Some of the men I had the honor and privilege to serve with.
Bud Odom, my first Team Sergeant. The most knowledgeable soldier that I ever knew. Vietnam Veteran 173rd Abn. Went DELTA. When I arrived onto my first team I was in the first batch of SF qualified troops that recruited off the street and went straight through from Basic training, AIT, Jump School, and SF training. All those before had at least one tour as non SF before being accepted for SF training. Because of this there were some people above my team level that were, let me just say, not exactly happy about the change and tried to ride my ass. Bud acted as a buffer between me and them. He also made sure that I was put into positions or situations where I could prove my worth.
Jim (Sly) Sylvester. Commo man extraordinaire. Sometimes pulled from those above for temporary assignment for field testing of new CW (Continuous Wave) systems and radio wave propagation experiments. Vietnam, two tours, 75th Rangers. My best friend on my first team. Also went DELTA. Sly was one of those people that knew how to say the right thing at the right time to break the tension.
Captain Elliot Lash. Team Leader. A tour as a Marine enlisted man in Vietnam. Came back, went to college and got a commission in the Army. In Lebanon when things got hot, some US embassy brainiac wanted us to clear the parameter around the American University in Beirut. DELTA had told us there were eight different hostile Muslim Militias surrounding the University compound. This was the day after they had driven a truck by with a mortar in the bed and lobbed a few into the University compound. Captain Lash asked that bone head “Are you prepared to take responsibility for committing US troops to open combat in Lebanon? Because if my men are fired upon, and they almost certainly will be, that is exactly what is going to happen.” The embassy jerk stuttered and stammered, and said, no! Eliot died when he flew his private aircraft into some high tension lines one stormy night.
Fred Philon. Also known as “Filthy Freddy”. Two tours Vietnam SF. Team sergeant, but also demolitions man extraordinaire. Grew up setting demolitions with his father. On an MTT we were training the troops using grenades from three different countries. Some of them were duds and we had to do our own ordinance disposal. When I jumped over the sandbag barrier to help MSG Philon pulled out his command voice and said “get your ass behind that barrier Doc and get your M-5 bag ready, because your the only medic here and your responsibility is to be ready to take care of the rest of us if something happens” It was a lesson I never forgot. One has to think about their responsibility and showing that your not afraid to do what others are doing can be in certain circumstances, shirking your responsibility.
“Corky” Shelton. My last team sergeant. Master combat diver. Two tours Vietnam as SF, DSC (2nd highest medal for Valor). Did multiple LRRP missions into Cambodia and other places well behind enemy lines. Contracted a parasitic liver fluk on one of those missions. It took them 6 months at Walter Reed to figure out what it was. At Desert One and would have gone into the city to try and rescue the hostages had not the accident that occurred at the airstrip terminated the mission. The lessons in leadership I learned from him are too many to list. Corky passed away a couple years ago.
MSG Tommy Grace. NCOIC SOMED (Longest phase of the three phases of SF and other special operators medical training where I was an instructor) and my immediate boss.
Tommy was at SOMED because as a medic on a team in Honduras a Honduran soldier out in the bush had been wounded. A bunch of officers who were there to get their tickets punched wanted to go along for the ride on the Huey so the chopper was full. Tommy was seated in what we call the “hell hole’ which is a recess beside the transmission at the rear of the cargo area in a Huey. Bad weather and the chopper flew right into the side of a mountain. It hit so hard the remains of the pilots were found in front of the chopper still in their seats. The rescuers that got there that night found Tommy when he moaned when one them stepped on him. He was the only one still alive. The cushion of the bodies of the men seated forward of him is what probably saved him.
Tommy arrested three times in the ambulance that was transporting him from the hospital to the Nightingale flight to bring him back to Brook Army medical center at Ft. Sam Houston. About every bone on his left side was broken. Pneumothorax left lung from rib puncture. Pelvic girdle broken in three places. he should not have survived.
Tommy was the most knowledgeable SF medic I ever knew. He rewarded me for my hard work as an instructor by getting me sent down to the Key West to the SF combat divers school for training as a certified Dive Tech even though I had not gone to the SF divers course.
During my last APRT (Army Physical Readiness Test) in the RA Tommy had finally been cleared of all of his physical profiles and restrictions and he outran me on the two mile run.
Send to my daughter on Remembrance Day:
I went by the Field of Crosses today.
So many crosses…
So many young men’s lives sacrificed in the vanity of war.
Your great great uncle Thomas Sample, my grannie’s youngest brother, joined up at the outset in 1913, and almost made it.
He was killed six weeks before the armistice was signed in a pitched battle, along with 10 other young lieutenants , fighting over meaningless inches of ground, while the armistice was already being drafted. My dad told me that his mother cried all night long when the hard news came.
Your great uncle Donald Fraser MacRae was the only surviving officer of his unit at the disastrous Dieppe Raid in 1942.
He rescued the only surviving ten men – of the 110 enlisted men and 10 officers who hit Red Beach that day, and he was awarded the Military Cross.
In both of these actions, the senior management and the planning of the action was incredibly incompetent, and young men’s lives were wasted as if they had no value.
This is the constant that I see in war. Brave young men being sacrificed because of the stupidity of generals – that seems to be the constant reality of war.
I accept that some wars are inevitable.
I hate the stupidity and the waste.
So many crosses…
Not all generals are stupid! Gen. George Patton’s Third Army had one of the lowest casualty rates to go along with one of the highest rates of enemy prisoners captured! He was left idle when the fuel he was allotted was given to Montgomery for the Market Garden fiasco! Watch the movie “A Bridge Too Far” if you want to get an idea of how that went!
Not only was he ready to immediately turn and quickly move Third Army toward Bastogne, he had actually predicted the German counter-offensive that we call the Battle of the Bulge! If he had been listened to thousands of Allied deaths and captures could have been avoided. He may have been a real SOB, as many commentators claim, but his attributes and skills in the art of war make him one of the greatest generals in modern history!
Except Tom, the generals who worked with Trump had nothing but disdain for the man. His vile comments about the brave soldiers who fought earned nothing but contempt from them. This is what General Kelly had to say…
“What can I add that has not already been said? A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
I do think highly of Trump. I think he is the most honest man in poliics today. The most investigated man in human history, other than maybe Jesus Christ. And none of the investigations have laid a legitimate finger on him, in all these years.
Show me another politician that could stand up to such scrutiny.
And btw, Democrats, you enjoy it when the Democats use the federal government to go after Republicans like Trump, but have you noticed that the Biden Dictatorship has started going after Democrats who criticize the Biden administration or make them look bad?
The Mayor of New York City, Mayor Adams, has been complaining for months about the illegal immigrants flooding into his city, although he has refrained from directly blaming the Biden administration for the problem and just complains that he doesn’t have enough money to pay for the illegals.
Even so, he’s making Biden’s border policy look bad and now, all of a sudden, Mayor Adams is under investigation by Biden’s federal government.
The thing about dictators is, once they gain power, then, many of the people who thought they were on the inside, find out they are actually on the outside and the dictator not only won’t protect them but will prosecute them.
So be very careful about who you elect as president, Democrats. They may not be your friend for long, once they gain absolute power over your life. Then, you better toe the line, or suffer the consequences.
“And none of the investigations have laid a legitimate finger on him, in all these years.” He’s just been found guilty of fraud Tom. It is almost certainly going to cost him many millions. I’d say that’s a hand.
“Show me another politician that could stand up to such scrutiny.” Show me another politician who has done the immoral corrupt things he has done and I will.
“but have you noticed that the Biden Dictatorship has started going after Democrats who criticize the Biden administration or make them look bad?” The Adams thing just shows both sides get investigated when they break the law. That’s a good thing isn’t it. And Tom there is absolutely no evidence Biden is involved in Trumps prosecutions. Ii fact he has made an effort to stay out. He makes no comment about the cases.
I wasn’t old enough to vote for Eisenhower. I would have if I could have.
I’ll be 75 years old next month. I’ve seen it all when it comes to human-caused climate change, btw. 🙂 Human-caused Global Cooling; Human-caused Global Warming, all that BS (Bad Science).
I, of course, was talking about Donald Trump not being one to suffer fools gladly. I like that quality in him.
Trump keeps pulling farther ahead of Biden in the polls, Simon.
I’ll be surprised if Biden is the Democrat candidate in 2024. He’s going down fast physically, and his legal troubles are going to get much worse in the near future. His best bet is to retire for “health” reasons, in the hope that this will stop the Republicans investigating him. And that ploy will probably work.
If he does resign, then this will throw the presidential nomination process wide open to all aspiring Democrats, and this way Kamala can be removed from the picture without accusations of sexism or racism, since Kamala will have to compete with all the other candidates for the presidential nomination, and of course, she will lose that badly, so she’s out of the picture, and the Demcrats can breathe a sigh of relief.
So that’s how the Democrats can get a viable candidate to run against Trump, by getting Biden to resign early.
That would put Kamala in the presidency temporarily, but she won’t be running the government anyway. The same people running it now, will be running it if she moves to the White House, so there won’t be much difference in policy.
Trump keeps pulling farther ahead of Biden in the polls, Simon.
Seems to be the case.
I’ll be surprised if Biden is the Democrat candidate in 2024.
Same. Biden has to go.
“and his legal troubles are going to get much worse in the near future.” No… Joe is as straight as an arrow (compared to other politicians). If they had anything on him it would have happened by now.
Here’s my take on how things will go from here. The country is crying out for new blood. Both Trump and Biden are very unpopular at the moment. Historically so. If either party was can manage present a new candidate from here, provided they are half decent, the voting public will snap them up. Mark my words….
“To our heroic veterans, I am grateful for your service to our country and honored to wish you a Happy Veterans Day!”
“There is no greater act of selfless service than defending America’s God-given freedoms and liberty.”
The nation’s veterans “will never stop fighting for the America we cherish,” and that the “full measure of your sacrifice and your family’s dedication in support of your service may not be fully understood and appreciated, but it will never be forgotten.”
NOT some out of context garbage that slimon dredge up from some far-left sewer that he inhabits….
.. that would be the 2020 Atlantic article, written by the ultra-marxist Jeffrey Goldberg.. just the sort of lies and misinformation that slimo would go for.
Biden, of course, successfully led the US troops out of Afganistan. ! 😉
Worthless….Anyone can say words and I dare say those would have been written by a speech writer anyway. But Kelly was his military advisor. Kelly was not a never-Trumper. He was appointed by Trump. He better than anyone got a look at the guys moral fibre. And it seems there was none. In fact Kelly also said… “The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,” That’s a bit negative about his character don’t you think?
“ He was “by far the dumbest” among his military advisors.
He was incapable of doing a good job, it was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog.’ He had no heart or respect for people.”
The poor little incompetent ….. his comments mean NOTHING.
Simon, do you really think Trump is dumb enough to say in the presence of a military general that he effectively hates the U.S. military and those who serve in it?
I think it is much more likely that General Kelly is lying about it.
Your view of Trump is so skewed you’ll believe anything bad said about him.
“Simon, do you really think Trump is dumb enough to say in the presence of a military general that he effectively hates the U.S. military and those who serve in it? I think it is much more likely that General Kelly is lying about it. Your view of Trump is so skewed you’ll believe anything bad said about him.”
Well knowing what we know about his feelings about the military
“What he said about McCain not being a hero because he was captured.”
That wasn’t a comment about the U.S. military, that was a comment about John McCain.
“Dodged the draft how many times?”
I think he got a legitimate waiver, like thosands of other people did.
You know, I went to Vietnam in May of 1968 (voluteered) and spent 19 months there, and after seeing the situation, that American politicians would not let us finish off the North Vietnamese, I went home and told my brother, who was still in high school at the time to do anyhing he could to avoid going to Vietnam because the politicians were not serious about prosecuting the war and you would get yourself killed for nothing.
Joe Biden had a part in not prosecuting the war seriously. He and his fellow leftwing appeasers did everything they could to hamper the prosecution of the war, and ended up cutting South Vietnam’s defense funding to the point of crippling the South Vietnamese military and ultimately causing the defeat of the South Vietnames army.
If Joe Biden is involved in a war, you don’t want any part of it because he is going to screw everything up bigtime. He did it in South Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The man is totally incompetent when it comes to defending the nation. He is the last person in the world who should be presiding over our current situation.
Trump, on the other hand, is just the person we need to bolster our national defense. The dictators of the world are scared of Trump. That’s a very good thing.
Your article was written in 2020. All the stuff quoted by Kelly came out after. Like they say, you can only con people for so long before you get caught. You should know that….
Atlantic still has you CONNED every article they write.. because you are a died-in the wool Trump deranged zealot marxist, who only believes what you want to believe.
“Kelly is obviously a partisan hack” Obviously. Aren’t they all by default when they criticise Trump. I mean as far as Trump and his Trumpkins are concerned, they are either on his team, or partisan hacks it seems. Crazy how many partisan hacks have worked for him and now have no respect for him whats so ever. The list is amazingly long…. Rex Tillerson. Cohen. Kelly. Barr….. on and on it goes.
Trump didn’t know anyone in Washington DC when he became president so he had to rely on recommendations from people he trusted to fill administration positions.
For example, Chris Chisty got Trump to appoint the currect corrupt FBI Director to office. Trump didn’t know he was corrupt at the time of appointment. That was discovered subsequently.
Trump’s way of dealing with not knowing the capabilites of those he hired was to fire them as soon as he saw they were not getting the job done and replacing them with someone who might get the job done. Sometimes he had to fire them, too, after they failed the test.
So Trump made a lot of enemies in Washington DC, and some of those are vidictive people or political people and use their positions to smear Trump.
If you don’t hear it from Trump’s mouth, then don’t believe it because there are many people out there who would just love to distort what he says so they can make him look like Hitler.
“Trump didn’t know anyone in Washington DC when he became president so he had to rely on recommendations from people he trusted to fill administration positions.” So are you saying Trump does not have good people he can trust?
So Trump made a lot of enemies in Washington DC, and some of those are vidictive people or political people and use their positions to smear Trump.
Ask yourself this Tom… why is it Trump has fallen out with so many people/advisors? And you can’t deny there is most definitely a pattern here. Trump appoints people. People work with him. People don’t like what they are seeing. They say so. Trump fires them. That has happened to Trump more than any other president….. Why? Either they are all wrong, or he is the leader they describe….chaotic, impulsive, dishonest, egotistical, clueless, vindictive, self centred, self serving, ill informed. I mean other than that, I’m sure he is fine.
They are by fault whenever they get political outside of the preview of defense and military matters while serving. Know that concept and the reason for it is alien to you.
The Mad Mullahs of Iran have attacked American troops in the Middle East 48 times since October 17, and the Biden administration didn’t even respond until 40 attacks had been done.
Then, the response was to bomb two unoccupied store houses, and an attack today supposedly killed a few of the Mad Mullahs terrorists.
These weak responses will only embolden the Mad Mullahs and American troops will still be in danger because the Mad Mullahs are not yet afraid of the Biden administration.
And the Biden administration is trying with all their might to ignore the Mad Mullahs invovlement, letting them slide, with no consequences, and all this does is make it more likely that the Mad Mullahs are going to end up killing American troops.
Biden’s appeasement efforts are going to end badly. He’s not thinking about protecting American troops, he’s thinking about protecting Obama’s nuclear arms deal with the Mad Mullahs. He does’t want to jeopardize the agreement, so he leaves American troops in danger.
