Month: February 2019

Something to be proud of?

How proud must former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull be of his son to tweet with such eloquence and grace. We get that Alex Turnbull is disgruntled that his old man was dumped from the top job. Yet his inner totalitarian must resort to profanity and vulgarity to smear a party who gave his father the highest honour that could be bestowed on him.

Without doubt the Liberal Party has much to answer for during its term in government This election should serve them a shellacking. However Turnbull Jr should look at his father’s inaction driven legacy while PM which accelerated the party’s demise. He might reflect on the disloyalty shown to his party immediately after he was deposed by the very rules he came to power by.

The ultimate irony of point 5 is that Mr Turnbull avoided conservative media outlets, including Sky, like the plague. How odd that a conservative politician felt intimidated by the very outlets that would give him a positive platform. Well the truth is that Mr Turnbull dragged the ‘Turnbull Coalition’ so far to the left that he knew conservative outlets would roast him. Telling.

The majority of conservative Liberal supporters certainly don’t miss Mr Turnbull and anything tweeted by Alex only confirms what they already knew.

Democrats don’t show up to their own climate change hearing

There was a touch of irony to have three out of the five House Democrats not show up to their own scheduled hearing on the global warming topic “The Denial Handbook: How Industries manipulate science and policy from climate change to public health”

Given we have only 12 years to do something before the world slips into the supposed abyss one would think these liberal doomsayers wouldn’t waste any time to save us from what they know best. In good spirit, four out of the four Republicans voted to adjourn the meeting against the two Democrats that showed up who voted not to postpone.

This once again exposes the “hot air” that surrounds the climate change debate. It’s hard to convince skeptics if words are not followed through with actions. Then again as AOC tells us, it’s more important to be morally right than factually correct.

Facebook face plant?

FB.jpg

Facebook is the dark blue line. Its popularity has been waning. Some people are complaining (and others cheering) that Tommy Robinson has been banned from Facebook & Instagram (he had already been banned from Twitter in March 2018) after he exposed the BBC in his ‘Panodrama‘ documentary with his own undercover video  claiming allegations of threats, blackmail and intimidation to smear him. BBC News was clearly happy to report on the outcome today. Regardless of one’s view on the legitimacy of the life ban on Robinson, FB is a corporation that has the power to exercise its own guidelines, no matter how farcical some might judge them. There are countless examples of censor bias across multiple social media platforms. The managements admit as much.

The flip side for Facebook to ban him only makes him more desirable to his followers and increase their willingness to leave the platform.

If conservatives are becoming frustrated at the bias shown by Facebook, Twitter or any other social media forum why not set up a rival? If conservatives feel their voices are being suffocated by political correctness and the actions of arbitrary thought police why haven’t they set up a platform that will not silence what they covet?

Even if they have a very good case to argue against being silenced they have two options; stop using these social media players who they feel obstruct or build a fresh site which would surely see conservatives flock to it.

Fighting Facebook or Twitter to play fair has been proved worthless countless times (e.g. black conservative Candace Owens being suspended for replacing the word “whites” from Sarah Jeong’s tweets with other races). So it is a war that won’t be won.

The publishing of Google’s internal post-election debrief video shouldn’t have surprised anyone in the slightest either. All the outward appeals to the group’s impartiality were smashed by this leak. In a sense Google was the victim of the half-life nature of the very digital media feeds it seeks to control. Even worse it was all the senior management talking about what really goes on. Sunlight is truly the best disinfectant.

There is an opportunity to plug the gaping hole in social media – one that is willing to support all free speech and not shut out those that ideologically disagree with the apparatchiks in the censorship department. The question is why conservatives haven’t stopped complaining and moved to finance a rival? Or is there an inner fear that the authorities will become the judge and jury on what is considered free speech and shut the platform, not the individual…

The wrecking ball reckoning

CM has said for quite some time that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) could be the best weapon the Democrats have but the lack of willingness to bring her inside the tent is causing the opposite to occur. She is nothing more than an internal wrecking ball.

As a social media darling for millennials she has reach. She’s doubled following in recent months. However her Green New Deal (GND) has just been costed by the Congressional Budget Office to the order of $93 trillion with a T. That’s more than global GDP. Nancy Pelosi slammed it as a Green Dream. The Speaker of the House was right but the problem is the less she is brought to heel the more she fractures the party message. Unity is the one thing the Democrats must show. They can’t be the party that hates Trump and show such disorder. Voters want a stable platform with sensible policies.

The other day she openly stated “I’m the boss” when referring to her GND proposals, even though it was torn down from her site. She even did a video in her kitchen about how climate change is out of control (eg bushfires – sadly 90% are accidentally lit or caused by arson) and postulated the point of being kids into this new world.

There is little time left to save her. Left to her own devices she will drag the party further and further left and alienate the middle ground. The Democrats don’t need in fighting to overthrow Trump. It’s bad enough that Kamala Harris jumped on the Jussie Smollett smear without thinking (even if it was her press officer) and Elizabeth Warren put “Native American” on her application form all those decades ago. It is such good advertising fodder into an election of how quick to judgement they are.

