats into the floodwaters would have resulted in many more deaths if followed. People waited days to be picked up from on top of their roofs even with a fleet of private vessels helping out.

        A local woman took over rescue coordination via her Facebook group and effected hundreds of rescues as well as providing information on missing loved ones to families split by the flood. She ended up with a crew of volunteers coordinating rescues from a makeshift hub where they triaged requests for help. From a distance at least, the official Lismore rescue effort seems to be a large shambles. Local SES should have been given way more help from head office and much sooner.

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-06/nsw-floods-how-a-spreadsheet-became-lifesaver-in-lismore/100885054

        It was reported that Perrottet was on the ground around the Northern Rivers district for 6 days. I don’t know what the hell he achieved there apart from looking empathetic and holding press conferences.

        As for Morrison: finally the Army is sending 1,500 troops and 4 Chinooks to Lismore. How many days too late?

        50

        • #
          Serp

          First he had to arrange the shipment of missiles to Ukraine eh.

          I didn’t know we had any; only last week I was reading that our patrol boats are not equipped with them.

          I suppose we’re striking a price for these resources, after all we had to pay a million dollars each for the US missiles we fired in Iraq.

          40

        • #
          Mantaray Yunupingu

          beowulf. Said it all before….

          Any assistance to these dopes should be predicated on THEM making serious efforts to protect their own arses. Which means lifting every existing house, or else bulldozing them to rebuild on higher ground. FFS, when are those bumpkins gonna learn anything?

          Let’s say the Titanic survivors are floundering about and I go out rescuing them. THEN, once in the lifeboat they decide to jump back into the freezing ocean again. Am I gonna give a shyte what happens to them next?

          Would YOU? Would anyone? Let the lemmings save themselves!

          32

        • #
          ghl

          Beowulf
          Another possible way to view proceedings.
          S.E.S. command structure now must deal with social media “noise”. I wonder if their information web is developing holes.
          Now it’s possible granny may do a better job than the trained SES guys, but what are the odds.

          31

          • #
            beowulf

            The way I read it is that the woman with the laptop referred to above apparently stepped into the vacuum left by the SES for some days, both at the organisational and operational levels.

            There were folks needing rescue and there were boat owners looking to help, but no one in between to coordinate their activities. The NSW SES Commissioner, Carlene York, had reportedly specifically issued instructions that private boat owners were not to help with rescues, whether for demarcation or safety reasons I don’t know, but I can guess. Thank goodness she was ignored.

            Our local SES (nowhere near Lismore) does some good work, but is also a bit of a running joke even among other SES units, so I’m not that surprised.

            30

            • #
              another ian

              Similar happenings in the 1990 Charleville flood – built around a FOT copy of D-Base

              20

            • #
              ghl

              bw
              I do not know which view, or any other is more accurate, but I know which way the ABC would automatically spin it. I am just a curmudgeon who expects anti government spin from the ABC.
              Perhaps I over compensate.

              10

        • #
          Chris

          Unfortunately some one decided that the unvaxxed could not help . from AVI ( rebel news)

          30

    • #
      • #

        The government is asleep and routinely blames the states. It has also spent almost a decade gutting the public service’s ability to act proactively and get things done for people.

        Compare with the response to the 2009 bushfires if you want to see how things have gone downhill.

        17

        • #
          yarpos

          I wish I could live in that Universe where the public service is proactive. The only trace I have ever seen is long term planning and building, where everything moves at a glacial pace and too little arrives too late on a regular basis.

          70

          • #

            Did you look up the response to the 2009 bushfires yet?

            04

            • #

              Let me help- 4 days after the fire (how long since the floods began?). Federal parliament suspended so they could get on with acting.

              Federal parliament was suspended due to the emergency. The Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, accepted an offer from the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to dispatch members of the Australian Defence Force to provide assistance in that state. Rudd described the bushfires as an “appalling tragedy for Victoria,” saying “Hell and all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours.”

              the day after the fires – paid immediately

              The Victorian Government’s Department of Human Services offered immediate assistance of up to $1,067 for affected people. The Federal Government announced a $10 million package of emergency assistance, available from 9 February, providing $1,000 per adult and $400 per child for those who had been hospitalised with injuries or who had lost their homes.

              The event happened and action was possible straight away. Federally, this cannot be done now as the PS is just not set up to do it. There was no dithering or blaming.

              24

              • #
                yarpos

                A spit in the ocean and a focus on appearance vs substance. Why not talk about how long it took to deliver real results and compensation? More than a decade later. I happen to live in that area.

                30

              • #
                yarpos

                ….and of course actions afeter the event are hardly examples of being proactive

                00

        • #
          Mantaray Yunupingu

          Gee Aye. Why should any govt be helping them now that the immediate danger is over?

          Geez. I go hiking for weeks on end in remote and often trackless back-country (my personal unscripted version of SAS Australia!)…OFTEN. When things happen to me due to my decision (examples: slipping into ravines: getting swept away by raging creeks and rivers: being bitten by cantankerous snakes and magpies etc…I do not expect anyone from Govt (not even Kevin Rudd with his teeny tiny suitcase) to save me.

          Why should anyone go rescuing people who live on floodplains….especially when no longer flooded?

          Tough titties!

          BTW: Exception is kids who have no choice in where their idiot parents are living.

          41

        • #
          Philby

          We have overpaid commissioners for everything these days with public servants by the thousands .Why attack the PM when they pay monkeys to just stand in front of cameras all day mouthing platitudes. Get the state employed services to work.

          51

        • #
          robert rosicka

          Gee Aye the comedy series β€œYes Minister” was not based on fiction and even if it was it aligns with what public service is in reality .

          30

        • #
          Gerry

          I don’t want a public service that is proactive ….. I want one that is only proactive in providing support for businesses to be proactive ….businesses will get things done …public servants will discuss, plan, strategise, develop policies and procedures, classify and categorise and then go on holidays …..nuh ….leave the public servants out of anything proactive for the nation ……did I forget to mention consult ? …….

          00

    • #
      David Maddison

      The pandemic is practically over but Australia maintains a fanatical commitment to demonize the unvaxxed who refused compulsory vaccination.

      Plus, the psychology going on here is that the flood victims are being socially engineered to hate the unvaxxed because they can’t be utilised as volunteers.

      Meanwhile the unvaxxed remain punished in other ways such as not being able to leave the country, or work, trade or in Vicdanistan go to restaurants or public events or get a haircut or visit a beauty parlor.

