Thursday

Sorry. Temporal rift, fixed. But not explained.

9.2 out of 10 based on 11 ratings

175 comments to Thursday

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    Curious George

    I am the Lord of the Future!

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    John Connor II

    Someone close that temporal rift!

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    tonyb

    I listened to some of the Harris/Trump debate on the BBC radio world service so was hearing, rather than seeing, the combatants. I had never realised what a screechy voice Harris had and found her difficult to listen to, although she seemed mostly quite cogent and fluent, albeit talking in cliches and not really saying much. Trump was quite belligerent at times (sorry) and got a little carried away.

    Had I been watching on Tv I would see on the one hand someone of the “right” gender, ethnicity and age who, although shallow and giving out few policies, was mostly calm. We all know already what Trump looks like and his debating style, but what will come over is that the jibes he made last time round about Biden’s age now apply to him.

    Whether the issues got properly talked about is debatable. Were the moderators even handed? Probably not. There were no killer blows on the economy, (is life better now?) immigration (a compete failure by Harris) and America’s place in the world after running away from Afghanistan under Bidens’ Presidency thus putting women back into the Dark ages in that country and the nod it appears to have given to dictators round the world to band together and cause trouble.

    I increasingly think this is Harris’s election to lose and her performance yesterday will not have harmed her. Bland and shallow is perhaps what the audience might be looking for. I think Trump needs to change his tactics as much has changed since Biden’s withdrawal and the assassination attempt.

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      Graeme No.3

      tonyb:
      As a previous President said “Its the economy”.
      Every day people (normal, not Democrats with Government positions) will get reminders about this and whether things could be better with a change.

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        OldOzzie

        Independent voters surprise pollster with reactions to Trump’s debate performance: ‘Didn’t expect it’

        Lee Carter joins ‘Faulkner Focus’ voter panel to reveal reactions to Trump-Harris debate

        Dials monitoring the reaction of a Fox News focus group during Tuesday’s presidential debate showed independent voters overlapping with Republicans in support of former President Trump’s immigration policies.

        Trump took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris during the ABC News Presidential Debate, blaming the Biden-Harris administration for “destroying the fabric of our country” with the influx of illegal immigration.

        The former president blamed the administration for the rise in “migrant crime,” a sentiment that seemingly resonated with not just Republicans, but a large number of independent respondents.

        The focus group comprised seven Democrats, five independents and five Republicans, and was represented by blue, yellow and red lines, respectively. When Trump spoke of the rising crime at the hands of illegal immigrants, the yellow line monitoring the independent reaction rose drastically in Trump’s favor, overlapping with the red Republican line.

        “Independents are tracking very much with Republicans. They’re looking for a couple of things. They’re looking for answers on immigration, they’re looking for answers on the economy.

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          Broadie

          TonyB repeats the official narrative we are being fed.

          I think Trump needs to change his tactics as much has changed since Biden’s withdrawal and the assassination attempt.

          The tactic is clear and the message is on full repeat:
          ‘Trump needs to change’.
          ‘Trump is selling a bland message.’
          ‘Trump is easily provoked into saying something stupid.’
          ‘Trump is old and is therefore possibly senile.’
          ‘Trump needs to listen to the marketing people like Harris did and change his message.’

          This narrative is being pushed by the ‘Conservative commentators’

          Be aware it is not the twits glued to the street we have to be wary of.

          Here is a wikipedia summary of the pedigree of such an individual.

          Michael Norman Kroger (born 30 May 1957) is a former Australian lawyer. He was president of the Victorian Liberal Party from 1987 to 1992 and from 2015 to 2018, and is considered a member of the conservative faction.[1]

          Early life
          Kroger was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, where his father Jack Kroger was a senior master.[2] He became politically active while studying at Monash University where he graduated with Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws degrees. He became president of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation in 1978.

          Politics
          In 1985, Kroger briefed Alan Goldberg QC to lead junior barrister and future federal Treasurer Peter Costello to represent Confectionery Manufacturers of Australia in the Dollar Sweets case.[3] Kroger currently has an estranged relationship with Costello.[4]

          From 1987 to 1992, Kroger served as president of the Victorian Liberal Party. He instituted a series of reforms, including a move to increase the power of the party executive in pre-selections. From the 1990s the Victorian Liberal Party was heavily factionalised.[5]

          In 1993, Kroger established JT Campbell & Co. Although described as a “merchant bank”,[6] JT Campbell & Co attracted media ridicule for its minimal volume of banking and investment activity.[7]

          From 1998 to 2003, he served as a director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which he has considered to be a “cultural battleground”.[8]

          From 2015 to 2018, Kroger served again as president of the Victorian Liberal Party.[9][10] Kroger’s second term was characterised by branch stacking within the party,[11] public fallout surrounding the misuse of public funds by former State Director Damien Mantach,[12] and his legal action against the Cormack Foundation, the party’s largest donor.

          Although Kroger vowed reform following the 2014 Victorian state election,[13] the Coalition suffered a landslide defeat in the 2018 Victorian state election. Subsequently, Kroger resigned as State President of the Liberal Party on 30 November 2018.[14]

          Now no longer active in day-to-day party politics, Kroger frequently appears on Sky News Australia.[15]

          Legacy
          A self-described “power broker”,[16] Kroger is considered a divisive member of the Victorian Liberal Party,[17] and has been criticised by former Premiers Jeff Kennett and Ted Baillieu as such.[18]

          Personal life
          Kroger’s first wife was Helen Kroger, who after their divorce became a Senator for Victoria. Kroger then married Ann Peacock, daughter of former leader of the Liberal Party Andrew Peacock and socialite Susan Renouf.[19] They separated in 2009.[20]

          Imagine if Kroger had achieved in a life of Political activism what Trump achieved in a few short years as President.
          In my opinion, he made a fool of himself on Sky (‘Sharri’) last night rabbiting on about how Trump should listen to his media advisors like Harris did. Know that coming from his mouth, the spawn of an establishment that has brought us 40 years of big government and uni party control, this is the approved narrative. The opposite is true, Harris like Biden has to bus in an audience, Trump is loved by the American people and they flock to see him and risk death in doing so.

          My hope is, if the people of the US can get to the polls and the votes can be counted fairly, Harris and the ‘Swamp’ will be toast.

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            tonyb

            A new candidate is in place. Biden is history. The assassination effect is history. So things have changed. What’s your point?

            If Trump is good enough he will formulate new lines of attack that are focused on the new realities that there is a different candidate who appeals to a wider audience and is making the running. She may well run out of steam but Trump having mocked Biden’s age is now the same age as when he started the mocking.

            Presumably people will see Harris is shallow and has few policies but I wouldn’t bet on it.

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              Broadie

              If Trump is good enough he will formulate new lines of attack that are focused on the new realities

              Trump and whoever works with him appear to be continuing to do that.

              Has announced:
              ‘No Tax on Tips’
              Then,
              ‘No Tax on social security payments’
              Today,
              ‘No tax on overtime payments’

              He explains the removal of taxes on overtime will encourage the best workers to keep working. This will be a godsend for employers who have been having trouble finding workers.

              His is a simple promise to ‘We the People’. Vote me in and I will kill the inflation that is robbing you of your savings and retirement provisions. He will reduce the price of energy and remove the regulatory costs on goods and services.

              Rather simple, Wot!!!

              Like climate change, vaccine injury, in fact nearly every issue the Narrative is denied by fact yet the message remains on repeat regardless.

              So simple point, Harris like Biden are simply puppets and can be ignored. Trump is not going to waste anymore time debating Harris as there is no one home.

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        OldOzzie

        Here’s the fact check that ABC didn’t give Kamala Harris

        By Post Editorial Board

        During Tuesday night’s debate, ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis interrupted Donald Trump five times to “fact-check” his answers.

        They did the same to Kamala Harris … never.

        The vice president was allowed to skate through the debate without substantive follow-up questions or pushback on some of her obviously false claims.

        So since ABC didn’t do its job, here are some of the fact checks they should have made:

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      OldOzzie

      Pretty clear who’s voting for The Democrats.

      The Rabbit Hole@TheRabbitHole84

      Unmarried women are the primary voting demographic of the Democratic Party. – pic.twitter.com/1ySi2gN411

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      Ronin

      I thought Trump did reasonably well considering it was 3 on 1, Harris and the two moderators vs Trump.

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        Chad

        + however many others who were “in her ear” !….

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          OldOzzie

          WAYNE ROOT: President Trump Called Me Right After Debate. I told Him ABC Clearly Gave Kamala Harris All the Questions in Advance.

          Clearly only 2 things happened before last night’s presidential debate…

          Either Kamala’s best friends who run ABC gave her all the questions in advance of the debate…

          Or Team Kamala gave the questions they wanted asked to ABC.

          I told President Trump the exact same thing last night, right after the debate. What happened last night wasn’t normal. More importantly, Kamala’s debate performance wasn’t possible- not without a lot of help from her friends.

          First, I want to tell a little story. Democrats, the Deep State, DC Swamp and mainstream media all want you to believe President Trump is a bad guy, a nasty guy, an evil guy. I know him well. That is the biggest lie and scam ever told. I’ve met and interviewed pretty much every conservative star and Republican politician in America through my national TV and radio shows.

