JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
In normal times, advice is optional, and policymakers have time to choose among options. But in emergencies, advice is treated as a moral necessity and deviation is framed as negligence or denial.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth.
WHO says it “only gives advice”
Governments say, “We followed the science”
As a consequence, no one fully owns the outcomes.
This unresolved accountability gap weakens the very institutions it was meant to protect and exposes the fault line in global governance itself.
https://trusttheevidence.substack.com/p/the-us-withdrawal-from-the-who
300
The governments lied by omission.
No government claimed to be following the scientific method.
The uneducated public does not know that The Science TM is in direct contravention of the scientific method.
Governments, especially in the West, have actively destroyed education so that this outcome was possible.
Those who retain the ability to think rationally have been designated as Non-Violent Extremists.
And it was all done openly and publicly.
330
It was governments that were ultimately responsible for executing the advice they followed. Specifically individual politicians and public serpents.
They chose to follow political advice in regard to not blaming the “lab leak” hypothesis and chose to follow a far Left agenda that thought global lockdowns, massive economic destruction and permanent removal of individual rights in many cases. As usual Australia was the most fanatical follower of these globalist decrees, executing extra-territorial governance under Section 51(xxix) of the Australian Constitution.
There was plenty of science-based advice they could have followed but chose not to, including making safe but non-Big-Pharma treatments such as HCQ and IVM (taken according to published protocols) illegal even before the “vaccine” was forcibly imposed on Australians. The banning of those two treatments alone, and even the mocking of correcting Vitamin D deficiency, cost countless lives.
As Australia falls ever further into dictatorship, it was a good trial run for the Lib/Labs just what they could get away with. And it was a lot, including police brutality, shooting people with rubber bullets, jailing people for expressing opinions, deregistering medical doctors, and patrolling the streets in armoured personnel carriers like they did in Melbournistan and destroying countless lives and businesses. We might as well have been living in China or North Korea.
I would like to see individual politicians and public serpents behind these decisions sued PERSONALLY, but that won’t happen unless extreme malice can be proven, which it probably can’t. They would claim as a defence that they were merely stupid and incompetent, not malicious.
140
A little less fear / panic would have been a good start.
Imagine if the messaging was about it being a particularly bad flu season – keep an eye out on your elderly neighbours, make sure they are keeping warm and well and maybe help them get access to meals if they are unwell or struggling – instead of “stay away from everyone and run away from your elderly neighbours if you see them outdoors without a mask”.
The UK had a ‘Minister for Loneliness’ appointed a few years before all this started. https://reengage.org.uk/latest-news/five-years-on-from-the-first-minister-for-loneliness/
20
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/self-driving-taxi-london-films-142615000.html
Self driving car runs a red light taking it’s inventor to Buck Palace for a gong
60
The car ran the red light but it was the driver(?) who was at fault for not taking control to prevent the offence, and if caught it’s the driver who would be punished.
So what’s the point of the driverless tech if you’ve got to be constantly on the alert watching it’s every move, and ready to take over at any moment?
142
Perhaps he should be crowned?
30
The same applies, in my experience, to many of the so-called ‘driver aids’ fitted to new cars these days. Whether it is automated emergency braking (almost got me killed in Italy), ‘lane keep assistance’ or radar cruise control, they all invite a degree of inattention on the driver’s part. And they can all go wrong or glitch now and then. My Honda has a ‘slow traffic cruise control’ mode, which means the car will slowly move along in traffic jams, maintaining distance from the car ahead. Works great. Except when it doesn’t. Twice now (in one and a half years), the slow mode has glitched and the car surged forward, almost hitting the car in front. I can’t trust it now.
141
Agree with your theme in general in regard to being nudged and beeped at while trying to drive, however , I am a big fan of cruise control on long trips. For me it allows me to spend more time looking out the windscreen rather having to scan the speedo constantly. If well implemented its a great tool and reduces fatigue.
150
I use cruise pretty much 100% of the time, but I prefer the ‘old style’ system, without so-called radar. The system in my Honda is crude and wastes fuel on hilly roads. On level roads it’s fine. As I said though, the ‘slow traffic mode’ can’t be trusted.
10
Thing is, it starts to come to a question (when it is not the actual inventor himself behind the wheel – arguably whatever the computer does is also his fault) of whether the driver was able to effectively take control over the computer …. or did ‘computer says no’. Thing is, I don’t think courts have a lot of expertise to forensic system logs, so traffic incidents now become a ‘battle of the experts’. There is a level of expert testimony now – traffic investigators and the like, but this adds a whole new layer.
00
Seriously? Any other driver would have done the same, the light wasn’t red.
It turned orange as the car was right on top of it. At 0.03 time, where the camera’s green square is about to touch the pedestrian crossing at the first lights, and it is still orange in the same second as the car goes through the second set of lights.
Just Yahoo clickbait…
50
No, it had time to stop.