      With regard to the prohibition of leaving the country for overseas travel, you’d think that Australia, like most dictatorships would be pleased to rid itself of political dissidents, however punishing the unvaxxed seems more important than getting rid of domestic enemies of the state.

      And Australia expects tourists to return?

      210

      • #
        Harves

        As borders open up, vaxxed Australians are quite happy to travel to countries with no mandates, yet still want their fellow Australians punished for refusing to be injected with a substance that does not work as advertised.

        170

      • #
        PeterS

        It all exposes how decrepit and morally bankrupt both major parties are. Yet people will still vote for them.

        As for tourism, that will take years to recover assuming the world isn’t going down the plug hole by then at an accelerating pace.

        51

  • #
    R.B

    A slightly different topic. South Australian Labor is going strong on the ambulance crisis here, as the election is in two weeks. Queensland and Victoria are both Labor states and have an ambulance crisis as well.

    The ABC chipped in last night https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-06/sa-ramping-problem/100884398?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

    “Marina Obbiettivo died from a heart attack in August, aged 60. The ambulance should have arrived at her Myrtle Bank home in Adelaide’s east within 16 minutes. But it took 30 minutes β€” too long to save her life.”

    12 people, including 4 children, died in Victoria because of waiting up to 16 minutes to connect to a 000 operator. The article mentions that there are problems in other states, but not how much worse it is. This is relevant as we are bombarded with ads from the unions on it. “Vote Labor as if your life depends on it, because it does”

    Labor also sent out a leaflet with a graph showing the rise in ramping hours under the Liberals. What it shows is that the problem started increasing under Labor, who built a new $2b hospital that was opened in 2017. It also shows a massive drop during Covid lockdowns. A lot less driving and work accidents but also an elephant in the room – partying with drugs.

    The ABC article mentions “mental health” as a reason but no mention of drugs.

    30

    • #
      Ross

      Probably following the model set by the ambos in the lead up to the 2014 state election in Victoria. Wage dispute which extended into the election campaign. Ambulance union aligned with Labor, so they were anti Liberal government of the time. The ambos were allowed to write all over their ambulances with anti Liberal govt slogans. It went on for weeks and the managers couldn’t stop it. Ambulances literally drove around my city displaying those slogans , when NOT on call. Parked them in conspicuous places etc.

      50

    • #

      Why should SA labor withhold commenting on an issue just because of something happening in another state? If it needs fixing it needs fixing politics aside.

      15

  • #
    Neville

    Matt Ridley tries to answer the question, why the numerous cold viruses always mutate to become less deadly.
    He also tries to answer why the Spanish flu was more deadly than the 3 Covids we’ve had to endure.
    He also explains why deadly diseases like HIV AIDs or Malaria don’t behave like the flu viruses or CV-19.
    He is an evolutionary biologist and once again points to Darwinian selection as his best guess.
    Amazing also that the long reach of Darwin is still relevant to us today. And he also quickly solved the coral island growth puzzle in 1836. But Ridley also insists that we should check his theory and challenge him.

    https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/how-viruses-evolve/

    80

    • #
      PeterS

      Natural selection and mutation are now much better understood than back when Darwin talked about it. However, genetic engineering to alter things artificially rather than leaving it up to nature is still in its infancy but advancing. The best way to overcome a pandemic is still time and alternative non-vaccine based treatments. Vaccines (at least the real kind – not the mRNA type) do have a place but they need to be thoroughly tested and developed first. That takes years. Longer term I have no doubt that genetic engineering will be so advanced it will be used more and more. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends the mindset of those in power; and it’s not looking good.

      90

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Neville, talking of SeΓ±or Carlos Darwin, am presently reading his Voyage Of The Beagle [Journal Of Researches] written in 1845 (this reissue 1968). I’d always thought of him as ‘an old man’ but of course, when he set sail with Capt. Fitzroy, he was a young man in his early 20s out to explore the world (as most of us did).

      In Chapter VII he mentions the 1827-30 ‘gran seco’, great drought, which devastated the Pampas region of Argentina, wiping out over a million head of cattle in the Buenos Ayres [sic] hinterland alone. He wrote:

      “The droughts to a certain degree seem to be almost periodical; I was told the dates of several others and the intervals were about fifteen years.” P.134

      On the following page he noted: “Subsequently … a very rainy season followed, which caused great floods“.

      His method of enquiry – not only wandering about, prodding and poking, observing and collecting samples, but talking to the locals – is a skill somewhat lacking in today’s post- post-modern, so-called intellectual, experts. Am keenly looking forward to his passage through Magellan’s Strait and onwards into the mighty Pacific (hello coral reefs!).

      90

      • #
        Neville

        Thanks Greg in NZ and you’ll note when he stopped off in SW of WA he observed in 1836 the local Aboriginals cleaning up or reducing the risk of extreme fires as well.
        To be fair WA govts have done a better job for decades keeping the bush cleaner that we’ve done in Eastern states.
        But Aboriginals used fire to reduce the fuel load in Eastern OZ as well. Captain Cook noted many fires burning in 1770 on his journey up the coast.

        90

        • #
          Graeme#4

          WA govts have been trying to cool burn around 10% of our forests, but this insufficient to prevent dangerous buildups of eucalyptus litter. But a lot better than Victoria and NSW, who cool burn less than 2%.

          80

          • #
            yarpos

            Really depends on 10% or 2% of what, before you can determine what is “better”

            Also depends on how risk assessments are done to make sure burn offs have the maximum benefit

            10

            • #
              Graeme#4

              Of the WA forests, which are mainly eucalypt, such as Jarrah and Marri. When mentioning the 2% of other state forests, I am assuming that they also are mainly eucalypt. Eucalypts drop litter at a rate of around 8 tonnes per hectare, of which only 29% decomposes annually. The CSIRO ran a series of tests on how much eucalypt litter was required to create bushfires that were basically impossible to quickly extinguish. I don’t have the figures in front of me, but I believe the amount was over 10 tonnes/ha and less than 20 tonnes. So it doesn’t take too many years before the eucalypt litter builds up to levels where you end up with series bushfires.

              10

        • #
          yarpos

          Quite the anglo interpretation. He may have seen aboriginals, he may have seen fire, eveything else is what people want to beleive.

          10

  • #
    R.B

    Their ABC

    NSW and Queensland flooded the same week a major climate report was released. We need to talk about it

    Don’t release the reports? As good an argument that it was due to this as it was to a quarter of a degree of warming due to human emissions.

