willem
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Part 3 to the California graphic above: The state assembly and state senate today approved a bill extending the operation of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant for an additional 5 years, to 2030. The two units were scheduled to close in 2024/2025 when their current operating licenses expire. But Gov. Gruesome came out not too long ago and said he thought they should keep running for awhile. I guess he figures that frequent statewide blackouts won’t look too good on a presidential aspirant’s resume.
I worked at this facility for a number of years, so I can tell you that it will be a real challenge making this happen. A number of multi-year projects aimed at getting ready to have the operating licenses renewed were cancelled and all the temporary staff released when the decision was made to shut down the plant at the end of its current license. The license renewal application process, shut down in the wake of the closure decision, will have to be restaffed and started up again–they let all those people go when they shut the project down 4 or 5 years ago. New fuel needs to be ordered, and there is a significant lead time for this; you don’t just have the fuel truck come out and fill your tanks up.
The feds (via the NRC) will still have a say in this also. Of note, two nuclear facilities whose extended operating licenses were approved by the NRC during the Trump Administration, the Biden’s new NRC appointees reversed both of those approvals. (Those were Turkey Point in Florida and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania)
The public and the politicians do not understand what goes into running such facilities. I have known for a long time that these people believed they would be able to pick up the phone literally the day before the final shutdown, and say “Wait! We want to keep it running a little longer….”
I’d like to thank whoever posted, some weeks back, the link to a Tim Watkins article (I think it was a link to his writeup titled “The Complexity Trap”). Watkins has a lot of interesting things to say, and while I don’t agree with all of it, there are some things he writes about that I hadn’t really thought much about. I ended up reading his book “The Consciousness of Sheep”, an excellent read.
@aspnaz and @Afewknowthetruth: This morning I caught the tail end of your discussion late yesterday, the gist of which is summarized by AFKTT: “We are, indeed, governed by thieves and professional liars who con the masses into believing completely fake narratives because the ignorant masses believe it is all for the greater good -rather the actual reason, which is to make money for banks and corporations and opportunists (which includes most politicians in the NATOstan countries) and keep the Ponzi financial system going a bit longer.”
I certainly can’t say I disagree with this. But I’ve done a lot of thinking on it over the last couple of years, and have been forced to accept a number of truths about human behavior.
Even if every person on the planet could be convinced that the planet has around 7B too many people, and that it is over its carrying capacity, thus requiring that global population be managed back down to 1B, few of them would believe that they themselves should be binned as one of the excess billions. That goes in triplicate for our would-be betters. Everyone wants to be one of the survivors, but not everyone has the means to win out in that struggle. Our would-be betters believe that they do, and whatever else their plans are for humanity, you can take it to the bank that they not only intend to be among the survivors, but believe that they are much more worthy of that privilege than the rabble.
Going along these lines, if you personally recognize the need to reduce your impact on the planet, how much would you willingly give up or stop doing if you were not convinced that everyone else had the same understanding?
Another thing concerns “trust.” The PTB are attempting to manipulate the masses with lies and censorship into doing what they think is a) good for humanity’s survival, and/or b) good for themselves. Even if the reason is the former, they are doing a poor job. This is because instead of engendering trust, their methods are actually destroying it. The question is: will more people dig their heels in against you when you convey unpleasant truths, or when you indulge in behaviors that cause large numbers of people to lose trust in what you are telling them?
But what else should be done to get humanity on the right track? I remember one of our commenters some time back saying that this all might be a sincere attempt to “extend the shelf life of the human race” or something along those lines (which I don’t disagree with). But I think our peanut farmer president (Carter) was the last one that actually tried to level with people and tell them straight out what they needed to do, and he flopped miserably.
@Bill7: I think indulging in doom-porn is just masochism. Another common response (and I know someone like this) is to disengage from the subject in despair at your powerlessness to do anything about it. But short of the dire predictions of things we largely cannot really affect, it is yet useful to think about how you are going to deal with them when you can no longer avoid them. “When the hurricane comes, one must seek shelter.”
@Bill7: The Guardian is full establishment in its worst sense, but Simon Tisdall is unbelievable. This is the second article of his in recent days that I have been exposed to, and he’s either flogging it for The Man or is totally delusional…
@aspnaz: We must have crossed wires somehow. I don’t see anything in your most recent post that I disagree with…(the one addressed to me, that is).
“At the same time, Kiev insists that it is Russian forces who are shelling the site while stationing military hardware there.” So I guess we are to believe that Russia wants to create a second Chernobyl on territory they soon hope to annex.
I pretty much embrace what @John Day said yesterday, i.e., “It looks to me like depletion is real and is being “managed” by inserting artificial crises and shortages just before it becomes common-knowledge, so as to maintain initiative in the control-narrative war-room.”