I freeze-framed it as below:
https://ibb.co/jCNywHs
Clearly it had the distance before the lights, 5m or so.
Also, note the slow moving traffic ahead, so the taxi speed is near zero.
So by UK traffic law, the taxi broke the law.
10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEt6I0qi9dc
Italian town sliding away.
https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2026/01/29/were-in-a-horror-film-landslide-leaves-sicily-town-teetering-on-a-cliff-edge/
Devastating and spectacular.
60
Climate change strikes again, an “unprecedented” cyclone. I was amazed CC was not mentioned in the article. Give it some time and someone will point the finger. OK, build on the edge of cliffs/hills, build on flood plains, build close to the beach, build in bush fire prone areas and if the worse happens it’s because of CC not because some people are stupid and want the “thrill” of living near a river, the beach, on top of a hill or enjoy the bush outlook.
20
Despite the spectacular pictures, no mention on our ABC or SBS.
SBS top story is on the climate refugees arriving from Tuvalu
00
Waddyano, Don Lemon arrested under a law designed to protect @bortion clinics from ladies with bibles.[Maybe not, courts have refused this charge] Methinks his lawyers let him down, he would have been better in a State court that a Fed one.
The worm turns.
100
There is quite a bit of evidence (from Lemon’s own livestream) that he was an active participant in the church invasion, not just a reporter. He brought them coffee and donuts and was reviewing plans with them before going in. It’s pretty clear he and the activist group coordinated their activities beforehand. He also interviewed multiple people in the activist group (including public officials) before going in. Then, once the church had been breached, he was aggressively getting in the face of congregants and priests to ‘interview’ them without their consent. Lastly, he filmed and gloated over the fleeing families and crying children as they left the church. Lemon was not just some detached observer reporting on events. He was an active participant.
And keep in mind, all of this comes just a few months after Church of the Annunciation shooting in Minneapolis where 2 kids were killed and 30 people were shot. The argument can certainly be made that this ‘protest’ was meant to bring back memories of that event and terrorize the congregation.
I don’t know if the prosecutors can make these charges stick, but I have no problem with them giving it the old college try.
340
Lemon also deliberately avoided broadcasting the plans of the “protestors” so as not to alert authorities or compromise what was planned.
He not only had fore knowledge of an alleged crime about to be committed but also knowingly concealed it.
280
Lock him up ,even for just a week with a dozen or more MS13 gang members!!😳😳
40
If nothing else it will cost him, or his funding NGO, a chunk of money to defending
60
Here are some witness accounts of this alleged ‘peaceful protest’.
https://x.com/MattFinnFNC/status/2017268661023887790
I have zero problem with prosecutors trying to hold these agitators to account. The same 1st amendment that protects freedom of speech also protects freedom to practice your religion without being persecuted by mobs. The same FACE act that prevents right-to-life folks from aggressively protesting outside progressive’s sacred abortion clinics also protects religious people from having their right to worship impeded by progressives aggressively protesting ‘the current thing’.
150
Round here we are close to the sea and upland Dartmoor. It enables us to witness people doing the most utterly stupid things. Walking up a freezing, steep, Dartmoor hillside in the rain in approaching dark wearing flip flops, shorts and a tshirt. Swimming in a storm battered sea. Driving their car through a road flooded to 3 feet no doubt with hidden potholes making a potential depth of four foot. All utterly bizarre behaviour of people who don’t think through their actions and often putting others in danger to rescue them from their thoughtless actions.
Can I suggest that we have a whole generation of politicians who have their Hiking in flip flops, Swimming in a stormy sea or driving through a flood, moment? Indeed not moments but that seems to be their habitual behaviour?
How do we screen out this sort of person from taking power over us? Should we be looking for people as MP’s who have actually done something more useful than merely being politicians? Should we ask questions about their common sense, sense of perspective, Knowledge of History and their ability to put things into context?
We deserve better than continually having to bail out people in power who put themselves and us, in perpetual danger through their policies and actions.
240
“How do we screen out this sort of person from taking power over us? ”
A wide-ranging exam of general knowledge covering running a business, economics, human nature, and lots of reading like ‘1984’ for fiction and history for non-fiction.
..or just let people who are within a certain wealth band run for parliament. Not the rich, busy making themselves multi-billionaires, and not those who have no clue on how business works at all.
80
The Greeks tried selecting their politicians by random ballot from the eligible population of voters , for a once only term in government.
Anyone want to argue that this could be worse than the career politician who governs for power , wealth and re- election?
60
Not sure ‘1984’ can be classified as fiction nowadays.
30
Always love those polly-wannabees that promise to fight hard for us.
Maybe they should. Put them all in boxing rings and have a slugfest.
That’d do 2 things – provide entertainment and get rid of clowns with no skills and chasing a free ride via politics.
50
‘How do we screen out this sort of person from taking power over us?’
Dunno, in a democracy we have to expect idjits will rise to the top.
In autocracies and theocracies the crazy man kills off anyone who actually thinks rationally.
