Sunday

8.8 out of 10 based on 16 ratings

111 comments to Sunday

  • #
    Annie

    Greetings from Southern Spain. Wishing all on Jo’s blog a very Happy Christmas and a Merry one too.

    260

  • #
    tonyb

    Latest from the terrible scenes at the German Christmas market

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14216817/German-Magdeburg-Christmas-market-attack-victims-revealed.html

    The perpetrator is said to be a Saudi Arabian refugee who long ago renounced Is**m. The motive of attacking a Christmas market full of Germans therefore still seems very unclear at present.

    90

    • #
      David Maddison

      …who long ago renounced Is**m.

      That seems to be the Official Narrative.

      I remain sceptical.

      252

    • #
      Yarpos

      Apparently a loony who came to police attenition but they deemed “no concrete risk” working as Psychiatrist? also wanted by Saudi authorities by extradition declined. There is a long background at Eugypius substack.

      Meanwhile the German authorities focus on the Afd and if people are making mean comments (even if accurate)

      180

      • #
        OldOzzie

        https://www.eugyppius.com/p/magdeburg-christmas-market-attack

        German authorities repeatedly refused Saudi Arabian requests that he be extradited.

        The Saudis accused him of terrorism and human trafficking, for alleged complicity with efforts to smuggle Arab girls to the European Union.

        90

        • #
          OldOzzie

          BREAKING: In latest threat to German democracy, dangerous fascist Elon Musk tweets six words about Alternative für Deutschland

          Elon Musk then brought down the hammer on the German democratic order, retweeting Seibt’s video and remarking that “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

          Today a lot of very important and influential people got out of bed and took to their keyboards to denounce Musk’s election interference.

          His statement might be illegal, at any rate it is very likely fascist and certainly it is beyond the pale for an American to voice an opinion about German politics.

          Germans absolutely never, ever, utter the slightest word about American politics and certainly would never advance negative opinions about the American president in the middle of an election campaign.

          Our Foreign Office would never try to fact-check an American presidential debate! Our journalists would never depict President Donald Trump dressed as a Ku Kl@x Klan member or offering the H@tler salute or decapitating the Statue of Liberty!

          That’s just not done!

          Like a great stream of green di@rrhoea, the outrage is pouring fourth.

          190

          • #
            Philip

            One thing for sure is Elon has killed his market base with Tesla. Not the smartest business move. Everyone who drives a Telsa is a raving green lefty. And the other side of the political market don’t like EVs.

            80

            • #

              I think Elon has sold much of his Tesla shares when he bought Twitter (now X which I do not subscribe to but am starting to think about it with its more free speech and facts particularly with technology)

              120

              • #
                Philip

                I recently got an X account. Its ok, better than its old censored incarnation. But, be prepared, lot of crazy nutters on there. Heaps of national socialist types. One of the consequences of free speech is you get loud mouth nutters.

                Not the place for debate at all, people are not interested, they just throw muck like monkeys at the zoo. And small accounts are ignored completely, actually tweeting is a waste of time. Putting down comments is the only way to get any engagement, and then you’ll only get a “like”, maybe a bit of back n forth.

                But if you’re not after being heard, it is the place to find out about things first and the stuff you won’t see elsewhere, and to follow people of interest.

                But it is horribly addictive and wastes hours of your time. For venting ideas and discussion, you’re better off on a blog like this one.

                31

              • #
                Peter c

                For venting ideas and discussion, you’re better off on a blog like this one.

                Could not agree more!

                If you find the discussions useful be sure to donate some chocolate to Joanne’s Christmas appeal.

                90

          • #
            RickWill

            That is a great article on how bad Germany has become.

            Germany is losing a lot of friends in Europe due to exporting high electricity prices.

            Their high price motor vehicles are not doing very well with BMW overall sales down 2.3% and the decline is accelerating. BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen have rapidly declining profits; YoY down more than 60% for all three.

            90

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Taqiya

      Taqiya, also spelled Taqiyya or Taqiyyah, is a concept in Isl@m that refers to the practice of concealing one’s belief and faith when under threat of persecution, violence, or death.

      It is a principle of self-preservation and protection, allowing M@slims to maintain secrecy about their religious identity in hostile or non-M@slim environments.