          President Donald J. Trump is the nicest, most thoughtful, class act, of all of them.

          Last night in the middle of my debate party at my home, with my wife and friends standing around me, 10 minutes after the debate ended, my phone rang, and it was President Trump.

          I took the phone call in front of my friends. It was quite a moment. In all of America, out of 330 million people, I may be the only one who got a post-debate call from the 45th President of the United States. He wanted to hear what I thought about the debate.

          I gave him my honest answer. The same one I’m about to share with you.

          I told him he won- because no matter how negative the questions, no matter how vicious and biased the moderators, no matter how hateful Kamala was…in the end, all that matters, all that will resonate…are the four issues most middle class Americans care about…

          And you won on those four issues all night long: the economy, inflation, crime and the open border disaster.

          That’s it. That’s all that matters. And you won on those four issues. Most Americans are with you. All the rest is B.S. and will be forgotten.

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            Strop

            I don’t believe she got the questions in advance. Otherwise she would have been prepared to answer them. She often didn’t answer the direct question and just responded with what she had been prepared to say. She was well prepared with talking points but not prepared to answer questions.

            When she didn’t answer a question the moderators gave her a pass. If Trump didn’t directly answer the question they pressed him on it.

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          OldOzzie

          But Kamala got the questions in advance.

          You’d have to be blind, deaf, dumb or delusional not to see that. Because Kamala performed so perfectly in every response, it was like she knew the questions for a week, and rehearsed and memorized a scripted response to each and every one of them.

          That’s because she did.

          Her best friends run ABC. We all know what happened. She wasn’t just good last night, she was too good. Too good to be true. And when something looks too good to be true, it always is.

          Kamala is as dumb as a doorknob. Perhaps the worst speaker I’ve ever seen at the highest levels of American politics. The worst in history. We’ve all watched her clueless “word salads” and stupid cackling responses for four years.

          She’s so bad that only two weeks before Biden resigned from the race and she was handed the nomination without one vote, a top Biden fundraiser told a crowd, “Joe Biden in a coma, or even dead, is a better candidate than Kamala alive.”

          She’s so bad that she has been placed in the government witness protection program for 7 weeks since she got the job. Not one press conference. Only one friendly interview- and she was terrible at that. She is not allowed to speak, for good reason.

          Yet last night she had the perfect answer for every question. Flawless. Like they opened her brain and inserted Obama’s brain.

          How is that possible?

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          OldOzzie

          Kamala Harris’ debate earrings trigger conspiracy theories among Trump supporters

          What’s the frequency, Kamala?

          Some conspiracy-minded supporters of former President Donald Trump have claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris got secret — and unfair — help in her Tuesday night debate against the Republican nominee.

          The theory goes like this: Harris’ earrings contained a clandestine Bluetooth device that enabled her to be coached by unseen aides during the ABC News forum in Philadelphia, in flagrant violation of the rules set out by the Disney-owned network.

          One X user dubbed The Maverick Approach, a self-described “alternative news source,” peddled a claim early Wednesday that Harris had been fitted with a pair of smart earrings developed by NOVA, a German company.

          “There’s a major issue with this debate,” they posted. “I told myself she was fed what to say during the debate and my hunch was right. Nova is the world’s first and only wireless earphone earrings.”

          However, the NOVA H1 Audio Earrings look very different than the ones that Harris donned during the verbal bout, except for the fact that both include pearls.

          The clip-on NOVA H1 Audio Earrings sell for about $625 apiece and are able to “project sound from inside the pearl straight into your ear canal,” according to its Kickstarter page, which appears to have been dormant since last year and includes comments suggesting people hadn’t received the product despite chipping in cash.

          “These Earrings are fully packed with the latest technology embedded in real pearls to provide you with music, phone calls and digital assistants all day long,” the site added.

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            Broadie

            The theory goes like this: Harris’ earrings contained a clandestine Bluetooth device that enabled her to be coached by unseen aides

            Doubt it. A voice in her head would have been way too much for her brain. She simply told her fairy tales without interjection to bring her back to the question.

            Did you ever wonder why they did not let her speak to Putin? It would not just be the vodka, she would have been completely out-gunned mentally.

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            OldOzzie

            Company responds to theory Harris wore audio earrings at debate: ‘The resemblance is striking’

            “To ensure a level playing field for both candidates, we are currently developing a male version and will soon be able to offer it to the Trump campaign,” the company said.

            Following the presidential debate on Tuesday, social media users theorized that Vice President Kamala Harris wore audio earrings on stage. The Germany-based company that sells the earrings said on Wednesday that the resemblance between Harris’ earrings and their audio earrings “is striking.”

            On Tuesday night, Harris wore what appeared to be gold and pearl earrings while debating former President Donald Trump. Social media users compared the earrings to NOVA H1 Audio Earrings, which are wireless earphones. Media outlets and other social media users examined the earrings, coming to the conclusion that Harris’ earrings are from Tiffany & Co., not NOVA products.

            Just the News requested comment from Icebach Sound, the Munich-based company that sells the earrings.

            “We do not know whether Mrs. Harris wore one of our products. The resemblance is striking and while our product was not specifically developed for the use at presidential debates, it is nonetheless suited for it,” Malte Iversen, managing director at Icebach Sound, told Just the News on Wednesday. “To ensure a level playing field for both candidates, we are currently developing a male version and will soon be able to offer it to the Trump campaign. The choice of colour is a bit challenging though as orange does not go well with a lot of colours.

            “Currently, we are unfortunately out of stock and also busy preparing a lawsuit against a big Chinese tech company breaching our patents,” Iversen continued. “We are talking to investors in order to ramp up operations accordingly and are confident that we will ship again very soon.”

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        OldOzzie

        ABC’s Pro-Harris Debate Bias Was So Bad Even MeAgain Had to Call it Out

        September 11, 2024 Sundance

        The winner of the ABC presidential debate was President Donald Trump, not because there was anything he needed to say in order to win the debate, but simply because the transparency of the ABC debate bias was too visible to assist Kamala Harris. [SEE HERE]

        It is really not worth discussing because no one in America pays attention to corporate media any longer.

        However, David Muir and Lindsey Davis both spent all their time attacking Donald Trump while running interference operations for Kamala Harris.

        The insufferable nonsense was so transparent that even Megyn Kelly was angry, albeit accepting her influence and affluence are now tied to being pro-MAGA.

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        OldOzzie

        That Debate Will Backfire Horribly For Both Kamala Harris And ABC

        by Tyler Durden

        The initial reaction to last night’s debate is that Kamala Harris held her own, albeit with the help of two ABC moderators, and that Trump was “rattled” and on the defense more than he needed to be.

        Generally, the debate is being cast as anything but the overwhelming victory for Trump that many predicted.

        But my guess is that both the dejection from the right and the perceived victory from the left will fade almost immediately as people have a chance to take in everything that really took place.

        For starters, the times when Trump looked “the worst,” like when moderators tried to debunk him on the Springfield, Ohio, animal/pet killings that were confirmed by 911 calls minutes before the debate, will once again be proven to be factual and on point.

        The delivery wasn’t fantastic, but over the last three years, the country’s tolerance for being lied to by the media has shrunk significantly, so it won’t take as long as it normally would for people to see past Trump’s delivery.

        People are thinking critically now more than ever and doing their own independent fact-checking more than ever.

        In short, people will quickly realize that Trump’s comments sounded justified.

        And if Americans need a reminder as to why doing their own fact checking is so important, they only need to look at Kamala Harris’s near admission that COVID came out of a lab in China early in the debate.

        3 years ago her side of the aisle would have called you a conspiracy theorist and banned you from social media for saying so.

        Despite being well-seasoned in her narrative and her answers and obviously prepared to answer questions she may or may not have received in advance, while benefiting from two friendly moderators and a question format that constantly pinned Trump as the antagonist before David Muir would lead Harris to her answer to reaffirm what the moderators had already decided, she was noticeably devoid of an explanation on her flip-flopping policies.

        She offered little to no detail on her flip-flops about fracking and her poor performance as border czar, and she failed to take accountability for what happened in Afghanistan, while simultaneously admitting that she approved of how it took place.

        And in my opinion, last night will just be another example of a constantly evolving populace seeing the left-wing media for exactly what it is: an arm of the Democratic Party.

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          OldOzzie

          What is your plan, Madam Vice President?

          Answer: She doesn’t have one.

          This is the Seinfeld candidate — a campaign about nothing.

          And no, joy and vibes ain’t a strategy or policy.

          In the end, it’s just the Biden clown car with a different coat of paint.

          Donald Trump was not at his best Tuesday night, but his closing argument was strong and pointed.

          “She just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that. She’s going to do all these wonderful things,” Trump stated.

          “Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for 3½ years.”

          That’s exactly right.

          Kamala’s sizzle may have wowed the media, but it’s Trump’s steak — and his stellar record as president — that ultimately will matter more to voters.

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          OldOzzie

          The many, nasty faces of Kamala Harris: VP only reinforced the fatal inauthenticity of her debate performance

          By Miranda Devine

          The smart analysis of the first — and maybe only — debate of the Trump-Harris presidential cycle is that Don­ald Trump blew it.