However, this does not necessarily mean, (nor is it likely, @aspnaz) that “the billionaires are saving us.” Rather more likely is that the artificial crises are a mechanism for avoiding elite accountability. This is necessary to avoid the dilemma posed by them saying “The world is in this mess because were either wrong or ineffective before. But trust us and do what we say now, we’re right this time!”
@John Day has his finger on the point about the CO2 graph presented by Dr. D. The range on the scale where humans were present is very small, with a geologically low CO2 level. Fairly low levels of atmospheric CO2 can be toxic (to humans, at least). I can relate my own experience from my time spent stationed on a US Navy nuclear submarine decades ago.The ship was designed to spend extended intervals submerged without coming up for air. What enabled us to do this was that we conditioned our atmosphere using Oxygen generators, Carbon Monoxide-Hydrogen burners, and CO2 scrubbers. The scrubbers were necessary to keep CO2 levels in the ship below 1%, and a few times when the scrubbers malfunctioned and the atmosphere on the ship approached that level, everyone started getting bad headaches. Going higher would have increasingly adverse medical effects.
@Redneck: I noticed the same thing, prompting my comment some time back that perhaps the Russians and the West are just WEF actors playing “good cop-bad cop” with the global public.
@Afewknowthetruth: (from yesterday) Not sure where we may have disconnected, but I agree with everything in your reply.
@afewknowthetruth: I’ve been following the Military Summary channel almost since the beginning. This is not a change for Russia; they’ve been doing pretty much the same thing almost since Mariupol (at least). They just shell the hell out of the Ukrainian positions until they destroy them or until they abandon their positions, and then move in when the resistance is essentially gone. The only thing that has really changed recently is that the Ukrainians have gotten a little more insistent on sending fresh troops up to refill the fortifications after the initial ones are killed. So the Russians just “rinse and repeat”.
@MPSK: I read today that yes, indeed, the student loan forgiveness is likely to be considered a taxable event to many recipients.
@aspnaz: The stupid idea is giving money to the plebs when they could give it to the billionaires as they usually do.
I think what is missed is that they DID give it to the billionaires again. The student loan bubble was close to bursting–who do you think would be the ones who would really lose money if that happens?
@phoenixvoice: I was not really hitting on government there, but on the corporations and for-profits. I’m just saying that they are not going to leave money on the table. I suppose government could “help” a little by fine-tuning the benefits, but it gets quickly complicated, and also you can’t just have an easy one-size-fits all unless the size is big enough to fit the largest need you’re likely to encounter.
We occasionally deal with street-corner types that have a sign out or are otherwise asking for a handout. For awhile I used to try to figure out whether they were truly in need, or were just lazy, and in some cases I can still figure this out. But I’ve learned that most of the time, it can be less than obvious. For example: A shelter gives a homeless guy a new jacket and pants because his old clothes are falling off his body; now he doesn’t look “needy” any more and people pass him by. So I’ve come to the view that one must accept the fact that help will occasionally fall into the hands of the less-than-needy, and consider that as the “friction” in the dispensing of help.
https://www.rt.com/news/561506-eu-winter-suffering-gas/
I guess a large segment of the public still hasn’t figured it out yet. All of the above mouthpieces going public almost on the same day with essentially the same message, and they still don’t realize they are being manipulated?
It is clear that much of what is going on around us is being staged in the furtherance of a specific agenda. In the case of the operation in Ukraine, it is being used (was started?) to provide air cover for raising energy and food prices to intolerable levels while telling the public (especially Europeans but also North Americans) that it must be done to ‘save Ukrainian democracy’. We are now hearing them talk about more than just energy.
Chapter 2 of ‘Two weeks to Flatten the Curve,’ anyone?
@phoenixvoice: I guess businesses like the auto glass places are in that general vein. Any business whose customers are not spending their own money (things paid for by government, insurance, etc.) tends to charge whatever the business knows the government/insurer has said they will pay.
I believe that the EU ‘leaders’ are not clueless in exactly the way some suggest. The real goal is to propagandize their populations into a permanent acceptance of a lower standard of living. The cluelessness is in the way they go about this; the way in which they talk and act makes it obvious that they consider their ‘electorates’ stupid, and are completely disconnected from that way of life.
After reading claims from one blogger after another that the covid narrative is falling apart/crumbling/about to fall apart, I finally saw this yesterday, perhaps a good sign:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/house-sub-committee-attacks-trump
Even if you’re a Trump supporter, there is great news here. And that news is that you know this baby is going down SO HARD because they actually want to now try hanging it on Trump.
I guess the bad news for Trump supporters is that he still won’t disavow the jab, despite a few pieces I have seen recently urging him to do that. Given the above, it will be interesting to see if this will finally be enough to make him actually apologize for something for what is perhaps the first time in his public life.
@zerosum: In the1970s, as a dumb newlywed, I found a way of successfully raising my family and surviving.