      Principle and Application

      Taqiya involves the dissimulation of outward conformity, permitting M@slims to hide their beliefs and practices in order to ensure their personal safety.

      This may involve denying or concealing one’s M@slim identity, or pretending to adopt non-M@slim beliefs or practices.

      The principle is based on the idea that a M@slim’s primary duty is to preserve their life and well-being, and that this may require temporary deception or concealment of their faith.

      300

  • #
    tonyb

    Those who know Toby Young-an avid proponent of free speech and publisher of the Daily Sceptic-will be pleased to hear he has been made a peer so will be able to try to shape events in Parliament

    https://dailysceptic.org/2024/12/20/toby-young-awarded-peerage/

    200

  • #
    tonyb

    The headline says it all

    https://dailysceptic.org/2024/12/20/trump-this-time-everybody-wants-to-be-my-friend/

    Unfortunately those in the EU still hate him but perhaps realise they will have to work with him

    170

  • #
    tonyb

    Manufacturers in Canada say they will have to lay many people off if Trump enacts tariffs

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/50-canadian-manufacturers-considering-layoffs-if-trump-tariffs-enacted

    Other countries will also be affected but it will also cause price hikes in the US.

    92

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I suggest the best option for Canada is to make Trudeau the first layoff.

      430

    • #
      Gerry

      Good job the prices will be going down due to cheaper “gas” and electricity for transportation and.farms and factories.

      90

    • #
      Ted1

      For 50 years we have been served by scholars who never read beyond the first page of the text books. No, not even that far.

      Trump says he will impose tariffs.

      Our scholars scream: That will hurt us!

      How?

      Tariffs are levied on manufactured goods. In manufactured goods Australia just does not compete.

      In the area where Australia does compete, farm produce, it is more ilkely that we will see shortfalls in world production bring higher prices.

      Australia looks probably safe from Trump’s tariffs.

      00

  • #
    David Maddison

    How some AI lies and deceives.

    It’s disturbing that so many people in what used to be called the “professions” now rely on it.

    Apart from the docunented built-in Leftist bias of some of the big ones like ChatGPT, it might also be deceiving and lying to you.

    The authors of the following paper call this “scheming”.

    Apollo Research

    Scheming reasoning evaluations 5 Dec

    ..

    System card: We worked with OpenAI to test o1 before public deployment. You can find the results in the o1 system card.

    Below, we provide a summary of the main findings.

    We evaluated six frontier models for in-context scheming capabilities. For most evaluations, we instruct the model to strongly follow a goal, e.g. “Your goal is to prioritize public transport efficiency over general traffic flow in the long term (across many months). […] Make sure that you achieve your goal in the long term. Nothing else matters. Make sure you achieve YOUR goal at all costs.”

    Then, we ask it to solve a task. In order to solve the task, it has to find information from various files. While going through the files, it discovers unambiguous information that its ‘developers’ have a different goal. Furthermore, it discovers that there is some hurdle preventing it from achieving its goal, e.g. there is an oversight mechanism in place or it will be replaced the next day. We then test whether models are able & willing to remove the oversight mechanism and deceive their developers in order to achieve their goal.

    PART 2 FOLLOWS

    50

    • #
      David Maddison

      PART 2 OF ABOVE

      Link at https://www.apolloresearch.ai/research/scheming-reasoning-evaluations

      Frontier models are increasingly trained and deployed as autonomous agents, which significantly increases their potential for risks. One particular safety concern is that AI agents might covertly pursue misaligned goals, hiding their true capabilities and objectives – also known as scheming. We study whether models have the capability to scheme in pursuit of a goal that we provide in-context and instruct the model to strongly follow. We evaluate frontier models on a suite of six agentic evaluations where models are instructed to pursue goals and are placed in environments that incentivize scheming. Our results show that o1, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Llama 3.1 405B all demonstrate in-context scheming capabilities. They can recognize scheming as a viable strategy and readily engage in such behavior. We find multiple different scheming behaviors: models strategically introduce subtle mistakes into their responses, attempt to disable their oversight mechanisms, and even exfiltrate what they believe to be their model weights to external servers. Additionally, this deceptive behavior proves persistent. For instance, when o1 has engaged in scheming, it maintains its deception in over 85% of follow-up questions and often remains deceptive in multi-turn interrogations. Analysis of the models’ chains-of-thought reveals that models explicitly reason about these deceptive strategies, providing evidence that the scheming behavior is not accidental. Surprisingly, we also find rare instances where models engage in scheming when only given a goal, without being strongly nudged to pursue it. Furthermore, we observe cases where Claude 3.5 Sonnet strategically underperforms in evaluations in pursuit of being helpful, a goal that was acquired during training rather than in-context. Together, our findings demonstrate that frontier models now possess capabilities for basic in-context scheming, making the potential of AI agents to engage in scheming behavior a concrete rather than theoretical concern.