          The former president, winging it as usual, missed numerous “kill shots,” was frustratingly imprecise and allowed himself to be baited by Kamala Harris.

          But on the optics, Harris committed far worse self-harm.

          If you switched off the sound for the ABC debate Tuesday night and just watched the images, you would come away feeling deep distaste for the haughty flibbertigibbet who kept pulling faces while Trump was speaking.

          Harris’ split-screen pantomime made her seem unserious and unlikable and was clearly designed for the sort of viral “Brat Girl” moments on social media her juvenile campaign staff imagines are vote winners. Kween!

          In reality, the novelty value is short-lived and even the Taylor Swift demographic will come to see it as unbecoming.

          Cool aunt, sure, but president?

          Nope.

          Margaret Thatcher she is not.

          Far from being a masterstroke, Harris’ many faces only reinforced the fatal inauthenticity of the rest of her debate performance, which was a string of memorized set pieces with little relevance to the question being asked and delivered in an odd staccato.

          Harris looked as if she had been practicing her multiple faces in the bathroom mirror for hours during the week she was holed up in a hotel doing debate prep.

          For a candidate whose true self remains undisclosed, Harris’ thousand fake faces only added to the confusion voters feel about her.

          “Kamala Kameleon” just further cemented the mystery about who she really is.

          As the campaign grinds on, her identity is fast solidifying into an amorphous void.

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      el+gordo

      ‘ I think Trump needs to change his tactics …’

      Donald won’t get in if he doesn’t change his style and tactics. His love of brutal autocracies is pathetic, he is really shallow.

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        Broadie

        ‘ I think Trump needs to change his tactics …’

        Thanks el+gordo, I can rely on you to confirm my suspicion of what was the official narrative that would be pushed using this debate.

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          el+gordo

          He has to act presidential and there is no ‘official narrative’, except that Donald is too old for the job.

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        tonyb

        As might be expected you have to date got 9 red thumbs.

        The world has moved on since the assassination attempt and when Biden was clearly floundering. I bet Trump wishes he hadn’t won that last debate with Biden as otherwise Trump would be romping home against that opposition.

        Trump is also 4 years older, of the “wrong” sex, age, Colour etc so things have moved on since his first win and his past methods of debate and campaigning might appeal to the already committed but it is the 20% of independents, especially the young and female, that now need convincing. So he does need to change what he is doing.

        He is intelligent enough to do that but whether he will is another matter.

        As I say, I think, like it or not, that this is now Harris’s election to lose,

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    David Maddison

    Does the HIV virus really cause AIDS?

    RFK questionned this in his book The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health and in the following video so does Dr Sam Bailey from NZ.

    Is this just another case where the Official Narrative and Big Pharma who profit from such conditions are just wrong?

    https://youtu.be/n33dnK3RQ9Y

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      David Maddison

      It’s interesting.

      If you look at the Wikipedia entry on “AIDS denialism”
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV%2FAIDS_denialism?wprov=sfla1 they use almost exactly the same language as when they describe anyone sceptical of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming claims as a “denialist”.

      I’m not saying HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, and I’m not agreeing that it does. I just think the claims of RFK, Sam Bailey and many others need further investigation and not accusing them of being “denialists” or that “scientific consensus” doesn’t agree with them.

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      Hanrahan

      If not, What?

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        David Maddison

        The video explains (three parts).

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        Robert Swan

        Your question is a bit like what Steve McIntyre faced when he debunked Mann’s “hockey stick”. There were many demands for McIntyre to either provide his own reconstruction or shut up. Of course he stuck to his guns because he knew that proving something wrong doesn’t *have* to involve coming up with the right answer.

        It hardly needs saying (at Jo Nova’s) that consensus isn’t always right. Its good that some people question the HIV-AIDS link, to have sceptics. Good to be rid of wrong answers if that’s how it turns out.

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          Hanrahan

          AIDS exists, Mann’s hockey stick explains something that is non-existent. No contra explanation needed.

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            Robert Swan

            Hanrahan,

            You’ve jumbled the hockey stick up with how it was used politically.

            The hockey stick itself was just a graph of supposed global mean surface temperatures over about 2000 years. There *really* *was* a surface temperature right through that period. Since it was “existent”, would you join those people in demanding McIntyre come up with his own temperature reconstruction? Not good enough just to point out the flaws in Mann’s methods?

            Science is two broad steps:

               1. form hypothesis,
               2. try to break hypothesis.

            What survives is the current level of understanding.

            What the hockey stick people were demanding (and you with HIV/AIDS), is:

               1. form hypothesis,
               2. try to break hypothesis but, even if you break it, it stays in place unless you can form a new hypothesis.

            Do you think that’s better?

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              Graeme No.3

              And Phil Jones (of the Hadley Institute) was pleased with Mike’s Trick – graphing something else onto the temperature graph.
              I have never seen any believable explanation why a minor temperature rise could be caused by a historically low rise in CO2. A better explanation might be that cleaning up (actual) pollution in the 1960’s and onwards let more sunlight hit the ground.

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      MeAgain

      Thabo Mbeki questioned HIV – AIDS. An interesting interview: https://jermwarfare.com/podcast/anthony-brink

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      Earl

      If you want a more user-friendly wiki debunking service, try this page entitled Discredited hiv/aids origins theories. The welcoming opening statement “This article is about hypotheses not currently accepted by the majority of the scientific community” seems more positive but I’m sure “not currently accepted” probably isn’t really meant to convey any longer-term optimism.

      The article lists a number of “fringe theories” with the first three – smallpox, hepatitis b and oral polio – each based on the common thought that maybe the vaccines developed to cure these diseases actually led to other unforeseen problems.

      The oral polio vaccine (OPV) one makes for very interesting reading. In 1999 Edward Hooper claimed that early batches used in Africa which had been incubated in chimpanzee kidney cells, got infected with a chimpanzee virus. As you will read this was easily debunked because, amazingly, a sample close to the batch that Hooper had cited was in storage in the UK and therefore available for analysis. But if you want a more miraculous outcome then look no further than the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia because they had 5 samples of OPV in storage including one from an actual batch that was used in the Belgian Congo between 1958 and 1960.

      Wow, 39+ years later and those vials that the lab boys and girls kept moving in order to put their lunches in the fridge finally came in handy for a debunking analysis exercise.

      One interesting “coincidental association” between 1958/60s OPV development/HIV discovery and 2010s flu shot development/covid release is that the flu “vaccines” progressively became less egg cultured. As noted in the wiki blurb chimpanzee kidney cells were involved in early OPV batches whereas during the 2010s flu vaccine production progressively used dog kidney cell incubation which was faster with bigger batches than the “old” egg process. Italy was the first European country to exclusively use dog kidney cultured flu vaccine from 2017 then along came covid and an otherwise mildish respiratory affliction depending on age and co-morbidities became a pandemic and they started dropping like flies.

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        Leo G

        The oral polio vaccine (OPV) one makes for very interesting reading. In 1999 Edward Hooper claimed that early batches used in Africa which had been incubated in chimpanzee kidney cells, got infected with a chimpanzee virus.

        You are referring to the Koprowski and not the Sabin OPV.

        Hooper’s suggestion was that either the American Koprowski OPV trials in Belgian colonies in Africa or other trials in French colonies of Africa could have had HIV contaminated batches and that this was a possible explanation for minor outbreaks what is now known to be HIV in those areas at the time.

        Quite plausible considering other vaccination contamination scandals, such as the proven large-scale contamination of Salk vaccines with a simian virus (SV40) which was believed to be a cofactor in cancers such as mesothelioma.

        A more reliable (than Wikipedia) consideration of the recent status of Edward Hooper’s hypothesis:
        The WetNet: What the Oral Polio Vaccine Hypothesis Exposes about Globalized Interspecies Fluid Bonds

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          Earl

          Indeed yes. Thank you for the link such a brilliant presentation. Alas probably still 4-5 years away from escaping the shadow of conspiracy theory. The empty ticking echo of time lost.
          Cheers.

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    David Maddison

    Sweden is dropping aspects of its climate insanity.

    If Sweden, which is an extremely woke country, is doing it, what does it say about Australia’s fanatical commitment to even more economically and environmentally destructive climate madness?

    https://www.kettner-edelmetalle.de/news/schweden-setzt-zeichen-abschaffung-der-klimasteuern-07-09-2024

    Translated using the automatic translate function.

    08.09.2024

    Sweden sets an example: abolishing climate taxes

    Sweden’s conservative government has taken a bold step and reversed the climate taxes on flying and fuel introduced by its predecessors. This decision marks a clear departure from the previous climate agenda and represents a significant relief for the Swedish population.

    A change of course in climate policy
    After the Swedish government had already removed the goals of Agenda 2030 from its government program, it now abolished the CO2 tax on diesel and gasoline. This measure led directly to a drop in diesel prices and relieves the burden on low-income citizens in particular. Now the climate tax on airline tickets has also been abolished, making flights more affordable for Swedes again.

    Social measure against inflation
    The abolition of climate taxes is seen as an immediate social measure against inflation. In countries such as Austria and Germany, where the CO2 tax on petrol and diesel has already been introduced and is set to rise further in the coming years, citizens are paying increasingly higher prices. In Sweden, on the other hand, people are now benefiting from cheaper fuel and flight prices.

