This week

Is Net Zero desirable?

The world is waking up to the false gods of climate zealots. Europe is realising that its lemming-like dash towards energy poverty may not be a good idea. It has taken multiple hits to bring about a change in attitude. The rising cost of energy in countries with extensive renewables roll-outs was the first sign. But rich countries, like the UK and Germany, persisted, closing down coal-fired power and even nuclear reactors. Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the destruction of the Nord 2 pipeline and Russia's use of energy as a weapon. Most recently, there is the instability in the grid caused by too high a reliance on intermittent energy, the final nail has been the US' withdrawal from the Paris accord and the Net Zero target. 

Unfortunately, much of Europe had taken the Net Zero, renewable path many years ago, and it will take a long time to convince the populations that were fed the Net Zero cool-aid for years to change their minds. Worse still, if you have closed your coal-fired power stations or demolished your nuclear power stations, like Spain, it will take decades to replace them. So let's be prepared for a rather mixed message from the countries that thave progressed along this path, but remember that some 60% of the world's emissions are from countries that no longer have any commitment to Net Zero. 

So any country that is a minor emitter, eg UK (1%), Australia (1%) should, if common sense prevailed, drop the target. They are only damaging their own economies without any impact on the world climate.

Can the world live without fossil fuels, as the net-zero zealots advocate? No. Quite simply, the modern world is totally interdependent on the availability of fossil fuels. Our modern world has been built on many of the products of fossil fuels; asphalt for our roads, all plastics, fertiliser essential for food productivity, pharmaceuticals, and virtually every industry is dependent on fossil fuels. A world without fossil fuels would be a poor world, and could not support the current population of the Earth. 

Don't take my word for it. Here is a short video from Prager Can the World Live Without Fossil Fuels?

Well worth a view.

Activist media fight for the Left

The Left has captured the majority of Western media organisations. Today, this seems to be accepted not only by the Right but also by the Left. It has happened gradually over the last 2 decades. I still remember my TV and Radio stations of choice were Australia's ABC, the public broad. Many from that time have often commented that today's ABC is virtually unrecognisable in its consistently one-sided reporting on most political issues. I recall one ex-reporter explaining that in the 70s, admittedly 5 decades ago, using adjectives in news stories was banned. This was to ensure reporters' views were not allowed to intrude on straight reporting. Oh, how far have the standards strayed! Today's media fails to distinguish news from opinion, and news stories often include left-wing commentary. Without doubt, there are a few media outlets that clearly lean Right, so why am I complaining? Firstly, because there are many more left-leaning organisations than right-leaning. This naturally will have a disproportionate influence on political issues. But more importantly, the publicly funded ABC, whose charter required impartiality, has been so captured by the Left that there is not one right-leaning political commentator on its political programs. This fact has been pointed out many times over recent years, yet it continues. Labor governments welcome the ABC on their side, so they will not criticise them; that is not surprising. But then, the LNP coalition also fails to make this an issue, because the ABC carries so much influence that they do not dare to start a massive media-driven campaign against them. Yet there will be no change until we get a Trumpian coalition leader who calls out the 'Fake Media' in our midst.

Apropos Trump and the US media, the problem is the same. In some ways, much worse. Given Trump's whirlwind successes and a weak Democratic party, the media have gone all out to try to redress the balance. But of course, Trump is up for the fight. I only wish Australia had someone with the same strength.

Victor Davis Hanson has a short video on this issue that is well worth a view.

Is Albo Australia's Chavez?

After the Liberal National Coalition's devastating loss in last week's election, the coalition is in disarray. Just today, the Liberals elected a new leader, Sussan Ley, the party's first female leader. While she has been in parliament for 25 years, she has not had a big footprint. Most people don't know her at all. And this is despite her having been the deputy leader of the party and being virtually invisible during the recent campaign. In some ways, that tells the story, but you never know. I am always happy to give a new leader a chance to discard their past and grow into the new role.

The re-elected Labor party has shuffled the deckchairs with a renewed ministry. Some demotions have caused ructions, and some who kept their jobs should not have. But again, let's see how they perform.

The most ominous development has been the dominance of the Left wing of the party in the new ministry. Australia is now led by the most left-wing government ever. This flows against the tide of new right-of-centre governments in the Western world.

Many commentators predict that this will cause Australia to continue its downward spiral. Previous cycles have shown Labor federal governments wear out their welcome in two terms, and leave the country in a mess. Let's see.

Here is a piece by Topher Field who warns of Albo as a re-born Chavez who will bring disaster on Australia. I think Australia's Westminster system has more checks and balances, but forewarned is forearmed.

Intermittent renewables cause grid instability

Following the unprecedented blackout of Spain and Portugal, many commentators have been crowding the airwaves to put their particular spin. In my close circle, we have had multiple, let's call them 'discussions' on the reasons. You can take it as read that, like many groups, we have a mix of political viewpoints and are passionate in our arguments. Those with a firm belief in the "Climate Catastrophe" dogma are doing their best to interpret Spain's outage as an unusual one-off, not an intrinsic instability caused by too many intermittent energy sources trying to maintain power continuity to very tight constraints. Unfortunately for them, the indications are that there is a serious stability issue when there is a high proportion of intermittent sources. I posted one source last week. Here is another.

It is rather long around 50 mins, well worth the lot, but Spain is covered in the first 10 minutes.

the balance does cover a range of issues relating to Net Zero, nuclear energy, and problems with renewables. The context is UK but applicable in broad terms worldwide.

Climate myth busting

During my discussions about the Spain blackout, our friendly discussions strayed into many of the  Climate Emergency claims. Having covered this some time ago, I was reminded of the scientific paper that analysed many of the claims made by the Climate Emergency club. 

In my earlier post (see climate emergency claims debunked ), I provided a summary of the paper, which I reproduce here.

Climate change advocates' claims;-

• temperatures are higher than they have been in the last 200 years: TRUE.
• temperatures are higher than they have ever been. FALSE.   
• there are more hurricanes FALSE
• there have been more droughts: FALSE
• there have been more wet seasons: FALSE
• the strength of hurricanes has increased: FALSE
• the number of violent hurricanes has increased: FALSE
• CO2 is the major Greenhouse Gas: FALSE
• CO2 increases will drive temperatures to catastrophic levels: FALSE
• CO2 is the main driver of temperature increases: FALSE
• CO2 levels today are higher than they have ever been: FALSE
• sea level is rising: TRUE
• the rate of sea level rise is increasing: FALSE
• changes in solar irradiance can be ignored: FALSE
• we can ignore the effects of the sun: FALSE
• we can ignore sun spots: FALSE
• CO2 is a pollutant: FALSE
• Temperature and CO2 go up together: FALSE
• Models can be used to predict climate: FALSE
• the pause in temperature increases is not real.FALSE
• there is a 97% consensus that humans are causing the climate to change: FALSE

OTG WE 11 May 2025

The robots are coming.

As a technology freak, I keep abreast of new developments, especially in robotics. You will have noticed many articles that highlight recent milestones. The major leap in recent times has been the integration of AI with conventional Robotics. AI adds the brain to the robotic machine. The programming of conventional robots has required extensive time-consuming programming. Robots require function-specific programming to ensure the robot does exactly what was intended and nothing that was not specified. The need for each task to be programmed meant a drag on their use to repetitive tasks, where the cost of programming was justified through repetition. 