    It will take time for scientists to determine how much climate change contributed to the devastation, this time.

    But this is what climate change looks like. Big weather, tumbling records, one extreme following another.

    And it’s going to get worse.

    Cold, hot, wet ,dry – its all due to an increase in the average temperature that is a fraction of diurnal changes even in Darwin, rather than climate change.

    If there is a consensus, its only that emissions will increase the global average temperature by 1.5 degree if CO2 levels double, with most of that being an increase in minimum temperatures in temperate and polar regions. It isn’t that straight forward that a warmer atmosphere means more rain in such weather patterns because it holds more moisture. The cooling of humid warm air will be less as well.

    60

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    John Connor II

    NZ COVID BILL: WHAT’S COMING IN NEW ZEALAND

    This is proposed to take effect on 1st April. This is of grave concern for ALL New Zealanders.”

    The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 passed its 2nd reading Wednesday night in NZ. (it was passed early in the morning)

    ZERO rights for an unvaccinated person.

    https://seemorerocks.is/nz-covid-bill-whats-coming-in-new-zealand/

    Covid (stage 1) has been done to death now.
    It’s nothing and indeed realistically never was an emergency except a politically contrived one.

    Stage 2 – war.

    I’ve seen a lot of good solid info in the past few days but I’m going to think about what I can/should/dare post, so it’s all going to wait for Tuesday’s open thread.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Beware the Ides of March – oh wait, that’s 15/3, they pulled THAT one off a few years back (a teaser shock). Beware April Fool’s Day – yep, 1/4, the new tax year. NB. We do day first then month second πŸ™‚

      Govt Radio last Thursday reported parliament was postponed, then ‘suspended’, until Tuesday 8th March; not sure what shenanigans they’re up to in the ‘downtime’ – if it’s anything resembling their party speeches last week, where ONE AND ALL fired-off nasty vitriol and name-calling toward those who refused to bow down to ‘authority’ and ‘science’, things could get (as Sun Tzu warned) ‘interesting’.

      80

    • #
      MP

      Extract from your link, just so its clear.

      This is proposed to take effect on 1st April. This is of grave concern for ALL New Zealanders.”

      The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 passed its 2nd reading Wednesday night in NZ. (it was passed early in the morning)

      ZERO rights for an unvaccinated person. Read this again!!

      This legislation will allow for:

      1. The lockdown of unvaccinated or insufficiently vaccinated individuals.

      2. The ability to restrict travel within the country to unvaccinated or insufficiently vaccinated (e.g. a person who does not want to get a booster shot).

      3. Withhold certification from those who do not get required boosters or subsequent combinations of vaccines as may be ordered at any time.

      4. The ability to dictate the type and form of certification required for proof of vaccination status β€” digital or otherwise.

      5. The ability to dictate what other information may be required for the renewal of vaccine certificates, and which information may be contained on such a certificate.

      6. The period for which a vaccine certificate is valid can be changed at any time, and who it is that may be entitled or eligible to have these certificates.

      7. The specification of mandates for entire job sectors.

      8. The ordering of certain jobs to require regular mandatory testing and medical examination.

      9. Enforcement officers to be able to demand certification, pretty much at any time.

      10. The appointment of enforcement officers that can be anybody they wish to appoint, and not necessarily police.

      11. Enforcement officers to inspect and take copies of certification to be verified at a later date, before immediately returning such documentation.

      12. The provision of an assessment tool for employers to use to determine who should be vaccine mandated, however employers can totally disregard the assessment tool and mandate at whim.

      13. Legal or other representatives of employees may be refused entry to workplaces.

      14. Contact tracing information may be used against a person in order to enforce the Act.

      15. Employees who have been dismissed for non-compliance of testing or vaccination, but comply at the last minute, may still be dismissed if the employer deems revoking the dismissal to be disruptive of their business

      https://seemorerocks.is/nz-covid-bill-whats-coming-in-new-zealand/

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Good grief.

        My condolences.

        Australia is now in its third year of this madness, but there have been moments of relaxation here in country NSW.

        New Zealand is heading for a human catastrophe.

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      • #
        tonyb

        MP

        Truly scary. I suppose the excuse will be that although the legislation ‘allows’ for all those things, the NZ government has no intention whatsoever of actually implementing them except in an extreme emergency…Honest!

        Mind you, Australia at times seems to have gone quite mad and I was surprised to learn how many restrictions are still in place in various states.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Herr Schwab is very proud of his student, Frau Ardern.

      100

  • #
    John Connor II

    Juice Media – The United Australia party

    ** Language warning, but they have toned it down **

    https://www.thejuicemedia.com/honest-government-ad-united-australia-party/

    Vote for ’em – they’ll save you, just like all the other parties have.😎

    23

    • #
      PeterS

      They won’t save us but at least we do have a chance to give incumbent parties a kick on the behinds than rewarding them by allowing them to keep kicking our behinds instead. There must be a mental sickness of some kind that keeps affecting a lot of people who keep voting for the major parties expecting things to get better when in fact it’s clearly getting worse. Oh well, that’s how the cookie crumbles. We’ll just have to learn the hard way. Welcome to the land of self-inflicted sucker punching.

      70

    • #
      Graeme#4

      I heard an ad from the UAP that said they believe in climate change. Do we have any political parties in Australia that DON’T believe in AGW?

      50

  • #
    mike+reed

    mike reed
    Hey this the juice media mob are a real bunch of useful idiots .Just looked at their “information “ads on climate change wow -they talk about real action on climate
    change and the solution -you got it more windmills! They probably also believe that its a great idea to inject everyone with a vaccine that has not been trialled properly(a few months as opposed to 10 years ) so they counter the UAP policy on vaccination by doing a smear job on Craig Kelly. Hey this mob is really cool because they believe their
    Government “send up” ads counter misinformation .So they really should send invoices to federal and state Governments for how they are promoting Renewable energy rip off as well as stripping Australian citizens of their right to informed consent and coercing them into “safe and effective ” clot shots.
    Cheers Mike Reed

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  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Hmm…appears once a global pandemic is called, as we are signatories to the global WHO treaty, our rights under Australian law will be basically removed and we will have a WHO run medical absilute dictatorship in operation. By design of course.

    https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/coronavirus/pandemic-treaty/

    Of course, we can always trust the UN…not.

    It appears the Victoristan laws are the test run to see how people would react.