11
Apparently, the ‘warmth of collectivism’ is not enough to keep you alive if you are living on the streets of New York City during a winter storm.
https://nypost.com/2026/01/29/us-news/nyc-cops-sanitation-workers-told-to-stop-taking-down-homeless-encampments-as-crisis-spirals/#Echobox=1769770819-1
How does that old saying go …. ‘the road to Hell is paved with good intentions’.
It is not ‘kind’ to allow people to live in the rough in the dead of winter in New York.
It is not ‘kind’ to allow homelessness to grow so out of control in Los Angeles that diseases once defeated by modern sanitation and pest control (Typhus, Shigellosis, Leptospirosis, etc.) make a comeback.
It is not ‘kind’ to indulge the recreational drug habits of homeless people, many of of whom are self-medicating because they stopped taking their prescription anti-psychotic medications.
Sometimes you have to protect people (and the surrounding community) from themselves, even if it makes them angry. Better to be unhappy in a homeless shelter or psychiatric hospital or jail than to be dead in a tent on the streets.
150
People have choices! In a free society their choices are owned by those people!
If the state interfere they scream discrimination & if the state don’t interfere they scream discrimination. Leave those people to their own devices & outcomes no matter what.
110
Let nature take its course.
Interfering with natural selection was always going to have severe consequences.
Depopulation with kindness(Jacinda was the Princess of KindnessTM) is the government schtick, because nature is so cruel and quite bloody – not good TV viewing.
50
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically intensified the crisis. (Edit – read: The Covid RESPONSE) Before the pandemic, an estimated 1 in 5 New Yorkers was already living in poverty, and since the start of the pandemic, 1 in 7 New Yorkers have lost their jobs and tens of thousands are at risk of eviction. Many New Yorkers are already on the brink of homelessness and the pandemic has pushed many past their limit.. To make matters worse, people facing homelessness remain more susceptible to contracting and dying from COVID-19. The virus-related death rate for homeless New Yorkers living in shelters is 49% higher than the citywide average.
https://medium.com/helpnyc/homelessness-during-covid-19-state-of-the-city-c50488c8974d
00
I agree with you in principal, but in practice they aren’t just making choices for themselves. Their choices also impact public health by providing unsanitary breeding grounds for disease, befoul the public commons and make them unusable for law-abiding citizens, and areas where they congregate become open-air markets for criminality and violence.
Normies also have rights, and one of them is to live in a city where they don’t have to worry about their kids getting hepatitis or HIV by stepping on an infected needle, or being harassed by some smelly dude going through a psychotic break on their way to school.
90
“Normies also have rights”
Well, we should first have a philosophical decision on what ‘right’ are, what we have from when we are born, who gives those rights, and who enforces them.
Without that there is no objective way forward, and no way of limiting Govt power. The moment we let Govt give people money we lost the power war with them.
20
And the latest WEF non-right is that of water.
/only because they can’t limit air no doubt.
10
The impacts that you have described clearly fall under tort law , in this case nuisance.
Where is the public defender to take the necessary legal moves to have this nuisance cease?
Was this once the role of the sheriff?
10
Fair enough, but there are homeless people, and there are other homeless people. Some are there due to their own stupid decisions, some have been made homeless through no fault of their own while others are homeless due to mental health problems.
My wife and I encountered a young fellow lying in the road, in Brisbane CBD a few years ago. We got him to safety but he was delirious, possibly drunk or drugged. He was polite and a lovely young man, but clearly in danger. He had a large tote bag stuffed full of clothes. We spoke with him for quite a while and he said he had discharged himself from hospital. He had no idea where he was or where he would sleep that night. I asked if I could call somebody to come and get him but he said nobody would. I asked for his phone and luckily ‘Dad’ was in there, so I called him. Well Dad wasn’t interested and Mum hadn’t helped raise the poor lad. Dad sounded completely exhausted and had been in this position for a long time. He’d given up trying to fix it.
I had no choice but to call an ambulance and we stayed with the poor lad till they picked him up thirty minutes later. It was painful seeing him put in the back of the ambulance knowing he would probably discharge himself again.
He was the product of a broken home and had become an alcoholic. He was probably twenty-five or so.
So I look at homeless people differently now, or I at least acknowledge that their number includes broken men thrown out of the family house when the wife found a new partner, young people who lost their way due to family trauma and mentally-ill men and women who must have nobody to turn to. These are very different people compared to illegal immigrants and violent drug addicts.
140
In Godzone we once had mental health communities for these people you describe.
Some government was persuaded that they should be re- settled in the community.
That is the cause of the disaster that you described.
Taxes did not reduce as a result of the withdrawal of this social welfare.
But some pet project will have benefited.
60
‘ …. there are homeless people, and there are other homeless people.’
The two need to be sorted, concentration camps erected by the army in some warm desert clime.
The drug free camp will be seventh heaven, a 15 minute town. The zombies in the other camp would live rudimentary lives, given their favoured intoxicant and forbidden to leave until they dry out.