That is now changing. AI is providing the facility for the robots to respond directly to instructions from a human. The AI then programs the robot to execute what is required. While this integration is in its infancy, over time, it will enable the elimination of all manual labour. The Rosie robot of Futurama will become a reality. Of course, it will create significant challenges to human organisation, but is a topic for another day. 

Here is a recent video that highlights some of the most recent developments in robotics.

Is Musk's Starlink raining satellites?

Everything Musk is undergoing scrutiny. It's as if the once Dr Jekyll had turned into Mr Hyde following his taking a pro-Trump elixir. The most recent claim is that some 4 Starlink satellites are falling to earth every day. A rather stark and worrisome claim. Alas, as seems to be the case with every reason given for a new panic, there is more to the story. Once 'more' is explained, it is less worrisome. 

Let me not be the one to explain, just listen to YouTube physicist Sabine Hossenfelder.

Adolescent distractions

Given the many and diverse real social issues that pervade today's United Kingdom, it is shameful to focus the nation's attention on a red herring. Yet that is the case. The Netflix series 'Adolescence" has attracted widespread and high-level attention. Spoiler alert, while I have not seen the show, I believe the series tells the story of a young teenage boy bullied on social media, ending up knifing and killing a teenage girl.

The story seems to have struck a chord, with many talk shows raising the social issues it portrays. Some claim it as being a true story, a documentary, and politicians are asked how they will address social media epidemic that causes such breakdowns. Even in Australia, family members have raised it with me and one friend thought it was a true story. 

It is certainly not a true story, nor is it representative of the types of problems teenagers face. I don't have the statistics, but the much more common knife crime in the UK, and other Western cities, is teenage gang members knifing each other. Yes, the television series has exposed our feckless media once again, chasing illusive problems while ignoring the very real problems staring them in the face. 

Here is Konstanti Krisin summary. Konstantin is always entertaining.

  

You cannot trust polls!

Given their lack of success over many elections, it is surprising that anyone would trust a poll. Just think of the 2016 US Presidential election, which Hillary would win by a country mile, or even the recent 2024 US presidential election, which the pollsters had totally misjudged. In Australia, too, the pollsters are not much better with multiple failures at National polls. The election of 2019, where the Opposition leader was predicted by pollsters to "walk it in",  but ended up failing. Came close, but "no cigar".  

I accept that predictions are subject to error, and we cannot assume a poll will give an accurate prediction. However, given that the results in these elections were far outside the predicted error in the polls, we have to ask why. Why does this keep happening, and why do these pollsters keep their jobs? 

The recent 100-day milestone of Trump's second presidency has seen the media engage pollsters to apply a popularity gauge to Trump's performance. This resulted in many polls declaring a loss of support for Trump. But can we trust these polls? It seems not.

Victor Davis Hanson provides some insight into why many polls are just producing what the anti-Trump media wants to promulgate.

Here is the short video, well worth a watch.

Is China in chaos due to Trump's Tariffs?

The Trump China tariff battle is still in progress. I can't keep up with the numbers. However, at this stage, new very high reciprocal tariffs have been imposed on goods being transferred between the countries. Trump's argument is that this has a greater impact on China as it benefits more from US purchases. There are already some exceptions, and more will follow. Trump has already softened his position on this. We can expect more changes. 

But already I  am seeing multiple YouTube videos highlighting the impact on China of these tariffs. The videos claim panic as orders are being cancelled and exporters are going broke. Surprisingly, I am not seeing corresponding reports from our mainstream media. So I am somewhat skeptical, but we will see.

Here is one of these videos.

Shocking abuse by unhinged radicals

Given the distractions of our recent general election, we have forgotten about the extremists who held their repeated demonstrations at our Universities. Perhaps one may have thought it was all in the past. But no, Avi Yemini of Rebel News recently posted a shocking video of the vile abuse screamed at Mark Leach, of Never Again is Now, as he and his daughter were at a University Campus. This occurred about 4 weeks ago, during the election campaign, but that is no excuse. 

While I am reluctant to give more 'air' to such vile events, we do need to remember these hateful people are amongst us. 

Here is the video.

But there is something to celebrate in the election results. The Greens, the hate-filled party stoking the type of bullying and abuse demonstrated in the above video, have had a major electoral setback. Adam Bandt, the party leader, has lost his seat, and all the Greens' lower house seats are currently in doubt. This is a resounding rejection of their hateful policies. Something to celebrate!

Is Spain the canary in the renewables coalmine?

The recent Earth day, 22 April, was especially significant for Spain. It national grid had managed to run 100% renewables for the first time just 6 days earlier on 16 April.  (See Spain hits first weekday of 100% renewable power on national grid). However the celebrations did not last long, just a week later Spain & Portugal were hit by a massive blackout.  

"A massive blackout has caused mayhem along the Iberian Peninsula, stranding passengers in trains and hundreds of elevators and leaving millions without phone and internet coverage in Spain, Portugal and – briefly – south western France.

A state of emergency was declared in Spain in the wake of the major outage, which the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said occurred when about 15 gigawatts of electricity – more than half of the power being consumed at the time – “suddenly disappeared” in about five seconds."  Ref Spain blackout, News.com.au

Electricity blackouts are not generally reported in headlines, certainly not worldwide. So why was this, admittedly serious, blackout so significant? It is recognition that the 100%-renewables target of much of the Western world may be flawed. 

Of course, the climate zealots are looking at other explanations. Indeed several were posed by operators. Be it some technical mumbo jumbo that the average pundit cannot follow, or "very rare and unusual environmental circumstances", these causes do right the ship of doubt. If these events have occurred, they can occur again, so the unavoidable conclusion is that the new renewables grid is unstable. Moreover, the greater the proportion of renewables in a system, the less stable the grid becomes to unexpected fluctuations. 

This video provides a more technical analysis of the issues, and well worth a view.

It seems the blackout in Spain is an early warning of a serious flaw in the strategy of decarbonization by using Wind and Solar. That is a difficult conclusion for the many countries that are busy trying to transform their countries' electricity grids to renewables. Hopefully they are watching!

OTG WE 4 May 2025

Australia's Labor part re-elected

My hopes were shattered. The polls were not wrong, but not because the swing against Labor was greater than expected, but because they failed to predict the more significant swing towards Labor. Yes, the bumbling, hapless, mendacious Albanese government has won a second term with an increased majority. How was this possible, given its singular failure to run the country effectively? 

There will be much soul-searching in the coming weeks and months. There is no doubt that the campaign was mismanaged by the Coalition and was well managed by Labor. Peter Dutton as leader of the opposition, has accepted responsibility, as he should. He does not have to resign as leader as he lost his own seat. A most undignified end to a 20-year political career. I will leave my comments short, nd let the dust settle before drawing more conclusions. Alas, my flag is at half mast today.

Johannes Leak cartoon summarises my thoughts exactly.

But, obviously, the majority did not agree with me, or Johannes.

Australian election tomorrow.