    Dont forget the sobering reality that we are having “half time” break in the covid wars, expect the next “pandemic” to then be used to implement via this treaty, absolute dictatorship under the WHO, which is an unlected global body run by the globalists.

    Clever really – but if our govt has signed up to it, unless they are incredibly naive, you have to look side ways at this.

    A nice touch is that it appears we also have the frameowrk in place to allow govts to bring in UN “peacekeepers” to ensure control is maintained.

    Are people awake yet?

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Russia-Ukraine crisis puts pressure on microchip supply chain

    Global chip makers rely heavily on materials sourced in the two countries like neon and palladium

    The already-stretched semiconductor industry is expected to suffer more interruptions from the current conflict in Eastern Europe, as Ukraine and Russia provide the bulk of the world’s supplies of neon and palladium, vital for the production of microchips.

    Neon, critical for the lasers used to make chips, is a by-product of Russian steel manufacturing. It is then purified in Ukraine. Palladium is used in sensors and memory, among other applications.

    The current global chip shortage will worsen if the standoff persists as more than 40% of the world’s supply of palladium comes from Russia, while Ukraine produces 70% of the global supply of neon, according to Moody’s Analytics.

    β€œDuring the 2014-2015 war in Ukraine, neon prices went up by several times over, indicating how serious this can be for the semiconductor industry: semiconductor-exposure companies make up 70% of total neon demand, as it is an integral part of the lithographic process for making chips,” Tim Uy of Moody’s Analytics wrote in a recent report, seen by the Business Standard.

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    OldOzzie

    Russia claims Ukraine destroying evidence of US-funded bioweapons program

    Russia’s Defense Ministry says Kiev ordered scientists to destroy samples of plague, anthrax, and other lethal pathogens

    Earlier rumors that the Russian military was targeting US-run biolabs were written off as conspiracy theories, but the ministry has promised to back up its claims with documents.

    β€œWe have received documentation from employees of Ukrainian biolaboratories on the emergency destruction on February 24 of especially dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases,” read a statement from the ministry.

    The statement accused the β€œKiev regime” of conducting an β€œemergency cleansing” to hide evidence of the supposed biological weapons program, which the ministry claimed was funded by the US, and involved the production of β€œbiological weapons components” at at least two laboratories in the cities of Poltava and Kharkov, both of which have seen intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent days.

    The documents published by the ministry purportedly include an order from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to destroy the pathogens, and lists of the germs in question.

    40

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Good assessment of Russia Ukraine – https://newcatallaxy.blog/2022/03/05/open-thread-weekend-5-march-2022/comment-page-6/#comment-170127

    A more realistic assessment of the Ukraine imbroglio, with help from people on the ground eg. Gonzalo Lira.

    Firstly, reading the Western MSM is a vile insult to one’s intelligence. A one-sided comic cartoonish characterisation, written at the cretin-IQ level, of a complex and nuanced issue dating back to early 1990s.

    RT, on the other hand, is written by adults; measured language, both pro and cons on the Russian campaign, including believable casualty numbers of both sides.

    1) Ukraine’s relationship with NATO, NATO expansionism, are real existential threats to Russia. Have been so for decades, extensively discussed in the past by MSM, military strategists, politicians and in this blog. Conflict predicted for decades.

    2) Russian defeat is not an option, see 1). For Russia, this is survival.

    3) Russia’s stated aim is regime change, demilitarization and denazification (see Azov Battalion) of Ukraine. This is public record.

    4) Ukraine is deeply corrupt. Zelensky is a photogenic, ex-actor, puppet President of an astroturfed puppet government under the control of Russo-phobe oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi and US operatives under the control of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Deputy Secretary of State Wendi Sherman.

    Keep reading

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Russia And Ukraine: Another Dog And Pony Show

    It’s official. The collective β€œwe” should now make a seamless pivot from fearing Covid to fearing Putin.

    The shift was introduced with the pomp and circumstance of a State of the Union address Tuesday night.

    What never seems to change is that they and their media minions want us to remain in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety–but only about what they tell us to fear.

    We’d better not be afraid of the loss of our Liberties, the destruction of our borders or our culture. We shouldn’t fear that the political majority in Washington has revealed their plan to irretrievably destroy what we used to take for granted– the boundaries between ourselves and our government.

    Do you recall voting for any of these massive β€œtransformations”? The use of force never requires consent. That’s what makes it tyranny.

    We are expected to believe that words and ideas are dangerous to β€œpublic health”, but actual violence and destruction of life and property, is not.

    Suddenly, it’s okay to remove their tyrannical mask mandates (which only applied to us, never to them) with the flick of a presidential proclamation and a teleprompted State of the Union address.

    Here is just one example of what Biden’s pre-written speech expected us to believe Tuesday night versus the reality we have all lived through for the past two years:

    Biden said: β€œWhy should people on the terrorist list be able to get guns?”

    Biden didn’t say: We now label parents who protest at school board meetings, β€˜terrorists.’

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    • #
      RickWill

      The pivot was to Net Zero as omicron took hold. Then Putin stood up to take the mantle of the devil incarnate. Always good to have someone to blame for all the ills in the world.

      Cannot see humankind weaning off fossil fuels for a long time but that is what is needed to stop Brisbane from flooding.

      The world needs to work harder on convincing India and China that they should stop using fossil fuels. Then the rest of the world can get on making energy extractors using energy from the existing energy extractors before they are worn out. The sooner someone tries to do that, the sooner they will realise it is a fools errand.

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    OldOzzie

    Ivermectin in Florida and Brazil

    7 Mar 2022

    Dr. John Campbell – 19 Min 21 Sec

    Follow the evidence, wherever it leads

    Treatment with Ivermectin Is Associated with Decreased Mortality in COVID-19 Patients: Analysis of a National Federated Database

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Did Incompetence Set in Motion The Ukrainian Crisis?

    There is something very seriously taking place here. Ironically, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seems to be the ONLY world leader to speak the truth that Ukraine’s President Zelensky will NOT engulf the world into a world war by dragging in NATO. The Epoch Times reported:

    β€œI also made it clear in Moscow and in my visit that this option [Ukraine’s membership of NATO] is not on the table and will not take place,” he said during an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF.

    β€œI said publicly that we all know that Ukraine’s NATO membership is not on the alliance’s agenda today,” he added. β€œThat was understood by the American president, that [was] also understood by the French president.”

    Scholz said he shares Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security concern and clarified to Putin that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO.