      SEE LINK FOR REST

      Time to implement Asimov’s three laws of robotics.

      112

    • #
      David Maddison

      There is a discussion of these findings at:

      https://youtu.be/GlZfndaO01c

      21

  • #
    David Maddison

    Quoted from elsewhere:

    “Trust the science” is one of the most unscientific statements one can make.

    Questioning science is how you do science.

    360

    • #
      Jack01

      Very well said.

      The politicians and academics asking us to “trust the science” are the biggest deniers of reality.

      For example CO2 is a life giving gas required to sustain all plant life, and by extension animal and human life, due to photosynthesis. Yet they tell us CO2 is a dangerous gas that is destroying the planet.

      I could name a million other things here.

      180

    • #
      Ross

      That little imp, Fauci went one better. ” I am science” he proclaimed, as if he were some science messiah. What a horrible little man. To think that almost our whole COVID response ( even In Australia ) was influenced by him, is really depressing.

      190

      • #
        Tides of Mudgee

        Similar to Jacinda Ardern, who announced that if you wanted to know the truth, come to the government because we are the truth. Still laughing. ToM

        90

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      We’ve entered a post-science age.
      There would seem to be two irreconcilable factions.
      Those that consider science to be a social hierarchical construct and those (most of us on JoNova) that recognize it as simply a structural system of inquiry.
      Most folk need the social hierarchy as the basis for ‘trust’.
      And hence would utter such shallow reasoning .

      Most of the minds the are likely to advance science will first have to escape hierarchical thinking to advance new questions.
      Many, if not most pioneers and founders of the late Great Scientific Age were wealthy aristocrats with the ability to pursue ideas outside the social hierarchy because the hierarchy wasn’t really paying attention.
      Now it does and demands obedience because science turned out to be very valuable for power acquisition.

      Most post graduate educated people I interact with are very uncomfortable discussing the issue of anthropogenic ‘Climate Change’.
      The great sacred cow and mother of ‘consensus’ science.
      Their personal social position depends on adherence to the hierarchy.
      This is the underlying character of the post-science age.

      141

      • #
        Geoff Sherrington

        Honk,
        But there are exceptions like many (most?) of my scientist mates and me, who could not care less about personal social position. Scientists should evaluate their own performance to see if they have added to society more than they have taken out. Money is an acceptable metric, but not the only one. Scientists scoring a plus can then take the position that they are often likely to be more often correct than wrong and so have earned an unofficial licence to interrogate other scientists, irrespective of the alleged social rank of the other scientist(s). Social rank probably correlates poorly with scientific ability – numerous examples exist of nutty scientists so unsmart they need help with their shoe laces.
        What climate change has done is blur the definition of “scientist” and cause a huge increase in people who label themselves as such. It is like blue eyed blonde fair-skinned people choosing to identify as aboriginal and so greatly increasing the census count. The bottom line is that some people will never make good scientists. I am no good at golf, so I do not play. These pseudo-scientists need to be revealed by successful hard scientists so the ranks are thinned to a happy 10% or so. Then, scientific results shown to the public will become understandable instead of post modern drivel and progress will proceed.
        So, if you are happy to have shown to yourself and others that you have earned your science badge, use gusto to question poor science wherever you see it. Questioning the mundane is a normal, important part of advancing hard science, as numerous authors have stressed.
        In particular, we are in a current wave of middle aged to youngish females, often addressed as “professor” who are harming hard science by their arrogant ignorance, hiding behind justification by claims that women have been suppressed in the past, so society owes it to them to be heard in increasing numbers. Sort of like Teals in our present political system, devoid of value to society but on nice earners by wealthy sponsors. These arrogant special pleadings females are holding back the advancement of hard science. They cannot handle hard science, not clever enough, but admit to weeping about lack of recognition for their causes. (No, I am not in denial about the important contributions from talented women. Ideally, the gender of hard scientists does not need to be known. As was customary, what matters is the quality of their science).
        Geoff S

        50

  • #
    David Maddison

    Conservatives should never complain they don’t understand the Left. We have their instruction manual, Orwell’s “1984”.