After a campaign of some six weeks, Australia's federal election takes place tomorrow. Polls indicate the re-election of Labor under the leadership of Anthony Albanese, most likely in a minority government with The Greens and Teals. All the polls, however are national polls, and seats are decided in individual electorates. It is unusual, but has occure just a few years ago in 2019, where the national polls were all wrong.  So, I for one am hoping, that history will repeat itself. In any objective measure this Labor government does not deserve another term. They have mismanaged the economy, have allowed the rise of anti-semitism and social division, have trashed relationship with Israel, have sucked up to China, and neglected defence. It goes on, but I won't bore you. If you live in Australia you know ,and if you don't , you don't care. 

But here is a recent Liberal party ad that highlights Albanese's bumbling manner.

Can you afford another three years of this? pic.twitter.com/QQG7ST9udB

— Liberal Party (@LiberalAus) May 1, 2025

Is Islam a religion of peace?

Despite the oft-quoted claim that "Islam is a religion of peace", observers of Europe's experiment with Muslim immigration have convinced many that it is not. Certainly, the crime rate in Europe following this experiment has risen in direct proportion to the increase in Muslim immigrants. Yes, I know immigrants are always troubled souls who find it difficult to integrate, so it should not be surprising if crime levels increased. But, it is much worse than that. Europe has experienced many waves of migrants from all parts of the world. In the sixties, it was Indians and Pakistanis. Then, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there was a great wave of Eastern Europeans, Poles, Romanians and Ukrainians into Western Europe.

In these earlier waves, there was no great rise in crime rates. The most significant rise has occurred following the wave of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. These migrants were mainly Muslims, coming from a different culture, and consequently, they have not integrated well. Crime rates, including sexual assault, have risen steeply. 

Should we therefore conclude that the rise is due to the religion? Perhaps not. In a recent video, Konstantin Kisin analyses these questions following his recent trip to Uzbekistan. He notes that although Uzbekistan is a mainly Muslim country, it has avoided the crime rates that have plagued the West. He concludes that Western governments have failed to control the Islamists, the religious zealots who advocate global Jihad against non Muslims.  Uzbekistan, in contrast, has succeeded in isolating the Islamists by insisting that non-Islamist Muslims are not allowed to be intimidated or coerced. This is achieved by strict rules against the Islamist dogma. For example, Burkas are not permitted in public. 

So perhaps the religion is not to blame; it is Islamism,  the violent corruption of Islam that is the source of the problems in Europe. The lesson of Uzbekistan must be heeded by all of Europe, and soon. Without significant moves to control the Islamists, Europe is destined to become a battleground with the Islamists gaining ever more population clout.

Here is Konstantin Kisin's video. Well worth the 10 minutes.

 

Trump's first 100 days

I couldn't avoid covering this, too, but I am sure you have already heard multiple analyses of Trump's first 100 days. No doubt, the analyses have varied widely depending on the degree of TDS of the person doing the analysis. Not only the US, but the world is polarised. I cannot remember a time when the performance of the US presidents was so widely covered by the media. Trump is a larger-than-life character, for better and for worse. Let me make just a few observations, as so much has already been said.

The Good

The southern border has been closed, DOGE has uncovered significant savings, and the deportation of the violent illegal immigrants is progressing. 

His executive orders have progressed his agenda on stopping DEI, restarting energy production, removal of Climate Change red tape. He has addressed anti-Semitism on College campuses. 

His support for Israel has released weapons, and he has given Israel free rein to run its defensive war against Hamas. Under Trump, the US has taken direct action against the Houthis to liberate the shipping lanes through the Red Sea. He has negotiated favourable deals for the US for its use of the Panama Canal.

The Bad

Not all has gone well, though. He has started fights where they were not required, for example, Canada and Greenland. In Canada, this has had a disastrous impact on Canada's elections, causing the reelection of Canada's liberal government, reversing a 20-point lead by the conservative party. 

His bombastic approach to foreign affairs has caused unnecessary friction with allies. A more diplomatic approach could have yielded the same outcomes without the bad blood.

The Ugly

There are a couple of areas where Trump's strategy and approach have been terrible. The first is Ukraine-Russia. Commendably, Trump entered the fray to try to bring peace to the region. This was never going to be easy. His approach seemed to be to 'butter up ' Putin to get him to the table. That may have been justified, had he succeeded. But at the same time, he chose to distance himself from Zelensky. This was not necessary and was counterproductive. Putin, seeing Trump's apparent willingness to jettison the close relationship with Ukraine, only served to make Putin demand more. Not very artful deal-making. At this stage, we have had Trump move his position toward Ukraine and threaten Putin with more sanctions. It is a game in progress, so too hard to call. But it has been ugly.

The second and perhaps even uglier issue has been the handling of the Tariffs. With a rather upbeat 'Liberation Day' announcement, Trump effectively started a war against all US trading partners. Naturally, this had serious ramifications in international stock markets. A totally unnecessary own goal. He has now chosen to delay the implementation for all countries except China. Of course, that is a good idea, but he should have anticipated the consequences of his big Liberation Day hit-them-all-at-once strategy and introduced the tariffs for trading partners on a gradual basis. China remains a big issue, and Trump has already modified even the China policy by removing electronics and now some cars. Yes, this is also ugly. This tariff stuff-up is unfortunate and has not yet been sorted. 

So we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Given the pace at which Trump has been implementing new policies, some errors are not surprising. Hopefully, he will be able to learn from these errors. But I suspect not. Trump is Trump. We knew he was impulsive and insensitive to consequences. His approach has always been to try to break his way through a problem, and if it doesn't work, reverse and try another approach. That can and has looked messy.

Here is one analysis of Trump's first 100 days from Alan Dershowitz, once a Democrat but now an Independent.

COVID conspiracies transform into Facts

The White House official COVID-19 Site has turned ideas demonised as "conspiracy theories" but a few years ago into today's accepted 'facts'. We have seen this coming. Many of my recent posts have highlighted the results of studies that questioned the 'official facts' relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

There were too many ideas that have now been proven wrong, but let me note a few; - 

• The origin of COVID is believed to be a Wuhan wet market with animal-to-human transfer
• that lockdowns were effective
• that masks are effective in preventing transmission
• that vaccines prevent infection
• that vaccines prevent hospitalisation
• that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are not safe
• that side effects are low and justify vaccination even for young children
• etc.

Unfortunately, the reaction of the authorities was herd-like panic. Most Western countries adopted a lockdown approach, used by China, but against their prior pandemic plans. The approach to vaccination was shameful. Authorities coerced the population to inject themselves with a vaccine that had far less testing than any other vaccine in history. The unvaccinated were vilified, and those protesting vaccination were vilified. The accepted human rights of citizens were supplanted by mandates. Mandates restricting their ability to marry, to attend funerals, to visit dying relatives in hospital, and to travel. We have yet to see the elites who imposed these restrictions even acknowledge and apologise for their errors, let alone be held accountable. Perhaps it will happen, but I won't hold my breath.

Here is the recent video from Dr John Campbell about the White House COVID site acknowledging the errors of the past.