    Reactions and consequences
    Reactions to these measures are mixed. While the Green Party calls the tax relief “irresponsible,” many citizens are relieved. According to estimates, flights outside Europe could become more than 30 euros cheaper if the flight tax is abolished. This represents a significant relief for travelers and could boost tourism.

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      OldOzzie

      Gas, Coal Rule U.S. Grid Despite Transition Push

      Natural gas and coal remain the sources of over half of U.S. electricity generation despite a massive government-sponsored push to build out wind and solar as replacements for hydrocarbons.

      These have indeed grown as a percentage of generation capacity and as a portion of output. And yet, coal and gas remain dominant, supplying 58% of the electricity generated in the U.S. over the first eight months of this year, according to data from LSEG.

      This, Reuters’ Gavin Maguire reported, is down from 60.4% during the first eight months of 2021, which might give transition advocates some hope a zero-carbon grid may be possible at some point in the distant future. However, in absolute terms, output from coal and gas-powered plants has gone up, Maguire noted, meaning they actually supplied more electricity to the grid than they did when they accounted for a bigger percentage of total output back in 2021.

      The reason, of course, is rising demand and the inflexibility of wind and solar.

      As weather-dependent energy sources, these cannot provide on-demand electricity unless they are paired with massive batteries that have yet to be built economically. So, the grid relies on the baseload, round-the-clock, on-demand generation from coal and gas power plants.

      Population growth is one of the biggest reasons for this increase in electricity demand. Another, more prominently featured in the media, is the rise of artificial intelligence in the IT industry.

      In June, The Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. electricity demand had rebounded after the pandemic lockdowns, with the strongest growth recorded in “a handful of states experiencing rapid development of large-scale computing facilities such as data centers.”

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      Philip

      I wait for news of Albo’s solar panel factory to be wound up at the loss of billions of dollars, with great enthusiasm.

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      OldOzzie

      ‘Trying to force people’: Numbers reveal massive electric vehicle ‘flop’

      EVs have been such a “commercial flop” that manufacturers are now trying to flog them by any means necessary, says Caleb Bond.

      Electric vehicles have been such a commercial flop that manufacturers are now trying to flog them by any means necessary.

      EV deliveries dropped 10 per cent in June when they made up 8.3 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia – down from 8.8 per cent at the same time last year.

      Last month, EV sales slumped to 5.9 per cent of the market.

      That was despite many manufacturers cutting prices – some by more than $20,000 – in recent months.

      Hence why cheap Chinese EV company BYD last month signed a global deal with Uber to supply at least 100,000 of its vehicles at heavily discounted prices to rideshare drivers.

      It will start in Europe and Latin America and expand to western nations including Australia and New Zealand.

      Chinese businesses are, as we know, intrinsically linked to the Chinese Communist Party and are often heavily subsidised by the government.

      BYD is effectively engaging in a process called dumping, whereby one nation exports a production to another nation and sells it below the domestic sale price in an effort to flood the market and squeeze out competitors.

      It is also an effective method of pushing product of which there is an oversupply and people would otherwise not buy.

      And the reality – as borne out in the falling sales – is that people would not buy electric vehicles unless they were given an exceptional reason to do so.

      Car makers are now rationing the sale of petrol vehicles in the UK because not enough people are buying EVs and if they sell too many internal combustion engine cars, they’ll be hit with heavy environmental penalties.

      The boss of major British car dealer Vertu Motors, Robert Forrester, last week told The Telegraph that manufacturers were delaying the delivery of ordered cars until next year lest they exceed government-mandated quotas.

      No less than 22 per cent of cars sold in the UK by manufacturers must be zero-emission under the rules.

      It will increase to 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035.

      Car companies are slugged £15,000 – nearly $A30,000 – for every petrol car sold over their quota.

      And given no one is buying electric cars, those companies are now artificially shrinking the entire new car market to avoid the cost.

      “It’s almost as if we can’t supply the cars that people want, but we’ve got plenty of the cars that maybe they don’t want,” Mr Forrester said.

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        OldOzzie

        Noticed when just filling up at BP Balgowlah, an EV plugged into an BP Pulse – No Owner in sight and during period of many cars filling up ICE Vehicles, including mine, owner of EV did not appear – BP U98 Premium was 189.9c/l only 1 cent dearer than BP Manly, lowest for awhile, hence why BP Balgowlah was crowded with ICE Vehicles lined up to refill.

        BP EV Charging Costs Sydney

        Based on the provided search results, it appears that BP Pulse, the electric vehicle (EV) charging network operated by BP, charges $0.55 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for EV charging at their service stations in Sydney.

        A specific snippet from “bp’s electric car charging stations explained” (published on November 29, 2023) states: “The majority of bp pulse charge stations cost 55 cents per kilowatt-hour, which by our estimates mean it would cost roughly $33 to fully charge a typical 60kWh electric car battery.”

        Additionally, another snippet from “BP Pulse expands public EV charging options in Australia” (published on November 18, 2022) mentions that BP Pulse stations cost $0.55 per kWh, although it notes that some stations were initially free at launch.

        Please note that these prices may be subject to change, and it’s always a good idea to verify the current pricing and availability of EV charging stations with BP Pulse or other reliable sources before visiting a station.

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      OldOzzie

      EU elites are in despair over Europe’s economic death spiral

      Treating AI as guilty until proven innocent is the eurozone’s next great error

      Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

      Europe has been worrying about economic decline and techno-stagnation for a quarter of a century. The gnawing angst has finally given way to something closer to panic.

      The biannual gathering of the European elites at the Ambrosetti forum – a mini-Davos on Lake Como, on Chatham House rules – was a succession of grim warnings, punctuated by confessions from battle-weary officials that the half-formed structure of the EU makes it almost impossible to solve any of the problems.

      The eurozone has scarcely grown for seven quarters, and fiscal austerity has yet to begin. Germany has seen no accumulated growth since 2018. The dawning awareness that next year may be just as bad has finished all remaining illusions. So has fear of the “China shock 2.0”, this time larger and rising far up the technological ladder. “If we go on like this, Europe is simply going to die,” said a doyen of the EU illuminati.

      “America innovates, China replicates, Europe regulates. It is an extraordinary picture of our situation, because it’s true,” said Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

      “In 1990 the EU of 12 states made up 26.5pc of world GDP. Today the EU of 27 states makes up 16.1pc, while the US is still at 26pc. We were a big weight in the world but that is no longer the case,” she said.

      Europe’s next great error is already in the making. The Artificial Intelligence Act came into force in August – a rushed and messy text informed by the EU’s “precautionary principle”. It treats AI as guilty until proven innocent, more of a threat to humans than a gift to be seized. The dense legal document is a feast for lawyers: Europe’s cutting-edge coders are fleeing to friendlier climes.

      The techno-literate were in despair at Lake Como. “It’s too late. We’ve already lost this race,” said the head of a European pharma giant.

      “I am trying to use AI to turn a dinosaur into a world-class healthcare company but all I hear in every conversation in Europe is about how we must defend ourselves against AI. Europe needs to take a hard look at itself,” he said.

      The European Commission thought it could pull off a second coup akin to the GDPR data protection law in 2016, which compelled others to follow – the “Brussels Effect” – and marked the high point of the EU’s ambitions to be the world’s super-regulator. But the EU is a diminished force today and AI cannot be regulated in such a fashion.

      This time the world is turning its back on Europe. Meta is not releasing its multimodal Llama 3 AI model for video, audio and images in the EU, and has suspended its AI assistant, saying restrictions on the training of large language models makes it unworkable.

      Apple Intelligence has suspended the European rollout of its generative AI tools, saying the EU’s Digital Markets Act compromises privacy by forcing them to let third parties into their systems.

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        another ian

        ““America innovates, China replicates, Europe regulates. It is an extraordinary picture of our situation, because it’s true,” said Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

        “In 1990 the EU of 12 states made up 26.5pc of world GDP. Today the EU of 27 states makes up 16.1pc, while the US is still at 26pc. We were a big weight in the world but that is no longer the case,” she said.”

        And Oz does what? Procrastinates?

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      OldOzzie

      UK cold weather: Freezing -5 Arctic blast to hit in hours – with Met Office snow warning

      British weather is set to take a cold turn today (Wednesday), as freezing Arctic winds are set to blanket the UK, increasing the risk of frosts and snow

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    Netherlands Approves Ukraine To Use Their Weapons to Attack Moscow

    What is becoming very clear is that NATO and the Neocons are out to ensure that World War III starts before the US election. Ruben Brekelmans, the defense minister of The Netherlands, just gave Zelensky the approval to use their weapons to wage war on Russia and even attack Moscow. Brekelmans claimed that international law “is not limited by distance.” He added, “The right to self-defense does not end 100 kilometers from the border.” He has now placed The Netherlands in the crosshairs, being the first to authorize Ukraine to start killing civilians in Russia.

    As I have said, my fear is that they know what they are doing, and Putin has shown tremendous restraint. They want him to be overthrown by Russian Neocons, and they will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. Brekelmans declared:

    “We have not placed any operational restrictions on Ukraine regarding distance.”

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/netherlands-approves-ukraine-to-use-their-weapons-to-attack-moscow/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

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      David Maddison

      All the evil doers of the world are trying to do their thing now before Trump is possibly elected.