Joe Biden is the worst person in the world to be presiding over all this. He’s a runner, not a fighter. And he puts American troops in jeopardy as a result.
Trump has it so veterans who couldn’t get an appointment at the VA hospitals within 30 days, were allowed to go to private health care providers for the care, and the VA paid for it.
Trump said people had been trying to get this policy made official for 40 years, and couldn’t do it, but Trump came along and got it done.
Before the war FDR pulled the mail contracts from all the airlines because of petty spite. He claimed it was because they were colluding to overcharge the government, but it really was about politics. He then ordered the Army Air Corp to take over even though they were not equipped or trained to do so. Both Charles Lindbergh and Eddie Rickenbacker told him that it would not work and Army pilots would die unnecessarily. One of them, I think it was Lindbergh called it “murder”!
It was evident right off the bat Lindbergh and Rickenbacker and others that had warned of the catastrophe to come were correct but FDR would not budge and when he finally had to he ordered that no mail contracts would be let to Airlines that retained the CEO that was in charge when he pulled the contracts.
Seems he was very highly regarded as a president so I’d say for sure he was a man of honor. CSpan ranks him 3rd of all time (Behind Lincoln and George Washington). I did some research on him and he got the US through the depression and the dustbowl. Seems he increased taxes on the rich and shared the takings throughout the country to help those who were starving. Good man alright.
Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before, during and after his presidential terms and continuing today, there has been criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945). His critics have questioned not only his policies and positions, but also accused him of trying to centralize power in his own hands by controlling both the government and the Democratic Party. Many denounced his breaking of a long-standing tradition by running for a third term in 1940.[1]
By the middle of his second term, much criticism of Roosevelt centered on fears that he was heading toward a dictatorship by attempting to seize control of the Supreme Court in the court-packing incident of 1937, attempting to eliminate dissent within the Democratic Party in the South during the 1938 mid-term elections and by breaking the tradition established by George Washington of not seeking a third term when he again ran for re-election in 1940. As two historians explain: “In 1940, with the two-term issue as a weapon, anti-New Dealers […] argued that the time had come to disarm the ‘dictator’ and to dismantle the machinery.”
FDR was highly regarded – by idiots, Fascists, and Communists. He lengthened the Great Depression with heavy regulation. Those taxes did not help either.
“I don’t have any faith in what Trump’s enemies say about Trump.” So you only believe what Trump and his supporters say? Can I politely say that is not a recipe for finding truth about anyone. The problem with that is when anyone says anything bad about Trump they automatically become his enemy. That’s what he does. He belittles those who disparage him….McCain, Barr, Tillerson, Kelly, Bolton, Cohen, Hutchinson Let’s flip that….using that philosophy anyone can deny anything ever said about anyone. I’m not going to believe Hitler was a bad guy coz it was his enemies who only said bad things….
The reason I don’t believe the bad things the radical left says about Trump is because I hear what Trump says, and then I see the interpretation of his words given by the radical leftists, and they don’t match.
The radical left distorts everything Trumps says. So the only way you will find out what Trump actually said and meant is to hear it directly from him. When you do hear it directly from him, you realize the radical leftists are lying about it.
Remarks made days after former chief of staff confirmed reports about Trump’s derogatory attitude to members of US military
Martin Pengelly in Washington
Thu 5 Oct 2023 10.18 EDT
Last modified on Thu 5 Oct 2023 11.22 EDT
“Donald Trump called his former chief of staff John Kelly a “lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth” after the former marine general confirmed reports about the ex-president’s derogatory attitude to members of the US armed forces.
In posts to his Truth Social platform, days after Kelly spoke to CNN, Trump said his former aide was “by far the dumbest of my military people … incapable of doing a good job” as chief of staff or, before that, homeland security secretary.
“It was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog’,” wrote the former president, who made his name as a reality TV host with the catchphrase “you’re fired” – but who has been widely reported to be averse to confrontation when it comes to letting people go.
Kelly left the Trump administration in December 2018. After that, he was widely believed to be a source for stories in reports and books detailing Trump’s dismissive attitude to wounded and dead soldiers and their families.”
end except
Kelly is a disguntled former employee.
I find it very hard to believe that Trump would say derogatory things about U.S. troops right in front of a military general, even if he thought such things.
I think Kelly is lying in an effort to harm Trump.
“I think Kelly is lying in an effort to harm Trump.” Why would he do that? And if he is, he joins a very long list (see above) of people want to harm him. That’s not good for a stable government… having a guy in charge hall regularly falls out with his top advisors.
Watch the movie “A Bridge Too Far” is you want to see a lot of working Shermans together at the same time.
As a history lesson it is like watching a MCU movie.
Remember kids, in another universe there are scores of armchair historians filling internet forums on the grand mistake of the Allies not deploying the airborne army to outflank the Germans via Holland.
The concept of Market Garden was not a bad one, but Monty certainly wasn’t the general that could execute such an operation. However it should probably not have been carried out at all and Patton certainly should have never been halted until he had taken Metz, before logistical priorities shifted to Monty.
There were three major war changing Allied intelligence failures from D-day on.
Failure to identify flooded areas and the Bocage country behind the D-day beaches.
Failure to recognize that many of the German Army units that had been chewed up in Normandy were being reorganized, rearmed, and reconstituted right in the area of the Market Garden objectives.
And of course the failure to identify the build up for Hitler’s “Watch on the Rhine”.
4. Failure to cover the Ardennes properly, despite the Germans having used it to attack into France in 1940.
5. Failure to free up many of the divisions that Monty needed to successfully achieve Market Garden, instead keeping them in minor ‘mopping up’ actions elsewhere in theatre.
6. Failure to keep pressure on the Germans following Goodwood and Cobra. There was a relaxed attitude from the very top down that there was no need to rush or push very hard, that more lives would be saved by ‘taking the foot off the gas’.
There are a lot more, all or most of the 20/20 hindsight variety.
The bigger problem is that when they went for the Rhine bridge at Arnhem, they neglected their logistics base. The priority should have been securing their logistics base by clearing the Scheldt estuary and getting the port of Antwerp into operation. Instead, the Allies shot for the moon at Arnhem, then spent all winter schlepping fuel, ammo, and other supplies across the beaches at Normandy, while the troops at the front had to make do with less and great stockpiles remained in England.
They are special people. They stand between us and the tyrants of the world.
strativarius
November 12, 2023 2:47 am
“”The world is burning, an observation that should generate ringing calls for action at the forthcoming Cop28 climate change conference, which begins this month in the United Arab Emirates. This is virtually the last chance humanity has to mend its ways
…
Britain was once an influential player at Cop conferences but has since seen its authority decline precipitously – first through Brexit, which meant we no longer led EU delegations, and later through our backtracking on development assistance pledges for developing countries. Worse has followed.
The Earth is still in a 2.58-million-year ice age named the Quaternary Glaciation. The Earth is in a warmer, but still cold, interglacial period that happens about every 100,000 years and lasts about 10,000 years which alternates with a very cold glacial period that lasts about 90,000 years. The Earth still has around 200,000 glaciers and 11 percent of the land is permafrost. The ice age the Earth is in won’t end and the climate won’t officially change until all the natural ice melts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_glaciation
This recent study shows that the cold weather we have every year causes about 4.6 million deaths a year globally mainly through increased strokes and heart attacks, compared with about 500,000 deaths a year from hot weather. We can’t easily protect our lungs from the cold air in the winter and that causes our blood vessels to constrict causing blood pressure to increase leading to heart attacks and strokes.
‘Global, regional and national burden of mortality associated with nonoptimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study’ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00081-4/fulltext
—————————————————————————————-
This study from 2015 says that cold weather kills 20 times as many people as hot weather and that moderately warm or cool weather kills far more people than extreme weather. Increased strokes and heart attacks from cool weather are the main causes of weather-related deaths.
‘Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multi-country observational study’ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62114-0/fulltext
The “climate scientists had “climate” redefined so now “climate” is only 30 years, it’s basically medium-term weather. With such a short time period it is changing all of the time. I guess that helps with the marketing of the “climate change” scare.
What is the point of trying to keep the Earth cold when so many millions of people are dying from the cold every year?
Yeah, so? You have thrown up these blindingly obvious facts on about 5, maybe 6, threads now and yet that is all they remain. You state a couple of facts and then shut up – no discussion of implications, no conclusions or points made, no projections, predictions or suggestions even, nothing. What is the point in doing that? Tell me what these points are doing here, show me the relevance and context and I’ll be interested – cos at the moment I’m just sliding right along, nothing to see, next comment please.
The Earth is in a cold ice age with 4 million more people dying from the cold every year than from heat, and people are posting that the Earth is burning. It obviously is not burning it is very cold. People have to live in warmed houses, use warmed transportation, and work in warmed factories and office buildings outside of the tropics because it is so cold.
Now you’re talking. Probably worth mentioning that renewables cannot deliver the reliable, affordable energy that will keep people alive outside of the tropics. See that’s all I was after.
Maybe ‘blindingly obvious’ to those of us with a modicum of intellectual curiosity, but probably completely unknown to many who have been indoctrinated into the world of climate alarmism.
Of equal importance, these facts are the answer to questions that our so-called conservative leaders should be demanding that the Left answer.
No – I get it, I was thinking the same thing a couple of days ago; it would make people (a little) more accountable and might stop the random, drive-by downvoting that we’ve seen occasionally.
I think I got it to zero a couple of hours ago. I think there are some people on this site that only read part of a comment, dont ‘get’ sarcasm or satire and don’t realise that you can change your vote from negative, to zero, then positive; and the reverse of course.
Not exploring for those resources would be extremely irresponsible. Doesn’t necessarily mean Sunak is a wise politician – just that he’s not extremely irresponsible.
Oh I don’t know, if he was a wee bit more responsible he might not have done such a half-assed job of pushing back on net zero just to try to get some votes for the election.
We can agree the conservatives are tanking, not sure why everyone is down on Sunak.
Maybe he genuinely believes there is no climate crisis and that Britains green energy policies are nonsense and now that internal sanctions are starting to bite and people are getting afraid and angry he’s using that cover to start making moves toward sanity?
Moves he could not make in the past?
Maybe he said all the right words in the past because he needed to but circumstances change?
What is the option, Labour? Who are 100% in the tank for green insanity?
As another norteamericano with no vote in the matter, I tend to agree, Pat. It’s an optimistic outlook you show and we probably need to try to fight the urge to abject pessimism and despair regardless of how objectively warranted that appears.
Asking strativarius and Richard to vote for the ‘Conservatives’ despite their being anything but, might however be like suggesting that they choose the guillotine over burning at the stake. A very marginally better outcome.
I voted Conservative for the first time when David Cameron was quoted as have been caught saying “We need to get rid of this green crap.”
However, I suspect his wife laid the smackdown on that one.
BoJo and partner were worse.
But if Sunak is willing to start taking a few baby steps towards reversing out of the situation UK politicians have put us in I’m willing to praise him for doing so.
What we really need are some politicians brave enough and smart enough to go all in. I suspect they might be pleasantly surprised at the votes they could get by pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
Strat mentioned Sunak was a banker; he’s completely on board with the financial sectors’ adoption of ESG and climate crisis management – all he’s done is a tiny sop towards the conservative voters that want ULEZ and Net Zero stopped. Just enough to make it look like he’s stopping it but not enough to actually do anything about it – if he had wanted to do something about Net Zero targets, he’s had ample opportunity to cancel the plans outright, not just delay them by a few years. It’ll take more than an empty gesture to make me think he’s returning to sanity, I’m afraid.
observa
November 12, 2023 3:51 am
Over 3 out of 5 Australians refused to give them their apartheid Voice referendum so they want to take away free voices- ‘An entirely horrible idea’: Government to crack down on misinformation online (msn.com)
You either have free speech or you don’t and there’s no in between with a sticks and stones attitude. Americans are fortunate their forebears gave them freedom of speech in a Bill of Rights because all we would get nowadays masquerading as one is a stinking leftist Bill of Wrongs.
The “Voice referendum” thing isn’t in the America media, so far as I can tell. Not sure what that’s all about. I tried googling it- still found little.
Every month in 2022 and through October 2023 gives a value greater than the corresponding month in 2011.
I have updated this plot to highlight October in bold dashed magenta. All months are plotted as a Lowess smoothed curve; October values for each year beginning in 1979 are also shown as individual points.
Why show it this way? Arctic sea ice volume began leveling out over ten years ago, according to these estimates.
“Climate change causing Arctic to expand, Seals and Polar Bears unable to eat, it’s a catastrophe! We must stop burning fossil fuels, think of those cute poley bear cubs!” sarc (may not have needed it here but best to make sure).
Ice covered areas are often capped by a temperature inversion and hence a very stable stratification, which suppresses vertical mixing and causes temperature changes at the surface not to be propagated aloft, which is a positive local feedback. The inversion strength can be described by the difference in potential temperature between the 700-hPa level and the surface. Revealing more open ocean liquid, as ice recedes, leads to a more-negative, and thus stabilizing lapse-rate feedback. This is far more powerful than the supposed “positive” destabilizing albedo effect often cited for the pole. Exposing more open water at the pole has a stabilizing effect on temperature by increasing vertical mixing. This is one of the primary mechanisms which prevents a runaway warming or cooling effect of the planet.
“Estimates of the cost of the power are speculative and vary widely, and the initial rates could be high — as much as $133 per megawatt hour, according to a federal analysis, compared to $34 for land-based wind.”
Coal costs about $20-35 per MWh at existing plants.
“After the gold was gone, it was replaced with timber, “red gold.” The region’s massive redwoods made many locals rich; when the forests were clear cut, the pulp mills came. They, too, went bust.”
The timber potential in CA, and OR, and WA is still vast- if the f*****g idiots out there let it happen. Sure, they clearcut the redwoods- but, that species grows super fast. On some giant redwood stumps are found “suckers” that are 8′ in diameter. The climate clowns simply want to lock up all the forests.
“The depth, distance from shore and new floating technology drive up the costs and complicate an already expansive process. Massive infusions of private and public money will be needed.”
But… but… green energy is suppossed to be super cheap, almost free! /sarc
This “cheap” claim is an example of telling truth but not “the whole truth nor only the truth.” Once the equipment is installed and substations and transmission lines are complete, and you ignore depreciation, O&M, and guaranteed return on capital for wind farms owned by a regulated utility, then the marginal cost of letting the blades spin is zero when the wind is actually blowing.
It is ‘free’ in the same sense that well water is free. You don’t have to pay for the water, just the hole to be drilled, the pump to bring it to the surface, and the electricity to run the pump.
Yes it’s always puzzled me that self-identifying “environmental crusaders” (Sierra Club, GreenPeace, WWF, etc, etc) want to plonk environmentally-destructive contraptions such as wind turbines in pristine natural locations.
I mean. rooftop solar panels aren’t invading natural landscapes, since they’re plonked on top of already-built structures.
But wind farms towers and their transmissions lines require destruction of vast areas of forests, fields, and now seascapes.
Yet again, God reveal themselves..
As per I’m listening to mind-numbing dance music on Twitch.
Today and for whatever reason, a DJ has been installed in a corn/stubble field.
as per screenshot here
(The DJ here is playing some very chilled stuff today)
Who is NOT going to venture that that stuff is going to make ‘Biofuel’ or ‘Biomass’
I explained previously, overhead transmission lines attract lightning and when the line tries to protect itself, behaves exactly like dozens of overpowered electric arc welders, dispersed over a very wide area – each making masses or white hot sparks of molten metal.