Israel has new strategy on Gaza

While I have not seen any announcements of this, I have seen a few articles highlighting Israel's new strategy on Gaza. The news media have concentrated on the ongoing negotiations to try to release the remaining hostages. With Israel's demand for Hamas' total abdication in exchange for the end to hostilities, there is little incentive for Hamas to release more hostages. After all, they want to remain in power. 

But that may be the side show. Israel has taken some dramatic steps in its battle against Hamas. Some time ago, Israel stopped all UN aid from entering the country. The justification for this was that Hamas was commandeering the aid and instead of distributing it to those in need, was taking what it wanted and then selling what was left to the highest bidders. Despite initial protests from the world, to my surprise, the issue has been forgotten. But of course, it means the supply of food must be diminishing, and will no doubt become a serious issue. It has been reported that Israel will now take responsibility for distributing all aid in Gaza. This is a game-changer, as it removes Hamas from the game. It prevents Hamas from trading on this, and also removes the influence Hamas gains by being the sole source of food. 

At the same time Israel has not withdrawn its military. On the contrary, the troops have been active. They are int eh process of isolating Rafah, by creating a 2 km wide, 14 km long corridor. 

Until recently, the border between Egypt and Gaza has been very porous. Egypt has played a duplicitous role, pretending that it prevented armaments from entering via the Philadelphi corridor, while turning a blind eye to it. Israel's invasion of Rafah and the corridor has proved this, exposing the large number of tunnels that were used to arm Hamas.  Israel's new corridor is some kilometres from Rafah, dividing Gaza into two distinct zones. We have yet to see how Israel will exploit this division, but it will certainly enable Israel to prevent weaponry from entering Northern Gaza, and also allow its troops to clear Rafah of its Hamas terrorists. 

Here is a short video highlighting these changes.

 

WEF's Schwab in Hot Water?

Klaus Schwab has stepped won as chairman of the World Economic Forum, following serious claims of governance malpractice. The claims were made by an anonymous letter reported by the WSJ as being from existing employees of the organisation. Naturally, the Schwab family has denied all claims and threatened to sue those making the claim. Many observers of the WEF, yes, me too, will feel some 'Schadenfreude" at this development. After all, it is the WEF that seems to have appointed itself as the de facto rulers of the world, dictating future world developments to us plebs. The WEF has a membership of 5000 of the richest /most powerful members of the world. Most are unelected, and certainly none have been elected to make any decisions as to the future of the world. Yet, they gather each year for a talkfest and make declarations that are reported widely. Their declarations seem to set some sort of agenda for those members who have leadership roles in some countries' governments. So yes, they have a disproportionate influence on our lives. 

I do not care whether their plans have any merit at all. Some may, perhaps, but many are clearly abhorrent. For example, they advocate censorship and the elimination of ownership.  I object to the influence they have managed to gather by bribing the elites. These bribes take the form of bestowing kudos on members.  The organisation should be boycotted, and indeed any members' kudos should be negated, by boycotting those who have been members of the WEF. However, that will all take time.

But for now, we can rejoice that the WEF leadership has been 'hoist on their own petard'. Their staff are now accusing their leadership of the same sort of governance issues that have been used to bring down many organisations, think Black Lives Matter, for example.

Here is a short report on the claims against Schwab.

OTG Week ending 27 Apr 2025

It Must be Climate Change

Like an unforgettable earworm, "it must be Climate Change" has been assailing us from every corner of our media exposure. It has become the go-to phrase to explain whatever weather-related issue arises. A flood here, a cyclone there,  an algal bloom, an unusually hot day or even an unusually cold day. It seems there is no environmental event that Climate Change has not caused.  Worse still, there are many nodding heads, agreeing. Heads of politicians, media commentators, business entrepreneurs, large renewables portfolios, mind you, and of course, the experts, the academics. So is this correct? How can one even consider that those we always rely on for our view of the world are wrong? They wouldn't collude to fool us? They couldn't, could they? 

I don't believe it is collusion. However, they are acting in concert to mislead us. Some do not do it intentionally, but certainly some will avoid exposing information they do possess that would contradict their statements. Lying by omission. 

Like all great movements, the Climate Catastrophe phenomenon will unwind over time. Just as we are now seeing the COVID hysteria unwinding with a slow trickle of information exposing the sheer lies we were fed "for our own good", so too will the Climate Catastrophe dogma unwind. But as it has been going for much longer, its unwinding will take longer. 

Nevertheless, some green shoots of truth are emerging.

The Prager U recently focused on this issue with a video titled "It must be Climate Change".

As usual it is a rather short video, but well worth a view.

The robots are running, sort of

In a world first Beijing hosted a half marathon for robots. I guess it had to come. This was an opportunity to gauge the status of humanoid robots, at least as to their ability to run. It was a somewhat comical affair with many robots failing the task in hilarious ways. Battery life was the most obvious problem for many, but the sheer task of coordination was enough to bring many down to earth. The win, hail  the hero, was a Chinese candidate with the cute name of Tiangong Ultra. Young Tiangong finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes — a long way to go before it can surpass the men's winner who finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes.  Here is a video summary of the race.

Yet, we should be aware that this is a massive development and without doubt future models will soon overtake human capabilities. 

When humanoid robots combine with AGI (artificial general intelligence), all human work on the planet will be obsolete, unlike global warming, which is the ultimate threat to humanity. 

China in Chaos

Trump's high tariffs on China are having a dramatic effect on China. I covered some of this in last week's post so won't belabor it here. This second video tells the story. 

No doubt this has a long way to run, and the consequences may not be welcome. A China under pressure will likely resonate across the world. 

A picture paints 1000 words

Lies, Damn Lies and politicians

In the throes of an upcoming election, politicians are sometimes forgiven for 'gilding the lily'.

But IMHO, our Labor government is setting records on the eve of the upcoming May 3 election. Pinocchio could no longer walk into a room had he chosen to tell so many porkies.

Of course it is not just the Albo, the current PM, it is his entire team. Nor is it just the Labor party, or its close acolytes. It includes the media, always left-leaning, failing to do their due diligence to ensure the electorate knows the 'facts'. Yes, I know 'facts' are elusive. Yet in this campaign, there has been scant scrutiny by the free press to ensure honesty. This would be somewhat forgivable if they applied an equal standard to right-leaning parties. But it is not so. There remains a blatant bias in our left leaning media. 

SO what are these 'untruths'? Lets look at a few ; -

• Labor have repeatedly claimed the LNP coalition's nuclear program will cost $600B. the only basis for this figure, sort of, is a costing supplied by an anti-nuclear lobby group who claim the cost not at $600B but within the range $110 B to $ 600 B. 
• Labor then claims the LNP opposition will pay for this $600B by cutting services
• Labor claims the LNP is going to cut Medicare, with absolutely NO justification
• Labor claims the LNP will cut the public service with NO justification
• Labor claims the coalition will cut the number of 'urgent care' clinics. LNP say no it will not
• ... and many more

And, it is working! The lies may not be believed, but they have been effective in deflecting scrutiny, of their own record, which has been abysmal.

I guess that is politics, and it is a challenge that every opposition leader faces. How to control the narrative. How to ensure your own policy agenda wins hearts and minds. At this stage, Labour seems to be in the ascendant, but there are two weeks to go.