    β€œThe Russians were worried about the control issue of their security. [Putin was worried] that NATO has a military setup and rockets in Ukraine targeting Russian territory. That is why we tried to make it clear that this will not occur,” he elaborated.

    This raises the question about another seemly incompetent statement made by Harris at the Munich Security Conference that Ukraine should join NATO which would indeed justify Putin’s invasion and send Belarus back into nuclear defense. Was this statement just another gaff from Harris who has obviously no skills in international matters? Why was she sent instead of Blinken? Was this deliberate to give Ukraine false hope encouraging them to fight to the last man?

    Something is not right. The solution was simple. Allow Donbas to have a democratic vote which could have been monitored over their separatist movement since 2014 that nobody wants to talk about, and Ukraine drop its claim to Crimea which historically always was Russian – not Ukrainian. The Ukrainian people are dying for what? To keep Donbas and Crimea which are occupied by a Russian population?

    Something is just rotten. Some think Zelensky is being bribed by oil companies to try to get back Crimea where there is a huge gas reserve that would then replace Russia as the energy supplier to Europe. Others think Zelensky is just a puppet of the World Economic Forum to push their agenda upon the world in hopes of defeating Russia. The truth always surfaces but many Ukrainians do not support Zelensky.

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    • #
      PeterS

      It’s not so much them who are at risk of sending us headlong into a world war. It’s our MSM who keep on prodding our Western leaders to knock off Putin and other really stupid ideas like that, which can only make Putin even more angry. But then why would we be surprised as to how low the MSM will stoop? I’m not. We’ve had over 10 years of MSM thrashing about like some evil monster form outer space trying to tear down the West. Why would they stop now?

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  • #
    PeterS

    He speaks his mind; and mine although I’m not as frustrated as he is given anyone with a mediocre of brain cells would not be surprised with the way things have come about given the lack of integrity of the MSM and out political leaders in the West. What is of real concern now is what will they say and do next? Keep on making out Russia is so bad we must have a war with them? As he explained that means a war with China as well. I do hope cool heads prevail. Putin might be evil but he is no fool unlike our leaders who are most definitely fools and worse still somewhat evil too given what they have done to us over the past couple of years or so. One would have to be brain dead not to see that.
    Bringing out the truth behind Russia – Ukraine conflict.

    70

  • #
    beowulf

    Biden is β€œbuilding back better” again. This man’s genius knows no bounds.

    β€’ He stopped the Keystone pipeline that would have delivered energy and averted the enormous fuel price rise in the US.
    β€’ He is shutting down the Line 5 pipeline that supplies the bulk of light oil and LNG to the Mid West.
    β€’ He is now trying to negotiate with Venezuela for oil while leaving US oil and gas in the ground.

    The Biden Administration has sent a team of negotiators to Caracas in an attempt to restart imports of Venezuelan oil to the US. The penchant Biden has for getting crucial oil from our enemies is staggeringly ignorant. We were energy independent for 4 years. Now we are dependent on dictators for the oil to run our society. He’s obviously afraid of the leftists aka β€œgreenies” in his administration.

    https://www.unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com/why-is-the-us-now-negotiating-for-venezuelan-oil-when-we-have-our-own/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaO1asFmVx8

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      β€’ He is now trying to negotiate with Venezuela for oil while leaving US oil and gas in the ground.

      American crude quoted price is WTI [west Texas intermediate] Texas oil is “sweet” and, of course, refineries are built to handle it. Meanwhile in Venezuela from 2017:

      CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil firm, PDVSA, is increasingly delivering poor quality crude oil to major refiners in the United States, India and China, causing repeated complaints, canceled orders and demands for discounts, according to internal PDVSA documents and interviews with a dozen oil executives, workers, traders and inspectors.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-insight-idUSKBN1CN2EO

      60

    • #
      PeterS

      At the moment, Biden is more of a threat to the West than Putin is. Come to think of it perhaps the two are working together to crash and burn the West to allow a NWO to come into play. It couldn’t be planned any better.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Never understood how stopping Keystone caused enormous fuel price increases. All that product still goes South, albeit less efficiently.

      30

  • #
    el+gordo

    ‘No matter what we do with emissions, the Great Barrier Reef is going to see bleaching conditions every year this century β€” although we can delay that by about a decade by cutting emissions.’ (Michael Slezak ABC)

    Goodness gracious, its a bald face lie.

    100

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Two questions if I may:

    Is Australia’s inflation rate going to follow the US to 7% and higher?

    I am part owner of a 10 T excavator, fully serviced and on a remote mine site. Normally I cut losses quickly but in this case it is possible the excavator will depreciate less than cash at bank. Does anyone know how inflation and logistics is/will effect heavy equipment? Some have made a profit on used cars, why not used machinery?

    40

    • #
      PeterS

      Impossible to say for sure but I susepct you are on the money, literally also. Food prices are also on the rise and I can see a couple of reasons why they could go much higher.

      40

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Gold is about to break that magical US$2k/oz. If my son’s partner gets off his bum and actually uses said excavator there may well be a profit after all.

      60

      • #
        KP

        Shall I bring my Minelab detector?!

        Just look at our debt level and wonder how we are going to pay it off. I expect Scotty from Marketing will quietly have the inflation target raised, and/or change the way inflation is measured.

        That always seems to be the Govt’s ploy, then print money until it dilutes the debt. (and poeple’s savings)

        The old Corollas I favour were about $3-4k in 2018, now there’s nothing under $6000 and many at $8-10K. I expect excavators are tied more to farming and mineral markets, and they will boom for Australia. See if you can lease it out!

        30

    • #
      Vicki

      Just traded in a tractor (about 2-3 years old) on a bigger one – & received more money as trade-in than we originally paid! Just shows you how prices are escalating for machinery. The slowdown of the supply chain is also a factor – we had to wait months for the new order.

      70

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    OldOzzie

    And NSW Magistrates let idiots like this off with a smack on the hand

    Terrifying moment a stolen SUV speeding ‘at 100km/h’ loses control and crashes head-on into a van on the Sydney Harbour Bridge then bursting into flames causing peak-hour gridlock across the city

    Terrifying footage has emerged of the moment a stolen car hurtled through traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge before smashing head-on into a van and bursting into flames.

    Three cars were wrecked in the crash at 7.06am on Monday, sending three people to hospital including one in a serious but stable condition, and paralysing Sydney with gridlock traffic.

    Dashcam footage shows a Toyota Kluger SUV suddenly speed past other cars and change lanes directly into the path of another car, which it swerved to avoid.