No forced removal from cities by gestapo types, everyone will be given the opportunity to go or stay.
10
I think what many of the poor unfortunates on our streets need more than anything else is just care, including mental health counseling. Many of them have suffered some sort of mental health breakdown, whether as a result of longstanding mental health problems, a relationship breakdown, financial ruin or abuse. These are potentially fixable if our governments cared to really do something about the problem.
But there are also the chronically mentally ill. These are the wretches who, in the past, might have been consigned to a ‘mental asylum’. Now of course they have been discarded, the asylums shut down and the sick/disabled expected to somehow figure out a life for themselves. And all this is happening when Gillard’s NDIS scheme is costing billions to ‘support’ a lot of lazy, workshy bludgers who get their lawn mowed for free.
00
The American problem is different to ours, the NDIS has its rorters but overall the system works.
00
Steve,
But it is bad even for that generation who are not living loose like that.
Today I handed several prescriptions to a new pharmacist aged about mid-20s. I said “Some of these are for my wife and some are for me”. “Great,” he said, “are these all for you?
What is wrong with our youngsters’ intelligences if graduates can be so thick? Geoff S
00
As the saying goes: Don’t shoot me – I’m just the piano player!
Advice from your Govt BoM Heatwave Specialists:
Sunday 1 Feb, SNOW
Monday 2 Feb, ZERO / FREEZING
(admittedly it’s for Tasmania’s hills).
http://reg.bom.gov.au/tas/forecasts/mtwellington.shtml
Next stop New Zealand:
Tuesday 3 Feb, HEAVY SNOW
https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Mount-Hutt/6day/mid
(change forecast height to 2086m for summit).
But enough of our Southern Hemisphere ‘summer’ in the hottest year evah! Mt Everest is clear, sunny, with a balmy -35 C on the summit (windchill close to -60 C), about the same as Greenland and Antarctica’s plateaux… frigid.
Can you imagine the horror nightmare if temperatures were to rise by, hmmm, let’s say 2 degrees – would a hibernating polar bear even know?
200
Of course the polar bears would know, wake up and migrate to NZ.
My advice is to only let in those who prefer food from politicians and climate scientists, i.e. those with the fat brains bears prefer.
Very soon the bears will all get violent Indigestion and die out, but there is the loss of some nuisances.
60
Arctic polar bears love global warming, contrary to general belief, they are thriving and healthy.
Aunty is surprised at their resilience in the face of adversity, says they are eating land animals.
21
People seem to be certain that their preferred feeding is on sea ice. There is the possibility that was an ice age adoption and now they are reverting to normal.
20
Greenpeace won’t be happy.
00
“Canada Doesn’t Have the Cards”
Looking at Davos, Carney’s speech and the world
https://www.commonplace.org/p/canada-doesnt-have-the-cards
Via https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/01/29/canada-doesnt-have-the-cards-n3811333
More reading for “Elbow”
30
Reading the article at that first link, the author argues that Canada risks becoming a simple, de-industrialised, raw commodities-based economy if it tries to ‘partner’ (ha!) with China. Obviously, this would be a bad thing.
In other words, they risk becoming Australia II …
120
Canada has grains, oil, mining , timber and tourism. Probably still has vehicle production as well including airliners.
Looks alright to me.
10
Australia has grains, gas, a LOT of minerals and tourism but the groupthink here is that we are doomed. Go figure, I can’t. The Au$ is up 12% V US$ in a year. JPY +12%. CNY +7%. There is no BRICS currency to compare with.
00
Dirt, sheep and gas exports do not an ‘advanced economy’ make. We do far too little value-adding. Instead, we ship the dirt or gas overseas, where it is turned into something far more valuable and, along the way, employs many more skilled workers, mostly in China. We then buy back that $50 dirt and $5 gas in the form of a $3,000 television or $50,000 EV.
20
As milk doesn’t mysteriously appear on supermarket shelves, ore doesn’t mysteriously appear in rail wagons. Good miners who work hard on rotations of two on, one off, missing two of three family gatherings, achieve that. They earn decent wages but they are worth it. They are reliable industrially so the mining companies are willing to invest in making their mines efficient. No slave/child/Chinese labour needed. We are bloody good at it. Why are you so snobbish?
Mining soaks up a lot of capital, human and financial, so maybe there isn’t enough left for other large scale industries. Worth thinking about.
10
‘Carney doesn’t have the cards.’
Strongly disagree, the US is becoming isolationist and this is good news for the middle powers.
Australia is a quarry and proud to be of service in a rapidly changing world. I imagine Carney’s speech to the Oz parliament will be outstanding, he has the cards.
07
Carney is a globalist prig.
50
He seems quite bright and talks well, the exact opposite of the elephant in the room.
06
They all seem quite bright and talk well, that’s how they get put in the positions they are in.
Those less articulate are derided constantly and are denied such opportunities. A certain senator from Queensland may become an exception.