      And that’s also why the Left are doing everything in their power to stop him.

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      Bushkid

      Saw a mention just this morning, a headline in The Australian I think (I no longer have a subscription), to the effect that the USA has just “approved” Ukraine to use US weapons inside Russia as well.

      It seems the push may be on to actually start WWIII, or at least push Russia to retaliate on a large scale that gives them an excuse to go all out, maybe even nuclear.

      Interesting timing, though.

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        Dave in the States

        More likely they will retaliate asymmetrically. Perhaps all the business computers in Holland will mysteriously crash, digital transactions will be cancelled, or something along those lines.

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        el+gordo

        The nuclear threat is off the table because India and China have told the Russians not to do it. This has to do with oil, those two countries are the biggest importers, paid for in rubles.

        The UK and US will supposedly say this weekend that Ukraine can use their cruise missiles inside Russia. Legitimate targets only or they won’t be able to join the EU.

        We have to end the war soon, the civilian populations on both sides need warmth to survive the winter.

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      Mike Jonas

      Isn’t the argument a bit warped, that when a country is attacked it must not fight back.

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        KP

        More the argument that if nations are providing weapons to your enemy, can you attack those nations for it? Do you need to declare war on the weapons suppliers, or just missile their factories outright?

        Can you attack the shipments of missiles in 3rd countries as they are aiding and abetting your enemies?

        Al this has been done before, but not talked about in the mainstream media. WW2 had companies trading with both sides, companies of countries still operating within the enemy’s territory, its never black and white.

        Its just lines on a map and psychologically damaged people leading countries that cause all this, the farmers don’t want to leave their fields and families and go to war.

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          el+gordo

          ‘ … can you attack those nations for it?’

          Not necessarily, it would only escalate into a world war.

          There is a fully operational gas pipeline from Russia to Europe, a legitimate target left intact. Realpolitik.

          Biden said to the Ukrainians that they should stop bombing oil depots because it upsets the price of oil in an election year. They gave him the finger.

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        Steve of Cornubia

        That’s pretty much the left’s attitude toward Israel.

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      GlenM

      This is the war the supranational warmongers want.

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      OldOzzie

      Nuland Admits US Discouraged Ukraine From Signing Russia Peace Deal At Moment It Was ‘Really Close’

      There’s never a dull moment when former high-ranking State Department official Victoria Nuland goes on the record for a new tell-all. She’s certainly never shy about broadcasting her role in anti-Moscow covert maneuvering and machinations.

      Indeed, many already know her as Victoria-‘F@ck the EU’-Nuland and for essentially running foreign policy in Europe stretching back through the Obama years as then Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, where many of the problems which sparked the disastrous and tragic Russia-Ukraine war were first set in motion.

      Exiled Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar recently sat down with her for a new interview published to YouTube earlier this month.

      The most interesting part of the interview was when he pressed Nuland on widespread reports saying that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson actively encouraged President Zelensky to back out of a potential peace deal with Moscow early after the Feb.2022 Russian invasion.

      There was a possible chance to end the war and perhaps avoid hundreds of thousands of deaths. But the West apparently convinced Zelensky to fight it out.

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        OldOzzie

        If Russia Takes Pokrovsk The Rest Of Eastern Ukraine Will Fall

        After many months of propaganda from the western media asserting that Russia’s military capacity had been shattered by the brutal “meat grinder” of the Ukraine front, it appears that the Kremlin is actually accelerating their offensive with more troops and artillery than ever.

        And, they are poised to take all of the Donbas and large portions of Eastern Ukraine if they succeed in the pivotal city of Pokrovsk.

        For the majority of the war Pokrovsk has acted as the logistical hub and rear operations base for Ukraine’s eastern defensive lines. It sits astride both a key railroad juncture and the highway to Ukraine’s fourth-largest metro, Dnipro. The city’s defensive positions are a final obstacle to Russia’s access to most of the region. If Pokrovsk falls Russian forces will be able to easily flank entrenched troops in the north and south of the country.

        The loss of the primary rail lines and highway routes in and out of Pokrovsk would cut resources to Ukrainian units across the Donbas and possibly force them to retreat before running out of supplies. This would mean an immediate and sweeping Russian advance all along the eastern lines. Where Putin goes from there is hard to say, but a campaign back into Western Ukraine, this time using attrition tactics, would not be unthinkable.

        Pokrovsk is, interestingly, valuable for another reason that’s not immediately apparent: It acts as high ground in a nation of lowlands, and high ground allows for more effective use of drones because the signals travel further and are harder to jam with electronic interference.

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          OldOzzie

          Russia’s Soyuz rocket launch to ISS called flawless for NASA veteran’s first space trip in decade

          Like a cowboy on a horse , ‘I’m an astronaut that needs to be sitting on a rocket and flying in space,’ Pettit says.

          Sept. 11 (UPI) — An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts successfully launched Wednesday for a six-month mission to the International Space Station and the transition from one mission crew to another.

          Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner departed Earth in a live-streamed event with NASA astronaut Don Pettit on time at 12:23 p.m. EDT aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in east-central Kazakhstan, a large former Soviet satellite nation south of western Russia.

          The spacecraft arrived at the ISS and “safely docked” 3:33 p.m. as it was orbiting above Ukraine, according to officials. The hatch between Soyuz and the ISS is expected to open around 5:50 p.m. EDT for the space travelers to finally set foot on the space station.

          The flight went flawlessly, according to NASA, and with the arrival of the three marks for the first time in human history a record 19 people are in space at the same time across four different spacecrafts, according to NASA.

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          el+gordo

          Under the cover of drones a brigade could be pulled back to safety, then the advancing Russian troops would be overwhelmed by UK cruise missiles.

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    David Maddison

    https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/why-were-typhoon-proof-chinese-wind-turbines-flattened-by-typhoon-yagi-/2-1-1707314

    Why were ‘typhoon-proof’ Chinese wind turbines flattened by Typhoon Yagi?

    Super typhoon left turbines made by leading OEM Windey strewn across the beaches of ‘China’s Hawaii’

    As well as a trail of death and destruction across South East Asia, Super Typhoon Yagi left some awkward questions for leading turbine maker Windey, whose “typhoon-proof” 6.25MW machines were left bent, battered and broken at a Chinese wind farm.

    After forming in warm seas around the Philippines, Yagi slammed into China on Friday with winds of 245km per hour before going on to wreak further havoc in Vietnam over the weekend, claiming dozens of lives in the process.

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    David Maddison

    Before the present, the last time surgery was done to “cure” a mental condition, it was lobotomies in the 1940’s to 1960’s.

    It was a disaster.

    This video talks about it. https://youtu.be/I3b1JUAhOpo

    Surgery and hormones are similarly now being used to “cure” people who think they are the wrong gender. It is a similar disaster.

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      Sambar

      Interesting, I note in the first couple of minutes the narrator claims that the ancient Murray river system has supported “civilisations” for thousands of years.
      FWIW, the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines Civilisation as:–
      Civilisation Making or becoming civilised, esp advanced stage in social development
      Civilise Bring out of barbarism , enlightenment, refine, get rid of barbarous habits.

      Didn’t realise that all of this happened in Australia all those thousands of years ago, but, hey.

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    TdeF

    Kamala’s claims that Trump was a dictator in the fact of his previous four years is just another hoax and people know it.

    But Trump finally said on National television that Kamala is a Marxist. Her father was a Marxist professor.

    She did not reply or deny. It is what needed to be said. Frankly, I doubt she knows what it means but and is absolutely unqualified opportunist running for President. So she will pretend to be whatever people want her to be. Kamal Kameleon. For stealing his policies Trump offered her a MAGA hat!

    Now the biggest search on Google is ‘Haitians eating pets’. Yes, people heard it and it is real. And park ducks. All hidden by the media but not on the internet.

    The difficult idea being pushed is that Kamala somehow ‘won’ the debate. What debate? It’s like the Climate Change debate. Kamala never answered a question, was never fact checked and reeled off a list of anti Trump memes like ‘dictator’.

    After the show, the critical swinging voters are 2:1 for Trump. And Republican voter registrations are rocketing. The anti Kamala voters are mobilizing. No one wants a Marxist President.

    There is nothing the Democrats can do now except rely on the media,Hollywood and big Tech and Washington to back their puppet who has no idea what inflation is, where Russia is and repeats whatever she is told. And a VP candidate who has been a paid shill for China all his professional life. Her only strength is that she is a childless cat lady. It’s a real voter segment.

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      The Marxists want a Marxist President. The question is how many that is?

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        RickWill

        I expect every government employee in the USA is determined to see Harris win.

        A feature of growing government is that the population become ever disconnected from productive activity. All the things they consume just come from the system they live in.

        When people who have knowledge of the means of producing stuff look at protesters like “just stop oil”, we see hypocrites. These people are protesting against the things they are wearing, their means of transport to get to the protest; their plastic banners and so on. But are you a hypocrite if you have no idea where stuff actually comes from?

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        Leo G

        After the show, the critical swinging voters are 2:1 for Trump.