AOC could be mobilized really effectively. It would have been better to place AOC on the Democrats climate change panel to force her to tow the party line. Instead her devout disciples followed her lesson of several months ago by barging into Dianne Feinstein’s office with kids as young as 7 to protest inaction on climate.

These are seeds of disunity. The septa/octogenarians running the Democrats are looking at her as just an unruly step grandchild who will eventually grow up. Sadly at the rate she is going she will create growing waves of discontent supported by her 3.2 million followers (and growing) which will only hurt the chances for a 2020 Democrat win.

All the while this circus goes on, Hillary Clinton holds back until she smells the rotting carcass of the too numerous to count primary candidates and throws her Epi pen laced candidacy in the ring to challenge Trump.

Stand for America

Former US Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has started up “Stand for America” to fight for American culture/values, border security, foreign policy, public safety, term limits and to tackle the scourge of “I’m the boss” AOC style socialism. It looks to be very much like why Advance Australia is trying to do down under.

It was always a question of what she would do in her next gig. CM doubts she’ll struggle to raise a lot of donations to support her cause. As an American Sikh woman she also, frustratingly for the Democrats, ticks the identity/diversity box.

Still think she would make a great candidate for POTUS in 2024.

91st Oscars dead cat bounce

Once again the Oscars were all about sanctimonious identity politics. Billy Porter set the tone in his tuxedo ball gown. Presumably a sop to transgender issues on the outside but a blatant play for attention to get the next big role. Shock value is what the Oscars thrive on. Yet shock resides with the ABC which promotes it. Last year the 90th Oscars slumped 16%, or 25 year lows. Things had become so bad that the network had to offer advertisers guarantees for the first time ever.

So 2019 ratings showed a 12% bounce in ratings, off a low base which has declined 40% in the last 5 years. What a surprise? Who wouldn’t listen to Spike Lee talk about being in the right side of history in 2020? The champagne socialists are always in touch with the masses.

They will undoubtedly champion the bump as a full endorsement even though no host is the best way to have audiences return. Watch the old bad habits come out in force in 92nd Oscars in 2020, especially as it will be an election year. Hollywood is still a figment of their own imagination. It is truly make believe to think Main St pay them any mind at the polling booth.

What happens if Yellowstone erupts?

Image result for usgs st helens map

In 2012, CM, in a former guise, wrote a piece on what might happen if Mt Fuji erupted. Over the past couple of years, scientists have been postulating whether Yellowstone might blow her top. In 2019 the stories are front page news again. The last time she blew was 631,000 years ago. So the consensus is not if, but when. The last time she blew, 240 cubic miles of volcanic ash spewed into the atmosphere. When Mt St Helens erupted as a VEI5 (paroxysmal), 0.29 cubic miles of ash and volcanic rock was sent into the atmosphere. The 2010 Icelandic Eyjafjnallajokull volcano was a VEI4 (cataclysmic).

The doomsayers suggest if the Wyoming based volcano goes off, 87,000 will be killed immediately and 2/3rds of the US will become inhabitable. The ash would block out sunlight leading to cooling by up to 5 degrees. The sulphur aerosol spewed out of volcanoes reflects sunlight meaning the world could be thrown into a nuclear winter. A volcano erupting has zero to do with global warming but it would change climactic conditions.

The damage caused in each zone can be seen here. FEMA believe a $3 trillion minimum economic impact would occur. That seems light if the Mega-colossal (VEI8) event occurs. St. Helens was around $3 billion in damages.

Zone 1

A major problem faced after an eruption is the electricity grid. Dry volcanic ash in and of itself is not conductive enough to cause insulator flashovers but it is highly soluble and if it is mainly composed of aerosols it can cause the grid to be shutdown. The insulators require de-ionised water to clean at low pressure to prevent damage to the surfaces of the conductors. Trying to rectify the problem by using backup diesel generators would be met by ultra fine volcanic ash particles gumming up injectors and the engine filters. So power shortages would be long lasting. Solar would also require cleaning and wind power gears would also become fouled up by the ash. So if you own a Tesla you’ll be in trouble. Gasoline powered cars would eventually stop working if filters weren’t replaced frequently.

Water reservoirs would also end up making it unsuitable for drinking in the short term. Depending on the level of turbidity of the water supply, several weeks may be required to restore it to normal.

Airlines would be grounded. Volcanic ash is terminal for jet engines. In 2010, the Icelandic volcano cost airlines over $1.5 billion in revenue over the 6 weeks or so of disruption. The Eurostar was not impacted by the volcano and saw a large uptick in business. Ferries also experienced a 4x boost in traffic.

If the eruption was as huge as forecast, filter companies would stand to benefit greatly. High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters would see high replacement demand. Japanese company Daikin (6367) has a subsidiary Nippon Muki which makes HEPA filters. Japan Vilene (3514) is also a maker for automotive related filters. Dow Chemical has HEPA filters although a tiny part of the total business.

Shipping companies would benefit, especially transport substitution of air cargo players where fleets would not be able to be deployed.