    However, the attempt to dodge the first car just led to it crossing into oncoming traffic and slamming head on into a Toyota HiAce van coming the other way, with a third car, a Honda CR-V, hit by the ricochet.

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      From the Comments

      Police and courts treat stealing cars and joyriding like a misdemeanor. I had my car taken on a similar crime spree. One offender got no conviction at all and the other was sentanced to three months probation by a drug and alcohol court. When I went to see what was left of my car at the insurance assessors there were around 40 vehicles lined up, all of which had been trashed in similar circumstances. My car had multiple wallets and keys found in it, none of which were mine. I even had to pay the insurance excess. I took a bigger hit than the offenders. I doubt I’m the loan ranger here.

      100

    • #
      Dennis

      I was one vehicle driver caught on the Sydney Harbour Bridge northern approach this morning, but used the Harbour Tunnel crossing.

      The traffic jam was one of the slowest I have ever experienced when living in Sydney and today visiting from country NSW I was not happy to waste so much time.

      40

      • #
        Vicki

        You do understand the tragic reason for the delay and the re-routed traffic?

        20

        • #
          KP

          “The force of the crash knocked the SUV on to its roof and it almost immediately started smoking, even as other motorists ran over to help drag the driver out of the stricken vehicle.”

          Shouldn’t have rushed… The world would be a better place without him.

          20

      • #
        yarpos

        Had you been a bit earlier they delay may have been more significant

        10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MARCH 6

    Mar 6, 2022 – ISW

    The military situation on the ground has not changed significantly in the past 24 hours. Russian forces continue to mass for renewed offensive operations east and west of Kyiv, west of Kharkiv, and toward Mykolayiv-Odesa but have not yet initiated new large-scale ground attacks. Russia has increased aerial and artillery/rocket attacks on civilian positions and infrastructure, including known evacuation corridors. Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted a second counter-attack in two days, this time near Mariupol. The Ukrainian air force and air defense forces continue to operate, inflicting damage on Russian ground forces and disrupting Russian air and missile operations.

    Key Takeaways

    . Russian forces spent the past 24 hours largely regrouping and preparing for renewing offensive operations around Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolayiv.
    . The Ukrainian General Staff reports the presence of a large concentration of Russian forces west of Kharkiv that it assesses will launch a wide offensive southwest toward the Dnipro River, although no such offensive has begun as of this publication.

    Russian forces are engaged in four primary efforts at this time:

    Main effortβ€”Kyiv (comprised of three subordinate supporting efforts);

    . Supporting effort 1β€”Kharkiv;
    . Supporting effort 2β€”Mariupol; and
    . Supporting effort 3β€”Kherson and advances westward.

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    • #
      KP

      “The Ukrainian air force and air defense forces continue to operate, inflicting damage on Russian ground forces and disrupting Russian air and missile operations.”

      “β€œAlmost all Kiev’s combat-ready aircraft are destroyed,” Konashenkov said, adding that Moscow has β€œreliable data” suggesting Ukraine has moved some of its military aircraft to other countries, including Romania. ”

      Standard propaganda from both sides…

      This is weird though-

      Kiev has said that Denis Kireev, a secret agent on a mission from Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, has died. Earlier reports claimed that a man with the same name was killed by Ukrainian secret services as a suspected traitor.
      News of Kireev’s death has caused some confusion after Ukrainian media initially reported that the country’s own domestic security service, the SBU, strongly believed Kireev was a spy and had killed him during an apparent arrest attempt.
      Kireev was reportedly a member of Ukraine’s negotiation team during peace talks with Russia in Belarus on Monday. Although he was not on the official list of negotiators released by Kiev
      https://www.rt.com/russia/551363-ukraine-negotiator-death/

      ————
      Denis Kireev was believed to be the only person on Zelenskyy’s team to advocate for a withdrawal from any NATO or EU membership in order to bring about peace. He drew attention to Zelenskyy’s sudden billionaire wealth and mansion in Miami and cited him as a Western funded puppet.
      https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-178-russia-ukraine/
      ———–
      Somewhere else talked of a photo of him lying in the street having been shot in the head.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    How do you like this?

    Macquarie Bank has an electric vehicle buying service.

    https://www.macquarie.com.au/car-loans/electric-vehicles.html

    Do you think it’s anything to do with Turnbull giving Macquarie Leasing $100 million of our taxes in 2017?

    https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/turnbulls-loselose-electric-car-farce/news-story/02d463990cfc6c4cbf8657c44349fd23?amp=&nk=5d6a71d9f0f982c43ced8568735b8f05-1646622731

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    • #
      Dennis

      I like Peta Credlin and her analysis of political matters, and note her reference to HELE coal fired power stations, Australia needs more of them.

      A problem, people tend to not understand the big differences between State Government areas of responsibilities and Federal Government areas of responsibilities, noting that the Federation of States was agreed between British Colonies in Australia and they formed the Commonwealth of Australia and the Federal Government to be responsible for areas like foreign affairs and defence, and others, but the States retained most areas of responsibility that had as colonial governments.

      Electricity supply is a State area of responsibility, States privatised State power stations and transmission lines assets, States approve development of new power stations.

      So when the Federal Government proposed four gas fired generators State Governments had to approve development and so far only one has been given the green light, one for the NSW Hunter Valley, the others including VIC and QLD remain undecided, not approved. And also one HELE coal fired power station proposed for NQLD remains to be approved despite Federal Government being prepared to underwrite the financing.

      Snowy Hydro 02 (pumped) Project is State approved and being constructed, Federal had to buy the States shares in Snowy Hydro Electricity as part of the approval process.

      It took the Federal Government over ten years to gain States approval for the original Snowy Mountains Hydro Electricity Scheme.

      70

      • #
        David Maddison

        Note that Snowy Hydro 2 is only a battery, not a net producer. In fact it will be a net consumer.

        50

        • #
          b.nice

          I read a comment somewhere that Snowy 2 will actually help the coal fired power stations , because it will help level out demand.

          Snowy 2 will buy cheap when there is less electricity needed, then sell high when it is needed. Only way it could make money.

          31

          • #
            ghl

            Hi B.N.
            I am sure that Snowy 2 will have a politically arranged tarriff already, otherwise it would never have been built, and it will cycle whether it is needed or not.

            10

          • #
            ghl

            I bet it has priority over irrigation water as well.

            20

          • #
            yarpos

            Coal fired power will just run. Snowy 2 if it happens is about levelling the ripple caused by intermittents. This all sits on top of real power generation.