Me, too, despite the sky-high interest rates in the late 70s, managed somehow to jump on that real estate train and hang on until things got better.
Now, as a senior, I know, that I’ve seen worst and that I will survive.
I’m not so sure we’ve seen the worst, nonetheless.
The bad news about being old is the knowledge that your ability to earn back what has been taken from you is greatly diminished.
The good news about being old is that you just might not be around long enough to have to worry about it….
@Dr. D: “Like Electric vehicles after the $8,000 bonus, College prices will rise exactly $20,000.”
The prices for virtually everything someone can con the government into paying for are pitched to the size of the benefit. Back in the 80s I went back to finish college using my GI bill educational benefit. The university I attended was private, set up for working adults to attend classes on nights and weekends. The tuition? Exactly, to the dollar, the size of my monthly GI bill benefit.
Could they have done it for less? Most assuredly–the California community college I attended a few years earlier was much cheaper and the classes were good ones. But why should any private provider price its goods/services at a price lower than the government has indicated it is willing to pay?
Putin Bets Winter Gas Chokehold Will Yield Ukraine Peace-On His Terms
–Reuters and outlets like it who write this stuff are astounding. They seem to have overlooked the fact that the so-called “chokehold” is one the EU placed on itself, not one administered by Russia. And which political entity is it, exactly, that is hoping by its actions to yield “peace on its terms”?
The PTB obviously intend to keep the plates spinning as long as they can, for 5-10 years maybe, after which their hope is that their constituents will be used to austere living and the pressure to go back to better times will have disappeared. But if Russia puts Ukraine out of its misery quickly, I wonder what Plan B is?
Just to dip my oar in, I’ll observe that I hear many people inaccurately use the terms “authoritarian” (or “totalitarian”) and “democratic” as synonyms for “communist” and “capitalist”, respectively.
I believe this stems from the fact that every single nation in history that I am aware of that has tried to adopt communism or socialism as its governing process has had to use overt compulsion to do so, whereas many (but not all) capitalist governments exist without such compulsion and are operated democratically.
Contrary to what some on the left assert, I do not believe that an enduring socialist state can be implemented without compulsion of a large segment (probably the majority) of the population. The only way that might be even tried would be to cherry-pick socialists from around the world and move them all to one place, and even then I question if it would last.
BTW, it is often claimed that one Scandinavian country or another is socialist–they are not. They are (on and off) welfare states, which is not the same thing.
Controversially, if you research thoroughly you will be surprised to find many authors writing that the odious Nazi regime in 1930s-40s Germany was indeed socialist in many respects. Dedicated socialists like to deny this for obvious reasons. A lot of this information is in books written by authors that fell out of favor after WWII because it was not politically welcomed to have such views, true or not.
@DBS: We’ve all heard (though few have understood) the old expression, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
I’ve considered that one alternative interpretation is “fight fire with fire.”
Also, I heard Alexander Mercouris say this morning that the assassin’s last rumored location is now Austria. Before hearing this yesterday, I already figured that Estonia would probably ask her to quickly and quietly leave.
The “interesting” old film clip from 1956 is apparently fake. Pretty well done, though…
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-satire-not1956video-idUSL1N2LK20S
One advantage to being a frequenter of the Comments section on a blog with regular followers is that you soon get familiar with the kinds of things most of them like to talk about. If you learn over time that one or more of them tend to comment on things you’re not interested in, or are too hard to read, or are of the TL;DR variety, you can just reach for that down-arrow key and skip right by–no need to engage. That is why I would never think of asking anyone to leave. After all, each of us can find value in different places.
That being said, I must admit to wondering why Comments section frequenters who go on to extraordinary lengths don’t feel more compelled to start their own blogs.
“1,200 Scientists and Professionals Say “There is No Climate Emergency”
If you want to read just one book on this subject, I can highly recommend “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t, and Why it Matters” by Steven E. Koonin. It is an excellent and balanced book that rests its arguments on actual science (vs. “The Science”), and also saves some space to discuss at length the adverse influences of politics, media, and “The Science” on public discourse.
Liz lost sooooooooooooooo catastrophically, by 60 points, that she’s going to run as President and Win!!! ‘
I doubt if that is the plan–if so, she’s as delusional as DeBlasio.
More likely, she will run in the hope that she can siphon enough “never-Trump” votes away from Trump to keep him from winning. That is what she and her ilk will count as success.
Speaking of normalizing the absurd: Theodore Dalrymple’s observation on how Communist propaganda was meant to work:
In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is…in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
@JohnDay, @Tonyopmoc, and all: I have read about the abiotic oil theory, and my own belief (and that’s all it is) is probably closest to that of John Day. I figure that unless whatever mysterious process is at work producing this oil and depositing it in readily accessible places is doing so at least as fast as we are using it, it really doesn’t matter.