(= why arc welders ‘do your eyes in‘ and burn you without even touching them.. There are ‘particles’ in electric arcs at temperatures in excess of 50,000Kelvin. Make that = 56 nanometres or one fifth the wavelength of UVC)
If those power lines were carrying DC, any given amount of ‘conductor’ could carry at least 5 times the power of an AC line, over any distance you like and could be buried = well out the way of any lightning.
another pic from a different angle.
I called it ‘It gets worse cornfield’
It is at a guess been part Barley and part Corn – hence the bales.
The baled straw has got to be for livestock-bedding implying that the corn in the other picture will be for ‘Maize Silage’ = winter fodder for dairy cows
Not Biomass.
But look at it, they planted a steel pylon on top of a hill.
In a corn field.
suicidal madness
But when ‘it all goes up‘ – it’ll be everybody else’s fault due to their (not mine) their emissions
Did anyone see the news from Kolkata = how the city has had to be closed down due to intense Smog.
They are planning on doing some cloud seeding (today I think) to clear it
of course, Climate is the villain.
While if you look far/hard enough, the fortnight we are now in is the peak time when farmers all around that part the world burn the stubble of their rice fields so as to clear the ground for crops of winter wheat.
The signs of major financial troubles for the offshore wind industry have been visible, to discerning eyes, for several years.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and US East Coast in 2018/2019, before inflation and high interest rates, obtained financing, components and specialized ships at low costs, to achieve production prices of about 16 c/kWh, before subsidies, about 8 c/kWh, after subsidies.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in 2019/2020 saw only minor changes in market costs, and were able to bid similar pricing. Two years of those 8 c/kWh electricity costs became embedded in the public mind.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in 2020/2021 saw significant changes in market costs, especially regarding the availability and leasing cost of specialized ships.
Companies took projects at smaller project margins, to maintain market share.
The changes in market prices became untenable in 2021/2022, because of high inflation, high interest rates and complete lack of timely availability of specialized ships.
Stocks of major companies, such as Oersted, a Danish Company, and Siemens, a German company, peaked at end 2021; the smart money was getting out. See below images
Siemens is seeking 15 billion euros in loan guarantees from the government to finance existing projects, because banks would not loan risky money, except at very high interest rates
The German government agreed to assume liability for 80% of an initial 10 billion euro funding tranche, while banks would be liable for the remaining 20%, WirtschaftsWoche said.
As a result, the offshore wind production prices had become about 34 c/kWh, before subsidies, about 17 c/kWh, after subsidies, as shown below.
Those electricity production costs will not be significantly decreasing for some years.
NOTE: As part of cost cutting, Siemens announced the cancellation of the proposed $200 million factory to make 300-ft fiberglas rotor blades, at the Port of Virginia, in Portsmouth.
Worldwide Offshore Wind Capacity Placed on Operation
– During 2018/2019, the industry received record orders, which were placed in operation in 2021
Company stock prices were high
During 2021, worldwide offshore wind capacity placed in operation was 17,398 MW, of which China 13,790 MW, and the rest of the world 3,608 MW, of which UK 1,855 MW; Vietnam 643 MW; Denmark 604 MW; Netherlands 402 MW; Taiwan 109 MW
Of the 17,398 MW, just 57.1 MW was floating, about 1/3%
At end 2021, 50,623 MW was in operation, of which just 123.4 MW was floating, about 1/4% https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-report-2022-edition
IMO one of the biggest problems with wind (much more so than solar) is the fact that wind farms have to be built so far from the rest of the grid. If they are on land, no one wants to be anywhere near them (for obvious reasons), and if at sea, no one wants to have them so close to the shore that they would despoil beaches.
Ever since there has been electric distribution, power plants have always been built close to population centers where their power can be easily distributed. Granted, most people don’t want a power plant (any kind, but especially nukes) in their back yard, but people have been living near power plants for a long time. Coal plants weren’t nice to live near before they cleaned up the actual pollution emanating from them.
But the point is, wind installations are, by necessity, so far away from where the power needs to be. This would be like putting the outhouse a half a mile away from one’s house (back when people didn’t have indoor plumbing) and not within easy walking distance! It kind of defeats the purpose of having it…..same thing with wind power. And no, the answer isn’t putting these windmills in populated areas (assuming that could easily be done without years of legal battles) – the answer is not using them!
Offshore Wind Capacity Placed on Operation in 2021
World: During 2021, worldwide offshore wind capacity placed in operation was 17,398 MW, of which China 13,790 MW, and the rest of the world 3,608 MW, of which UK 1,855 MW; Vietnam 643 MW; Denmark 604 MW; Netherlands 402 MW; Taiwan 109 MW Of the 17,398 MW, just 57.1 MW was floating, about 1/3%
At end of 2021, 50,623 MW was in operation, of which just 123.4 MW was floating, about 1/4% https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-report-2022-edition
Despite the meager floating offshore MW in the world, pro-wind politicians, bureaucrats, etc., aided and abetted by the lapdog Media, in the impoverished State of Maine, continue to fantasize about building 3,000 MW of 850-ft-tall floating offshore wind turbines by 2040!!
Maine government bureaucrats, etc., in a world of their own climate-fighting fantasies, want to have about 3,000 MW of floating wind turbinesby 2040; a most expensive, totally unrealistic goal, that would further impoverish the already-poor State of Maine for many decades.
Those bureaucrats, etc., would help fatten the lucrative, 20-y, tax-shelters of mostly out-of-state, multi-millionaire, wind-subsidy chasers, who likely have minimal regard for:
1) Impacts on the environment and the fishing and tourist industries of Maine, and
2) Already-overstressed, over-taxed, over-regulated Maine ratepayers and taxpayers, who are trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real-growth economy.
Those fishery-destroying, 850-ft-tall floaters, with 24/7 strobe lights, visible 30 miles from any shore, would cost at least $7,500/ installed kW, or at least $22.5 billion, if built in 2023 (more after 2023)
The Maine woke bureaucrats are falling over each other to prove their “greenness”, offering $millions of this and that for free, but all their primping and preening efforts has resulted in no floating offshore bids from foreign developers
The Maine people have much greater burdens to look forward to for the next 20 years, courtesy of the Governor Mills incompetent, woke bureaucracy that has infested the state government
The Maine people need to finally wake up, and put an end to all the climate scare-mongering, which aims to subjugate and further impoverish them, by voting the entire Democrat woke cabal out and replace it with rational Republicans in 2024
The present course leads to financial disaster for the impoverished State of Maine and its people.
The purposely-kept-ignorant Maine people do not deserve such maltreatment
NOTE: The above prices compare with the average New England wholesale price of about 5 c/kWh, during the 2009 – 2022 period, 13 years, courtesy of:
Natural gas-fueled CCGT plants, with low-cost, low-CO2, very-low particulate/kWh
Nuclear plants, with low-cost, near-zero CO2, zero particulate/kWh
Hydro plants, with low-cost, near-zero-CO2, zero particulate/kWh
NOTE: Equinor, a Norwegian company, just put in operation 11 Hywind, floating offshore wind turbines, each 8 MW, for a total of 88 MW, in the North Sea.
They will provide about 35% of the electricity used by 2 Norwegian oil rigs.
The existing diesel and gas-turbine generators on the rigs, provide the other 65%.
They will counteract the up/down output of the wind turbines, and provide almost all the electricity during low-wind periods, and during high-wind periods, when rotors are stopped and locked.
The capital cost of the entire set-up is known to Equinor and the Owners of the oil rigs, but that info is carefully hidden from the public.
The production cost likely will be greater than 46 c/kWh, without subsidies, more than
23 c/kWh, with subsidies
If such units were used in Maine, a high voltage cable would be hanging from each unit, until it reaches bottom, say about 500 to 1000 feet.
The cable would need some type of support system
Then the cable would run horizontal to shore for at least 25 to 30 miles
Rich Norway can afford to dabble in such expensive follies, but impoverished Maine would buckle under such a heavy burden
“It would have created more than 310 jobs in the US.”. Those jobs would have killed off two or three times as many other jobs. Best if they stay elsewhere. Energy has a simple rule: The less people it takes to generate and deliver energy, the more jobs it creates.
These subsidized wind jobs would not even exist without the subsidies.
Boosting industries that produce expensive products, even after huge subsidies, is an insidious wealth destroyer.
The US and EU are using the Paris Agreement as a club to hit countries to get them with their RE program, aimed to perpetuate/preserve the West’s dominance
BRISC + whatever number will be a huge threat to that dominance
on page 3: “The average annual temperature in Massachusetts has risen more than 3°F since the late 1800s, with temperatures rising in all seasons.2, 3 Historical records show that warming has accelerated in recent decades2 (Figure 1).”
It shows a chart which is too small for anyone to understand. I’ve attached it. The description says it comes from NOAA. It’s probably been shown/discussed here. I don’t know enough about researching this kind of info.
So this is all crazy, right? Of course the temperature isn’t going to go up 5.9-7.9 F by 2050. And I doubt the temperature here has gone up 3 deg F since the late 1800s. I guess I can try to search NOAA. Maybe somebody here can assist in this- as I battle the state of Wokeachusetts, pretty much alone, as I’m not aware of ANYBODY in this f******g lunatic state doing so.
I doubt that even CA or NY is this f******g crazy. That’s why I keep saying Wokeachusetts is the Mecca, the Holy Land, of climate lunacy.
The late 1800s was the end of the Little Ice Age, so it was still pretty cold. It still is too cold to live outside of the tropics without lots of technology.
Dam cold today here in north central Wokeachusetts- 38 F. Tonight is suppossed to drop to 17 F and it’s not even mid November. Meanwhile, my idiotic state government is screaming that the world is burning up – gone up several degrees already and several more by 2050. They should be put into straight jackets in a rubber room.
I feel for you….I live in Maryland. Our current governor (as one of the first things he did upon coming into office) signed legislation to ban gas powered cars from being sold in 2035. Montgomery county (luckily I don’t live there) recently decided to ban new gas hookups and to ban gasoline powered lawn equipment (without any “grandfathering”….people are just expected to stop using gas leaf blowers, weed trimmers, etc) in this coming year.
And not a single peep from the press! I swear, it really seems like most people behave like sheep headed to slaughter. They make not a sound in protest and march right into oblivion!
I really don’t know what the answer is, especially when you are surrounded by dumb sheep….
As for me, if I’m still living in Maryland 11 years from now and I want to buy a new car (unlikely, but let’s just say) I’ll go to West Virginia and purchase one. Even if I have to register it there using a P.O. Box.
The way things are going in this country I really do believe that sometimes the only thing that will work to stop this kind of madness is resistance. Hopefully the resistance of a few will spawn more and more resistance.
Allan MacRae
November 12, 2023 7:39 am
Saturday, October 28, 2023 Subject: KINDLE HAS JUST RELEASED THE THIRD BOOK IN MY “CULL TRILOGY” Hon. Danielle Smith Premier of Alberta premier@gov.ab.ca Copied to: Canadian and USA (“mostly bought”) media and politicians
Subject:KINDLE HAS JUST RELEASED THE THIRD BOOK IN MY “CULL TRILOGY” THE CORRUPTION OF OUR INSTITUTIONS – THE NEW DARK AGE Book 3 of the “Cull Trilogy” https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CLVVW54G
Following are the first two Chapters in my third book of my “Cull Trilogy”, just released by Kindle/Amazon.
The same story is true in the USA and all the Western world.
Note the dates of events – pre-Covid.
These two articles by Robert McCarter and me describe events that PREDATE the false Covid-19 scamdemic, and are proof of the intent of criminal governments worldwide to run a scam on us – to lock down and destroy our economies and force us to take the toxic Covid-19 “vaccines”.
It was obvious to me and a few others that Covid-19 was NOT more dangerous than other seasonal flu’s – I knew that fact in Feb2020 and published on 21Mar2020, advising then to ONLY protect the very elderly and infirm. Six months later world experts published the identical recommendations in their Great Barrington Declaration – 100% correct!
I wrote our governments on 8Jan2021 to NOT deploy the Covid-19 “vaccines”, based on their high-risk/low reward profile – again 100% correct!
Since the Covid-19 illness was typically only fatal to the very elderly and infirm, there was NO justification for a high-risk/low-reward injection.
This correct advice was given BEFORE we learned that the Covid-19 “vaccines’ were toxic and ineffective.
The global death toll from these Covid-19 “vaccines” now totals ~18 million in the Western world, and ~~36 million globally, increasing by ~1 million per month. (My calculations – see also Denis Rancourt).
In the USA and Canada, the Covid-19 “vaccines” have killed more people than we lost in World War 1 AND World War 2. Our criminal governments are still pushing these toxic Covid-19 “vaccines” and are still banning the use of the potent anti-viral Ivermectin. NOT an accident – this was mass murder.
These two articles are proof of criminal intent by government officials worldwide to defraud and to murder the public. There is no other interpretation that fits the facts.
Regards, Allan MacRae, Calgary
____________________
THE LIBERALS’ COVERT GREEN PLAN FOR CANADA – POVERTY AND DICTATORSHIP by Allan M.R. MacRae, 1Oct2019 https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/01/the-liberals-covert-green-plan-for-canada-poverty-and-dictatorship/ Introduction to the article: I thoroughly checked the credibility of my source for this article and he is rock solid. I learned of this story in August2019 and worked with the former editor of the Financial Post, where I have published since 2002, to have it published in Canada before the federal election. After several weeks of edits, the new FP Editor rejected it, so I published online. _____________________
THE GREAT RESET: PLANNING THE THEFT OF CANADA? What we now know as “The Great Reset” has been in the works for a while, I first learned of the Great Reset for Canada back in August 2019 when […] By Robert McCarter, October 2, 2022 Reprinted by permission of the author from https://fcpp.org/2022/10/02/the-great-reset-planning-the-theft-of-canada/ Introduction to the article: My source for my previous Chapter, “The Liberals’ Covert Green Plan For Canada – Poverty And Dictatorship”, wrote the following in 2002. He is highly credible, as attested by several of our mutual friends. I have come to know him well, and I trust him completely. _____________________
THE CULL TRILOGY – by Allan Malcolm MacRae MURDER OF MULTITUDES Covid & Climate Chronicles – The Big Cull Book 1 of the “Cull Trilogy”. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHR2Z38J THE CLIMATE SCAM: Fifty Years of False Fears Book 2 of the “Cull Trilogy” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK1ZZY7T THE CORRUPTION OF OUR INSTITUTIONS – The New Dark Age Book 3 of the “Cull Trilogy” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLVVW54G
________________________________
I saw an article that stated the Panama Canal has now water and the very next phrase was “because of climate change.” No supporting evidence, no supporting details as to why or the reason it was stated as a fact. Nothing. The MS press now claim events are caused by climate change and because they say it, it is so. What rubbish.
I wonder how much of the shortage is due to natural climate variability and how much might be due to canal expansion net of any increase in water storage capacity.
Ocean waters off California’s coast will host a massive experiment: Floating platforms with giant turbines and spinning rotors will capture the Pacific Ocean’s prodigious wind energy. Large expanses of ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Humboldt County and Morro Bay have been leased to five energy companies.