OTG Week ending 20 April 2025

Tariffs are hurting China

World Press reaction to Trump's Liberation Day tariffs was explosive. Every pundit with access to any form of media foists their opinion on their audience. World stock markets also reacted strongly to the uncertainty, with substantial falls. Contrary to predicted falls, the bond market reacted to the uncertainty by rising. In the end, mainly due to the rise in the Bond rate, the Trump team reacted by introducing a 90-day delay for all countries except China. That had the effect of quelling the markets, but volatility remains high. The anti-Trump mob has been relieved that Trump's honeymoon is over. Trump voters have not reacted strongly, willing to support him at least for now. 

It goes without saying that the introduction of the tariffs has not been handled with finesse. Why not give 90 days' notice in the first place? And why do it worldwide, when you could first address the countries with major issues and leave the minor offenders for later? I guess the honeymoon is over; Trump has been hurt by the way he has handled tariff policy. Yet, most economists agree that too many countries have been calling for free trade while imposing unfair barriers to free trade to favour their own products. China is one of the most visible and obvious offenders. It does not allow many of the free trade transactions, eg real estate, that it exploits in other countries. It has also supported the widespread theft of IP from around the world. For decades, the US and the rest of the world have allowed China to ignore the accepted rules. At least till now. 

So despite the way it has been done, Trump has fundamental support for calling out China. While China is trying to pay hardball by raising reciprocal tariffs on the US, this policy will hurt China more. 

China experts are speaking out on the serious economic consequence Trump's tariff policy is already having on China. While Trump's honeymoon is over, China's miracle economy looks doomed.

Here is a video providing some insight on China's economic dilemma

UK accepts only biological women are women

If anyone from any era before the 21st Century woke up in today's world to learn that it took the Supreme Court of the UK to rule on "what is a woman," they would have thought the world had gone insane. Many of us would agree with them. It shakes me to the core that this has to happen in what is otherwise a mostly rational world. I say mostly because there are other areas where common sense seems to have left our societies. 

But I digress.  For today, at least, common sense has won out. So-called 'transgender women', ie men who call themselves women, are, according to UK law, men. So this nonsense of self-identification of one's gender is legally dead in the UK.

 It will no doubt take a long time for legislation in the UK to catch up, and indeed for the gender fanatics to give up their gender zealotry, but legally, and that is significant, the battle is done in the UK. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand, etc., the battle is yet to be won. The UK decision will certainly help the fight in these countries. 

For today, we can all celebrate that the very woke UK has had its transgender activism shot down in this significant way. Given that transgender activism has been such a strong pillar of wokism, perhaps the whole agenda will collapse. 

Here is a video covering the UK Supreme Court decision.

Another mRNA vaccine halted

I am aware that we have had two vaccine articles in a row, but I feel I need to share this one. This time, it is the novel mRNA vaccine against RSV. RSV is a virus that infects millions of people worldwide. It can be mild or quite serious, especially for infants. Older adults are generally immune unless they have other serious conditions. The recent test of an mRNA vaccine against the disease has been 'paused' due to serious side effects in some 12% of test subjects. The key issue is that mRNA vaccines, though easy to manufacture, have a significant drawback. Since mRNA vaccines invoke the body's cells to manufacture the antigen, there is no control over the dose of antigen introduced. Therefore, the body can overproduce the antigen. 

Here is a video summarising the recent trial.

Flu vaccine efficacy is also negative!

The widespread scrutiny of the novel mRNA COVID vaccines has uncovered a range of problems. I have posted widely on some of the studies concluding that the vaccines should be suspended due to the risk-reward ratio for virtually all age groups, and most recently, because the use of multiple boosters causes weakness in the immune system, resulting in negative efficacy. Those receiving boosters are more likely to catch the disease. 

Most recently, the Cleveland Clinic in the US has reported on a study on the effectiveness of last year's flu vaccine. Surprise and shock, the flu vaccine also exhibited negative efficacy. Those vaccinated were more likely to catch the flu! 

Dr John Campbell has the story.

Pinocchio vs The Incredible Hulk

Image created by Flux Schnell AI image generator

In what should be like a match between The Incredible Hulk and Pinocchio after the first 3 weeks of the six-week election campaign, Pinocchio is leading in the polls. Pinocchio in this metaphor is Anthony Albanese, Australia's Labor PM, who has been leading the country for the past three years. The Incredible Hulk is Peter Dutton, leader of the coalition between Australia's Liberal (note the naming in Australia is for traditional Liberal values and equates to the Republicans in the US and Conservatives in the UK).  My metaphor is not intended to imply size, it is the difference in their case for winning the election. 

Albanese's government has failed to steer the ship of state towards prosperity. On the contrary, on virtually every measure, Albanese's Labor government has failed its duty. Focusing narrowly on just economic measures, the Australian Financial Review published a piece titled "These 12 charts show how the economy has changed under Labor".

These 12 measures show the changes in economic measures over the 3 years of the Labor term of government; - 

• Price Pain - Consumer prices increased by 11 %, causing a cost-of-living crisis 

• Interest rates have surged from 0.25% to 4% ( Mortgage interest as % of gross wages has jumped from 2.5% to 5.5%)
• Temporarily Back in Black then out, Trade surplus for 2 years, great result, but henceforth forecast deficits for a decade
• Growth Slumps Annual growth has dropped from just under 4% to just 1.3% pa

• Big Government Gets Bigger. Growth in government has exploded, with the public sector reaching a record 29% of GDP

• Job boom: Unemployment rates have fallen and remained low, but this was only possible due to the growth in non-market jobs, health education, and the public sector, supported by government spending. Market job growth has shrunk.

• Productivity Slumps. GDP per hour worked has dropped by 6%
• Purchasing power shrinks. Despite annual wage growth, the growth of 4.3% was less than inflation over the period. Australians have been in a per capita recession over the past 3 years having and are suffering a cost of living crisis.

Any objective analysis would mark these results as an F. No doubt, there are many factors that determine a person's vote. The economic results are only one of these factors, but the election campaign, so far, has not focused on these factors at all. Most people are certainly aware of the cost of living, but The Incredible Hulk has not hit out to emphasise these terrible results. As for the PM's approach, let's put it this way, his nose is growing rapidly!

Musk Unleashed

Elon Musk is well-known as the richest man in the world. He is a successful entrepreneur who has achieved his success by developing products that people want. PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and many more in the wings. He is a proven technology leader, with the genius to see what will be needed.

He was beloved of all, especially the climate-obsessed Democrats, as he made electric cars viable. But he lost favour when he purchased Twitter (renamed X) and re-established it as a free speech 'market square'. Before Musk's purchase, Twitter was a liberal platform that could and did censor right-leaning opinions. After he joined Donald Trump's team as the coordinator of DOGE, the Democrats went full-bore. Musk was made the bête noire of the democrats, decried and slandered at every opportunity. The extremists started attacking Tesla dealerships. It seems "Hell hath no fury like a Democrat scorned"!

That is by way of background. In his DOGE role Musk has taken the stage and not shied from public commentary. Given his success with technology, we would do well to listen to him.