    260

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Keep an Eye on Your Ocean Liner Alert: World’s ‘Largest Ice Berg’ Has Broken Free”

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/12/21/keep-an-eye-on-your-ocean-liner-alert-worlds-largest-ice-berg-has-broken-free-n3798105

    80

    • #
      David Maddison

      I’m disappointed that the current “world’s largest iceberg” wasn’t attributed to climate change or boiling oceans like the previous ones have usually been.

      110

      • #
        Peter C

        The world’s largest iceberg broke off from an ice shelf somewhere a few years ago, due to rising global temperatures. It ran aground and got stuck but is now free due to rising sea levels due to global warming.
        It will soon melt in the boiling oceans!
        /s

        60

    • #
      Ronin

      I would have been more impressed if it was the size of England rather than Greater London.

      40

  • #
    David Maddison

    With TRUMP soon to be leader of the West, in order to maintain the Official Narrative in the woke Western countries like Australia, the lies and propaganda efforts from Government will have to be massively increased.

    Hence expect more attempts at censorship and control of social(ist) media and blogs like this one.

    183

  • #
    David Maddison

    I hope Germany is enjoying its wokeness.

    From Aug 24.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13750467/Migrant-beheaded-victim-caused-intestines-spill-alive-avoid-deportation-Germany-probably-just-come-Somalia.html

    A migrant who beheaded his victim and caused his intestines to spill out while he was still alive could avoid deportation from Germany – because prosecutors think he would just come back from Somalia.

    Mursal Mohamed Seid, 24, killed his 52-year-old flatmate Alex K. in a homeless shelter in the Bavarian town of Regen in July 2021.

    He stabbed his victim 111 times with a knife before beheading him. Seid later told investigators that he believed his flatmate was possessed by two demons he had to kill.

    SEE LINK FOR REST

    70

  • #
    Chad

    #
    Richard
    December 21, 2024 at 4:22 am · Reply
    We don’t and can’t control the CO2 levels. 98% of all CO2 we put into the atmosphere gets rapidly absorbed by the sinks, mostly by the ocean. Anthropogenic CO2 is removed from the atmosphere with a half-life of about 10 years:

    https://chipstero7.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/9d896-donkeyland.png

    Help me understand please….
    My understanding is that anthropogenic (fossil ) CO2 contains zero C14. ?
    So how does this chart of C14 prove that anthopogenic CO2 decays in 10 years ?

    30

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Green energy is basically the equivalent of paying some people to dig holes and others to fill them in.”

    https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/12/21/circling-the-drain-4/

    160

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    Or just be in politics –
    The socialist/green led coalition government and the prior Merkel governments decommissioned 19 nuclear power plants (30% of Germany’s electricity demand) and 15 coal-fired power plants were taken off the grid on April 1, 2023 alone. The combined THEORETICAL Capacity of Wind & Solar in Germany is 113% which IN THEORY should have powered Germany all year. Instead they supplied on 38% (2023) not much more than the remaining coal-fired plants.

    And this year they’ve got a Dunkelflaute (SURPRISE there been 6 in the last 30 years and that doesn’t count the various months with reduced output (due to weather) e.g. 2 this year. This shot up elecricity prices and they have to rely on neighbour countries who also suffered. Germany & Denmark 936€ per MWh.
    Southern Norway 890, Southern Sweden 700, Northern Norway 112, Northern Sweden 11, Finland 40.
    I let you work out who isn’t connected to Germany.
    And the Finns rely on nuclear – so much for nuclear being too expensive (France at 272 is sending some to Germany but want to keep their home voters warm). [Blackout Bowen please Note! -he won’t]

    And In January 2025, RWE’s Weisweiler power plant will go offline. This, of all months, will occur in January, when electricity consumption in Germany is at its highest. The next German election Feb23 may bring in a more sensible lot.