Never before have wind platforms been floated in such deep waters, so far from shore. With hundreds of turbines, each as tall as a 70-floor building, these five wind farms could produce enough carbon-free electricity for 1.5 million households — with many more projects to come by 2045.
State and federal agencies are rushing to try to analyze the implications for marine life and how new port and electrical infrastructure might industrialize California’s coast. But our CalMatters report, “Harnessing a Windfall,” reveals that the potential impacts of these structures won’t be understood until they are already constructed and operating, which could happen within a decade.
Communities and tribes in the two regions worry that the pace is so fast and the projects so massive that their local economies and environment are at risk. These wind farms also need a massive infusion of public and private money: Each wind farm could cost $5 billion to develop, construct and assemble.
My anti-nuclear relatives who live in the Bay Area of California are all in on the Net Zero transition and oppose current plans to keep Diablo Canyon open beyond 2025. I have other relatives living in New York State who are similarly anti-nuclear and similarly supportive of Net Zero.
All of these relatives are disappointed that President Biden, by not taking more decisive action to move Net Zero forward, has not walked the talk of his climate change promises.
I make the point to my Bay Area relatives that if California is to reach its Net Zero objectives, the state must take these steps at a minimum:
— Energy conservation must become the central focus of the state’s Net Zero transition plan.
— Conservation must be encouraged through substantial increases in the prices of all forms of energy consumed in California.
— Because some types of fossil energy such as gasoline and diesel are price inelastic, some form of directly-imposed energy rationing will eventually become necessary.
— A fossil infrastructure transition plan must be adopted which lists each specific piece of California’s fossil infrastructure targeted for eventual closure, plus its targeted closure date.
— The California infrastructure transition plan must include an enumerated list of every gas-fired power plant, every petroleum refinery, every tank farm, every neighborhood gas station (etc., etc.) targeted for closure.
— California must bypass or even eliminate any and all regulatory and environmental review processes which might impede the Net Zero transition.
— The state must gain the Biden Administration’s buy-in for bypassing or even eliminating all federal environmental review and approval processes, substituting fast-track state processes for the federal processes.
— California must guarantee a 10% annual rate of return for all private funds invested in wind, solar, battery technology, and power transmission & distribution infrastructure by allowing immediate pass-through of all identified Net Zero transition costs to electricity consumers and rate-payers.
A further point I make to my California relatives is this. In looking at today’s American political scene, I think it likely that Gavin Newsom will follow Joe Biden into the White House, doing so either in January 2025 if Biden bows out, or in January 2029 if Biden runs again and is reelected in November 2024.
If Gavin Newsom wants to demonstrate his credentials as a Net Zero advocate to those who want more aggressive action on climate change at the national level, he will implement all the measures listed above before leaving office as California’s current governor.
Bloomberg’s green-energy research team estimated it would cost $US200 Trillion to stop Global Warming by 2050. There are about 2 billion households in the world, so that is $US100,000 per household. Ninety percent of the world’s households can’t afford anything additional so the households in developed nations will have to pay 10 times as much to cover it. That means about $US 1 million per household in developed countries or about $US 35,000 per year for 27 years. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-07-05/-200-trillion-is-needed-to-stop-global-warming-that-s-a-bargain#xj4y7vzkg
IIRC, it was stated in Congressional testimony by someone from Goldman-Sachs (or one those Wall Street firms) that a rough guess for Net Zero by 2050 for the US alone is 50 trillion dollars.
I’m not an advocate of solar-geo-engineering through solar radiation modification. However, I tell to my relatives that if we are willing to accept the substantial environmental risks of solar geo-engineering, we can quickly reduce the earth’s global mean temperature by 2C in less than ten years time. And for an annual cost of roughly 200 billions dollars a year even if it has to be done indefinitely into the future.
The response I get from my relatives concerning this point about solar geo-engineering is either a deer-in-the-headlights look, a word-salad talking point type of response, or else complete silence.
Tesla Model X Slides Down Boat Ramp, Ignites And Burns Underwater
November 9, 2023
“Launching your watercraft is always stressful. There’s the challenge of backing up a trailer, the jeopardy of doing that with an expensive piece of equipment behind you, and the added spice of reversing towards a large body of water. However, a couple in Hollywood, Florida, learned that things can get a whole lot more stressful than that when their Tesla Model X slipped into the water. . .
It’s unclear at what point the Model X started sliding into the water, but the Hollywood Professional Firefighters report that the vehicle “lost traction and slid into the inter-coastal.” It says that the salt water then reacted with the electronics, causing them to short, and sparking a fire that burned for an “extended period of time.”
“The fire was allowed to burn underwater until it extinguished itself,” Hollywood Professional Firefighters wrote on Facebook. “And even then, it had to be loaded carefully onto a special carrier, and followed by the Fire Engine to the impound lot, where they’ll keep the vehicle isolated for a few days in the very real possibility of re-ignition.”
end excerpts
Boat Ramps: Another hazard for electric vehicles and electric vehicle owners.
In my Haz-Mat training which was sometimes done with the fire department.
Priorities used to be 1 Save the People, 2 Save the Property, 3 Save the Environment.
Now because of something that came out the UN (1400?) and some local governments are adopting, among other things, the priorities are now, 1 Save the People, 2 Save the Environment, 3 Save the Property.
I wonder what that Tesla burning underwater did to that local part of the the inter-coastal waterway?
“Brecheen introduced the Stop Climate Hysteria in Diplomacy Act, which would ensure President Biden’s Executive Order 14027 would have no force or effect. . .
“The Climate Change Support Office is nothing more than a pet project for John Kerry to integrate climate change into all aspects of American foreign policy decisions. With this bill, Congress can eliminate a useless office and prevent the United States from prioritizing radical climate policy over our national security,” said the congressman.”
end excepts
Congressman Brecheen is my local repesentative. No, I didn’t give him any advice. He came up with this all on his own. 🙂
Understanding The Difference Between Solid-State and Lithium-Ion Batteries
By Jody Only
Published 1 day ago
There was a discussion about solid-state batteries at WUWT a couple of days ago and this article gives a pretty good overview of the subject.
David Priestley
November 12, 2023 1:55 pm
Has anyone else tried ChatGPT to generate more subtle rebuttals to the warmist narrative? Maybe if facts and logic don’t sway the undecided, the soft power of AI can. Here I asked ChatGPT to write a poem in the style of Andrew Marvell on the benefits of CO2.Five seconds later..
Upon this earthly stage where life does bloom,
In nature’s dance, through sunlit, verdant room,
A gas, unseen, yet vital to our breath,
Carbon dioxide, herald of life’s wealth.
In gentle whispers, leaves breathe in the air,
Embracing carbon’s gift, beyond compare.
A partner to the sun, in photosynthesis,
It fuels the dance of life, in sweet synthesis.
As tendrils reach, in forests dense and wide,
The trees, the lungs, where joy and breath coincide.
Through cycles intertwined, a waltz sublime,
Carbon weaves the threads of earthly clime.
O, marvel at the greening of the earth,
A tale of carbon’s worth, of life’s rebirth.
In every blade of grass, a quiet ode,
To this humble gas, the giver of abode.
Yet heed with care, our stewardship we bear,
Balance the dance, in nature’s rhythmic flare.
For in the delicate balance we maintain,
Carbon, the giver, need not turn to bane.
In cycles ancient, life and breath align,
A testament to nature’s grand design.
So, let us cherish, with hearts aglow,
The dance of carbon, in life’s ebb and flow.
I thought the fourth verse was inspired (if one can use that word here).
May Contain Traces of Seafood
November 12, 2023 3:52 pm
I hear that Saint Greta was leading her minions through Holland in the lead up to their elections.
Ah yes but she hasn’t been arrested in Holland yet.
sherro01
November 12, 2023 5:34 pm
These Open Threads give a lot of useful information. However, many comments fall broadly into the category of “Complaint” when the more valuable ones are in the category of “Suggestions to Improve the Complaint”. The really valuable ones, in my humble opinion, are those with actual observations and measurements. Numbers, Data. Is
For example, people need comprehensive, credible dollar figures about the cost of electricity to the user from various generation sources. Renewables are not the cheapest source. So the work of Ken Gregory that gives a realistic price comparison made a most valuable comment some time back. Just for example. Geoff S
Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer
By Isabel Vincent and
Benjamin Weinthal
Published Nov. 7, 2023, 5:48 p.m. ET
——
So I guess we know where all that aid money to the Palestinian people went.
Somebody ought to tell the Palestinian people, and Palestinian protesters around the world, that their leaders are corrupt and are taking care of themselves, not the Palestinian people. The Hamas leadership is the problem. Where in the Koran does it say the leadership should steal all the people’s money?
This is how dictatorships work: The leaders steal all the money for themselves and couldn’t care less about the plight of the people.
Tom Abbott
November 13, 2023 4:29 pm
Isolationist Republicans who are balking at supporting Ukraine are damaging the security of the United States with this position.
I have no problem with requiring strict accounting procedures to keep track of any money spent, but for Isolationist Republicans to oppose funding Ukraine’s efforts to stay free is about as shortsighted as it gets when it comes to national security.
It’s the wrong signal to send to the world, to our allies and enemies alike, it’s the wrong signal.
Isolationist Repubicans need to wake up to reality. Opposing Putin’s expansionism and criminality is the right thing to do for Ukraine and for the Western Democracies. If you can’t see that, you have no business deciding the direction this nation takes.
You can’t run away from the International Bullies. You have to confront them. Ukraine is confronting one particular International Bully, Putin, for us, so we don’t have to do it ourselves. All we have to do is supply Ukraine with the means to defend themselves, and they will do the job without American boots on the ground. It doesn’t get much easier when it comes to defending our interests.
Support for Ukraine should be a no-brainer for anyone with any sense of history, or the current situation.
Isolationist Repubicans are headed down the wrong road. Uhfortunately, it will affect all of us detrimentally if carried to fruition, not just these idiots.
Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have done an excellent job of smearing Ukraine, and are the impetus for this current Republican isolationism. Their mantra is everyone in Ukraine is irredeemably corrupt and not worthy of support.
Turning inward, as the Isolationist Republicans want to do, does not impress the tyrants and the dictators of the world. They would love the United States to withdraw from the world.
Isolationism won’t save money or lives in the long run. If you let the bad guys run wild, eventually they will be coming for you.
OT. A late Tribute to veterans:
https://youtu.be/SOMrOKHMMPU
Some of the men I had the honor and privilege to serve with.
Bud Odom, my first Team Sergeant. The most knowledgeable soldier that I ever knew. Vietnam Veteran 173rd Abn. Went DELTA. When I arrived onto my first team I was in the first batch of SF qualified troops that recruited off the street and went straight through from Basic training, AIT, Jump School, and SF training. All those before had at least one tour as non SF before being accepted for SF training. Because of this there were some people above my team level that were, let me just say, not exactly happy about the change and tried to ride my ass. Bud acted as a buffer between me and them. He also made sure that I was put into positions or situations where I could prove my worth.
Jim (Sly) Sylvester. Commo man extraordinaire. Sometimes pulled from those above for temporary assignment for field testing of new CW (Continuous Wave) systems and radio wave propagation experiments. Vietnam, two tours, 75th Rangers. My best friend on my first team. Also went DELTA. Sly was one of those people that knew how to say the right thing at the right time to break the tension.
Captain Elliot Lash. Team Leader. A tour as a Marine enlisted man in Vietnam. Came back, went to college and got a commission in the Army. In Lebanon when things got hot, some US embassy brainiac wanted us to clear the parameter around the American University in Beirut. DELTA had told us there were eight different hostile Muslim Militias surrounding the University compound. This was the day after they had driven a truck by with a mortar in the bed and lobbed a few into the University compound. Captain Lash asked that bone head “Are you prepared to take responsibility for committing US troops to open combat in Lebanon? Because if my men are fired upon, and they almost certainly will be, that is exactly what is going to happen.” The embassy jerk stuttered and stammered, and said, no! Eliot died when he flew his private aircraft into some high tension lines one stormy night.
Fred Philon. Also known as “Filthy Freddy”. Two tours Vietnam SF. Team sergeant, but also demolitions man extraordinaire. Grew up setting demolitions with his father. On an MTT we were training the troops using grenades from three different countries. Some of them were duds and we had to do our own ordinance disposal. When I jumped over the sandbag barrier to help MSG Philon pulled out his command voice and said “get your ass behind that barrier Doc and get your M-5 bag ready, because your the only medic here and your responsibility is to be ready to take care of the rest of us if something happens” It was a lesson I never forgot. One has to think about their responsibility and showing that your not afraid to do what others are doing can be in certain circumstances, shirking your responsibility.
“Corky” Shelton. My last team sergeant. Master combat diver. Two tours Vietnam as SF, DSC (2nd highest medal for Valor). Did multiple LRRP missions into Cambodia and other places well behind enemy lines. Contracted a parasitic liver fluk on one of those missions. It took them 6 months at Walter Reed to figure out what it was. At Desert One and would have gone into the city to try and rescue the hostages had not the accident that occurred at the airstrip terminated the mission. The lessons in leadership I learned from him are too many to list. Corky passed away a couple years ago.
MSG Tommy Grace. NCOIC SOMED (Longest phase of the three phases of SF and other special operators medical training where I was an instructor) and my immediate boss.
Tommy was at SOMED because as a medic on a team in Honduras a Honduran soldier out in the bush had been wounded. A bunch of officers who were there to get their tickets punched wanted to go along for the ride on the Huey so the chopper was full. Tommy was seated in what we call the “hell hole’ which is a recess beside the transmission at the rear of the cargo area in a Huey. Bad weather and the chopper flew right into the side of a mountain. It hit so hard the remains of the pilots were found in front of the chopper still in their seats. The rescuers that got there that night found Tommy when he moaned when one them stepped on him. He was the only one still alive. The cushion of the bodies of the men seated forward of him is what probably saved him.
Tommy arrested three times in the ambulance that was transporting him from the hospital to the Nightingale flight to bring him back to Brook Army medical center at Ft. Sam Houston. About every bone on his left side was broken. Pneumothorax left lung from rib puncture. Pelvic girdle broken in three places. he should not have survived.
Tommy was the most knowledgeable SF medic I ever knew. He rewarded me for my hard work as an instructor by getting me sent down to the Key West to the SF combat divers school for training as a certified Dive Tech even though I had not gone to the SF divers course.
During my last APRT (Army Physical Readiness Test) in the RA Tommy had finally been cleared of all of his physical profiles and restrictions and he outran me on the two mile run.
To quote Frederick March, “Where do they find such men.”
Thank you for your post.
Send to my daughter on Remembrance Day:
I went by the Field of Crosses today.
So many crosses…
So many young men’s lives sacrificed in the vanity of war.
Your great great uncle Thomas Sample, my grannie’s youngest brother, joined up at the outset in 1913, and almost made it.
He was killed six weeks before the armistice was signed in a pitched battle, along with 10 other young lieutenants , fighting over meaningless inches of ground, while the armistice was already being drafted. My dad told me that his mother cried all night long when the hard news came.
Your great uncle Donald Fraser MacRae was the only surviving officer of his unit at the disastrous Dieppe Raid in 1942.
He rescued the only surviving ten men – of the 110 enlisted men and 10 officers who hit Red Beach that day, and he was awarded the Military Cross.
In both of these actions, the senior management and the planning of the action was incredibly incompetent, and young men’s lives were wasted as if they had no value.