Apparently the name “monkeypox” is racist, and the WHO wants the public to help rename it by suggesting new names:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wokepox-who-asking-publics-help-re-naming-monkeypox
My own nomination (shared by many, I think) is “moneypox”.
And BTW, if “monkeypox” is racist, then surely “cowpox” is misogynist…
On the “Facts About mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines” on its website, the CDC has removed the claim that the mRNA and the spike protein do not last long in the body.
Also, a couple of months ago, the CDC stopped reporting on cancers (malignant neoplasms) and a variety of heart disorders. It is off-line for “system upgrades.”
Good article overall:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/cdc-quietly-removes-a-massive-claim
@Dr.D: “YES, BUT THEY WANT A CIVIL WAR.”
Perhaps the quote you’re looking for is John Lennon:
When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.
Helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia comes at a price for Europe, which citizens should be willing to pay, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said.
It’s pure coincidence that what we’re asking you to give up happens to overlap perfectly with the expressed wishes of Herr Schwab and Co…
@Figmund Sreud: In this job posting, the vaxx is serving here as the perfect ideology test. Employers can reject you without admitting that diversity of political viewpoint is the reason for the rejection.
I have read comments about James Kunstler here before. I still read him regularly, but I think the guy is a bit delusional. Most of what he says never seems to happen. Rather, he writes as thought what he WISHES would happen is somehow inevitable. In a sane world perhaps it would be.
His offering today is so “optimistic” that I actually find it discouraging. That is because after the momentary pleasure I get from imagining things transpiring, I return to earth and realize that it just isn’t going to work out that way.
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/the-sickening-quickening/
@aspnaz and @Red: The climate IS changing, but it always has and always will. I do not believe that human activity contributes significantly to these changes—they would be happening with or without us, and we must simply adapt. Neither do I believe in the CO2 thesis (it appears to lag rather than cause global temperature changes).
That being said, I also believe the case is very strong for quickly weaning ourselves off (among other things) fossil fuels. This is not because the planet is running out of them. It is because EROEI, energy returned on energy invested, is dropping rapidly, and what we ARE running out of are fuels that can be extracted for less energy than what can be recovered from them. This is a clear and observable worldwide trend.
A good example are the Canadian Tar Sands. I have seen the EROEI estimated at somewhere between 1.7:1 and 3:1. Compare this with 100:1 in the 1930s, which had already dropped to 10:1 as recently as the 1970s. Why would we use such an inefficient source if we could find something with a better return elsewhere?
If fossil energy disappears before we make some radical changes, it will be the end of industrial civilization. Most people don’t realize and can’t be easily persuaded that the changes this would bring will make their world unrecognizable, perhaps even unsurvivable.
One other big effect is on ammonia fertilizer. The Haber Process used to make most ammonia uses natural gas. It’s disappearance will take ammonia-based fertilizer along with it, leaving us only with nitrates we can dig out of the ground, like potash and saltpeter, or natural fertilizers like manure and guano. IF we have the energy needed to run the equipment that digs it up and transports it.
This is the reason for the gaslighting on climate change, “carbon”, and now “nitrogen” (as in “fertilizer”). It is an attempt to scare people into believing that building renewables and eliminating the use of fossil fuels will save them. The irony is that it WON’T. Anyone that has done the math knows that the most optimistic estimates on what we can put in for renewable generation will provide only a small fraction of today’s energy. (My own guess is maybe 5-10%.) That just won’t run our modern industrial society. It’s probably just enough power for the elites that will survive after most of us proles have choked to death on the bugs.
BTW, the Crypto Rich program Dr. D referenced (with Tom Luongo and Alexander Mercouris) is well worth the time. I like and follow both Tom and Alexander.
“Germany Risks Facing “Winter of Anger”:
Saxony’s interior minister, Armin Schuster, also told ARD that his ministry was preparing for “various” scenarios, adding that some “groups, activists or parties” might seek to “exploit” the current situation for their own narrow goals. Some of those who “mobilize and agitate” people had already drawn the attention of his ministry, he added.
More word games. Does he mean “exploit” like Klaus Schwab “using the pandemic as an opportunity to reshape and reimagine our world”? Maybe not, since “exploit” implies opportunism, whereas the pandemic itself was likely an intentional manufacture.
Still playing with vocabulary. Refining “recession” now. Or calling rich and corrupt people “oligarchs” when they are from countries we don’t like, but “philanthropists” if they are Western and have trusts set up to protect their wealth from taxation and scrutiny.
More and more we are seeing Western media backing away from Ukraine. No one, especially in government circles, wants to openly admit that Ukraine has already lost. Because of this, I suspect the Western public is being prepared for a withdrawal of Western support, using bad Ukrainian behavior as the excuse. The above article about the Amnesty International condemnation is one good example; here is another:
