JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Is this appearance by the Chinese navy causing concern in Oz?
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/02/22/new-zealand-says-chinese-naval-vessel-fired-live-rounds-in-sea-drill-near-australia/
60
Our Uniparty politicians don’t really care and the Lamestream Media is not too fussed.
After all, most of them would welcome a Commie invasion.
I think the Chicomms are testing what TRUMP’s reaction will be as he must find the attitudes of the extremely woke Australia and NZ ANZUS Treaty alliance members very troubling.
Our Ambassador to the US KRudd, the PM Al-bozo and the Foreign Minister Wrong all have severe, incurable cases of TDS and EDS.
210
Yes, plus the CCP’s real irritation on the possibility of Aus aquiring nuclear subs. This issue has had the CCP constantly jabbing away at it since it was first mooted. The Chinese navy is well advanced in most areas but not subs.
Plus the real possibility that by constantly unsettling the Aus Govt (live fire, anyone ?) the ALP will turn eventually turn turtle on nuclear subs and abandon them.
40
Classic “probing in force” tactic.
Note any reaction; timing, and its tactical approach. Adjust if necessary.
I suggest folks read up on the role one Captain James Cook had in the Seige of Guebec.
No expert here; the closest I came to nautical prowess was learning how to operate Army assault boats, back in the day.
China already owns, literally, a huge chunk of the Australian meat trade; literally from “paddock to plate”
They also “took advantage” of this during the Kovid Kaper; with regular Chinese-flagged Jumbos per week, flying out of Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba, laden with tasty tucker, including a lot of wine. DIRECT flights tracked all the way to Hong Kong.
See also: Commercial and domestic real estate.
The Oz peasantry has LONG been sold down the river. And the new masters are adept at employing “useful idiots” from the local herd, to do the dirty work and provide a “plausible” screen.
70
Where’s Guebec?
00
? Quebec.
10
Tonyb,
Just Our Landlords dropping down to check us out!
50
Few government ministers would give up their weekend to clear an administrative backlog at any point of the election cycle, let alone on the eve of a campaign.
Which is why we must conclude that Immigration Minister Tony Burke’s explanation last Friday for unprecedented mass citizenship ceremonies in western Sydney is tosh.
Burke was not there to reduce an alleged waiting list of 50,000 would-be citizens. He was there to stack the electoral roll with thousands of people he thinks will vote Labor.
If Burke has a late-onset passion for clearing backlogs, he and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus might turn their minds to the 35,000 people appealing visa refusals at the Administrative Review Tribunal. Two-thirds of these are students who have overstayed their welcome.
A minister who appears to be treating certificates like real-estate brochures in a box labelled “Please take one” is committing profanity in the eyes of patriotic, socially conservative blue-collar voters who were once rusted on to Labor but have been steadily rusting off for the past 30 years.
Once they would have been the core constituents in a seat such as Watson, which Burke has occupied since 2004. Today it is a multicultural enclave demographically poles apart from most of the rest of Australia.
90
In Watson, more than half the population (55 per cent) was born overseas. Only 12 per cent had two Australian-born parents, compared with 13 per cent who had Chinese-born parents and 14 per cent whose parents came from Lebanon.
A quarter of Burke’s constituents are M@slim. Fewer than half (49 per cent) are in the workforce compared with 61 per cent across the country. The unemployment rate at the time of the 2021 census was 7 per cent compared with a national rate of 5.1 per cent.
This helps to explain why the first item that appears on Burke’s electoral website when one clicks on “How can we help?” is about Centrelink.
The second item invites constituents to contact Burke’s office if they need help with immigration, passports, citizenship, visas or travel documents.
No help is offered for small businesses or families who are doing it tough.
90
No, it’s fairly common for foreign navies to conduct live fire drills (to 50,000′) in say the Middle of the English Channel (150km from Sydney). And the Chinese government has objected to our objections, claiming we are too sensitive.