This is the constant that I see in war. Brave young men being sacrificed because of the stupidity of generals – that seems to be the constant reality of war.
I accept that some wars are inevitable.
I hate the stupidity and the waste.
So many crosses…
Not all generals are stupid! Gen. George Patton’s Third Army had one of the lowest casualty rates to go along with one of the highest rates of enemy prisoners captured! He was left idle when the fuel he was allotted was given to Montgomery for the Market Garden fiasco! Watch the movie “A Bridge Too Far” if you want to get an idea of how that went!
Not only was he ready to immediately turn and quickly move Third Army toward Bastogne, he had actually predicted the German counter-offensive that we call the Battle of the Bulge! If he had been listened to thousands of Allied deaths and captures could have been avoided. He may have been a real SOB, as many commentators claim, but his attributes and skills in the art of war make him one of the greatest generals in modern history!
Patton didn’t suffer fools gladly.
Sounds like a former president I voted for.
Except Tom, the generals who worked with Trump had nothing but disdain for the man. His vile comments about the brave soldiers who fought earned nothing but contempt from them. This is what General Kelly had to say…
“What can I add that has not already been said? A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
How do you know how old Tom is, Simon?
Tom could have been talking about Eisenhower.
Hopefully Tom will let us know.
But you couldn’t wait to find out what the actual situation is.
See, that’s exactly what the alarmists’ approach is regarding climates changing.
Jump to the first apparent conclusion that presents itself to them.
Actually Tom was talking about Trump. Tom thinks very highly of Mr Trump. Has said so on Many occasions. You would know that if you stayed focussed.
So there you go again Simon.
You make assertions based on your “impressions” and already-arrived-at conclusions.
Geez, I hope you’re never called to face a half competent cross examiner in a court case mate – you’d be in tears.
Haha… nope, I don’t defraud banks, rig elections or steal state secret documents. I think I’ll be fine to keep out of courts.
Why would you bring the Biden gang’s exploits into this discussion?
Neither does Trump.
I do think highly of Trump. I think he is the most honest man in poliics today. The most investigated man in human history, other than maybe Jesus Christ. And none of the investigations have laid a legitimate finger on him, in all these years.
Show me another politician that could stand up to such scrutiny.
And btw, Democrats, you enjoy it when the Democats use the federal government to go after Republicans like Trump, but have you noticed that the Biden Dictatorship has started going after Democrats who criticize the Biden administration or make them look bad?
The Mayor of New York City, Mayor Adams, has been complaining for months about the illegal immigrants flooding into his city, although he has refrained from directly blaming the Biden administration for the problem and just complains that he doesn’t have enough money to pay for the illegals.
Even so, he’s making Biden’s border policy look bad and now, all of a sudden, Mayor Adams is under investigation by Biden’s federal government.
The thing about dictators is, once they gain power, then, many of the people who thought they were on the inside, find out they are actually on the outside and the dictator not only won’t protect them but will prosecute them.
So be very careful about who you elect as president, Democrats. They may not be your friend for long, once they gain absolute power over your life. Then, you better toe the line, or suffer the consequences.
“And none of the investigations have laid a legitimate finger on him, in all these years.”
He’s just been found guilty of fraud Tom. It is almost certainly going to cost him many millions. I’d say that’s a hand.
“Show me another politician that could stand up to such scrutiny.”
Show me another politician who has done the immoral corrupt things he has done and I will.
“but have you noticed that the Biden Dictatorship has started going after Democrats who criticize the Biden administration or make them look bad?”
The Adams thing just shows both sides get investigated when they break the law. That’s a good thing isn’t it. And Tom there is absolutely no evidence Biden is involved in Trumps prosecutions. Ii fact he has made an effort to stay out. He makes no comment about the cases.
I see Trump threatened in an interview the other day to go after those who have gone after him? https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-warns-indict-political-opponents-reelected-1234875220/
Isn’t that what dictators do?
“I see Trump threatened in an interview the other day to go after those who have gone after him? ”
I think Trump is going to go after lawbreakers and traitors. Don’t you think he should prosecute lawbreakers and traitors?
Starting with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
I wasn’t old enough to vote for Eisenhower. I would have if I could have.
I’ll be 75 years old next month. I’ve seen it all when it comes to human-caused climate change, btw. 🙂 Human-caused Global Cooling; Human-caused Global Warming, all that BS (Bad Science).
I, of course, was talking about Donald Trump not being one to suffer fools gladly. I like that quality in him.
Trump keeps pulling farther ahead of Biden in the polls, Simon.
I’ll be surprised if Biden is the Democrat candidate in 2024. He’s going down fast physically, and his legal troubles are going to get much worse in the near future. His best bet is to retire for “health” reasons, in the hope that this will stop the Republicans investigating him. And that ploy will probably work.
If he does resign, then this will throw the presidential nomination process wide open to all aspiring Democrats, and this way Kamala can be removed from the picture without accusations of sexism or racism, since Kamala will have to compete with all the other candidates for the presidential nomination, and of course, she will lose that badly, so she’s out of the picture, and the Demcrats can breathe a sigh of relief.
So that’s how the Democrats can get a viable candidate to run against Trump, by getting Biden to resign early.
That would put Kamala in the presidency temporarily, but she won’t be running the government anyway. The same people running it now, will be running it if she moves to the White House, so there won’t be much difference in policy.
Trump keeps pulling farther ahead of Biden in the polls, Simon.
Seems to be the case.
I’ll be surprised if Biden is the Democrat candidate in 2024.
Same. Biden has to go.
“and his legal troubles are going to get much worse in the near future.”
No… Joe is as straight as an arrow (compared to other politicians). If they had anything on him it would have happened by now.
Here’s my take on how things will go from here. The country is crying out for new blood. Both Trump and Biden are very unpopular at the moment. Historically so. If either party was can manage present a new candidate from here, provided they are half decent, the voting public will snap them up. Mark my words….
“No… Joe is as straight as an arrow (compared to other politicians). If they had anything on him it would have happened by now.”
If you really believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you.
Yeah, that’s what the Democrats say, that they don’t have anything on Biden.
The investigation has just begun and you and the Democrats want to dismiss it prematurely. Of course, you do.
It won’t save Biden. Watch and see.
Can I just politely point out it was Tump Tom was talking about. See below. You don’t need to apologise. It was an honest mistake.
Be honest Simon – you didn’t know that at the time you jumped to your comment assertion.
Hand on heart, I absolutely knew. Tom loves Trump. Trump is one step down from Jesus in Tom’s world.
Trumps words
NOT some out of context garbage that slimon dredge up from some far-left sewer that he inhabits….
.. that would be the 2020 Atlantic article, written by the ultra-marxist Jeffrey Goldberg.. just the sort of lies and misinformation that slimo would go for.
Biden, of course, successfully led the US troops out of Afganistan. ! 😉
Worthless….Anyone can say words and I dare say those would have been written by a speech writer anyway. But Kelly was his military advisor. Kelly was not a never-Trumper. He was appointed by Trump. He better than anyone got a look at the guys moral fibre. And it seems there was none. In fact Kelly also said…
“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,”
That’s a bit negative about his character don’t you think?
Kelly.. SACKED by Trump for incompetence.
“ He was “by far the dumbest” among his military advisors.
He was incapable of doing a good job, it was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog.’ He had no heart or respect for people.”
The poor little incompetent ….. his comments mean NOTHING.
Oh yea. Pathetic leftists are such reliable sources of information:
Great list! It brings back old memories. 🙂
Simon, do you really think Trump is dumb enough to say in the presence of a military general that he effectively hates the U.S. military and those who serve in it?
I think it is much more likely that General Kelly is lying about it.
Your view of Trump is so skewed you’ll believe anything bad said about him.
“Simon, do you really think Trump is dumb enough to say in the presence of a military general that he effectively hates the U.S. military and those who serve in it?
I think it is much more likely that General Kelly is lying about it.
Your view of Trump is so skewed you’ll believe anything bad said about him.”
Well knowing what we know about his feelings about the military
Forgive me, but I’m going to believe Kelly given he has no such record and by all accounts is a man of integrity.
“What he said about McCain not being a hero because he was captured.”
That wasn’t a comment about the U.S. military, that was a comment about John McCain.
“Dodged the draft how many times?”
I think he got a legitimate waiver, like thosands of other people did.
You know, I went to Vietnam in May of 1968 (voluteered) and spent 19 months there, and after seeing the situation, that American politicians would not let us finish off the North Vietnamese, I went home and told my brother, who was still in high school at the time to do anyhing he could to avoid going to Vietnam because the politicians were not serious about prosecuting the war and you would get yourself killed for nothing.
Joe Biden had a part in not prosecuting the war seriously. He and his fellow leftwing appeasers did everything they could to hamper the prosecution of the war, and ended up cutting South Vietnam’s defense funding to the point of crippling the South Vietnamese military and ultimately causing the defeat of the South Vietnames army.
If Joe Biden is involved in a war, you don’t want any part of it because he is going to screw everything up bigtime. He did it in South Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The man is totally incompetent when it comes to defending the nation. He is the last person in the world who should be presiding over our current situation.
Trump, on the other hand, is just the person we need to bolster our national defense. The dictators of the world are scared of Trump. That’s a very good thing.
Yeah, it’s best to actually read Trump’s words rather than have his words interprested in the worst way possible by his political enemies.
If you don’t hear it from the horses mouth, then don’t believe it, especially where it concerns Trump.
The Left lives to distort what Trump says. You can’t believe a word they say. Unfortunately, I think Simon believes everything they say.
“NOT some out of context garbage that slimon dredge up . . . .”
I like your statement, but I think the correct word is “slim-mon.”
And of course.. Trump has great respect for veterans, and is highly supportive.
President Trump has been a champion for America’s veteran community (militarytimes.com)
Your article was written in 2020. All the stuff quoted by Kelly came out after. Like they say, you can only con people for so long before you get caught. You should know that….
Kelly.. SACKED by Trump.. ho-hum !!
Atlantic still has you CONNED every article they write.. because you are a died-in the wool Trump deranged zealot marxist, who only believes what you want to believe.
A gutter rat would have more common sense.
Oh no….. Bnice called me childish names. I didn’t expect that….. clearly he must have won this debate…..
Poor petal, you have never won anything in your life
You are a perpetual LOSER.
I think the Atlantic is owned by Steve Jobs widow, a hardcore leftwing activist with millions of dollars to spend.
She also owns other leftwing publications.
One of her best friends is Kamala Harris. Imagine the conversations that go on between those two!
Kelly is obviously a partisan hack and should have been relieved for that reason alone.
“Kelly is obviously a partisan hack”
Obviously. Aren’t they all by default when they criticise Trump. I mean as far as Trump and his Trumpkins are concerned, they are either on his team, or partisan hacks it seems. Crazy how many partisan hacks have worked for him and now have no respect for him whats so ever. The list is amazingly long…. Rex Tillerson. Cohen. Kelly. Barr….. on and on it goes.
You make enemies when you fire people.
Trump didn’t know anyone in Washington DC when he became president so he had to rely on recommendations from people he trusted to fill administration positions.
For example, Chris Chisty got Trump to appoint the currect corrupt FBI Director to office. Trump didn’t know he was corrupt at the time of appointment. That was discovered subsequently.
Trump’s way of dealing with not knowing the capabilites of those he hired was to fire them as soon as he saw they were not getting the job done and replacing them with someone who might get the job done. Sometimes he had to fire them, too, after they failed the test.
So Trump made a lot of enemies in Washington DC, and some of those are vidictive people or political people and use their positions to smear Trump.
If you don’t hear it from Trump’s mouth, then don’t believe it because there are many people out there who would just love to distort what he says so they can make him look like Hitler.
“Trump didn’t know anyone in Washington DC when he became president so he had to rely on recommendations from people he trusted to fill administration positions.”
So are you saying Trump does not have good people he can trust?
So Trump made a lot of enemies in Washington DC, and some of those are vidictive people or political people and use their positions to smear Trump.
Ask yourself this Tom… why is it Trump has fallen out with so many people/advisors? And you can’t deny there is most definitely a pattern here. Trump appoints people. People work with him. People don’t like what they are seeing. They say so. Trump fires them. That has happened to Trump more than any other president….. Why? Either they are all wrong, or he is the leader they describe….chaotic, impulsive, dishonest, egotistical, clueless, vindictive, self centred, self serving, ill informed. I mean other than that, I’m sure he is fine.
“Ask yourself this Tom… why is it Trump has fallen out with so many people/advisors?”
You are pretending like everyone who worked for Trump now hates him.
Not so. Trump has plenty of people who worked for him who like the way he does business.
You are seeing what you want to see, Simon.
They are by fault whenever they get political outside of the preview of defense and military matters while serving. Know that concept and the reason for it is alien to you.
And I see the Military Times no thinks Biden is alright…
https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2023/11/12/biden-says-americas-veterans-are-the-steel-spine-of-this-nation/
The Mad Mullahs of Iran have attacked American troops in the Middle East 48 times since October 17, and the Biden administration didn’t even respond until 40 attacks had been done.
Then, the response was to bomb two unoccupied store houses, and an attack today supposedly killed a few of the Mad Mullahs terrorists.
These weak responses will only embolden the Mad Mullahs and American troops will still be in danger because the Mad Mullahs are not yet afraid of the Biden administration.
And the Biden administration is trying with all their might to ignore the Mad Mullahs invovlement, letting them slide, with no consequences, and all this does is make it more likely that the Mad Mullahs are going to end up killing American troops.
Biden’s appeasement efforts are going to end badly. He’s not thinking about protecting American troops, he’s thinking about protecting Obama’s nuclear arms deal with the Mad Mullahs. He does’t want to jeopardize the agreement, so he leaves American troops in danger.
Joe Biden is the worst person in the world to be presiding over all this. He’s a runner, not a fighter. And he puts American troops in jeopardy as a result.
I’m not a fan of Biden, I thought I had said that.
Good! I didn’t know that.
Trump has it so veterans who couldn’t get an appointment at the VA hospitals within 30 days, were allowed to go to private health care providers for the care, and the VA paid for it.
Trump said people had been trying to get this policy made official for 40 years, and couldn’t do it, but Trump came along and got it done.
https://www.va.gov/resources/eligibility-for-community-care-outside-va/
As a veteran, that sounds like Trump was trying to take care of me and my fellow veterans.
Only a moron would downvote a statement of fact.
The Generals that worked for Trump would not make a pimple on Patton’s rear end. They make Loyd Fredendall look good.
And you point is? I doubt Paton wouldn’t have worked for Trump.
Why?
Wasn’t pattern (like Kelly) a man of honor?
As usual, your a waste of time.
Was FDR a man of honor?
Don’t know much about FDR. If you think it is worth it, enlighten me
Before the war FDR pulled the mail contracts from all the airlines because of petty spite. He claimed it was because they were colluding to overcharge the government, but it really was about politics. He then ordered the Army Air Corp to take over even though they were not equipped or trained to do so. Both Charles Lindbergh and Eddie Rickenbacker told him that it would not work and Army pilots would die unnecessarily. One of them, I think it was Lindbergh called it “murder”!
It was evident right off the bat Lindbergh and Rickenbacker and others that had warned of the catastrophe to come were correct but FDR would not budge and when he finally had to he ordered that no mail contracts would be let to Airlines that retained the CEO that was in charge when he pulled the contracts.