20
He isn’t stupid. I think a quick look at his CV tells you that. Being smart doesn’t make him trustworthy or honest though. He is a greedy, power-hungry globalist through and through, perfectly happy to sacrifice the quality of life of Canadians if it suits his own ambitions and agenda.
30
He was a banker and now he is a successful politician.
Canadians will decide his future at the next election.
00
Q/ EG, why are you living in such an evil society?
A/ Because it is more comfortable.
10
Australia is not an evil society.
In essence there is a realignment taking place, economically and strategically. Middle powers can form a block under BRICS and leave America out in the cold.
04
If America goes isolationist THEY will be the ones under the umbrella. BRICS and stupid people will be the ones out in the cold.
50
The US is $28 trillion in debt and its going to become difficult to pay off. At this rate they will eventually default.
Australia is looking for trading partners, we are the global south.
02
You must be able to tell me: Who is this mega wealthy nation that can bankrupt the US with a click of the fingers? I know it ain’t China, they are in deep do do.
I say it is the Bankers [Rothschilds et al, not JP Morgan] and why would they dump on the world’s greatest source of their wealth?
30
‘ … with a click of the fingers?’
It would be unprecedented, Saudi Arabia might decide to sell all their US treasuries.
‘ … world’s greatest source of their wealth?’
The middle powers are walking away precisely because the US is no longer a safe haven for their wealth.
00
Not the Saudis.
‘Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US Treasuries increased by $14.4 million month-on-month (MoM) to $148.8 billion in November 2025, recent data released by the US Department of Treasury showed.
‘This monthly increase in Saudi Arabia’s investments in US Treasuries was the largest on record since data tracking began in 1974.’ (ARGAAM)
10
Do you have any wealth invested? You seem to have NFI about making and preserving wealth.
I lost $50k in the last two days, but I’m still ahead $25k on the month, but I take zero notice of you doom merchants.
That would be 0.5% of the total debt you claimed above.
10
Don’t you ever research? The House of Saud is NOT the world banker, in fact, if they can’t get oil [currently $70 bbl] up something like 30% they may be in trouble.
Is Saudi Arabia having cash flow problems?
Yes, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reportedly facing significant cash flow challenges, despite the kingdom’s vast oil wealth.
Public Investment Fund (PIF): The PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is experiencing a cash crunch due to heavy spending on high-profile, long-term projects that are now under financial strain. According to multiple reports, including from The New York Times and GameSpot, the fund has been hit by investments that are “underwater financially.” Key projects like Neom, a planned futuristic city, and a ski resort with robot workers are cited as major contributors to the strain, with little progress or return on investment.
Cash Flow and Financial Constraints: Although the PIF claims to hold nearly $1 trillion in assets, a large portion is tied up in hard-to-sell, non-publicly valued assets. As a result, the fund has reportedly told international investors it is “unable to allocate any more money for the foreseeable future.” This comes after a $55 billion investment in Electronic Arts (EA), which is still pending regulatory approval, and a series of other high-profile deals in gaming and sports.
More at:
https://search.brave.com/search?q=Is+Saudi+Arabia+having+cash+flow+problems%3F&source=web&summary=1&conversation=08ae7bf4666dd059de6bd58a47fbb075fcd4
00
Casting the net a little wider, China, UK and Japan hold the most US Bonds. There is the possibility of a domino effect.
‘Citadel chief Ken Griffin thinks the US got a big warning from Japan’s bond market this week.
‘Japanese bond yields hit a record high as investors fretted over the nation’s growing deficit.
‘The same dynamic could play out in the US if it doesn’t get its finances in order, he said’
.
(Business Insider)
00
These countries are in worse financial trouble than the US who, at least, got wealthy before they started their decay [I have never denied that slide] so they have massive wealth they are consuming, like body fat, to make the downturn almost imperceptible.
This wealth effect can be seen in the UK where they have been consuming their wealth since the war. China, by contrast, never got wealthy before their collapse so they are powerless to prevent a return to War Lords. It has started. Japan is wealthy and their technology will allow them coast for a long time. I can’t predict their future but no way can they wage economic war on anyone and definitely not on the US.
00
el,
In terms that matter, is a quarry a good think or a bad thing?
Or is it a mere metaphor to prop up your point of view?
Sheesh! Geoff S
10
Its a good thing that we have an abundance of iron ore, coal and uranium, but we are also attracting Japanese investment into mining and high tech.
In fact Japan’s biggest companies are all coming in droves because of our economic stability and raw materials.
00
el,
Thank you.
As a big player in minerals before 2000, my employer tried hard to get into more Australian on-shore minerals processing and refining. We part owned alumina and aluminium plant, we ran a couple of copper smelters, we started planning to make uranium hexafluoride. Federal governments stopped the latter, unions made the former too hard.