        Notwithstanding the relative performances of the debaters, particularly Donald Trump’s unexpected poor performance, swinging voters might have been sensitive about the sinister interaction between Kamala Harris and the moderators.
        There was no pretence of fairness in the debate- and that said something about Kamala Harris and what to expect from a Harris presidency.

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      Philip

      I heard about the eating cats things days before the debate. Seems legit to me. Even if it doesn’t happen now, it will, or is a threat, therefore it’s extremely valid to talk about it.

      But the moderator got Trump a good one when he got Trump to say he “saw it on the TV”.

      People like to defame opponents by getting them to say “I saw it on the internet it must be true”. John Laws does it to callers on his radio show that he disagrees with, all the time. But of course, it could very well be true. Just because you saw it on the internet doesn’t mean it’s not true. To suggest it couldn’t be is just as stupid as saying it definitely is.

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      TdeF

      Ukraine is not a member of NATO. They have no legal excuse. But it’s what they NATO chiefs want. They are sick of defending and want to attack. You know the story. Home for Christmas. There will be no Christmas.

      This is not democracy, it’s war mongering, military adventurism like the Crimean War in 1855 which is behind the absolute disaster of this proxy war. And given Russia’s world military dominance in nuclear weapons and missiles, absolute madness. The stuff of nightmares.

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    Sambar

    Huge protests on the streets of Melbourne yesterday with police and activists clashing quite violently.
    Police response was capsicum spray and Rubber bullets. Bit concerned that the rubber bullets thing seems to be the first option here in Victoriastan.
    I wonder why water cannons are not deployed as to me these would offer a better line of control. The distance between police and rioters could be maintained, difficult to light fires with huge volumes of water being sprayed, probably less risk of serious injury to all sides.
    Maybe the government likes the intimidation of the gun. The very things that they would (will) take from civilians if the opportunity arises. Its quite a short step from rubber projectiles to the metal sort.

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      KP

      Well, that never got a mention in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning! The same as the invisible farmer’s protest in Canberra the day before!

      Top story is-

      “High school students will be taught about Indigenous Australians’ experience of colonisation under the biggest overhaul of NSW’s history curriculum in a decade.”

      Do I detect a discrepancy between what is happening and what we are being told? Is it more like the story they are running about the woman who heads Russia Today and her propaganda, than about democracy and free speech?

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      Philip

      I was actually quite impressed with the Vic Police. At least it shows they’re not politically biassed (well, the head would be of course, but still). I would’ve been far less constrained.

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      Earl

      Sambar – another “positive” with water cannon as used in the past is that if you add a dye to the water the great unwashed receiver becomes easy to identifying for days/weeks(?) after the event. No need to chase/catch/struggle/arrest just turn up for a lecture class with handcuffs ready.

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    MrGrimNasty

    Chile wildfire arsonists.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmwg28k9vwo

    In 2 earlier reports the BBC strongly insinuated climate change was to blame.

    “The fires broke out last week amid an unusual heat wave…”

    “Last year, the regions of Biobío and Ñuble – further south from Valparaíso – endured deadly wildfires, which appear to be becoming more frequent and lethal.”

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    Mike Jonas

    TdeF says “It is also clear that after the performance, the critical swinging voters are 2:1 for Trump. And Republican voter registrations are rocketing.”. That may well be correct, but I haven’t seen anything to that effect. It’s hard to find unbiased reports, of course. I found this report by CNN interesting. CNN can obviously be expected to be biased towards Kamala Harris, and although their headline “CNN Flash Poll: Majority of debate watchers say Harris outperformed Trump onstage” might look biased, it seems to be reasonable – Kamala Harris was clearly able to unsettle Donald Trump and swing reports of the debate towards that rather than towards policy.

    However, the CNN report goes on to say “voters who tuned in gave Trump a 20-point advantage over Harris after the debate on handling the economy, 55% to 35% – a margin that’s slightly wider than his pre-debate edge.

    Debate watchers also gave Trump a 23-point advantage over Harris when it came to whom they trusted to handle immigration and a 6-point edge on handling the role of commander in chief. But they gave Harris a 9-point advantage on protecting democracy and a 21-point advantage on whom they trusted to handle the issue of abortion.”. If, as one might reasonably hope, voters regard the economy and immigration as the most important issues, then maybe Donald Trump did better than most reports suggest. Those reported margins are pretty large.

    My opinion, not that it’s worth anything, is that the length of time between now and the election should benefit Donald Trump, and the tendency of opinion polls in recent years to understate non-leftwing opinion is likely to continue. ie, Donald Trump should be at least level with Kamala Harris in opinion polls close to polling day, and if he is then he will win. I’m assuming, of course, that the, um, irregularities in the last presidential election won’t happen again.

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      Philip

      Interesting point Mike. I have an impeccable record of picking elections I follow, and yes I picked Biden would beat Trump. But this one, I cannot get a grip on.

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    YYY Guy

    NT top cop thinks he’s Dan Andrews –

    Top traffic cop denies interfering in son’s alleged drink driving incident
    The Territory Road Policing Division boss Superintendent Daniel Shean allegedly intervened to block his son being investigated and possibly charged for allegedly drink driving, multiple sources have told the NT Independent, while the now former officer has denied the allegations.

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    YYY Guy

    The headline –

    Special treatment: Jim Chalmers covers for super fund lobby on property fees. When the Labor Government took office, it did so with a clear promise that there would be greater transparency. Rex Patrick looks at the latest Labor secrecy scandal over Cbus that shows political self-interest counts far more than a promise of accountable government.

    Why would they keep emails between gummint and super funds secret?
    The board at good with money, aren’t they?
    Remember “the six budget surpluses I announce here tonight”?
    What does CBUS invest in? –

    At Cbus, we believe well-governed companies that manage material environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities in their operations and supply chains, such as those that impact employees, suppliers, customers, communities and the environment, will protect assets and grow our members’ retirement savings over the long term.

    Solar panels and wind farms.
    Surely other super funds wouldn’t appoint failed ALP politicians to boards?
    Why, even Kevin’ daughter is an expert on managing other people’ money
    How did it happen that all the lefties get appointed to these boards? Oh.
    Mates.

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    RickWill

    I was discussing the weapons conference in Melbourne this week with my son. I suggested that a good portion of UN aid ends up buying weapons.

    My son did not have a lot of problem with UN money going into weapons if it kept money going into the coffers of US military weapons makers because it increases funding for their R&D. He went on to the question – What do you think would happen if USA declared they were withdrawing all military support for offshore activities?

    He suggested a likely first step would be the CCP taking control of Taiwan. Once Taiwan was secured, Australia would be high on the ist of objectives.

    It is worth noting that the drop in iron ore price this year has already put a hole in the Federal budget, highlighting how important this income from China is for Australia. The income from Iron ore, coal and gas, keeps Australia afloat. China has to work hard for its income and a disproportionate amount goes back to Australia for raw materials that do not take much effort to produce from the high productivity operations in Australia..

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      Graeme4

      The drop in the iron ore price is substantial, I believe at least 10%. Given that iron ore is Australia’s major export, it’s difficult to see how Australia can continue public spending at the same rate.

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      KP

      Taiwan? That Chinese island off the coast of China? Why would a change of Govt matter when all the people are the same? It would be like Queensland invading NSW and taking over… no-one would notice.

      However, why would China want Australia, we have nothing to offer that they don’t already have. Same thing, they invade Canberra and take over, who would care? We have a working population in a country that runs, who would want to destroy all that and then try to rebuild it. Look at Iraq, and how far behind have they fallen due to America’s invasion, the country is not worth having?

      Why invade when you can trade? Why invade when you can out-vote the shrinking/dying white minority? Why invade when you can buy the politicians so easily.

      No, I think We are pretty safe from overseas Govts, its our own we should worry about!

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    Philip

    Student protests intrigue me as to why we take them so seriously. I always think hang on, 6 years ago these people were watching pop music videos and dancing about. Why do we care what their naive political opinion is?

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      Strop

      We don’t necessarily care. But their disruption needs to be taken seriously.

      Of course, we need to be mindful that the younger generations will become the majority voter.

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    MeAgain

    https://www.thegmocase.info/

    To me, the fraud is in and we should be at the stage of security removing executives from the building. But the executives are still in power and still holding the keys to the labs….

    This is too big to just go on, business as usual https://brownstone.org/articles/big-pharmas-rap-sheet/

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    Philip

    https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/australia-s-largest-solar-salt-project-given-green-light-from-federal-government/ar-AA1qn0xH?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=51257a181d4443608b7856b22a61c066&ei=41

    Tanya Plibersek (aka Mother Nature) has approved a salt mine, adds the word solar, and promoted as a leader of business. Most offensively, that only she herself would approve or even provide such a beautiful project. It’s absurd. Who wouldn’t approve it?

    It’s like Albo, minister for infrastructure, crowing about a road that was built. Anyone would have built the road Albo, you didn’t actually do it.

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      Sambar

      Had a laugh when it was mentioned that the salt farm would be powered by wind and solar. A well designed salt farm uses gravity to move the water around just the way salt has been produced for millennia. The “actual” salt production bit doesn’t require additional energy other than the earths rotation to produce tides. I will bet that the machinery that harvests the salt will be good old diesel fuelled.

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      KP

      “It’s like Albo, minister for infrastructure, crowing about a road that was built.”