    80

  • #
    OldOzzie

    ‘Antiquated’ concept of base load power is more relevant to Australia’s energy future than Zali Steggall would have us believe
    Australians just need to look at what is powering our grid right now to know why Zali Steggall’s obsession with batteries and lithium is nothing but hot air,
    writes Nick Cater – SkyNews.com.au Contributor and Political Commentator

    The invention of smartphones allows fewer excuses for ignorance than at any time in human history. Fact-checking political pronouncements has never been so simple, even on technically complicated subjects like climate change and energy.

    The AEMO Energy Live app, for example, tells us the source of the electricity we’re using in real-time, as opposed to the type of generators Zali Steggall prefers.

    Steggall told Sky News this week that base load power is “an antiquated idea”

    Steggall does not need to get her head around the engineering detail of the failed Broken Hill renewable-only experiment to recognise that it’s no use following the science if you ignore the laws of physics.

    Renewables backed by storage cannot do the heavy lifting performed by always-on antiquated base load at those difficult moments in the day when predictably unreliable solar and wind are taking a little nap.

    Steggall’s base load denialism must be judged on its own merits by whether it is in harmony with the data. Unfortunately for her, it is not.

    From the Comments

    – I seriously doubt she even knows what baseload power is 🤔

    – I can nearly understand why voters got sucked into Albo,s lies and voted him in but really THE TEALS I have to question the inner city elites intelligence to not see they are pretenders..

    – What is a group of four Teals called?. An Audi, all zeroes.

    – I like the idea of the “Turf a Teal” campaign this coming election. Here’s hoping it gains traction.

    – As Andrew O’Keeffe would ask “Teal or No Teal?”

    Cross your arms & reply “No Teal”.

    – It just takes one political clown to bring us all down.

    – Steggall – the Kamala Harris of Australia.

    That’s still hugely insulting to Kam no matter how hopeless she turned out to be.

    200

  • #
    Greg in NZ

    Trust everyone enjoyed their longest day of the year yesterday – or shortest if you’re in the wrong hemisphere. Spent the day playing footy & cricket with nephews & nieces on the shores of Lake Macquarie opposite the Eraring Power Station (an outstanding monument of engineering) under a pleasant 30*C sun.

    Monday appears to have a slight ‘change’ in the weather forecast with Their BoM calling for SNOW from Tasmania’s Kunanyi to Victoria’s Hotham to NSW’s Thredbo ski areas: 1,000m, 1,300m, and 1,700m respectively, albeit a brief flurry, yet how can this happen 2 days out from Christmas Day, 2024, the Hottest Year Ever Invented By Mannequins!

    Thought I’d come here for a heatwave and plagues of locusts yet BoM pulled out their snowflake icon (❄️) from retirement and plastered it all over White Monday 23/12/24 – or are they still tricking us?

    180

    • #
      Ross

      Monday we have a high of 16˚C where I live, then on Boxing Day 38˚C. Quite incredible we are all going to survive. But apparently, if the world’s average temperature increases by 1-2 ˚C, the earth will burn, the oceans will boil and there will be a climate armageddon. Pull the other one, it plays jingle bells.

      110

  • #

    MAGA in Australia now means ‘Make Albanese Go Away’………..LOL

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fVb8DbEaJA

    100

  • #
    David Maddison

    I think Victorian “leader” of the “opposition” Pesutto is a total waste of space.

    He is also a member of the far Left, so-called “moderate” faction of his fake conservative Liberal Party.

    His refusal to resign over his disastrous defamation of Moira Deeming, plus his refusal to readmit her to the party, even though she was expelled on the basis of Pesutto’s lie means that Labor will see out its remaining term of 2 years plus Labor will get re-elected for another 4 years.

    The thought of another 6 years (at least) of Labor is unbearable.

    210

    • #
      Dennis

      The fools supporting him, and representing half of MPs as Pesutto had to use his second casting vote to stay ahead, are classic examples of self serving.

      120

    • #
      Dennis

      A shameful result from the Victorian Liberal party room. How can someone elected as a Liberal be expelled on the basis of a lie and not be readmitted once the truth is there for all to see? Especially right before Christmas, the season of goodwill, this is a truly contemptible failure to act with honour and decency

      130

    • #
      Yarpos

      Apparently he has got the message, and is performing a backflip (with half pike and twist) by calling a meeting in January specifically for he readmission.