Insurance companies would likely escape a lot of financial damage as their policies are unlikely to cover ‘acts of god’ such as volcanic eruptions.

EPCO losses would be immense. The amount of repair work to entire grids and a halt to power supplies would hit revenue and ramp cost.

While it is still only hypothetical, the tragedy of a mega colossal eruption would be catastrophic in terms of loss of life and economic impact. The US is 25% of world GDP. Such a VEI8 eruption would have severe global economic implications. So if it comes, batten down the hatches.

Child abuse

It has to be a blue moon for CM to back anything to do with Dianne Feinstein but when confronted with brainwashed kids as young as 7 parroting the words drummed into their heads by teachers and parents on climate change it borders on child abuse. Feinstein was right

Yet several of CM’s liberal leaning friends support the use of kids for political gain. The idea that politicians will screw them over so might as well start them early in growing skepticism. There might be an element of truth but instead of trying to teach their kids the merits of weighing both sides of an argument critically, it’s easier to force an ideology and make them fear the outcome if it doesn’t swing to their way of being indoctrinated. That’s abuse.

Say if the 7yo child that met Feinstein read a NY Times headline on the breakfast table which pushed a “climate doom” narrative despite being exceptionally misleading with the connection to global warming. There is no way the kid can discern between truth and fiction. It is obtuse to think otherwise. At 7, CM’s life was more about Matchbox cars and Meccano. Talk about putting unnecessary mental strain on one’s own child. One young girl told Feinstein that they only had 12 years to do something, words she probably heard from AOC. Do her parents believe we only have that amount of time left? How irresponsible to give birth to her if she has such limited time to enjoy herself.

Not to worry. The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is now advocating their services to help people cope with climate change. Since when did shrinks see it as their role to enforce climate activism? Read the bumpf on the above link. It is insane (no pun intended). Does the APS have 100% support from its members or does the organizational politburo feel it is well within its governance boundaries to push such preposterous notions on behalf of all psychologists? Surely they need their own heads read.

Juncker focuses on the wrong climate

There is an irony to EC President Jean-Claude Juncker promising to spend €1 in €4 of the EU budget on climate mitigation. Worse he used 16yo Swedish climate school strike activist Greta Thunberg as the pawn to justify it. €1 trillion will be spent annually through 2027. It is for their future after all!

Last week CM debated a former client who tried to justify teachers using WMO data in their studies of teenage students on climate. WMO is a part of the U.N. which has been embroiled in so much data manipulation, scandal, lack of governance, unethical conduct and conflicts of interest as to beggar belief. So kids are being indoctrinated if the scholastic standard is the WMO.

Has Juncker considered how his climate plan will alleviate stubborn poverty and anemic economic growth?

EU poverty or risk of exclusion in 2017 stood at 22.4%. So 1 in 4 EU-28 member state citizens are struggling. In Greece it remains high at 35%. In 2007 poverty in the EU-28 was 16%. Even poster child Germany has gone from 16% to 19% in the same period. Macron’s yellow vests are protesting at 17.1% poverty vs 13% in 2007. In 2007 there were 78mn at risk of social exclusion. In 2017 there were 114mn.

The U.N. has called for “no poverty” in 15 years. The EU subscribes to this nonsense. While poverty may have drifted from the post GFC peak of 24.8% in the eurozone, 36mn extra people are unable to afford to heat their homes, afford a colour TV or eat meat, fish or chicken once every two days. These are the EU metrics on poverty. So how does spending €1 trillion per annum to mitigate climate change sit with a growing number of constituents dying to see blazing sunshine bask upon their economic climate?

Retail electricity prices across Europe are up 23% in the last decade. In Germany +39%. Spain +47%, Portugal +50%. Sweden +76%. France +40%. This is what happens when a growing amount of renewables are thrust on the grid. The countries with far lower renewables targets, like Hungary, have seen electricity prices fall. Who’d have thunk?

EU GDP growth has been slowing for the last 5 quarters and expected to slow to 1.1% in the coming quarter.

The EU claimed a 6.6% unemployment rate in Dec 2018. An update is expected on March 1. Is that number realistic if the poverty rate remains so high or is it a reflection of low paying rubbish job opportunities? Greek unemployment is north of 18% and Spain at 15%. Part time employment has grown to 20% from 15% over the last decade. In the Netherlands almost 50% of work is part time.

December 2018 EU industrial production fell 4.2%YoY. Ireland fell back 19.8% and Spain -6.7%. Hardly positive readings.

So instead of promising teenagers a green future, Juncker would find it far more sensible to focus on alleviating the chronic youth unemployment in Europe which remains around 19%. At least Thunberg is likely to skip the unemployment queue by landing a cushy EU job when she graduates unlike her fellow Swedish schoolmates who will face 18% unemployment.

What’s the point of listening to kids pleas to save the planet when the unelected overpaid bureaucracy in Brussels won’t even be able to provide them with a sustainable career to enjoy it? No doubt the kids will realize this folly when they grow up in the real world.