Given the Pacific ocean covers half the planet, being just off the coast of Australia is an obvious place to test fire munitions in the busiest air space in the region. Perhaps they could try Los Angeles next?
00
US Wildfires in decline
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/02/22/sensational-findings-published-in-nature-blow-politicised-wildfire-climate-scam-out-of-the-water/
50
The Dutch seem to be heading for a ban on social media for Children
https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/22/dutch-government-pressing-ahead-social-media-age-limit-policy
I think Oz was thinking of something similar but how do you check childrens ages without checking everyones ages? Surely that requires digital i.d.?
160
Yes. Australia has passed into law, waiting to be implemented next year after recommendations of how to implement it by the e Safety Kommisar.
Indeed.
That was the whole point. It was a surreptitious way of getting EVERYONE on social media to be ID’d and have their digital person number associated with their social media posts.
That way they can use AI to give you a Chicomm-style social credit score according to your level of compliance with the Official Narrative.
You can then be assessed for the quantity and type of rations and freedom you get such as insect and other “food” rations, freedom to leave your 15 Minute City, freedom to travel, size of housing etc..
170
Stay off social media is obviously the only sensible solution. I’ve managed to get this far without Facebook or X.
200
And then they came for this site……
And still I did nothing.
If you can’t see this creeping control landing on everything you touch then you’ve missed the point of the digital ID laws. They are always optional, just like breathing.
60
Eng_Ian,
I’m of two minds on this one. Posting under a pseudonym has been available on the Internet from back in the Usenet days (and before, I bet), but I have bother seeing it as a fundamental right. Free speech is *my* freedom to say what *I* want. I don’t think hiding my identity is in that deal. You don’t *have* freedom of speech if you have to speak anonymously.
In any case, how much anonymity do you *really* have posting under an pseudonym at Jo Nova’s? The website knows your IP address, and government officials can track that down to your ISP and thence to your physical connection. A bit inconvenient for them, but it wouldn’t be hard to automate if the government had a mind to.
20
I wrote some papers with a climate scientist some years ago. The person didn’t dare use their proper name as they worked for the govt and would have been fired or ostracised for being sceptical
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Not sure, but what happens when folks use a VPN? My son purchases his streaming service using an Argentinian IP via an VPN – apparently a lot cheaper.
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I saw somewhere, VPNs are very crackable.
00
The first paragraph of this article says it all
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/02/23/smug-lefties-most-likely-to-think-theyre-right-and-everyone-else-is-wrong/
Only 8% of the population could be called progressive activists (other phrases are available) but they exert power and authority way beyond their numbers.
The sad truth is that most people are not interested or too busy to get involved in activism so a small number who are dedicated to overthrowing or promoting something can exert great influence.
130
I’m a firm believer that we should grant these progressive activists everything that they want.
No oil, I’m okay with that. Strip them of anything made of plastic, remove access to any means of transport that use oil for lubrication, (fuel too of course). And if the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, then turn off their electrical power.
I’m all for living the life you chose. Let them too.
110
Starmer’s US Visit Set for Tense Talks as VP JD Vance Criticizes UK Censorship Laws: https://www.infowars.com/posts/keir-starmers-us-visit-set-for-tense-talks-as-vp-jd-vance-criticizes-uk-censorship-laws
Vice President JD Vance insists that the topic of ‘free speech’ will be on the table. Starmers far-left Stalinist persecution of British citizens on religious and/or ideological grounds will be on the table. Political prisoner Tommy Robinson and his journalism exposing Labour Party crimes will be mentioned. Far-left socialist Britain has been repeatedly criticized, particularly for its sweeping orwellian censorship law, the Online Safety Act. The legislation has the unfortunate quality of threatening free speech and US companies.
Vice President JD Vance said of the Stalinist East German type regime in Britain “We’re simply telling them to respect the values on which our civilisation was founded, that you ought to debate with one another, your government should respect when the people have a dissenting viewpoint. It’s very simple, and it’s very obvious.”