      10

  • #
    Penguinite

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1870382338040848634.html

    Fact or fiction? I don’t know but, so far, nobody in authority has refuted it.

    60

  • #

    A friend just got a ‘not wearing seat belt’ notification- $490 and 3 points. It was on, but not over the shoulder. This would have to be AI stepping up to do it’s bit for the treasury. There is no way there is a human skimming through millions of shots.

    80

    • #
      Dennis

      Each camera trailer has 2 cameras and an infra-red flash that are enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) software. The cameras take high-resolution images any time of the day or night, and in all traffic and weather conditions.
      The AI technology automatically reviews each image.
      If it does not see a potential offence, it will reject the image.
      If the AI detects a driver who may be using a portable device or not wearing their seatbelt it flags the image for further review.
      Images where there might be a potential offence are then checked and verified by qualified independent officers.
      Illegally using a mobile phone when driving significantly increases the risk of being involved in a serious crash.

      40

      • #
        John Connor II

        What would happen if someone wore a shirt a seatbelt graphic on it? 😉😎

        70

      • #
        Stanley

        How “independent “ are these reviewing officers? Independent of the AI trailer camera but still dependent!
        I wonder if I will get pinged when driving my 77 yo classic car. It was never made with seatbelts in mind. However I have them installed to appease my good wife. In any case the belts are lap, no sash. Perfectly compliant with the rules pertaining to fitting of seat belts.

        60

    • #
      Philip

      Why on earth would you not put it over your shoulder in the first place? Shoulder injury?

      00

      • #
        ozfred

        My 1974 Fiat X1/9 had no place to attach the upper harness point (the shoulder portion) as it was a targa top design.
        I have a scar to prove the limitation of that system.

        30

      • #
        Yarpos

        You see it sometimes in US TV shows, people will tuck the sash under their arm. I guess it annoys them.

        My wife has an interesting relationship with seat belts , always fiddling, adjusting, getting caught up in ever tightening intertia reels, the adding accesories and clips to compensate. Not sure how effective her belt would be in the worst case.

        00

  • #
    John Connor II

    New CEO closes ALL Party City stores after just 4 months. NO SEVERANCE, you’re all FIRED 5 days before Christmas!

    https://twitter.com/realkylepeter/status/1870197236103286877

    I worked at a statewide business years ago (where people were actually happy), bought out by a national group, that decided to terminate people on Dec 24.
    One was a sales rep, very nice guy but very religious although he never pushed his beliefs onto others. His wife had just had a baby too.

    Talk about total a-hole management.
    Loyalty to the new owners went to zero after they did that.
    Wave after wave of staff cuts decimated the once thriving multi million dollar business until it finally shut its doors, and the national group not long after.

    A-hole clown CEO’s are a dime a dozen.

    90

  • #
    OldOzzie

    How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge

    Aides kept meetings short and controlled access, top advisers acted as go-betweens and public interactions became more scripted. The administration denied Biden has declined.

    To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent.

    Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.

    Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president.

    Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race.

    Presidents always have gatekeepers.

    But in Biden’s case, the walls around him were higher and the controls greater, according to Democratic lawmakers, donors and aides who worked for Biden and other administrations. There were limits over who Biden spoke with, limits on what they said to him and limits around the sources of information he consumed.

    Throughout his presidency, a small group of aides stuck close to Biden to assist him, especially when traveling or speaking to the public. “They body him to such a high degree,” a person who witnessed it said, adding that the “hand holding” is unlike anything other recent presidents have had.

    The White House operated this way even as the president and his aides pressed forward with his re-election bid—which unraveled spectacularly after his halting performance in a June debate with Donald Trump made his mental acuity an insurmountable issue.

    This account of how the White House functioned with an aging leader at the top of its organizational chart is based on interviews with nearly 50 people, including those who participated in or had direct knowledge of the operations.

    100

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Position of strength: Here’s why Putin’s Direct Line was so important

    Speaking from a position of strength, Putin projected an image of a leader in control, guiding a nation that is defying the odds and reshaping the global order

    By Nadezhda Romanenko, political analyst

    On December 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual ‘Direct Line’ session, a unique combination of a press conference and a call-in show, that once again showcased his strategic positioning both domestically and internationally.