In this short video he makes some very cogent observations on migration and free speech. Although aimed at Europe, it applies equally to other Western democracies, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

It is just 6 minutes; well worth a view.

 

Who ran the Biden presidency?

I know it is an eon ago, but are you curious about who really ran the US during Biden's presidency? After his meltdown in his presidential debate, even the Democratic leadership had to admit that Biden was not up to the job, that he was suffering from some form of dementia. Of course, this was not a surprise to anyone. He had been stumbling and mumbling over virtually his whole presidency. Hey, he had been elected despite hiding in a basement during his campaign. No doubt, many people knew he was mentally 'challenged' for years. Certainly, his wife and son would have known, and if they had been guided by what was best for the country or what was best for their father/husband's health, they should have stopped him from running. It seems personal ambition won over moral principle. Today, that is all moot, he has gone, and much of the damage he did is being redressed. Nevertheless, there is a question that many are still asking. Who is responsible for the last four years? Who were the decision makers? Does the US require legislation to prevent the power of the president being usurped? 

I am not the only one wondering about these questions. Slowly, much too slowly, leading Democrat's are 'fessing up' regarding their knowledge of Biden's mental issues. Some are also shedding light on who was running the country. Here is a discussion between Lindi Li and Dave Reuben about this question. Lindi was a Democrat insider who has lost confidence in the party, and is revealing party secrets. 

OTG WE 13 Apr 2025

Extinction extinction!

The cryptic headline actually makes sense, I think. In what is a world first, Bioscience research group Colossal Biosciences has created a litter of Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age some 12,000 years ago. Yes, and extinct species have been resurrected. This concept was explored in the Jurassic Park series of movies, so science fiction has prepared our society for what has become science fact. It is a remarkable achievement and opens new horizons. it heralds to possibility of the resurrection of other species. I am not sure if that is an idea we should pursue without extreme caution. But the more significant opportunity is to prevent the extinction of any species. We can now record the gene sequences of any species, and if required, resurrect them. 

The process is interesting, but perhaps a bit more technical than intended for my readers. But of course, there is a promotional video by the very proud team who have achieved this result.

Vaccine negative immunity

What is negative vaccine immunity? It is an increase in infection due to repeated vaccination. It is a good reason to not vaccinate. The concept of negative immunity is not a new one. It is a known response to repeated vaccination by a vaccine that has a similar effect on the immune system. Why am I raising this? There is compelling evidence that repeated COVID-19 vaccination through boosters is causing negative immunity. This is a flashing red light to STOP boosters. Unfortunately, in many countries, including Australia, health authorities continue to advocate regular boosters for almost all age groups.

Here is a video that covers the evidence for this effect featuring Dr John Campbell and Professor Robert Clancy.

Avi Yemini 1 - eSafety Commissioner 0

In a small but significant victory, Avi Yemini has forced Australia's eSafety czar to obey the law. It seems Avi picked up the eSafety commissioner's use of WhatsApp's self-destructing message feature. This is illegal as public officers must keep auditable records. Given the eSafety Czar has been acting as self-appointed censor of anti-woke activists, this is a win for Avi and more importantly for 'we the people'.

Avi's victory is but a small one in what has become an extended war. No doubt more skirmishes will follow.

Here is a concise report on the action.

Is the Tariff strategy working?

Following worldwide stock market turmoil that resulted in the destruction of hundreds of billions of dollars, we have experienced a pause. In Australia, after a fall of 4% yesterday, we have had a 2.4% recovery today. While welcome, it is not the end of our volatility. After such rapid drops, there will be aftershocks.

Has Trump done anything to mitigate his policies? There were some rumors at one stage that he was going to introduce a phase-in arrangement, allowing countries to negotiate their trade policies over 3 months before the tariffs would take effect. That would be a great idea, but it has been dismissed. Trump and his team have dug in and are willing to take the heat. At least for the time being. But some commentators are optimistic that Trump will overcome the current torrent of negativity. Many say the opposite; that Trump is like a bull in a China shop, his tariff policy is 'economic madness' and will set back the world's economy for decades. I am but an observer, and hope they are wrong. In the meantime, here is a more optimistic view.

Trump's Golden Age

With the world's stock markets plummeting, you may question the wisdom of the headline. Trump's tariff policies announced last week have opened up the floodgates. Trump argues he has only raised tariffs on trading partners to redress what he has said was unfair treatment of the USA in the past. There is a good case for this argument, and Trump has made every effort to explain it. Nevertheless, to every action there is a reaction, and markets have reacted in anticipation of trading problems. Markets have reacted somewhat predictably in their usual way, panic. Like a herd of bison, they are off and running at any such whiff of danger. Once started, they are hard to stop.

It is hard to predict what will happen. Talk of recession, even depression, is circulating, seeding panic. I tend to see this as an overreaction, but markets can be self-realising. To some extent there is mischief making, as always, with anti Trump media always ready to blame him for causing chaos. Trump, unpredictable as ever, may well take steps to stop the bleeding, but at this stage he is standing firm.

Could Trump's tariff policy have been handled without causing the severe market reaction? Most likely a phase-in period, over which countries could review their US trade policies, would have been preferable. That could have avoided today's market panic. 

While the method may not have been ideal, the foundation of the Trump policy is valid. The case for this change in tariff policy is covered well by Victor Davis Hanson in the following video.

On the Grapevine WE 6 April 25

US 2020 election remains questionable

It has been more than 4 years yet questions about the integrity of the 2020 US presidential election will not subside. In a most recent video Victor Davis Hanson (VDH)  raises more questions on the election. There is an old saying that 'the ruth will out'.  The concept is that truth will win eventually and all lies will be exposed. I am sure that is not always the case. I feel many historical truths are lost in time. But given the multitude of records created by our mass media today, the suppression of truth is becoming increasingly difficult. 

Since the election of 2020 is just over 4 years old, there are extensive records that no doubt contain the truth. We know that widespread election 'shenanigans ' was reported even before, during and after the election, and despite a concerted effort by mass media to suppress all 'election denial', many questions have remained. Too many people are scarred by public shaming and cancel culture to articulate these views, consequently the clamor, so loud four years ago, is now but a whisper. But it has not died. In the most recent video VDH raises more questions regarding the integrity of those elections. Its a short one, well worth the view.

 

Trump certainly still believes the elections were stolen, but now has his hands full trying to run the world. Perhaps later in his term, he will establish a bipartisan 'electoral' commission, headed by trusted individuals, to oversee and investigate all claims of electoral anomalies. Such a commission would go a long way to re-establish trust in US elections. 

Is there Free Speech in Australia?

Most people will think Australia, as a Western Democracy, enjoys the human rights that we assume are the hallmarks of a free democracy; freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, etc. Perhaps those who experienced the unprecedented excesses of the Pandemic lockdowns, many of us have been revising that view. Australia, even worse than many other free democracies, broke the rules. But it was only for the period that there was a perceived serious threat, at least that is the case given by those who are generous, and perhaps those who were most fearful at the time. That argument would, of course, fail under proper scrutiny, but let's put it aside. How well does Australia fare today in terms of human rights? it seems not so well. The most recent example is the way "Billboard Chris, a Canadian anti-trans activist, has been treated by Australian authorities. Billboard Chris actively protests against those pushing extreme transgenderism, the idea that one can select their gender, and then have all the rights of their selected gender as those who were biologically born with that gender. 