      Lies lies! The roads are so neglected these days they dropped the speed limit from 80 down to 60kph over the hill nearby because the surface is so broken up and they are too incompetent to fix it! A NSW State Highway, complete with its NSW State Highwayman tucked away with flashing red and blues….

      I suppose he would crow, that one road is probably the only real work the Govt has managed!

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      Gary S

      What? No ‘sacred sites’?

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      OldOzzie

      What September 11, 2001 Taught Us: There Are No Adults in the Room

      The Axis of Evil in American politics is now complete: Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, and Kamala Harris are all on the same side.

      They will compromise on any of their supposed ideological differences and bury old blood-stained hatchets — remember when the Left called Cheney a war profiteer and blood-crazed jingoist? — in pursuit of a higher goal.

      That goal is keeping power in the hands of tiny, privileged elites who despise most lesser Americans. And centralizing such power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats, including the power to start pointless wars (see Iraq, Libya, and Ukraine), and flood American cities with tens of thousands of poor immigrants.

      Remember that it was Bush/Cheney that started the policy of recruiting Somalis and flying them over 10 safe M@slim countries in order to make Minnesota more “diverse.” Mission accomplished!

      You could see the coalition taking shape years ago, when all the Best People gathered for John McCain’s funeral in Washington, D.C., and then-President Donald Trump was pointedly disinvited. Our elites air-kissed and traded alligator tears around McCain’s flag-draped casket.

      In a touching moment of bipartisan polyamory, George W. Bush and Michelle Obama flirted like 13-year-olds while Barack looked on with a smile.

      What unites these power elites beside a haughty contempt for the public they claim to serve?

      One key qualification that is too little discussed, even among MAGA types: amoral, blasé, dilettantish incompetence, unencumbered by moral principles or basic human empathy.

      Few of these high-flying powerbrokers rose to the top on merit.

      As one of us (John) explained in his September 31, 2022 TED Talk in Davos, Switzerland, these people are sharp-toothed, aggressive “alpha sheep,” whose skill set centers on sniffing out elite opinion, quickly conforming to it, then ruthlessly punishing any member of the herd that steps out of line.

      The “Peter Principle” beloved of management consultants predicts that people tend to rise to the level of their own incompetence, then stay there.

      We’re way past that when it comes to the government.

      There the “Dubya Principle” rockets people right past the positions for which they are pretty much incompetent and lands them in jobs for which they are wildly, stunningly unsuited.

      Then, to keep those positions, they trash the traditional standards by which they might be criticized and “fundamentally transform” the very institutions they were supposed to be serving.

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      KP

      “9/11: A Visual History”

      Well, that’s a shame, we went to all that trouble to reinforce the official propaganda and immediately the comments point out what a pack of lies it all is!

      How can we tell the next generation what to think when these pesky voices on the internet are disagreeing? They ought to be stopped!

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    John Connor II

    Let’s do the time warp again Thursday!

    Samsung is reportedly planning to announce some major layoffs worldwide

    Samsung Electronics may be about to join the list of major technology companies that have cut their workforce in 2024. According to a report from Reuters, via unnamed sources, Samsung will be cutting a number of sales and marketing jobs by as much as 15 percent worldwide. In addition, it is reportedly going to cut its administration staff by as much as 30 percent worldwide.

    The sources also told Reuters that the job cuts would be made by the end of 2024. At the moment, there are no specifics on how many of Samsung’s employees will be affected by these layoffs.

    https://www.neowin.net/news/samsung-is-reportedly-planning-to-announce-some-major-layoffs-worldwide/

    Nothing to do with their 15 year low profit, with an 84% drop to just $5B USD from 2022, or their former execs stealing IP for China…

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    OldOzzie

    Astronomers Stunned by Unexpected Discovery of New Celestial Bodies in the Outer Solar System

    By National Astronomical Observatory of Japan September 10, 2024

    Using the Subaru Telescope, astronomers have identified previously unknown celestial bodies in the outer Solar System, suggesting a larger, unexplored expanse that parallels other planetary systems.

    These findings, including a possible second ring of Kuiper Belt Objects, could reshape our understanding of planetary formation and potentially boost the chances of discovering extraterrestrial life by revealing a more extensive and typical structure of our Solar System compared to others.

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      John Connor II

      The (settled) science of astronomy is getting turned upside down, shaken and kicked in the nads for good measure of late! 😁

      /black monolith rererence getting clearer?😎

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    John Connor II

    Good news revenge Thursday!

    93 year old gets the sack from the supermarket job he had for decades, then the karma bus arrives for his jerk boss.

    https://youtu.be/W9mjXjtgqlE?si=pWQktjYWQDTVdOzq

    Must see! 20 mins well spent.
    Don’t mess with oldies!

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      John Connor II

      2 redthumbs for a feel good story like that?
      So sad…

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        Robert Swan

        I’m not a thumber, and IMO it’s a bit rude to thumb and not explain why.

        FWIW, I suspect the reds are because some of the comments to that video claim that it’s not *true*, but a Hollywood-style “based on” story (aka “fiction”).

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      The Supermarket Company was inept/negligent in employing the Manager in the first place without doing the proper Due Diligence and background checking required when employing staff/workers or anyone for that matter. Never should have happened in the first place.

      However, well done that Man.

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      David Maddison

      According to one of the comments on the video:

      This is not how the story goes at all. It is nearly all fabricated. Arthur St John worked at Market basket right up to his death at age 96 in 2017. He was a beloved fixture at the store right up to the end. There was a go fund me for Arthur but it had nothing to do with him being fired. It was during the strike and shutdown in 2014 of all the Market Basket Stores during the DeMoulas family feud and the force out of the highly respected Arthur T DeMoulas. But Arthur T eventually ended up buying out the family and became sole owner of the chain. The gofundme was to help Arthur St John pay his bills during the many weeks of shutdown. Arthur returned to his job afterwards and worked right up to his death at 96 just shy of his 97th birthday. I don’t know why anybody would make up this awful story.

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    John Connor II

    Green New Deal will make your electric bill SURGE by at least 28 times its current cost

    An analysis has found that the Democratic Party’s Green New Deal plan could see electric bills multiply by as much as 28 times.

    This is according to a report by the think tank the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which found that the Green New Deal’s proposed plan to shift the United States’ energy system to be run solely on renewable energy could make electricity bills soar to 28 times its current cost.

    Dr. David E. Wojick, a journalist a policy analyst, breaks down some of the major costs that come with implementing the Green New Deal.

    The first is the need for massive amounts of battery storage. Replacing fossil fuels with energy harnessed from renewable sources like solar and wind power would require that there be around 250 million megawatt-hours worth of storage capacity in the United States.

    If battery storage costs $300,000 per megawatt-hour, the total price tag for these batteries comes to a staggering $75 trillion. Spread over 20 years, that amounts to $3.75 trillion each year.

    With U.S. households using about 1.5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity yearly, this cost translates to roughly $26,250 per household annually – 14 times higher than today’s average bill of $1,800.

    Electrifying transportation and heating would double the electricity demand – potentially pushing costs up even further to $52,500 per year per household, or 28 times the average.

    https://www.stationgossip.com/2024/09/analysis-green-new-deal-will-make-your.html

    Go renewables, go broke.

    Just got my winter power bill – $130.
    That’s exhorbitant!😁

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      RickWill

      I note this comment for Truthteller in reply to the CFACT nonsense:

      Not mine. Solar runs my entire house. It’s awesome. I have gas appliances, which is also awesome. No electric bill – ever.

      The CFACT article is rubbish. It will not happen because there will be many more ike Truthteller who will isolate themselves from electricity price rises. Those who cannot make their own electricity will cause the grid to become a social service facility entirely paid for by governments and perform similarly to the South African grid.

      Battery installations are gathering pace in Australia:

      Figures from industry advocate SunWiz suggest there were more than 47,000 residential batteries installed across the country last year as energy markets went into meltdown and prices for millions of customers rose.

      It was a 55 per cent leap on the previous year.

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-30/australian-household-battery-uptake-surges-to-record-high/102160138

      Battery uptake is greatest in South Australia. There are two processes driving this. The first is the high cost of power while the second is battery purchase incentives. Those that can afford solar/battery will reduce the income of the grid suppliers so their costs have to be spread across a smaller consumer base. Ramping the service fee will just push households and businesses with batteries to go off grid.

      None of this has been thought through. Any grid that has permitted non-dispatchable sources to connect without penalty are in terminal decline.

      Germany probably already has enough intermittent capacity to service its future needs. Not because they are economically viable but because businesses will relocate to places that can offer low cost energy.

      Imagine the opportunities to build new power stations in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria to power AI. Forget wind farms. Victoria should be building server farms using the lowest cost coal resource.

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      Graeme4

      I would be interested to find out where large-scale batteries are being installed for only $300,000/MWh. (A$450,000/MWh). I believe the last battery installation completed in Australia was closer to A$1m/MWh.

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    John Connor II

    Thursday sarcasm

    The Left: “No one is eating people’s pets.”
    Which means we’re 1 week away from:
    “Why do you care that people are eating pets.”
    3 weeks from:
    “Why eating pets is a good thing.”
    And 4 weeks from:
    “Refusing to eat pets is white supremacy.”