Part of my present Philosophy of Life is to pal up only with people with a can-do attitude of “How can we do more to help?” and to send to Coventry those cannot-doers who say “You are not allowed to do that.”. Geoff S
00
Bumped from last night late
FWIW – enjoy
“THE ONLY THING SCARIER* THAN A “HELLO” FROM DATA REPUBLICAN IS A “TIC TOC” FROM DATA REPUBLICAN: If you visit the StopICE license plate tracker, you will note all their plates have been overwritten with the following image:
And for the x-cancelled.
*Or more fun. For those of us who find discomfiting the left fun.”
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/2016992777683206243
Via https://instapundit.com/772939/#disqus_thread
60
Later developments in here
“And Now for the BEST FAFO Yet! Largest License Plate Tracker, StopICE, Has Been Compromised and HOOBOY”
https://twitchy.com/samj/2026/01/30/top-license-plate-tracker-compromised-stopice-thread-n2424494
40
The opening page now
“Mischief Is Important”
stopice.net
We were not kidding.
We sent your names, logins, passwords, and locations to a bunch of
government agencies.
Sherman Austin is a terrible coder, so are “RC” Concepcion and Matt
Beran.”
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/01/30/mischief-is-important-84/
00
Is this the handicapped lady Musk brought to our attention? Impressive!
10
FWIW – spreading!
“Starmer Government Greenlights 15 Minute City Legal Enforcement”
“First published JoNova; Ordinary residents of trial cities will only be permitted 100 days per year outside their 15 minute region. But special people get a free pass.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/30/starmer-government-greenlights-15-minute-city-trial-enforcement/
(My bold)
50
FWIW
“ONLY 85 SECONDS TO DOOMSDAY: That’s according to the “Doomsday Clock” maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Funny thing, though, as explained by Issues & Insights, the clock seems to be opposite reality:
“First, look at the reasons behind why it ticked closer to midnight this year. One of those listed was the bombing of Iran’s nuclear weapons sites last year. So, according to these ‘experts,’ crippling a radical Islamic regime’s ability to build a nuclear bomb is making the world less safe?
“Then there’s the fact that the bulletin includes ‘climate change’ as an indicator of annihilation. What does a supposedly warming planet have to do with launching nuclear bombs? And why does it matter if the Trump administration ‘stripped back’ (to use the New York Times’ words) public health infrastructure?”
There more of this leftist gibberish. Go here.”
“Here” – “The ‘Doomsday Clock’ Ticks Down Again — Here’s Why That Is Good News”
https://issuesinsights.com/2026/01/30/the-famed-doomsday-clock-is-more-like-a-lefist-angst-meter/
Via https://instapundit.com/773106/#disqus_thread
50
‘What does a supposedly warming planet have to do with launching nuclear bombs?’
A nuclear winter would extinguish global warming.
20
FWIW –
Start here
” Finally, in yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Secretary Kennedy reported to President Trump that over one hundred studies on the causes of autism are now underway.”
““I’ve been thinking about this for the last forty years, and I’ve figured out how to do it without Congress,” Kennedy explained. “To do it all with executive orders and policy changes.”
It’s death by a thousand cuts. Kennedy’s strategy for tackling America’s chronic disease epidemic centers on a deliberate, evidence-driven approach to shift federal research priorities and build overwhelming scientific consensus. Then let lawyers do the rest.”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/annus-operum-friday-january-30-2026?
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Kennedy must be enjoying life right now. Tough work for a tough guy with good support around him.
Even the radical left BBC have some praise for RFK:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceq7jx3dlj9o
“What’s happening in this administration is really interesting,” says Vani Hari, a food blogger and former Democrat who is now an influential voice in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. “MAHA is all about how do we get people off processed food, and one way to do that is to regulate the chemicals companies use.”
And another democrat conversion to MAHA.
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Pittsburgh sets new coldest temperature:
It was as cold as it’s ever been on this date in Pittsburgh Friday morning.
Temperatures sank to minus 6 degrees around 7:50 a.m. at the National Weather Service’s offices in Moon, according to meteorologist Jason Frazier.
That slightly edges out today’s previous record low of minus 5, set in 2019. Before that, the record stood at minus 1, set in 1934.
The frigid air comes after a record-high snowfall on Sunday, which has been followed by temperatures lingering in the teens and single digits.
https://triblive.com/local/regional/how-cold-is-it-pittsburgh-is-breaking-records/
The Trump effect – Trump comes to power and soon enough, record cold and record snow are being reported. Is it a question of changing in reporting or changing in conditions?
Anyhow CO2 is not retaining a lot of heat across the USA right now.
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Rick,
those figures are ℉. not ℃. Think Minus 21℃ that is cold.
Minus 1 ℉ is -18 ℃ and minus 5℉ is almost minus 21℃ (less than minus 20 anyway).
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The Pittsburgh Intl. Airport is in Moon Township. Runways are about 12 miles from the Point (State Park) where the Ohio River is born.
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How many days in that month did not come anywhere near a record for that day?