He was not a man of honor. Patton fought for him anyway because Patton was not fighting for FDR, he was fighting for the United States.
Seems he was very highly regarded as a president so I’d say for sure he was a man of honor. CSpan ranks him 3rd of all time (Behind Lincoln and George Washington). I did some research on him and he got the US through the depression and the dustbowl. Seems he increased taxes on the rich and shared the takings throughout the country to help those who were starving. Good man alright.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt
Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before, during and after his presidential terms and continuing today, there has been criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945). His critics have questioned not only his policies and positions, but also accused him of trying to centralize power in his own hands by controlling both the government and the Democratic Party. Many denounced his breaking of a long-standing tradition by running for a third term in 1940.[1]
By the middle of his second term, much criticism of Roosevelt centered on fears that he was heading toward a dictatorship by attempting to seize control of the Supreme Court in the court-packing incident of 1937, attempting to eliminate dissent within the Democratic Party in the South during the 1938 mid-term elections and by breaking the tradition established by George Washington of not seeking a third term when he again ran for re-election in 1940. As two historians explain: “In 1940, with the two-term issue as a weapon, anti-New Dealers […] argued that the time had come to disarm the ‘dictator’ and to dismantle the machinery.”
A good man, huh?
Read the rest of the article.
Simon, I posted a Wiki article about FDR. It is waiting for approval as it has numerous links inbedded.
Part of the quote mentions that FDR broke tradition and ran for a third presidential term.
Ask yourself: Why did Americans change the law and limit presidents to only two terms after FDR left office?
FDR was highly regarded – by idiots, Fascists, and Communists. He lengthened the Great Depression with heavy regulation. Those taxes did not help either.
My bad ….. Paton.
Do you have a quote of Trump saying any of those thngs? Probably not, or you would have posted it. Right?
I don’t have any faith in what Trump’s enemies say about Trump.
“I don’t have any faith in what Trump’s enemies say about Trump.”
So you only believe what Trump and his supporters say? Can I politely say that is not a recipe for finding truth about anyone. The problem with that is when anyone says anything bad about Trump they automatically become his enemy. That’s what he does. He belittles those who disparage him….McCain, Barr, Tillerson, Kelly, Bolton, Cohen, Hutchinson
Let’s flip that….using that philosophy anyone can deny anything ever said about anyone. I’m not going to believe Hitler was a bad guy coz it was his enemies who only said bad things….
The reason I don’t believe the bad things the radical left says about Trump is because I hear what Trump says, and then I see the interpretation of his words given by the radical leftists, and they don’t match.
The radical left distorts everything Trumps says. So the only way you will find out what Trump actually said and meant is to hear it directly from him. When you do hear it directly from him, you realize the radical leftists are lying about it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/05/donald-trump-john-kelly-comments-military-veterans
Remarks made days after former chief of staff confirmed reports about Trump’s derogatory attitude to members of US military
Martin Pengelly in Washington
Thu 5 Oct 2023 10.18 EDT
Last modified on Thu 5 Oct 2023 11.22 EDT
“Donald Trump called his former chief of staff John Kelly a “lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth” after the former marine general confirmed reports about the ex-president’s derogatory attitude to members of the US armed forces.
In posts to his Truth Social platform, days after Kelly spoke to CNN, Trump said his former aide was “by far the dumbest of my military people … incapable of doing a good job” as chief of staff or, before that, homeland security secretary.
“It was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog’,” wrote the former president, who made his name as a reality TV host with the catchphrase “you’re fired” – but who has been widely reported to be averse to confrontation when it comes to letting people go.
Kelly left the Trump administration in December 2018. After that, he was widely believed to be a source for stories in reports and books detailing Trump’s dismissive attitude to wounded and dead soldiers and their families.”
end except
Kelly is a disguntled former employee.
I find it very hard to believe that Trump would say derogatory things about U.S. troops right in front of a military general, even if he thought such things.
I think Kelly is lying in an effort to harm Trump.
“I think Kelly is lying in an effort to harm Trump.”
Why would he do that? And if he is, he joins a very long list (see above) of people want to harm him. That’s not good for a stable government… having a guy in charge hall regularly falls out with his top advisors.
Watch the movie “A Bridge Too Far” is you want to see a lot of working Shermans together at the same time.
As a history lesson it is like watching a MCU movie.
Remember kids, in another universe there are scores of armchair historians filling internet forums on the grand mistake of the Allies not deploying the airborne army to outflank the Germans via Holland.
Hindsight is 20/20.
The concept of Market Garden was not a bad one, but Monty certainly wasn’t the general that could execute such an operation. However it should probably not have been carried out at all and Patton certainly should have never been halted until he had taken Metz, before logistical priorities shifted to Monty.
There were three major war changing Allied intelligence failures from D-day on.
4. Failure to cover the Ardennes properly, despite the Germans having used it to attack into France in 1940.
5. Failure to free up many of the divisions that Monty needed to successfully achieve Market Garden, instead keeping them in minor ‘mopping up’ actions elsewhere in theatre.
6. Failure to keep pressure on the Germans following Goodwood and Cobra. There was a relaxed attitude from the very top down that there was no need to rush or push very hard, that more lives would be saved by ‘taking the foot off the gas’.
There are a lot more, all or most of the 20/20 hindsight variety.
Those are operational problems and not intelligence failures.
The bigger problem is that when they went for the Rhine bridge at Arnhem, they neglected their logistics base. The priority should have been securing their logistics base by clearing the Scheldt estuary and getting the port of Antwerp into operation. Instead, the Allies shot for the moon at Arnhem, then spent all winter schlepping fuel, ammo, and other supplies across the beaches at Normandy, while the troops at the front had to make do with less and great stockpiles remained in England.
God Bless all our service members and veterans.
They are special people. They stand between us and the tyrants of the world.
“”The world is burning, an observation that should generate ringing calls for action at the forthcoming Cop28 climate change conference, which begins this month in the United Arab Emirates. This is virtually the last chance humanity has to mend its ways
…
Britain was once an influential player at Cop conferences but has since seen its authority decline precipitously – first through Brexit, which meant we no longer led EU delegations, and later through our backtracking on development assistance pledges for developing countries. Worse has followed.
In the last year, prime minister Rishi Sunak has revealed himself as a national leader who is happy to sacrifice past Conservative party pledges to protect the environment and instead agree policies that will encourage further oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.””
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/12/uk-turning-back-on-chance-lead-climate-fight-observer-editorial
Yet again in the last chance saloon….
The Earth is still in a 2.58-million-year ice age named the Quaternary Glaciation. The Earth is in a warmer, but still cold, interglacial period that happens about every 100,000 years and lasts about 10,000 years which alternates with a very cold glacial period that lasts about 90,000 years. The Earth still has around 200,000 glaciers and 11 percent of the land is permafrost. The ice age the Earth is in won’t end and the climate won’t officially change until all the natural ice melts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_glaciation
This recent study shows that the cold weather we have every year causes about 4.6 million deaths a year globally mainly through increased strokes and heart attacks, compared with about 500,000 deaths a year from hot weather. We can’t easily protect our lungs from the cold air in the winter and that causes our blood vessels to constrict causing blood pressure to increase leading to heart attacks and strokes.
‘Global, regional and national burden of mortality associated with nonoptimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study’
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00081-4/fulltext
—————————————————————————————-
Darn the lack of an edit button. I should have said “geological climate”
The edit button — I feel your pain.
This study from 2015 says that cold weather kills 20 times as many people as hot weather and that moderately warm or cool weather kills far more people than extreme weather. Increased strokes and heart attacks from cool weather are the main causes of weather-related deaths.
‘Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multi-country observational study’ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62114-0/fulltext
The “climate scientists had “climate” redefined so now “climate” is only 30 years, it’s basically medium-term weather. With such a short time period it is changing all of the time. I guess that helps with the marketing of the “climate change” scare.
What is the point of trying to keep the Earth cold when so many millions of people are dying from the cold every year?
Yeah, so? You have thrown up these blindingly obvious facts on about 5, maybe 6, threads now and yet that is all they remain. You state a couple of facts and then shut up – no discussion of implications, no conclusions or points made, no projections, predictions or suggestions even, nothing. What is the point in doing that? Tell me what these points are doing here, show me the relevance and context and I’ll be interested – cos at the moment I’m just sliding right along, nothing to see, next comment please.
The Earth is in a cold ice age with 4 million more people dying from the cold every year than from heat, and people are posting that the Earth is burning. It obviously is not burning it is very cold. People have to live in warmed houses, use warmed transportation, and work in warmed factories and office buildings outside of the tropics because it is so cold.
Now you’re talking. Probably worth mentioning that renewables cannot deliver the reliable, affordable energy that will keep people alive outside of the tropics. See that’s all I was after.
It is sort of like taking a shower in winter, when the shower water temperature is only a degree or so above the outside air temperature. 😉
Maybe ‘blindingly obvious’ to those of us with a modicum of intellectual curiosity, but probably completely unknown to many who have been indoctrinated into the world of climate alarmism.
Of equal importance, these facts are the answer to questions that our so-called conservative leaders should be demanding that the Left answer.
It doesn’t seem like the Left or the Right realize that the Earth is still in an ice age.
Yep, Only a degree or so above the coldest period in 10,000 years.
Thankfully for human civilisation, we also happen to be living in a brief slightly warmer blip in a long running ice age…called an interglacial.
We should be REJOICING what small amount of warmth we have been given !
I do. Everyday I get down on my knees and thank (whatever) for the warmth. Except on cold days, which is about 5 days a week – in late spring!
Thanks for the down vote, whoever gave it.
It’s always handy to know when you’re over the target. Thanks again.
it was at zero just now so I pushed it way up to 1 🙂
I wish they’d at least add a script to show on mouseover who votes for and against. It’s not rocket science….
Why does it matter which way someone voted? Just makes you sound a bit needy.
Why not know who agrees or disagrees?
No – I get it, I was thinking the same thing a couple of days ago; it would make people (a little) more accountable and might stop the random, drive-by downvoting that we’ve seen occasionally.
Won’t change my behavior except that I might be more inclined to vote.
I often get a couple of early downvotes for perfectly factual statements.
It shows the trollettes are hanging about.. and may actually be learning something to overcome their insipid brain-washing.
They really do NOT like facts. !
I think I got it to zero a couple of hours ago. I think there are some people on this site that only read part of a comment, dont ‘get’ sarcasm or satire and don’t realise that you can change your vote from negative, to zero, then positive; and the reverse of course.
I think there are a couple of trollettes that are incapable of rational comments, don’t like facts, and just downvote because of who posts a comment.
Maybe just one or two petty individuals, with access to computers with different addresses.
I think it was probably a case where somebody got sick after a couple of gaurniad sentences and didn’t read or grok your last sentence, strat.
Not exploring for those resources would be extremely irresponsible. Doesn’t necessarily mean Sunak is a wise politician – just that he’s not extremely irresponsible.
Sunak is a banker!
Are you sure you spelt that right? 🙂
Strat often mixes up his Bs and Ws, Dave.
Could be worse if it were B’s and C’s..
Oh I don’t know, if he was a wee bit more responsible he might not have done such a half-assed job of pushing back on net zero just to try to get some votes for the election.
Maybe he sees it as a baby step- seeing that few politicians on this planet have the guts to fight the climate cultists.
We can agree the conservatives are tanking, not sure why everyone is down on Sunak.
Maybe he genuinely believes there is no climate crisis and that Britains green energy policies are nonsense and now that internal sanctions are starting to bite and people are getting afraid and angry he’s using that cover to start making moves toward sanity?
Moves he could not make in the past?
Maybe he said all the right words in the past because he needed to but circumstances change?
What is the option, Labour? Who are 100% in the tank for green insanity?
As another norteamericano with no vote in the matter, I tend to agree, Pat. It’s an optimistic outlook you show and we probably need to try to fight the urge to abject pessimism and despair regardless of how objectively warranted that appears.
Asking strativarius and Richard to vote for the ‘Conservatives’ despite their being anything but, might however be like suggesting that they choose the guillotine over burning at the stake. A very marginally better outcome.
I voted Conservative for the first time when David Cameron was quoted as have been caught saying “We need to get rid of this green crap.”
However, I suspect his wife laid the smackdown on that one.
BoJo and partner were worse.
But if Sunak is willing to start taking a few baby steps towards reversing out of the situation UK politicians have put us in I’m willing to praise him for doing so.
What we really need are some politicians brave enough and smart enough to go all in. I suspect they might be pleasantly surprised at the votes they could get by pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
Strat mentioned Sunak was a banker; he’s completely on board with the financial sectors’ adoption of ESG and climate crisis management – all he’s done is a tiny sop towards the conservative voters that want ULEZ and Net Zero stopped. Just enough to make it look like he’s stopping it but not enough to actually do anything about it – if he had wanted to do something about Net Zero targets, he’s had ample opportunity to cancel the plans outright, not just delay them by a few years. It’ll take more than an empty gesture to make me think he’s returning to sanity, I’m afraid.
Over 3 out of 5 Australians refused to give them their apartheid Voice referendum so they want to take away free voices-
‘An entirely horrible idea’: Government to crack down on misinformation online (msn.com)
You either have free speech or you don’t and there’s no in between with a sticks and stones attitude. Americans are fortunate their forebears gave them freedom of speech in a Bill of Rights because all we would get nowadays masquerading as one is a stinking leftist Bill of Wrongs.
The “Voice referendum” thing isn’t in the America media, so far as I can tell. Not sure what that’s all about. I tried googling it- still found little.
Try Australian Indigenous Voice
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Australian_Indigenous_Voice_referendum
But the BBC is doing an expose on it.
The Polar Science Center has posted the October 2023 estimate of Arctic Sea Ice volume here, in 1000’s of cubic kilometers.
https://psc.apl.uw.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/schweiger/ice_volume/PIOMAS.2sst.monthly.Current.v2.1.txt
Every month in 2022 and through October 2023 gives a value greater than the corresponding month in 2011.
I have updated this plot to highlight October in bold dashed magenta. All months are plotted as a Lowess smoothed curve; October values for each year beginning in 1979 are also shown as individual points.
Why show it this way? Arctic sea ice volume began leveling out over ten years ago, according to these estimates.
“gives a value greater than”
uh, oh- something has changed- must be a big problem- a disaster- must be due to …. climate change! /sarc
“Climate change causing Arctic to expand, Seals and Polar Bears unable to eat, it’s a catastrophe! We must stop burning fossil fuels, think of those cute poley bear cubs!” sarc (may not have needed it here but best to make sure).
Actually, the drop in Arctic sea ice since the extreme high in 1979 has done wonders for Arctic sea life.
Species that have proxy evidence for being in abundance in the MWP are now returning.
I know. You did spot it was a touch sarcastic, didn’t you? Just thought I’d ask.
Ice covered areas are often capped by a temperature inversion and hence a very stable stratification, which suppresses vertical mixing and causes temperature changes at the surface not to be propagated aloft, which is a positive local feedback. The inversion strength can be described by the difference in potential temperature between the 700-hPa level and the surface. Revealing more open ocean liquid, as ice recedes, leads to a more-negative, and thus stabilizing lapse-rate feedback. This is far more powerful than the supposed “positive” destabilizing albedo effect often cited for the pole. Exposing more open water at the pole has a stabilizing effect on temperature by increasing vertical mixing. This is one of the primary mechanisms which prevents a runaway warming or cooling effect of the planet.