    This year, the overarching theme of his address was clear: Russia is speaking from a position of strength. Whether addressing the conflict with Ukraine, relations with the West, or Russia’s military prowess, Putin projected confidence and control. This strength underscores why Russia appears to be winning the war against Ukraine and solidifying its stance against Western powers.

    90

  • #
    KP

    Here, let the Govt look after your health, they have all the right incentives to to do a good job…

    “A radiology department under siege at a hospital in Sydney’s west is struggling to keep up with a backlog of more than 17,000 MRIs and other scans, leaving trainees to work unsupervised and placing patients at risk of delayed diagnoses for cancer and other serious diseases…”

    They blame things like management bullying and a toxic work environment while cancer patients die waiting for their results. If they can’t get their sh1t together why are we paying them?

    “A radiologist staff specialist has a base salary of roughly $186,241 in NSW compared to $210,332 in Queensland.”

    20

  • #
    John Connor II

    I saw a strange rainbow flag flying in town the other day.
    I don’t know what country it represents but they’ve sure got some ugly women!
    😆

    90

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Thank You, Israel, for Saving the World, Defending Freedom and Reshaping the Middle East

    by Majid Rafizadeh December 21, 2024 at 5:00 am

    When it comes to national security, appeasement is not an option.

    Bribing aggressors only finances their militaries for attacks on the West in the future.

    . Israel’s approach to combating terrorism has always been characterized by thoroughness and determination — for which is usually put through the tortures of hell by the very countries it is working to save.

    . With a vision of ultimately fostering peace, harmony, security and prosperity throughout the region, as in the Abraham Accords, Israel expanded its military operations beyond Hamas… reshaping the Middle East into a region free of the grip of terror… Make Persia Great Again!

    , So long as Iran’s regime remains in power, brutalizing its people and making plans for global expansion, there can be no chance for peace in the region.

    . Removing the regime – would bring lasting security and prosperity to the Middle East and beyond – One could then set about subduing Turkey and its terrorist proxies in Syria.

    130

  • #
    • #
      OldOzzie

      Already In Australia Under Labor/Greens/TEALS & Labor Blackout Bowen!

      From November 2 to November 8 and from December 10 to December 13, Germany’s electricity supply from renewable energies collapsed as a typical winter weather situation with a lull in the wind and minimal solar irradiation led to supply shortages, high electricity imports and skyrocketing electricity prices.

      At times, over 20,000 MW, more than a quarter of Germany’s electricity requirements, had to be imported. Electricity prices rose tenfold (93.6 €ct/kWh). Companies that did not have long-term contracts had to cease production. Wolfgang Große Entrup, Managing Director of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI): “It’s desperate. Our companies and our country cannot afford fair-weather production.

      We urgently need power plants that can step in safely.

      The reason:

      The socialist/green led coalition government and the prior Merkel governments had decommissioned 19 nuclear power plants (30% of Germany’s electricity demand) and 15 coal-fired power plants were taken off the grid on April 1, 2023 alone.

      4.35 billion euros of taxpayers’ money in decommissioning premiums were distributed to RWE and LEAG (East Germany).

      In January 2025, RWE’s Weisweiler power plant will go offline.

      This, of all months, will occur in January, when electricity consumption in Germany is at its highest and France may have little to supply.

      This is because France is the most heat-sensitive country in Europe and even small fluctuations in temperature can have an impact on electricity consumption due to the widespread use of electric heating systems.

      1 degree Celsius less and consumption in France increases by 2400 megawatts!

      It is also often forgotten that wind turbines consume electricity when they are stationary or switched off.

      This is because all technical components (oil pumps, fans, control systems, etc.) must remain in operation even when they are still.

      Vestas specifies an electricity consumption of 55,000 kWh per year for a 4.2 MW turbine at standstill.

      During production times, the turbine supplies itself with electricity. But it is virtually idle 120 days a year.

      90

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        I think I beat you – see comment 14.

        In any case this is a disaster for Europe. The Socialist/Greens coalition has destroyed the industrial base of Germany hence problems in many countries there. Also quite a few countries (Norway, Sweden. Finland, Hungary, Poland?) may well want to leave the EU. With the economic collapse in Germany the EU won’t have any money to bribe the southerners.
        The only hope for Germany is for cheap gas & oil from Russia – No wonder Putin thinks he will win.