By way of background watch this short video to explain what Billboard Chris has done and what he now faces.

A vast majority of Australians would certainly agree with Billboard Chris's views and his right to protest against transgenderism. But it seems the authorities, in the form of the eSafety Commissioner together with local law enforcement, have been trying to prevent his protests. This is being litigated, and we don't know the outcome. Billboard Chris may win his case, but, and this is a big but, there is NO Free Speech if you have to go to court to achieve it. This is another shameful episode for Australia, and I am guessing for many supposedly free democracies that have grown their political power to impose limits on their citizens' human rights.

 

Is Australia's Electoral Commission biased?

We all know how 'clickbait' works. A catchy headline, a simple click, and there you are spending time on a topic you really were not planning. Regularly, YouTube selects videos vaguely related to my past selections. This works ok for me, as I have a broad range of interests and will select based on my mood. Why am I explaining this? I am blaming YouTube for bringing this issue to my attention. I had no idea there was any bias in the way Australia's AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) managed Australia's elections. While I  have not heard ot Topher Field, the presenter of this video, he places his arguments well. After the way our public bodies behaved during the COVID pandemic, I have lost the naive trust I once had. I am skeptical about anything the 'authorities' do, and will question everything. 

In this short video, Topher Field presents a disconcerting but credible case for the AEC applying different standards in its management of Australia's elections. The smaller weaker independents are often ruled with an iron fist, applying very strict monitoring. At the same time, the Labor party is allowed leave to 'bend' the rules.  Judge for yourself.

Halving America's annual deficit

Imagine if you could wave a magic wand and halve the government's annual deficit? Most Western governments would love to have one of those magic wands, please. In the US, Trump has created just such a magic wand in the form of DOGE. DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by genius billionaire Elon Musk, is just that magic wand. Musk has assembled an elite group of business leaders to tackle a seemingly straightforward task. Review all aspects of government operations and identify potential savings by eliminating waste and fraud. The small group have given itself an initial target of saving $1 trillion from the US government's annual $7 trillion budget, a saving of 14 %. That 1 trillion effectively halves the current $2 trillion deficit. These are enormous numbers.

So, how are they going? Incredibly well. They have identified some $200B savings to date and have only looked at Social Security and Foreign Aid. Even with Social Security, they have only scratched the surface, and then they still have all the other large departments to go, Defence, Education, Health, etc. 

The media has picked up some of the more obscene instances of waste and fraud, both in foreign Aid and Social Security. These include; -

• USAID sending $20 million to a non-profit to produce Sesame Street in Iraq
• USAID sending  $900,000 to a Gaza based 'charity' for environmental development
• USAID $1.5 million for a program to "advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities."
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government's leading disaster-relief arm, giving over $59 million to house illegal immigrants in luxury New York City hotels
• and many more...

Given the high profile given to this work Musk has fronted the media a number of times. Here is a longer video where many of the DOGE team were interviewed regarding their methods and successes.

Well worth a view. 

I believe DOGE will turn out to have been a brilliant innovation. It will be copied by many Western Democracies to try to take control of costs. 

In Australia, the Opposition leader, Peter Dutton has already appointed a DOGE shadow minister. Now all he has to do is win office.

Gaza's reporters are propagandists

For over 12 months, pro-Palestinian demonstrators have screamed through our streets demanding we all condemn those who are terrorising the innocent Palestinian civilians. Many reporters were on the scene in Gaza, providing eyewitness accounts. We listened with some skepticism as the figures did not gel with reports from Israel. The veracity of these accounts, however, has suffered a fatal blow following the recent demonstrations by Gaza's civilians against Hamas. These demonstrators had no doubt who to blame for their suffering; they blamed Hamas, not Israel. 

So, how did those on-the-scene reporters present this contradiction of their prior reporting? They simply ignored it! Yep, they failed to report it at all.  I guess that tells us what we should do with their reporting. Simply ignore it. These so-called reporters are propagandists and do not report on what is happening; they simply support Hamas. We suspected this, but now we have proof.

Here is a short video that names some of the organisations that purport to report, but only propagandize.

Hamas retaliation

If there was any doubt about Hamas' iron control over Gaza's civilians, the retaliation for the recent anti-Hamas demonstrations puts those doubts to rest. Hamas has started their retaliation having kidnapped, tortured and murdered some of the organizers of the protests. One cannot help but ask where are the pro-Palestinian demonstrators calling out Hamas for these atrocities. Where indeed.

Here is the latest on the retaliation.

Message from Crown Prince of Iran

I was surprised when I saw this video from the Crown Prince of Iran. He is the son of the late Shah of Iran and has been living in exile for 45 years. Although I have only seen the video below, he has regularly posted messages on YouTube. This is s short video that really requires no introduction. Have a look.

If only we could replace the despotic Islamist rulers of Iran with democratic leadership, the world would indeed be a safer place.

On the grapevine WE 30 Mar 25

Trump's first 2 months

Trump was inaugurated just 2 months ago. After the euphoria of his first 2 weeks, reality is now setting in. Without doubt he took the reins with gusto. He was prepared. He selected a dream team of articulate, capable and anti-woke individuals. Almost all were confirmed by the Senate. They in turn, have taken the reins of their organisations and are generally settling in well. The pace has been hectic, and we cannot expect it to continue at this pace. 

The decisions and executive orders that Trump initiated are starting to bear some fruit. Most notable is the success on the border. Border crossings are down 90%. This was achieved WITHOUT the new legislation the Democrats had been insisting would be necessary. Not a bit surprise, but worth noting.

In second place, IMHO, is the work of DOGE. Musk and his team have exposed unexpected levels of waste and fraud. Savings are already in the hundreds of billions, and are projected to reach $1 trillion pa. That is stupendous. Musk has suffered personal attacks, and his Tesla dealers are being terrorised. It seems the Democrats cannot stop digging their grave. How could any responsible citizen object to the elimination of fraud? No doubt most citizens do not. So the Democrats are picking the wrong battle, again.

There have also been some negatives. The handling of Zelensky with a public altercation in the OvalOffice was unseemly and unprofessional.Although Zelensky must accept some of the blame so must Trump and his team. JD in particular. He seems to me to lack nuance and finesse. This will become a real problem if he cannot learn, and quickly. Although a lot of commentary on the Putin Trump relationship seemed to indicate Trump has some rapport and would be able to come to an agreement relativley quickly. While Trump's claim of 24 hours for a ceasefire was always regarded as a 'rhetorical flourish', it is looking messy. Putin is toying at the moment, perhaps misreading Trump's ability to turn on a dime. we shall see soon enough. But at this stagre I expect Trump will have to force Putin to get serious, either by strengthening Zelensky via additional arms, or additional sanctions. 

On the ISrael-Hamas war, Trump has gone as well as could have been expected. Hamas is crumbling but slowly. Trump and his team are giving good support and arms shipments are flowing. 