            20

  • #
    David Maddison

    Will Australia ever get the promised nuclear submarines?

    It’s a great decision but I’m extremely sceptical that we will see a single submarine delivered any time soon.

    A contract to purchase US Virginia class boats should have been organised while Trump was still US President. He would have made sure it happened.

    60

    • #
      Dennis

      In a very recent interview Minister for Defence said that an announcement about delivery timing is not far away and delivery of submersible vessel one will be much sooner than has been speculated by media.

      The discussions are about design, UK needing fewer crew members or USA. However a new submarine base will be located on the East Coast, probably Port Kembla south of Sydney, and noting that RAN submarines often berth in Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour, RAN Base, but the main facility is in WA. US and UK nuclear submarines use the WA Base from time to time.

      Announced earlier was that the RAN conventional diesel-electric Collins Class Submarines (six) will be reconditioned and upgraded to extend service life, noting that they were custom-designed and built based on a Swedish design and Sweden will be involved in the upgrading project. Collins Class Submarines carry torpedos, missiles and mines and remain today one of the best conventional submarines by world standards. The upgrading will result in even better performance and capabilities. In many roles conventional diesel-electric submarines are the equal or superior to nuclear submarines. Collins Class are larger than many other conventional designs and have longer range.

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        Graeme#4

        Thanks for the link Dennis. The videos were very informative.

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          Dennis

          The video about the naval exercise and the RAN Submarine escaping from USN surface ships and one nuclear Submarine to “sink” one of the small fleet in the exercise is very interesting.

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      Graeme#4

      Today’s announcement of a second sub base is interesting. Looks like the Collins subs will home port at Stirling and the nuclear subs somewhere on the east coast.

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    Another Delcon

    3 days left to sign petition to remove vaccine mandates :
    https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN3886
    Petition Reason

    The recent US Supreme Court decision to block vaccine mandates noted that Biden’s vaccine mandate was no ‘everyday exercise of federal power’ but rather ‘a significant encroachment on the lives – and health – of a vast number of employees.’ Vaccine mandates in Australia have proven futile to stop the spread of coronavirus in this country as the vaccines themselves do not prevent an individual from catching COVID-19. Furthermore, the denial of work to unvaccinated Australians is contrary to the right to work as per the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as well as the Human Rights Act 2004 (Cth). We note as well that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine safety data sheet notes no full list of ingredients, no Toxicity report, no effect on endocrine glands and is merely provided in good faith, not science, without warranty of any kind. We note the long-term effects of this product are unknown and sincerely believe that this product should be taken by an individual without threat, deception or coercion (i.e. the right to bodily autonomy).
    Petition Request

    We therefore ask the House to immediately cease all vaccine mandates in Australia as they are contrary to both Commonwealth legislation as well as international legislation; despite the Public Health Amendment Bill 2021 (ACT) (and other bills) to undermine these laws. We request the immediate return of all unvaccinated Australians to work to allow them to support both themselves and their families as well as to support the restoration of the Australian economy post COVID-19 lockdown.
    from here :
    https://caldronpool.com/petition-to-end-all-vaccine-mandates-in-australia-closes-soon/

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    David Maddison

    Did you know Tony Heller has stopped posting on YouTube? He is leaving due to extensive censorship.

    Here is his final video and he states the non-Leftist free speech video platforms where you can find him.

    https://youtu.be/0i4V37FRXTo

    Part of the problem of when conservatives leave YouTube for free speech platforms is that their efforts are then split by having to post to four or five other platforms with no platform clearly better than others.

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    Dennis

    Emergency Management & Disaster Resilience – re bushfires, floods, cyclones and other natural disasters, and following my post above regarding State Government areas responsibility I thought that this extract might be of interest …

    Relief and recoveryβ€”policy and legislative arrangements

    Each state and territory has in place legislation dealing with emergencies and disaster response within their own borders. It is under this legislation that authorised officialsβ€”for example, the Premier, Chief Minister or State Emergency Coordinatorβ€”can declare a β€˜state of emergency’ or disaster. Response coordination and planning for any emergency or disaster within any jurisdiction falls to the state or territory government. Hence, the financial burden of disaster recovery and relief falls principally and in the first instance on state and territory governments.

    However, arrangements exist for the Commonwealth to provide both financial and non-financial assistance.*

    * ADF personnel and equipment can be deployed but that requires a State Government to request ADF assistance.

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    MP

    I had not noticed before when looking into the Azov battalion, the flag in the photo linked below to the left of the Azov flag, is the NATO flag.
    https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Azov_Battalion_Nazis.jpeg

    The Azov flag itself has the NWO’s black sun symbol on it.

    Blackwaters, (the USA contractor for all things war) Eric Prince was spending $ 10 Billion on creating and arming an army in Ukraine in July 2021. https://time.com/6076035/erik-prince-ukraine-private-army/
    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1489711797221433346.html

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    el+gordo

    They don’t really answer their own question, except that under AGW flood cycles will increase.

    https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/how-rare-was-this-rain-and-flooding-event/536508

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      yarpos

      If they say flood cycles will increase this is signal that we are starting into a drought phase.

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    el+gordo

    Robert Ellison gets a post at Climate Etc. Essentially he believes there is a tipping point not far into the future, but in comments Javier gets the better of him.

    https://judithcurry.com/2022/03/05/tipping-points-in-earths-geophysical-and-biological-systems/

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    David Maddison

    Do you think the Sheeple think Snowy Hydro 2 is new generation, or do they understand that it’s a net-energy-consuming battery?

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      yarpos

      Yes, and the vast majority have no clue in regard to energy matters. Neither should they really , if there is any finger to point its at those that continually lie and misrepresent the situation to them.

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    David Maddison

    Do you know about the Monty Hall problem in probability?

    It had virtually all the experts in the world state the wrong answer and the only person in the world who got it right was Marilyn vos Savant who had the highest IQ in the world and who received huge numbers of angry letters from the “experts” about her supposedly wrong answer. Eventually she was proven correct.

    Science and maths is not about “consensus”.

    Video at https://youtu.be/dOQowCeAnRs

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    David Maddison

    More evidence that Ivermectin works. Dr John Campbell presents:

    https://youtu.be/rfyOihhAD4A

    Ivermectin better than remdesivir.

    When are people going to start getting prosecuted for making its use illegal in Australia and thus being responsible for killing people?