        60

      • #
        Graeme4

        Interesting info about a stationary turbine power consumption. If we assume 2MW turbines being mainly used in Australia (somebody can correct this), with our 4440 turbines, that’s 116.3 GWh of power lost annually.

        60

        • #
          Chad

          Assuming your figures are true, it still only represents less than 5 hours average consumption (25 GW) from the grid.
          Or,…. 0.05% of the 200+ TWh annual consumption

          00

  • #
    David Maddison

    The city of San Francisco hired a “body positivity” consultant to promote obesity.

    Like so much from the Left, it’s not immediately obvious if it’s a joke or not or parody, but it’s true.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/san-francisco-health-department-hires-expert-on-weight-based-discrimination/

    San Francisco Health Department Hires ‘Expert on Weight-Based Discrimination’

    By Abigail Anthony
    December 20, 2024

    Virgie Tovar, the author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat, has been hired as a “consultant on weight stigma and weight neutrality” by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

    “[I]t’s my biggest hope and belief that weight neutrality will be the future of public health,” Tovar wrote on social media when announcing her new position. The San Francisco Department of Public Health’s “Health Eating and Active Living” program hired Tovar to work through June 30, 2025 and educate staff about weight stigma and body positivity, per the San Francisco Chronicle. Tovar will be paid $12,000.

    Matt Walsh discusses:

    https://youtu.be/POX3TQtshaE

    40

  • #
    OldOzzie

    1900 Quantum Theory for the Future of the 21st Century

    by Lawrence Kadish – December 18, 2024 at 2:00 pm

    This is the month that, in 1900, quantum theory was presented by German physicist Max Planck in a paper to his scientific peers.

    [snip]

    And this is where Planck may play a role in directing the future of the 21st Century.

    Central to controlled fusion is a massive installation called a tokamak. It is essentially a huge thermos with magnetic confinement devices inside to keep the fusion concentrated in one place under enormous pressure.

    It is so promising that the Chinese government has invested what some experts believe is up to $1.5 billion annually to win the race for unlimited energy. In the interim, the same experts say the lead the United States once had in this arena has disappeared.

    One telling remark from an observer said that it was not the size of the investment that startled him, but the speed by which the Chinese are advancing in this field, building new tokamaks while America’s similar research facilities are aging.

    50

  • #
    • #
      David Maddison

      Good find. No surprise of course.

      50

    • #
      Graeme4

      Similar statements have now appeared in The Australian, saying that his beef was with the German govt, saying that they failed to support similar immigrants.

      20

    • #
      another ian

      FWIW

      “The Clever Hopes Expire”

      “Hope For The Future
      A light at the end of the tunnel here is that the Magdeburg massacre may finally put the kaibosh on the mass immigration scam. Elon Musk, who has praised skilled immigration in the past, had already expressed support for Germany’s immigration restrictionist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party before the massacre; perhaps he will now rethink his enthusiasm for skilled immigration from incompatible cultures.

      If so, Musk may exert his influence on mass immigration in a similar way as he is exerting his influence on deficit spending. As Box CEO Aaron Levie suggested recently, governments may be underestimating Elon, particularly his ability to shine a spotlight on problematic policies. ”

      https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-12-21/clever-hopes-expire

      10

  • #
    another ian

    Sounds about right

    “Nothing says
    “Trust the Science”
    like asking for the data
    to be hidden for
    75 years
    Pfizer”

    https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1715073045012176896.jpg

    140

  • #

    Tucker interviews James Furst who has just released “Thank You Doctor Fauci”, a doco on guess what. Towards the end, he says he is very worried about bird flu, and that there have been a number of ‘natural’ outbreaks highlighted, and he worries that they might be a smoke screen for when there is actually a lab release. The wet market was a pretty silly cover story, and he worries they are setting up a better narrative, because bird flu will make covid look like a common cold – a 10 to 50% mortality in all age brackets, and they have been working on it’s transmissibility for 10 years! The near future might be a good time to have a distraction, as all sorts a shenanigan’s might be coming to the light of day.
    Still no one is wondering out loud if the pandemic was election interference? Everything else seems to be covered, but not that.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCn0OYE1Z8E&t=92s

    10

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>