On Iran Trump has issued an ultimatum give up your nuclear ambitions or have them destroyed. He has sgiven them 2 months. That period however is a problem, and I have read recently that Russia and China are now encouraging Iran to develop their bombs within the next 2 months. I take the report with a grain of salt as I cannot see either Russia or China wanting another nuclear state, especially an Islamist state, given the problems they have both experience with their Muslim insurrectionists. Still it is an issue.

Still on the negatives, the anti-Trump media has re-grouped and are back to their TDS. However, their supporters have diminished and many are re-structuring, and even aligning with Trump's policies. 

The Democrats are in disarray; there seems to be no clear leaders, so the extremists, AOC, Warren, and Sanders, are making hay. The only coordinated action seems to be judicial, with over a hundred legal cases against the Trump administration's decisions. Local judges have put a halt to many, and the process will now continue to the appeals court and some to the Supreme Court. This was expected and will cause some delay, but most are expected to succeed.

That brings us to the most recent fiasco, where a reporter from left-wing Atlantic was 'invited' to attend what should have been secret meetings between senior members of Trump's executive team. This has been in the papers for a week now, and should die down, but it is the first serious failure of the team. I am guessing no heads will roll this time, but hopefully, there is some investigation being done to determine why this happened, and why Walz has the Atlantic reporter's personal number??

That is my short summary. But it is much better to hear from an expert. Here is a brief one from Victor Davis Hanson.

More Gaza demonstration against Hamas

It seems the demonstrations against Hamas in Gaza are no abating. In multiple cities demonstrators are out in force decrying Hamas for starting the war against Israel AND demanding the release of the remaining hostages. If only we had the same demonstrations and slogans from the Western world. We can only speculate that the war would have been over by now.

Still better late than never! Let's see if the pro-Palestinian demonstrators will change their tune and align their slogans with that of Gaza's Palestinians, calling for Hamas to release the remaining hostages. I suspect not.

Here is another video of the demonstrations.

Here come the Robots

I am a tech freak, having been weaned on engineering and science. Living in the late 20th and early 21st century, I have had a feast of technological developments. While robotics has already transformed large-scale manufacturing across the globe, most recently, our collective focus has been taken by AI with nary a new announcement every week. Without doubt, both disciplines independently are at the very beginning of their life cycle and will transform life on earth. The greatest impact, however, will come from their integration. AI will take over the cognitive functions, and robotics will enable execution. The world of Futurama, with intelligent humanoid robots, will present humanity with the possibility of eliminating all physical labour. Imagine a world where intelligent robots can do all the work required for housing, feeding, and entertaining a populace that can spend its time on whatever it wants. This can be viewed as a dream or a nightmare. Yes technology always presents new challenges.

But let's not get bogged down in the philosophy, have a look at some of the advances in robotics presented in this video.

That, of course, presents too many social problems to cover here. 

Gazans protesting against HAMAS

It seems to have taken eons, but at last, we have demonstrations by 'innocent' Palestinian citizens against their Hamas overlords. Why should this be surprising? After all, in many Western cities, there are regular ongoing protests against Israel in support of Hamas. Yes, we have citizens of the free West protesting Israel's defensive war against a terrorist organisation that started the war and still holds hostages. Innocent civilians who happened to have attended a music festival some 18 months ago. While one can dismiss the atrocities that started the war as those of a barbaric group of Islamic terrorists, surveys of the population of Gaza just after the Oct 7 attack and even after the Israeli response including a ground invasion, and extensive bombing, the surveys showed about 80% of Gaza's population supported Hamas' atrocities. Yes, some 80%. Over the following months, Hamas' popularity dropped to about 60%, most recently to around 40%.

At last, it seems, those 60% who no longer support Hamas are now out in the streets calling for Hamas to leave. This is good news, and one could predict it to be the beginning of the end of Hamas. But let's not be overly optimistic, Hamas is still in control, and they may manage to quell this uprising. If they do, it will be brutal. We have seen their brutality in the past. But we live in hope.

The reporting of these demonstrations has been limited. I have seen it on SkyNews, X, and reported in the Australian. However, there is, at present, some reluctance in main stream, read left-leaning, media to report on this. After all, for 18 months they have been reporting extensively and enthusiastically on the demonstrations against demon Israel. So it is difficult to turn around and now report on the Gazans rejecting the very group that those demonstrations supported. 

Here is the report from SkyNews.

Lockdowns do NOT work

Though a few years have passed, the pandemic is now a somewhat remote nightmare. Most of the world has moved on. Sure, a few million people died (actually some 7 million, according to Wikipedia). Sure, the authorities made some poor decisions. Sure, vaccination would have had some side effects, including some deaths, but it is claimed they were necessary to save lives. Sure vaccine manufacturers took some shortcuts in the testing of the vaccines. Sure, the media and medical authorities stretched the truth to get us to conform to vaccination and lockdown mandates. But it is claimed this unprecedented authoritarianism was for our own good. So goes the claim. But although, as Oliver Tearle said, "A lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on", the truth does, eventually catch up.

The truth has been trickling out over the months. The truth that current COVID vaccination presents zero efficacy, that COVID vaccination has serious adverse events at a rate that makes it inadvisable for many, if not all, age groups, the truth that the lockdowns that were imposed in many Western democracies violated the human rights of the population. 

Most recently, we learned that lockdowns are NOT an effective strategy for limiting the impact of a pandemic. In fact, quite the opposite. Here is a Prager video by Dr Scott Atlas, Senior Fellow in Health Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, titled "COVID Lockdowns:The Real Cost". Well worth a view.

Much Maligned Musk manages miracle!

With US Democrats virtually losing their minds in a Musk-hate frenzy, we are unlikely to hear too much about the miraculous rescue of the marooned astronauts on the International Space Station. But miraculous it was. It elevates Musk in the eyes of anyone with a heart, but that condition may perhaps leave out many Democrats. Musk is a genius across many fields, and is widely respected across the world. Yet, in our politically polarized world when he dropped the Democrats and joined Trump's campaign the rabid Democrats have turned on him. Bogus investigations, campaigns to boycott companies advertising on Twitter, and most recently a violent campaign attacking Tesla dealerships. 

It seems 'hell hath no fury like a "Democrat" scorned!

The rescue of the marooned astronauts did make the media, yet was quickly forgotten to focus on anti-Trump propaganda. Here is a brief video from Dave Rubin.

How to handle calls to boycott Israel

Sad to say politics has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. Local councils, whose sole raison-d'etre is "rates, roads and rubbish' are invariably hijacked by activists to pass resolutions that have nothing to do with their core function. We have councils that object to Australia Day being on 26th January, to wanting to fly a Palestinian flag, to celebrate Pride Day by painting roads multi-coloured, or imposing a boycott against Israeli goods. These types of issues are political in nature and a council decision will have a miniscule, if any, real impact. Usually, the position of these activist councils runs contrary to the government of the day and does not have community support. It is as if some minority clique has managed to take control of the local council, then flexing their power to enact radical policies to 'make a statement'. 

While the examples I have given apply in Australia this issue is by no means limited to Australia. Indeed the following video shows how Rami Feinstein an Israeli citizen addressed Summit County Ohio council meeting when they were considering boycotting Israel. His response is succinct and comprehensive and serves as a template on how individuals should confront their councils when faced with political motions.