Here is a good long article on The California experiment in floating offshore wind:
https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/california-offshore-wind-humboldt/
The water is over half a mile deep and it typically takes 8 or 9 huge mooring chains per float so that is a lot to depend on.
Hmm, I’m just waiting for a really big storm to hit one of these potential hazards to navigation and set the buoys free!
“Estimates of the cost of the power are speculative and vary widely, and the initial rates could be high — as much as $133 per megawatt hour, according to a federal analysis, compared to $34 for land-based wind.”
Coal costs about $20-35 per MWh at existing plants.
That was pre cost crisis. I have seen $200!
from that link
“After the gold was gone, it was replaced with timber, “red gold.” The region’s massive redwoods made many locals rich; when the forests were clear cut, the pulp mills came. They, too, went bust.”
The timber potential in CA, and OR, and WA is still vast- if the f*****g idiots out there let it happen. Sure, they clearcut the redwoods- but, that species grows super fast. On some giant redwood stumps are found “suckers” that are 8′ in diameter. The climate clowns simply want to lock up all the forests.
Whattayou know Joe? Have you ever been in the forest? 😝
from that link
“The depth, distance from shore and new floating technology drive up the costs and complicate an already expansive process. Massive infusions of private and public money will be needed.”
But… but… green energy is suppossed to be super cheap, almost free! /sarc
This “cheap” claim is an example of telling truth but not “the whole truth nor only the truth.” Once the equipment is installed and substations and transmission lines are complete, and you ignore depreciation, O&M, and guaranteed return on capital for wind farms owned by a regulated utility, then the marginal cost of letting the blades spin is zero when the wind is actually blowing.
It is ‘free’ in the same sense that well water is free. You don’t have to pay for the water, just the hole to be drilled, the pump to bring it to the surface, and the electricity to run the pump.
Yes it’s always puzzled me that self-identifying “environmental crusaders” (Sierra Club, GreenPeace, WWF, etc, etc) want to plonk environmentally-destructive contraptions such as wind turbines in pristine natural locations.
I mean. rooftop solar panels aren’t invading natural landscapes, since they’re plonked on top of already-built structures.
But wind farms towers and their transmissions lines require destruction of vast areas of forests, fields, and now seascapes.
What have they got against greenery?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67360140 lightning causing fires that destroy climate cooling trees.
Yet again, God reveal themselves..
As per I’m listening to mind-numbing dance music on Twitch.
Today and for whatever reason, a DJ has been installed in a corn/stubble field.
as per screenshot here
(The DJ here is playing some very chilled stuff today)
Who is NOT going to venture that that stuff is going to make ‘Biofuel’ or ‘Biomass’
I explained previously, overhead transmission lines attract lightning and when the line tries to protect itself, behaves exactly like dozens of overpowered electric arc welders, dispersed over a very wide area – each making masses or white hot sparks of molten metal.
(= why arc welders ‘do your eyes in‘ and burn you without even touching them.. There are ‘particles’ in electric arcs at temperatures in excess of 50,000Kelvin. Make that = 56 nanometres or one fifth the wavelength of UVC)
If those power lines were carrying DC, any given amount of ‘conductor’ could carry at least 5 times the power of an AC line, over any distance you like and could be buried = well out the way of any lightning.
another pic from a different angle.
I called it ‘It gets worse cornfield’
It is at a guess been part Barley and part Corn – hence the bales.
The baled straw has got to be for livestock-bedding implying that the corn in the other picture will be for ‘Maize Silage’ = winter fodder for dairy cows
Not Biomass.
But look at it, they planted a steel pylon on top of a hill.
In a corn field.
suicidal madness
But when ‘it all goes up‘ – it’ll be everybody else’s fault due to their (not mine) their emissions
Did anyone see the news from Kolkata = how the city has had to be closed down due to intense Smog.
They are planning on doing some cloud seeding (today I think) to clear it
of course, Climate is the villain.
While if you look far/hard enough, the fortnight we are now in is the peak time when farmers all around that part the world burn the stubble of their rice fields so as to clear the ground for crops of winter wheat.
PETA, I have watched “Clarkson’s Farm” on Amazon several times. Funny show. Are you near Chipping Norton?
World’s Largest Offshore Wind System Developer Abandons Two Major US Projects as Wind Bust Continues
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/world-s-largest-offshore-wind-system-developer-abandons-two-major
EXCERPT
The signs of major financial troubles for the offshore wind industry have been visible, to discerning eyes, for several years.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and US East Coast in 2018/2019, before inflation and high interest rates, obtained financing, components and specialized ships at low costs, to achieve production prices of about 16 c/kWh, before subsidies, about 8 c/kWh, after subsidies.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in 2019/2020 saw only minor changes in market costs, and were able to bid similar pricing. Two years of those 8 c/kWh electricity costs became embedded in the public mind.
Companies that had bid offshore projects in 2020/2021 saw significant changes in market costs, especially regarding the availability and leasing cost of specialized ships.
Companies took projects at smaller project margins, to maintain market share.
The changes in market prices became untenable in 2021/2022, because of high inflation, high interest rates and complete lack of timely availability of specialized ships.
Stocks of major companies, such as Oersted, a Danish Company, and Siemens, a German company, peaked at end 2021; the smart money was getting out. See below images
Siemens is seeking 15 billion euros in loan guarantees from the government to finance existing projects, because banks would not loan risky money, except at very high interest rates
The German government agreed to assume liability for 80% of an initial 10 billion euro funding tranche, while banks would be liable for the remaining 20%, WirtschaftsWoche said.
These companies likely will receive various financing bailouts from their governments to stay afloat; they are too big to fail.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/german-govt-agrees-provisional-siemens-energy-guarantees-amid-wind-crisis?ref=biztoc.com
As a result, the offshore wind production prices had become about 34 c/kWh, before subsidies, about 17 c/kWh, after subsidies, as shown below.
Those electricity production costs will not be significantly decreasing for some years.
NOTE: As part of cost cutting, Siemens announced the cancellation of the proposed $200 million factory to make 300-ft fiberglas rotor blades, at the Port of Virginia, in Portsmouth.
It would have created more than 310 jobs in the US. Almost all of those jobs will now stay in Germany.
https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-virginia-north-america-virginia-beach-826ece247f6eddcd3779f8e81a864717
Worldwide Offshore Wind Capacity Placed on Operation
– During 2018/2019, the industry received record orders, which were placed in operation in 2021
Company stock prices were high
During 2021, worldwide offshore wind capacity placed in operation was 17,398 MW, of which China 13,790 MW, and the rest of the world 3,608 MW, of which UK 1,855 MW; Vietnam 643 MW; Denmark 604 MW; Netherlands 402 MW; Taiwan 109 MW
Of the 17,398 MW, just 57.1 MW was floating, about 1/3%
At end 2021, 50,623 MW was in operation, of which just 123.4 MW was floating, about 1/4%
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-report-2022-edition
IMO one of the biggest problems with wind (much more so than solar) is the fact that wind farms have to be built so far from the rest of the grid. If they are on land, no one wants to be anywhere near them (for obvious reasons), and if at sea, no one wants to have them so close to the shore that they would despoil beaches.
Ever since there has been electric distribution, power plants have always been built close to population centers where their power can be easily distributed. Granted, most people don’t want a power plant (any kind, but especially nukes) in their back yard, but people have been living near power plants for a long time. Coal plants weren’t nice to live near before they cleaned up the actual pollution emanating from them.
But the point is, wind installations are, by necessity, so far away from where the power needs to be. This would be like putting the outhouse a half a mile away from one’s house (back when people didn’t have indoor plumbing) and not within easy walking distance! It kind of defeats the purpose of having it…..same thing with wind power. And no, the answer isn’t putting these windmills in populated areas (assuming that could easily be done without years of legal battles) – the answer is not using them!
Floating Offshore Wind Systems in the Impoverished State of Maine
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind-systems-in-the-impoverished-state-of-maine
Offshore Wind Capacity Placed on Operation in 2021
World: During 2021, worldwide offshore wind capacity placed in operation was 17,398 MW, of which China 13,790 MW, and the rest of the world 3,608 MW, of which UK 1,855 MW; Vietnam 643 MW; Denmark 604 MW; Netherlands 402 MW; Taiwan 109 MW
Of the 17,398 MW, just 57.1 MW was floating, about 1/3%
At end of 2021, 50,623 MW was in operation, of which just 123.4 MW was floating, about 1/4%
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-report-2022-edition
Despite the meager floating offshore MW in the world, pro-wind politicians, bureaucrats, etc., aided and abetted by the lapdog Media, in the impoverished State of Maine, continue to fantasize about building 3,000 MW of 850-ft-tall floating offshore wind turbines by 2040!!
Maine government bureaucrats, etc., in a world of their own climate-fighting fantasies, want to have about 3,000 MW of floating wind turbines by 2040; a most expensive, totally unrealistic goal, that would further impoverish the already-poor State of Maine for many decades.
Those bureaucrats, etc., would help fatten the lucrative, 20-y, tax-shelters of mostly out-of-state, multi-millionaire, wind-subsidy chasers, who likely have minimal regard for:
1) Impacts on the environment and the fishing and tourist industries of Maine, and
2) Already-overstressed, over-taxed, over-regulated Maine ratepayers and taxpayers, who are trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real-growth economy.
Those fishery-destroying, 850-ft-tall floaters, with 24/7 strobe lights, visible 30 miles from any shore, would cost at least $7,500/ installed kW, or at least $22.5 billion, if built in 2023 (more after 2023)
They would produce electricity at about 40 c/kWh, without subsidies, about 20 c/kWh with subsidies, the wholesale price at which utilities would buy from Owners (higher prices after 2023)
https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-signs-bill-create-jobs-advance-clean-energy-and-fight-climate-change-through
The Maine woke bureaucrats are falling over each other to prove their “greenness”, offering $millions of this and that for free, but all their primping and preening efforts has resulted in no floating offshore bids from foreign developers
The Maine people have much greater burdens to look forward to for the next 20 years, courtesy of the Governor Mills incompetent, woke bureaucracy that has infested the state government
The Maine people need to finally wake up, and put an end to all the climate scare-mongering, which aims to subjugate and further impoverish them, by voting the entire Democrat woke cabal out and replace it with rational Republicans in 2024
The present course leads to financial disaster for the impoverished State of Maine and its people.
The purposely-kept-ignorant Maine people do not deserve such maltreatment
NOTE: The above prices compare with the average New England wholesale price of about 5 c/kWh, during the 2009 – 2022 period, 13 years, courtesy of:
Natural gas-fueled CCGT plants, with low-cost, low-CO2, very-low particulate/kWh
Nuclear plants, with low-cost, near-zero CO2, zero particulate/kWh
Hydro plants, with low-cost, near-zero-CO2, zero particulate/kWh
NOTE: Equinor, a Norwegian company, just put in operation 11 Hywind, floating offshore wind turbines, each 8 MW, for a total of 88 MW, in the North Sea.
They will provide about 35% of the electricity used by 2 Norwegian oil rigs.
The existing diesel and gas-turbine generators on the rigs, provide the other 65%.
They will counteract the up/down output of the wind turbines, and provide almost all the electricity during low-wind periods, and during high-wind periods, when rotors are stopped and locked.
The capital cost of the entire set-up is known to Equinor and the Owners of the oil rigs, but that info is carefully hidden from the public.
The production cost likely will be greater than 46 c/kWh, without subsidies, more than
23 c/kWh, with subsidies
If such units were used in Maine, a high voltage cable would be hanging from each unit, until it reaches bottom, say about 500 to 1000 feet.
The cable would need some type of support system
Then the cable would run horizontal to shore for at least 25 to 30 miles
Rich Norway can afford to dabble in such expensive follies, but impoverished Maine would buckle under such a heavy burden
“It would have created more than 310 jobs in the US.”. Those jobs would have killed off two or three times as many other jobs. Best if they stay elsewhere. Energy has a simple rule: The less people it takes to generate and deliver energy, the more jobs it creates.
These subsidized wind jobs would not even exist without the subsidies.
Boosting industries that produce expensive products, even after huge subsidies, is an insidious wealth destroyer.
The US and EU are using the Paris Agreement as a club to hit countries to get them with their RE program, aimed to perpetuate/preserve the West’s dominance
BRISC + whatever number will be a huge threat to that dominance
climate crazy Wokeachusetts
According to the 2023 MASSACHUSETTS STATE HAZARD MITIGATION
AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLAN executive summary at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/2023-resilientmass-plan#read-the-executive-summary-
On page 5: “by 2050 and annual average temperature increase of 5.9 to 7.9°F”.
According to “Managing Forests for Climate Change in Massachusetts” at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjji_KD2r6CAxVzIUQIHYq1ANwQFnoECA8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mass.gov%2Fdoc%2Fmanaging-forests-for-climate-change-in-massachusetts-forester-guide%2Fdownload&usg=AOvVaw3r_yaFxOeGLMLXxuxiLwvt&opi=89978449
on page 3: “The average annual temperature in Massachusetts has risen more than 3°F since the late 1800s, with temperatures rising in all seasons.2, 3 Historical records show that warming has accelerated in recent decades2 (Figure 1).”
It shows a chart which is too small for anyone to understand. I’ve attached it. The description says it comes from NOAA. It’s probably been shown/discussed here. I don’t know enough about researching this kind of info.
So this is all crazy, right? Of course the temperature isn’t going to go up 5.9-7.9 F by 2050. And I doubt the temperature here has gone up 3 deg F since the late 1800s. I guess I can try to search NOAA. Maybe somebody here can assist in this- as I battle the state of Wokeachusetts, pretty much alone, as I’m not aware of ANYBODY in this f******g lunatic state doing so.
I doubt that even CA or NY is this f******g crazy. That’s why I keep saying Wokeachusetts is the Mecca, the Holy Land, of climate lunacy.
The late 1800s was the end of the Little Ice Age, so it was still pretty cold. It still is too cold to live outside of the tropics without lots of technology.
Dam cold today here in north central Wokeachusetts- 38 F. Tonight is suppossed to drop to 17 F and it’s not even mid November. Meanwhile, my idiotic state government is screaming that the world is burning up – gone up several degrees already and several more by 2050. They should be put into straight jackets in a rubber room.
I feel for you….I live in Maryland. Our current governor (as one of the first things he did upon coming into office) signed legislation to ban gas powered cars from being sold in 2035. Montgomery county (luckily I don’t live there) recently decided to ban new gas hookups and to ban gasoline powered lawn equipment (without any “grandfathering”….people are just expected to stop using gas leaf blowers, weed trimmers, etc) in this coming year.
And not a single peep from the press! I swear, it really seems like most people behave like sheep headed to slaughter. They make not a sound in protest and march right into oblivion!
I really don’t know what the answer is, especially when you are surrounded by dumb sheep….
As for me, if I’m still living in Maryland 11 years from now and I want to buy a new car (unlikely, but let’s just say) I’ll go to West Virginia and purchase one. Even if I have to register it there using a P.O. Box.