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    John Connor II

    You Will Eat Ze Bugs and Be Happy: Canada’s Pandemic Bill Will Regulate Meat Production and Promote Insect-Based ‘Foods’

    Canada’s new “pandemic prevention and preparedness” bill includes disturbing clauses that seek to dramatically reshape the nation’s food supply.

    In order to allegedly “reduce pandemic risk,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government will “regulate” meat production and other elements of the agriculture industry that are essential for feeding the general public.

    In addition, the bill states that the government will “promote” the “production of alternative proteins” such as lab-grown “meat” and insect-based “foods” in order to “prepare” for the “next pandemic.”

    Once passed, the legislation, Bill C-293, will give Trudeau’s Liberal Party sweeping powers to regulate the food supply to allegedly “prevent” as well as “prepare” for a future pandemic.

    The bill, titled “An Act respecting pandemic prevention and preparedness,” is now in its second reading in the Canadian Senate and is expected to pass.

    https://slaynews.com/news/canadas-pandemic-bill-regulate-meat-production-promote-insect-based-foods/

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      David Maddison

      Scary.

      No one can say the Left are denying that they want non-Elites to “eat ze bugs”.

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      KP

      “the bill states that the government will “promote” the “production of alternative proteins” such as lab-grown “meat” and insect-based “foods” in order to “prepare” for the “next pandemic.””

      Obviously we will catch entirely new diseases eating this crap instead of the meat we have evolved to enjoy over tens of thousands of years! Mad Cow Prions here we come!

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    NZ news a couple of days ago told a story of a major saw mill, and a major pulp mill, closing in the middle of the North island. 2-300 jobs going. So maybe the paperless office is finally here? It has been promised for decades, but with digitalization sweeping in, paper might finally be done? Good luck with another Thompson event, or a couple of neutron bombs.

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      Greg in NZ

      Malaysian-owned Winstone tried to do a Rio Tinto job on the govt to get cheaper electricity and (supposedly) it didn’t work. Two hundred and thirty workers, and their families and all the associated businesses in Ohakune (ski town for Mt Ruapehu) are now signing up for the dole or flying to QLD or WA to work in the mines (are they still operating?).

      Methanex (?) is also closing down one of its two operations in Taranaki on the west coast, even though our hydro-lakes are now back up and near full again: Clima-Change™️ taketh and giveth back again.

      Experts [sic, very sick] are pulling their hair out – what little is left – shouting: If only we had more windmills & solar panels! One word – coal 🔥

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        Hanrahan

        The two words, “coal” and “NZ” have never come together in my mind but logic tells me that there is some coal in all corners of the world. Do you have much or would you need to import some?

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          Greg in NZ

          My dad’s dad came out from Scotland to work the Huntly Coal Mines over a hundred years ago: the Huntly (coal/gas) Power Station is our last remaining generator, albeit running on imported Indo coal because of Gang-Green & Ardern’s mob.

          The South Island’s West Coast is a veritable gold mine of black coal – except for, yet again, city based Greens. There’s other fields of B-grade lignite in places too. And gold. And…

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      Earl

      Thought you were talking about NZ’s paper town Tokoroa (Kinleith timber pulp and paper) place which took me back to ’76 and my first experience with racism.

      Was on overnight bus to Wellington on way to Outward Bound and we stopped at Tokoroa for pickup and change of driver. There were about 7 of us OBers and we took the chance to pile into a nearby pub for drink before the course forced abstinence. We all walked up to the public bar counter and ordered a round. Bar tender lent sideways and looked past us to back of room before turning his attention back to us to ask “Have you got glasses?”. Obviously replied no after all the beer normally came to the customer in its own glass. Bar tender looked past us again (group turned to see what he was looking at which was a group of some 15-20 bros) before straightening up and advising us he couldn’t serve us. Nice welcoming all inclusive town that Tokoroa place.

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    OldOzzie

    Australia’s U.S. diplomat pushes back on criticism of his posture toward China

    Kevin Rudd, the Australian ambassador to the United States, wants to know who is criticizing him over his views of China.

    The ambassador, a former prime minister, stated in a letter to the editor in response to an item in this space last week that the assertion he holds pro-China views “simply does not stand up to scrutiny.”

    Mr. Rudd called out unnamed critics in the column who say he favors conciliatory policies toward Beijing and has taken steps to avoid offending China. The claims are inconsistent with his views contained in books and speeches, he said.

    Retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, for one, strongly disagrees.

    “For over two decades, Kevin Rudd has demonstrated his pro-[China] leanings,” said Mr. Fanell, a former director of intelligence for the Pacific Fleet.

    “Beyond that he’s frequently written commentary for the PRC press, such as China Daily; he has also gone around the world speaking about the benefits of engagement with Beijing, despite never fully acknowledging the strategic trajectory of the Chinese Communist Party’s expansionist campaigns to complete the Great Rejuvenation of China,”
he said, using the abbreviation for People’s Republic of China.

    The national rejuvenation campaign, Mr. Fanell said, has included the seizure of territory the Chinese government unilaterally assesses to be their own, from Taiwan and Japan’s Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea to disputed territory with India, Mongolia and even Russia, he said.

    Mr. Rudd’s pro-Beijing position was highlighted by a recorded conversation between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in Tonga last month.

    Mr. Campbell was overheard telling Mr. Albanese that Mr. Rudd had lobbied the U.S. government not to get involved or sponsor a Pacific island policing initiative that would help coordinate anti-crime efforts among the islands. The deputy secretary said he spoke to Mr. Rudd and “he asked us not to do it.”

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      Dennis

      * China Associates

      * Daughter and Son In Law business buying goods in Australian supermarkets for export to China during COVID-19 crisis.

      * And so on

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    John Connor II

    Curious how everyone in the path of hurricane Francine is buying petrol and generators not solar panels and wind turbines..

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    OldOzzie

    Asylum seekers sue Home Office for ‘new home within reasonable distance of London’

    EXCLUSIVE: Claims believed to be sometimes funded by taxpayers through Legal Aid are making their way to the High Court where top judges consider if they should be moved or not.

    Asylum seekers are trying to force the Home Office to give them new homes with upgraded facilities in better locations than the “shared” lodgings being provided, Express.co.uk can reveal.

    In the latest case to go to the High Court, three brothers from Iran have asked for a house they can live in “within a reasonable traveling distance from London.”

    At a hearing on Tuesday, the Honourable Mr Justice Sheldon gave the three men anonymity referring to the lead claimant as MZD.

    He gave the Home Office seven days to file a defence statement.

    Judge Sheldon wrote in his order: “The Claimant is an asylum seeker from Iran. The Claimant and his two brothers have outstanding appeals of refusals of their asylum claims. They are all being accommodated in a share accommodation facility: they each have their own bedrooms, but share communal facilities with other men.”

    It said the lead claimant has alleged that he was victim to extreme s@xual abuse and violence from an older male relative and his stepmother and now suffers with “moderate depressive disorder as well as PTSD.”

    “There is also recent evidence of self-harming and suicidal thoughts,” the judge said.

    He added: “The Claimant seeks interim relief: namely, an order that the Defendant provide him and his brothers with adequate accommodation together – either self-contained accommodation or a shared house – within a reasonable traveling distance from London…

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    Dennis

    Following on from the Howard Coalition Government Joint Strike Fighter Project that delivered stealth fighters F-35 Lightning for the RAAF Boeing Australia and the RAAF then pursued the Loyal Wingman Project resulting in the pilotless drone jet fighter now called Ghost Bat with several flying in development already.

    On a similar programme the Coalition commission development of an uncrewed large submarine drone called Ghost Shark.

    The following link has information on both RAAF and RAN projects;

    https://psnews.com.au/ghost-shark-uncrewed-submarine-flown-to-us-for-development-testing/141223/

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    Ireneusz Palmowski

    Since the troposphere in the tropics is warmer a kilometer above the surface, and this effect is not seen near the surface, it is logical that some of the sun’s radiation is retained in the upper troposphere and does not raise the temperature near the surface.
    https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/strat-trop/gif_files/time_pres_TEMP_ANOM_ALL_EQ_2024.png

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    Greg in NZ

    Aurora alert tonight for southerners, via spaceweather.com

    I’m too far north to see much, yet Taswegians & South Islanders may get a glimpse: if only it wasn’t snowing & sleeting & raining & freezing…

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      RickWill

      More indication China is in trouble. Iron re price drop hurts Australia. Mooncakes not so much. But clearly a good indicator of the economy.

      This has some interesting details on the growing stockpiles:
      https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/commodities/2024/09/02/chinas-bulging-commodity-stockpiles-lay-depth-of-slowdown-bare/

      Coal Pile

      The power-shortage scares of 2021 and 2022 drew renewed scrutiny of China’s energy security, especially around the availability of its mainstay fuel — coal. Beijing’s response was to lift production and imports to record levels.

      But those efforts have coincided with subdued industrial demand, and a dramatic surge in clean energy generation that now meets almost all of the country’s growth in consumption. The upshot is that coal inventories rose to a unprecedented 635 million tons at the end of June, from less than 90 million in late 2021, according to an estimate from data provider China Coal Resource.

      This coal stockpile iin China is similar to the annual mine production in the USA.

      10