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    Hanrahan

    Do billionaires have a secret society where they vow to screw over everyone else?

    Seems they do, Twiggy Forrest is about to get approval to spend A$3 bill on renewables.

    MELBOURNE, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest, who’s been betting big on a global green revolution, said on Sunday he was investing A$3 billion ($2.2 billion) in renewable energy in central Queensland.

    Forrest, Australia’s richest man, said his company Squadron Energy has acquired the two-stage Clarke Creek project – a wind, solar and battery farm development – with contracts already issued for the immediate start of construction.

    “We are investing in Clarke Creek not only to harness the renewable power of the wind and sun to energise our homes, our factories and our cities, but as a critical step towards breaking our reliance on fossil fuels,” Forrest said in a statement.

    Will someone please tell Twiggy that the wind don’t blow much in Qld.

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    OldOzzie

    A bit of Joy in today’s misery – Grease Flash Dance Antwerp

    Notice how slim people are – could be Northern Beaches

    and for a bit more beat

    Sweet Charity Adaptation – Ike and Tina Turner – Nutbush City Limits (1973)

    adapted from

    Sweet Charity 1969: The Aloof, The Heavyweight, The Big Finish (HQ) Bob Fosse

    Turn the Music Up and Relax and Enjoy

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    b.nice

    You know all those sanctions on Russia.
    EU is now paying 3 times the cost for gas.
    Would be funny if the situation wasn’t so ugly .

    https://realclimatescience.com/2022/03/the-eu-making-russia-rich-again/

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    OldOzzie

    Why we must demand that leaders who got COVID wrong admit it and apologize

    As COVID restrictions end around the country, and Democratic politicians pretend that something about the science has changed instead of their poll numbers being in the dirt, Americans must first demand: apologies.

    Here, I’ll even go first. I spent much of 2020 and 2021 writing again and again arguing for the opening of schools throughout the country. But in March 2020, I was one of the leading voices urging schools to close.

    It made no sense to me that my husband had stopped going into the office because of the mysterious new virus but my children continued to go to school. People were dying in large numbers in Italy and I was afraid.

    I never imagined that β€œtwo weeks to slow the spread” would turn into two years, and counting, of pausing the lives of children to accommodate hypochondriac adults.

    I was wrong. I’m sorry.

    Now you go.

    You, leadership in school districts that closed for the entirety of 2020-2021 school year because American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told you to β€” and you were too afraid to counter. Whether school boards, mayors or governors, those in charge who kept schools closed have to be held accountable.

    It wasn’t that the teachers unions were strong, it was that you were weak. It was a dereliction of your duty. Apologize.

    But, of course, you couldn’t have done it without cover from our politicized health agencies. You, Rochelle Walensky at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allowed Weingarten to craft absurd, unscientific policies that kept kids out of school.

    You let her block the schoolhouse door because you were on the same political team. You broke the trust Americans had in their health agencies and we will all suffer the repercussions of that for a long time.

    Apologize to the children whose lives you’ve stunted and who may never recover from the educational loss. Apologize to the kids who received speech therapy through masks because you refused to acknowledge that masking had been pointless in stopping COVID-19 spread.

    Dr. Anthony Fauci, you fell in love with your own image and could not stay off the TV even as it caused us all harm.

    You frequently got things wrong on TV or reversed your previous comments with no explanations. The science hadn’t changed, you made political calculations to support the diktats of the Biden administration.

    That’s why we need the admission of failure of all of these policies, and who was responsible, before we can move on. Americans must insist on it for our collective future.

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    KP

    Anyone loaned money to Russia?? or maybe your Super Fund has..

    “Putin: Russian companies will have the right to pay debts to creditors from countries that commit β€˜unfriendly actions’ in rubles.

    Effectively Russia is calling a force majeure and defaulting on debts (Dollar and EU denominated) to unfriendly countries. Remember some time ago Maria Zakharova said that they are compiling such a list of unfriendly countries. This according to my knowledge is a legitimate use of force majeure and of course, anyone that wants their debts paid, can have rubles.”

    Reminds me of the good ol’ days when NZ sent milk powder over and the USSR sent Ladas the other way, no need for money!

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    Furiously+Curious

    The net has been off here for 4 days. Telsa’s main node for the northern rivers is at Woodburn, which unfortunately went under. Trying to catch up on news. There was a mention earlier about the push for digital currency. Another unfortunately, the electronic banking system went down, so most places have been cash only for days. There could be a few problems in the future?
    I spoke to a guy who works in a gas station, and when they opened up, once the flood passed, a guy walked in, handed him 5 $100 notes and said, ‘use this for any one who cant pay’. There have been so many stories like that.

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    CHRIS

    Just waitin’ for the CRASH. My super is on freeze. By year’s end, I’ll be laughin’.

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    😎 Best of Last Week – Kilonova afterglow, mapping “The Witcher,” moderate alcohol consumption damages brain

    https://sciencex.com/news/2022-03-week-kilonova-afterglow-witcher-moderate.html

    The unfolding story of a kilonova told in X-rays

    https://phys.org/news/2022-03-unfolding-story-kilonova-told-x-rays.html

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    PeterS

    I find it sad to see how far our MSM is pushing for war with Russia without realising that they are also in effect pushing for war with China. In case anyone has forgotten the lessons we have been through over the past few years, our real enemy is the MSM. They wanted net zero emission policies and they now have it. They wanted our freedoms stripped off from us and they have partially been successful at that with more waiting to go. Now they want war with Russia, and by association China. Good luck with that one. I won’t hold my breath though waiting for those responsible to be charged with crimes against humanity and treason. I know it’s not going to happen because they are being protected by our own governments of both major political parties, and in the case of the ABC is actually being funded by our federal government. This is yet another reason not to vote for either major party. A vote for LNP or ALP+Greens is a vote for WW3 as well as for net zero emissions and for the stripping away of what’s left of our freedoms. If that what people want then go ahead, make my day. I actually welcome it as it will teach us a real lesson once and for all. It’s time for many people to take off their rose coloured glasses but I suspect the only way they will be taken off is by some major conflict that will shake them up so much they can’t help but being woken up to face the truth.

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      farmerbraun

      “sad to see how far our MSM is pushing for war”
      Given that the media is owned by the same interests behind the MIC , why would one expect anything else?
      Don’t get sad; get angry. πŸ™‚

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    PeterS

    Ukraine War Driving Rampant Censorship At Home
    Why the misinformation, censorship and sanctions? Preparation for WW3 of course.

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