The way things are going in this country I really do believe that sometimes the only thing that will work to stop this kind of madness is resistance. Hopefully the resistance of a few will spawn more and more resistance.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Subject: KINDLE HAS JUST RELEASED THE THIRD BOOK IN MY “CULL TRILOGY”
Hon. Danielle Smith
Premier of Alberta
premier@gov.ab.ca
Copied to: Canadian and USA (“mostly bought”) media and politicians
Subject: KINDLE HAS JUST RELEASED THE THIRD BOOK IN MY “CULL TRILOGY”
THE CORRUPTION OF OUR INSTITUTIONS – THE NEW DARK AGE
Book 3 of the “Cull Trilogy”
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CLVVW54G
Following are the first two Chapters in my third book of my “Cull Trilogy”, just released by Kindle/Amazon.
The same story is true in the USA and all the Western world.
Note the dates of events – pre-Covid.
These two articles by Robert McCarter and me describe events that PREDATE the false Covid-19 scamdemic, and are proof of the intent of criminal governments worldwide to run a scam on us – to lock down and destroy our economies and force us to take the toxic Covid-19 “vaccines”.
It was obvious to me and a few others that Covid-19 was NOT more dangerous than other seasonal flu’s – I knew that fact in Feb2020 and published on 21Mar2020, advising then to ONLY protect the very elderly and infirm. Six months later world experts published the identical recommendations in their Great Barrington Declaration – 100% correct!
I wrote our governments on 8Jan2021 to NOT deploy the Covid-19 “vaccines”, based on their high-risk/low reward profile – again 100% correct!
Since the Covid-19 illness was typically only fatal to the very elderly and infirm, there was NO justification for a high-risk/low-reward injection.
This correct advice was given BEFORE we learned that the Covid-19 “vaccines’ were toxic and ineffective.
The global death toll from these Covid-19 “vaccines” now totals ~18 million in the Western world, and ~~36 million globally, increasing by ~1 million per month. (My calculations – see also Denis Rancourt).
In the USA and Canada, the Covid-19 “vaccines” have killed more people than we lost in World War 1 AND World War 2. Our criminal governments are still pushing these toxic Covid-19 “vaccines” and are still banning the use of the potent anti-viral Ivermectin. NOT an accident – this was mass murder.
These two articles are proof of criminal intent by government officials worldwide to defraud and to murder the public. There is no other interpretation that fits the facts.
Regards, Allan MacRae, Calgary
____________________
THE LIBERALS’ COVERT GREEN PLAN FOR CANADA – POVERTY AND DICTATORSHIP
by Allan M.R. MacRae, 1Oct2019
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/01/the-liberals-covert-green-plan-for-canada-poverty-and-dictatorship/
Introduction to the article:
I thoroughly checked the credibility of my source for this article and he is rock solid. I learned of this story in August2019 and worked with the former editor of the Financial Post, where I have published since 2002, to have it published in Canada before the federal election. After several weeks of edits, the new FP Editor rejected it, so I published online.
_____________________
THE GREAT RESET: PLANNING THE THEFT OF CANADA?
What we now know as “The Great Reset” has been in the works for a while, I first learned of the Great Reset for Canada back in August 2019 when […]
By Robert McCarter, October 2, 2022
Reprinted by permission of the author from
https://fcpp.org/2022/10/02/the-great-reset-planning-the-theft-of-canada/
Introduction to the article:
My source for my previous Chapter, “The Liberals’ Covert Green Plan For Canada – Poverty And Dictatorship”, wrote the following in 2002. He is highly credible, as attested by several of our mutual friends. I have come to know him well, and I trust him completely.
_____________________
THE CULL TRILOGY – by Allan Malcolm MacRae
MURDER OF MULTITUDES
Covid & Climate Chronicles – The Big Cull
Book 1 of the “Cull Trilogy”.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHR2Z38J
THE CLIMATE SCAM: Fifty Years of False Fears
Book 2 of the “Cull Trilogy”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK1ZZY7T
THE CORRUPTION OF OUR INSTITUTIONS – The New Dark Age
Book 3 of the “Cull Trilogy”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLVVW54G
________________________________
Allan MacRae, it’s very good to see this!
I saw an article that stated the Panama Canal has now water and the very next phrase was “because of climate change.” No supporting evidence, no supporting details as to why or the reason it was stated as a fact. Nothing. The MS press now claim events are caused by climate change and because they say it, it is so. What rubbish.
No water not now water. Dang it.
Climate Change taketh away and Climate Change giveth back, all hail Climate Change!
I wonder how much of the shortage is due to natural climate variability and how much might be due to canal expansion net of any increase in water storage capacity.
So, sea level rise, means Panama Canal has less water ??
No, drought. Don’t you know that the Panama Canal is miles an’ miles away from the sea! sarc.
The article David Wojick links to above is part of a two-part series from CalMatters with a short headlining article:
Harnessing a Windfall
Part 1: ‘A massive enterprise’: California’s offshore wind farms are on a fast track
Part 2: ‘Another attempt to industrialize the coast’: California’s Central Coast residents work to stop — or at least slow down — offshore wind
An earlier article by CalMatters from December 2022 is also worth reading:
California approves far-reaching strategy for tackling climate change. So what’s next?
OK ….
My anti-nuclear relatives who live in the Bay Area of California are all in on the Net Zero transition and oppose current plans to keep Diablo Canyon open beyond 2025. I have other relatives living in New York State who are similarly anti-nuclear and similarly supportive of Net Zero.
All of these relatives are disappointed that President Biden, by not taking more decisive action to move Net Zero forward, has not walked the talk of his climate change promises.
I make the point to my Bay Area relatives that if California is to reach its Net Zero objectives, the state must take these steps at a minimum:
— Energy conservation must become the central focus of the state’s Net Zero transition plan.
— Conservation must be encouraged through substantial increases in the prices of all forms of energy consumed in California.
— Because some types of fossil energy such as gasoline and diesel are price inelastic, some form of directly-imposed energy rationing will eventually become necessary.
— A fossil infrastructure transition plan must be adopted which lists each specific piece of California’s fossil infrastructure targeted for eventual closure, plus its targeted closure date.
— The California infrastructure transition plan must include an enumerated list of every gas-fired power plant, every petroleum refinery, every tank farm, every neighborhood gas station (etc., etc.) targeted for closure.
— California must bypass or even eliminate any and all regulatory and environmental review processes which might impede the Net Zero transition.
— The state must gain the Biden Administration’s buy-in for bypassing or even eliminating all federal environmental review and approval processes, substituting fast-track state processes for the federal processes.
— California must guarantee a 10% annual rate of return for all private funds invested in wind, solar, battery technology, and power transmission & distribution infrastructure by allowing immediate pass-through of all identified Net Zero transition costs to electricity consumers and rate-payers.
A further point I make to my California relatives is this. In looking at today’s American political scene, I think it likely that Gavin Newsom will follow Joe Biden into the White House, doing so either in January 2025 if Biden bows out, or in January 2029 if Biden runs again and is reelected in November 2024.
If Gavin Newsom wants to demonstrate his credentials as a Net Zero advocate to those who want more aggressive action on climate change at the national level, he will implement all the measures listed above before leaving office as California’s current governor.
Bloomberg’s green-energy research team estimated it would cost $US200 Trillion to stop Global Warming by 2050. There are about 2 billion households in the world, so that is $US100,000 per household. Ninety percent of the world’s households can’t afford anything additional so the households in developed nations will have to pay 10 times as much to cover it. That means about $US 1 million per household in developed countries or about $US 35,000 per year for 27 years.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-07-05/-200-trillion-is-needed-to-stop-global-warming-that-s-a-bargain#xj4y7vzkg
IIRC, it was stated in Congressional testimony by someone from Goldman-Sachs (or one those Wall Street firms) that a rough guess for Net Zero by 2050 for the US alone is 50 trillion dollars.
I’m not an advocate of solar-geo-engineering through solar radiation modification. However, I tell to my relatives that if we are willing to accept the substantial environmental risks of solar geo-engineering, we can quickly reduce the earth’s global mean temperature by 2C in less than ten years time. And for an annual cost of roughly 200 billions dollars a year even if it has to be done indefinitely into the future.
The response I get from my relatives concerning this point about solar geo-engineering is either a deer-in-the-headlights look, a word-salad talking point type of response, or else complete silence.
As I posted above most of the climate deaths are due to cold weather, about 4.6 million per year, hot weather only kills about 500,000 per year.
I’m pretty sure most people would prefer $US1 million extra in the bank and a degree or two of warming.
Gavin Newsom is the male Kamala Harris; not even Californians like him. He’s arrogant and stunningly scientifically illiterate.
One has to wonder how people like them get elected.
For politicians, ignorance is a feature, not a bug.
In my newsfeed this week:
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/11/tesla-model-x-slides-down-boat-ramp-burns-underwater/amp/
Tesla Model X Slides Down Boat Ramp, Ignites And Burns Underwater
November 9, 2023
“Launching your watercraft is always stressful. There’s the challenge of backing up a trailer, the jeopardy of doing that with an expensive piece of equipment behind you, and the added spice of reversing towards a large body of water. However, a couple in Hollywood, Florida, learned that things can get a whole lot more stressful than that when their Tesla Model X slipped into the water. . .
It’s unclear at what point the Model X started sliding into the water, but the Hollywood Professional Firefighters report that the vehicle “lost traction and slid into the inter-coastal.” It says that the salt water then reacted with the electronics, causing them to short, and sparking a fire that burned for an “extended period of time.”
“The fire was allowed to burn underwater until it extinguished itself,” Hollywood Professional Firefighters wrote on Facebook. “And even then, it had to be loaded carefully onto a special carrier, and followed by the Fire Engine to the impound lot, where they’ll keep the vehicle isolated for a few days in the very real possibility of re-ignition.”
end excerpts
Boat Ramps: Another hazard for electric vehicles and electric vehicle owners.
In my Haz-Mat training which was sometimes done with the fire department.
Priorities used to be 1 Save the People, 2 Save the Property, 3 Save the Environment.
Now because of something that came out the UN (1400?) and some local governments are adopting, among other things, the priorities are now, 1 Save the People, 2 Save the Environment, 3 Save the Property.
I wonder what that Tesla burning underwater did to that local part of the the inter-coastal waterway?
https://www.okenergytoday.com/2023/11/rep-brecheen-wants-to-put-john-kerry-out-of-work/
Rep. Brecheen wants to put John Kerry out of work
November 8, 2023
“Brecheen introduced the Stop Climate Hysteria in Diplomacy Act, which would ensure President Biden’s Executive Order 14027 would have no force or effect. . .
“The Climate Change Support Office is nothing more than a pet project for John Kerry to integrate climate change into all aspects of American foreign policy decisions. With this bill, Congress can eliminate a useless office and prevent the United States from prioritizing radical climate policy over our national security,” said the congressman.”
end excepts
Congressman Brecheen is my local repesentative. No, I didn’t give him any advice. He came up with this all on his own. 🙂
From my newsfeed this week:
https://www.topspeed.com/difference-between-solid-state-and-lithium-ion-batteries/
Understanding The Difference Between Solid-State and Lithium-Ion Batteries
By Jody Only
Published 1 day ago
There was a discussion about solid-state batteries at WUWT a couple of days ago and this article gives a pretty good overview of the subject.
Has anyone else tried ChatGPT to generate more subtle rebuttals to the warmist narrative? Maybe if facts and logic don’t sway the undecided, the soft power of AI can. Here I asked ChatGPT to write a poem in the style of Andrew Marvell on the benefits of CO2.Five seconds later..
Upon this earthly stage where life does bloom,
In nature’s dance, through sunlit, verdant room,
A gas, unseen, yet vital to our breath,
Carbon dioxide, herald of life’s wealth.
In gentle whispers, leaves breathe in the air,
Embracing carbon’s gift, beyond compare.
A partner to the sun, in photosynthesis,
It fuels the dance of life, in sweet synthesis.
As tendrils reach, in forests dense and wide,
The trees, the lungs, where joy and breath coincide.
Through cycles intertwined, a waltz sublime,
Carbon weaves the threads of earthly clime.
O, marvel at the greening of the earth,
A tale of carbon’s worth, of life’s rebirth.
In every blade of grass, a quiet ode,
To this humble gas, the giver of abode.
Yet heed with care, our stewardship we bear,
Balance the dance, in nature’s rhythmic flare.
For in the delicate balance we maintain,
Carbon, the giver, need not turn to bane.
In cycles ancient, life and breath align,
A testament to nature’s grand design.
So, let us cherish, with hearts aglow,
The dance of carbon, in life’s ebb and flow.
I thought the fourth verse was inspired (if one can use that word here).
I hear that Saint Greta was leading her minions through Holland in the lead up to their elections.
So, remind me, isn’t Greta… ummm… SWEDISH?!
Isn’t Holland… ummm… NOT SWEDEN?
It sounds like Greta is engaging in a little election interference.
If it’s not the Russians or Chicoms, it’s Greta! 🙂
Ah yes but she hasn’t been arrested in Holland yet.
These Open Threads give a lot of useful information. However, many comments fall broadly into the category of “Complaint” when the more valuable ones are in the category of “Suggestions to Improve the Complaint”. The really valuable ones, in my humble opinion, are those with actual observations and measurements. Numbers, Data. Is
For example, people need comprehensive, credible dollar figures about the cost of electricity to the user from various generation sources. Renewables are not the cheapest source. So the work of Ken Gregory that gives a realistic price comparison made a most valuable comment some time back. Just for example. Geoff S
https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/news/hamas-leaders-worth-11bn-live-luxury-lives-in-qatar/
Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer
By Isabel Vincent and
Benjamin Weinthal
Published Nov. 7, 2023, 5:48 p.m. ET
——
So I guess we know where all that aid money to the Palestinian people went.
Somebody ought to tell the Palestinian people, and Palestinian protesters around the world, that their leaders are corrupt and are taking care of themselves, not the Palestinian people. The Hamas leadership is the problem. Where in the Koran does it say the leadership should steal all the people’s money?
This is how dictatorships work: The leaders steal all the money for themselves and couldn’t care less about the plight of the people.
Isolationist Republicans who are balking at supporting Ukraine are damaging the security of the United States with this position.
I have no problem with requiring strict accounting procedures to keep track of any money spent, but for Isolationist Republicans to oppose funding Ukraine’s efforts to stay free is about as shortsighted as it gets when it comes to national security.
It’s the wrong signal to send to the world, to our allies and enemies alike, it’s the wrong signal.
Isolationist Repubicans need to wake up to reality. Opposing Putin’s expansionism and criminality is the right thing to do for Ukraine and for the Western Democracies. If you can’t see that, you have no business deciding the direction this nation takes.
You can’t run away from the International Bullies. You have to confront them. Ukraine is confronting one particular International Bully, Putin, for us, so we don’t have to do it ourselves. All we have to do is supply Ukraine with the means to defend themselves, and they will do the job without American boots on the ground. It doesn’t get much easier when it comes to defending our interests.
Support for Ukraine should be a no-brainer for anyone with any sense of history, or the current situation.
Isolationist Repubicans are headed down the wrong road. Uhfortunately, it will affect all of us detrimentally if carried to fruition, not just these idiots.
Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have done an excellent job of smearing Ukraine, and are the impetus for this current Republican isolationism. Their mantra is everyone in Ukraine is irredeemably corrupt and not worthy of support.
Turning inward, as the Isolationist Republicans want to do, does not impress the tyrants and the dictators of the world. They would love the United States to withdraw from the world.
Isolationism won’t save money or lives in the long run. If you let the bad guys run wild, eventually they will be coming for you.
Wise up, Isolationist Republicans.