This new fashion of a record for this one particular date in the year is entirely misleading and alarmist in the extreme
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True. But the value was a whole degree F lower not the 0.1C warmer that is being wildly reported by some news outlets in Australia.
Also the low value could be eclipsed today so not just a day. We will need to wait a few days to see how January fared on average in these places.
New York is the seat of power for the climate religion so it is good to see that part of the world seeing stuff they were told they would never see again. Where is the 1.5C warming that gets hyped so often. Or does CO2 only work in summer!!!!
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Or does CO2 only work in summer
To paraphrase a quote which advertised a radio program in the 40s/50s:
What effects of CO2 lurks in the minds of men?
Bonus points if you know what and who was referenced in the original.
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FWIW – well that is cleared up!
“Democrats have redefined “racism” (and, more generally, “hate”) to mean, “Any belief or opinion which might lead someone to vote Republican.”
https://x.com/PatriarchTree/status/2017211527304995032
Via https://instapundit.com/773030/#disqus_thread
I guess adapt as needed?
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A slow learner but a good message on “renewables”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7KsqcUxJ7I
Still has not learnt about the climate scam though.
But essentially a nuclear push.
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A recommended story from InDaily
By a fraction of degree from temperatures set in 1960. Poor records, not even going back 100 years, and may be recording half a degree more because new instruments react faster to bursts of heat due to smaller screens and electronic measurements (did they even use a max min thermometer in 1960 or rely on half hour readings?). Still, the expert implies that the heat wave wouldn’t have happened at all if not for your school run in an SUV
https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in/2026/01/30/records-tumble-as-sa-town-becomes-hottest-place-on-earth
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From G-AI – hmmm….
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They are within half a degree of the true temp. Kind of makes 0.3 more meaningless. A LIG thermometer taking a few minutes to reach a new temp can make a difference, especially min/max where the float remains in place by a magnet, which can drop if left a while before reading. Not an issue for most as little difference between 47 and 48 degrees. Handy if you have a heatwave measure dependent on 0.1 difference between a balmy day and frying.
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R.B.
I have a new article on Australian heatwaves in draft form. One conclusion already written is that the uncertainty of historic temperatures is so large at +/- 0.5 deg C one sigma that comparison from place to place and over time is compromised, so data are not fit for purpose. Geoff S
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FWIW – latest Kunstler
“Now You Will Know
“The ICE derangement syndrome is off the charts because we are amidst a pandemic of progressive leftist mental illness, which is an extremely disproportionately female problem.” —JD Haltigan on “X” ”
https://www.kunstler.com/p/now-you-will-know
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FWIW – looking at Minnesota
“The Thread Gets Pulled; It All Unravels”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=254839
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FWIW
“A Tale of 82 Smurfs: Massive Money Laundering Fraud in the Democratic Party — Showcasing Missouri Congressman Wesley Bell”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/01/tale-82-smurfs-massive-money-laundering-fraud-democratic/
Since ActBlue has been going since 2004 and the ALP sends trainees to “learn how the Democrats do it” has anyone had a close look for similar donation schemes here in Oz?
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America’s ‘white gold’ rush kicks off as $2.3 trillion worth of lithium is discovered
The US may be on the verge of unlocking a $2.3 trillion hidden treasure trove of ‘white gold’ that could supercharge the nation’s economy for years to come.
A new chemical extraction process will soon allow miners to take advantage of approximately 19 million tons of lithium sitting underground in southwest Arkansas.
Called Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE), officials for Standard Lithium said the technology will allow them to begin harvesting this vital resource and selling it by 2028.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15513147/Americas-white-gold-rush-Arkansas-trillion-lithium.html
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The New $11 Billion White Gold Rush in Australia
10 mins of geology, most beyond me but worth adding to “favourites” if so inclined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMnNNw05afE
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UN chief warns member states of ‘imminent financial collapse’
Due to the lack of payments from the once largest donor, the United States, Secretary General António Guterres has warned of the “imminent financial collapse” of the United Nations.
Guterres said that the financial situation of the organization is rapidly deteriorating, and if no solution is found, the funds for the regular budget could run out in July
https://nordot.app/1390043993505333739
Good!
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Finally! Some good news in the world!
120
As the US is the only country which has refused to pay its dues, I see the UN headquarters moving to Beijing.
13
Without US money they won’t be able to pay the U-Haul to move.
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Beijing won’t be charging rent and they’ll supply the office furniture free of charge. They have a lot of unused capacity.
10
That’s too bad.
They’ve done such a good job of uniting nations.
Hey an idea 🙂
maybe we should all participate in the funding the International Organization to F Everything Up*.
*(then in typical fashion it would have the exact opposite effect, kinda like Public Health and Universities.)
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The death of 8k
The TV industry finally concedes that the future may not be in 8K.
LG Display is no longer making 8K LCD or OLED panels, FlatpanelsHD reported today.