However like Stalin, far-left Starmer accuses his enemies of being far-right supporters of free speech fanatic, Adolph Hitler. So refuses to talk to Putin, Farage or Tommy Robinson.
160
FWIW
Method in that email reply –
“”They Are Covering Immense Fraud”: Musk Says Surprise Fed Emails Meant To Uncover ‘Non-Existent Or Dead People’ Collecting Paychecks”
“”The reason this matters is that a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!” Musk wrote on X. “In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud.” ”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-did-you-do-last-week-musk-says-federal-employees-have-until-midnight-monday-explain
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FWIW
“The ‘Remote Work’ Movement”
“I get it: It looks like a free lunch.
And for some people perhaps it is. If your job is just a job, and you’re not really after climbing the ladder in the corporate world then it would appear to have little downside.
But it does have downside.”
“It is precisely that quality — observation and then initiative which will further the business — that employers who have some intelligence in their executive suite look for. It is also how you take your wage and add 50% or even double it in one step instead of another fifty cents or buck an hour a year.
If you demand to work remote you’re telling management you’re not interested in that.
Choose wisely.”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=252875
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FWIW
“GREAT MOMENTS IN OVERREGULATION:”
https://instapundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ryan_saavedra_douglas_carswell_home_depot_europe_02-23_2025-552×600.jpg
“Ryan Saavedra
@RealSaavedra
This is the crux of the problem facing Europe right now, including its
security situation with its weak militaries.
Severe overregulation has stifled their economic growth.
o
Douglas Carswell*E @DouglasCarswell • 22h
Home Depot is worth more than all the European start ups created in the past 50
years combined. Home Depot.
public From-scratch and EU Companies Less than 50 Years Old With Market Cap
US
1 1:51 AM Feb 23, 2025 • 51 Views”
(My bold)
https://instapundit.com/704460/#disqus_thread
I doubt Oz features very well either
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Australia has a couple of big ones. FMG is valued at $60bn. Fox Industries valued at $25bn. Visy is probably is probably up around $10bn. Bunnings only $2.4bn but a big player in Australia.
Some may be a little older than the 50 year mark but still in the lifetime of the founder except Visy in that list.
It would be interesting to do the analysis.
20
This is the first article I have read that makes a firm prediction on the outcome of EPA’s endangerment review:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/21/editorial-epa-officials-prepare-ditch-fiction-justifying-green-new/
Time will tell if this is well informed or highly speculative.
I would be surprised if Lee Zeldin has not recommended rescinding the finding. The Trump Administration may be planning how they address any legal attacks before the public release. The blue States will be high and dry on their NetZero voyage without their Federal gifts.
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And just like that there are 3 troppos:
https://www.met.gov.fj/index.php?page=maps
TC Rae, Cat 2, 985 hPa, formed last night and is now drifting southwards through the (eastern) Fiji islands of the Lau Group.
TC Alfred (aka ‘Anthony’), Cat 1, 991 hPa and soon to be Cat 2, formed in the Coral Sea and is slowly drifting southeastwards.
Our large NZ blocking high – summer at last! – is keeping these storms well to the north of us as they slide along the Tropical Convergence Zone, ie. we’re still under the effect of Antarctic fronts and hence missing out on that lovely tropical warmth & humidity which used to be standard fare for February.
TC Bianca, Cat 1, 997 hPa, is way out to sea off NW WA following the same track most of its predecessors took, harmlessly drifting into the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile the 3 naval ships of Chairman Xi are off the east coast of Tasmania, possibly spying on the ‘world-leading’ battery operated ferries being built there to ‘save the planet’ or sumpfink™️ – I mean, what else does the map o’ Tassie offer them?
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German Elections
AfD won second place in the German elections yesterday but will likely be denied a place in any coalition government due to a so called ‘firewall’.
Does anyone know how the German elections system works in terms of percentage votes converting into seats?
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