LG’s 8K abandonment follows other brands distancing themselves from 8K. TCL, which released its last 8K TV in 2021, said in 2023 that it wasn’t making more 8K TVs due to low demand. Sony discontinued its last 8K TVs in April and is unlikely to return to the market, as it plans to sell the majority ownership of its Bravia TVs to TCL.
The tech industry tried to convince people that the 8K living room was coming soon. But since the 2010s, people have mostly adopted 4K. In September 2024, research firm Omdia reported that there were “nearly 1 billion 4K TVs currently in use.” In comparison, 1.6 million 8K TVs had been sold since 2015.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/lg-joins-the-rest-of-the-world-accepts-that-people-dont-want-8k-tvs/
Just like VHS beating Betamax.
My 5yo 65″4k OLED is more than enough.
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ICS devices bricked following Russia-linked intrusion into Polish power grid
The recent attack on Poland’s power grid, believed to have been conducted by Russian threat actors, targeted communication and control systems across roughly 30 sites and in some cases resulted in permanent industrial control system (ICS) damage, according to industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos.
In a report published this week, the security firm, which has been involved in responding to the incident, described it as the first major operation specifically targeting distributed energy resources (DER).
The attackers gained access to operational technology (OT) systems at combined heat and power (CHP) plants and renewable energy dispatch centers for wind and solar facilities, primarily targeting grid safety and stability monitoring systems rather than active power generation.
Unlike the attacks targeting Ukraine’s grid in 2015 and 2016, the incident did not result in electrical outages. However, the attackers’ activities resulted in some equipment at the affected sites being bricked.
The absence of power outages appears to result from the inherent design of electricity systems. When communication infrastructure is lost, most industrial devices continue to operate in their last known state, allowing the power to stay on even when remote monitoring and control are disabled.
https://www.securityweek.com/ics-devices-bricked-in-russia-linked-strike-on-polish-power-grid/
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Some people are just never happy
These are actual complaints received by “Thomas Cook Vacations” from dissatisfied customers:
1. “They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax.”
2. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food.”
3. “We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish.”
4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price.”
5. “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”
6. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.”
7. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallartato close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time – this should be banned.”
8. “No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.”
9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.”
10. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
11. “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.”
12. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.”
13. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller.”
14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort.’ We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service.”
15. “When we were in Spain, there were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.”
16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning.”
17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.”
19. “My fiancée and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
An oldie but a goodie.
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FWIW – long
“By the Numbers”
“Ever since the deep-set organization and by-the-numbers programming to the circus in Minneapolis came out, people on the right have been blackpilling.”
“Well, you know my opinion on black pills. It’s two fold: You know exactly where it’s been, and nothing that’s been THERE belongs in your mouth. AND even if it all were lost, what could you accomplish by getting people to despair and give up? This last is why people in a war shoot those spreading fear and despondency, even if what they are seeing is right. Because Blackpill fights on the side of the enemy. And while you could argue someone like the Red Baron coming out with his certainty the war was lost before his death might have saved death and destruction (maybe) in our case that is never true. There is no surrender to communists. Communists are as my friend Eric S. Raymond reminded everyone on twitter recently, Hostis Humanis Generis, and therefore the only surrender they accept is death. Well, f*ck them very much. I was never going to go quietly and without making sure I took an escort with me to hell. Even if they were fated to win, I’d fight them for every inch, every breath, every micron of mind space, in hopes of planting a seed of freedom for future generations.”
Much more before the conclusion –
“The desperate effort they managed in 2020 is now out of reach. Can they fraud 2026? Probably. BUT IT’S NOT WRITTEN IN STONE.
The media lies. Polls are a tool. You’re not alone. None of us is. We are the VAST, overwhelming majority.
And things are going our way. Slowly but inexorably, we win, they lose.
Be not afraid.”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2026/01/29/by-the-numbers-2/
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FWIW – also long
How to analyse a protest by placement of colours and characters
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2026/01/28/give-them-the-old-razzle-dazzle-by-foxfier/
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Video:
Topher Field discusses whether the Lib/Lab Uniparty will use their new censorship laws against Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
https://youtu.be/R6AGZBSctCs
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FWIW
“How Labour Betrayed Britain’s Working Class in the Name of Net Zero”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/30/how-labour-betrayed-britains-working-class-in-the-name-of-net-zero/
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FWIW
“Washington State Experience Shows Green Energy Is All About the Grifting and the Bragging and Does Nothing for Which It Was Intended”
https://energysecurityfreedom.substack.com/p/washington-state-experience-shows
Via https://instapundit.com/773170/#disqus_thread
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FWIW – viewed from outside
Apple’s help in introducing Pauline Hanson to the world?
“APPLE FOUND SOMETHING TO BAN: Thou shalt not mock the woke. Apple Music deleted Holly Valance’s satirical song, thereby proving why it was so necessary.
This is the video. Shame if it went viral: Holly Valance – Kiss Kiss (XX) My Arse [Official Music Video].”
https://instapundit.com/773168/#disqus_thread
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