New Year message from John Droz

Successful, happy people typically have the wise habit of periodically stepping-back to get a broader perspective as to what’s going on in their life, and society in general.

Since we are now not only beginning a New Year, but also a New Decade, it seems that doing such a careful analysis is strongly advisable.

You’ll have to decide about the pros and cons of your own life, but here is my perspective as to what is societally going on — what I’m calling the Big Picture.

On the one hand, a competent review of the last ten years would indicate that a LOT of good things have transpired. I’ve seen no better summary of this progress than:

We’ve Just Had the Best Decade in Human History. Seriously!

Please read that carefully so that you have a strong understanding of that unpublicized (and accordingly, not popularly appreciated) reality.

Based on the facts, the logical conclusion is that global citizens should be experiencing widespread happiness, satisfaction, and enthusiasm for the future.

Is that the case? Generally NO.

Well why not?  Because we still have good and evil.

For example, there are diabolical, well-connected parties who have a lust for power. Citizen contentment is a major obstacle to their taking over control of the planet. The most effective way they can get people to want to change, is to make them unhappy with the way things are now…

To deal with substantial good news, their strategy is to resort to three proven tactics:

a) instill fear into the masses,

b) undermine the pillars of the current, successful society, and

c) sow societal discord.

Consider that the leader of the free world is under an intense, incessant, coordinated attack — including removal from office — primarily because of his policies.

The subversives are leaving no stone unturned to try to make the public afraid of him and his policies (e.g. his rightfully withdrawing from the Paris sham).

They claim that they are opposed to his “lying,” but the reality is that they are actually angered by the swamp-exposing truths that he has said.

His opponents — actually OUR opponents — are also:

1 -Willfully eroding the Judeo-Christian principles that our society was built on.

2 - Purposefully corroding our democratic form of government (a Republic).

3 - Aggressively diluting our academic system (to produce propagandized lemmings).

4 - Consciously sabotaging true Science (as it is a barrier to their agendas).

5 - Knowingly subverting our economic system (Capitalism).

6 - Deliberately undermining our Electric Grid (the foundation of our economy and national security).

What’s even worse, in all of these campaigns, these parties have no apparent standards (note #1 above) regarding truth, fairness, rights, freedoms — yet they speciously claim the moral high ground!

As mentioned, one of their main strategies for pulling off their political agenda is to sow divisiveness and discord — so that we fight among ourselves.

In this vile effort they are pitting: men vs women, whites vs minorities, young vs old, wealthy vs not-so-much, hard workers vs entitlement advocates, citizens vs immigrants, traditional religions vs secular religion, etc., etc.

Once one fully understands these attacks, it should be very clear that we are in the biggest war ever experienced in history.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

In the face of such adversity, it may seem that nothing YOU do will make any real difference. That is yet another lie they are feeding us, so don’t buy it!  The truth is what Margaret Meade insightfully said:  “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

A less well-known insight she also wrote: “Prayer does not use up artificial energy, doesn't burn up any fossil fuel, doesn't pollute.”

My recommendation is to be aware of what is going on, and then consciously oppose the efforts of those who wish to bring us down, e.g. by actively supporting:

1 - the Judeo-Christian principles that our society was built on (e.g. more love and unity, less hate and alienation),

2 - our democratic form of government (a Republic),

3 - our academic system (to produce critical-thinking graduates),

4 - real Science (which is apolitical by definition),

5 - our economic system (while working to make it better), and

6 - our Electric Grid (by not allowing any alternative energies on it that haven’t been scientifically proven to be a NET societal benefit).

By doing all that you will be doing the Right Thing.

The world may (or may not) change because of your efforts, but your positive actions will assure you and yours of having a genuinely Happy New Year, and New Decade.

Via email




Israel's Leviathan field begins pumping gas

Note that the nearby Tamar gas field already yields more than 60% of Israel’s electricity

Israel's offshore Leviathan field started pumping gas on Tuesday in what the operating consortium called "a historic turning point in the history of the Israeli economy."

A joint statement from partners Noble Energy, Delek Drilling, and Ratio said the start of production was expected to lead to an immediate reduction in domestic electricity prices and the start of exports, "For the first time in its history, Israel to become a significant natural gas exporter," it said.

A spokesman for Israeli partner Delek said then that deliveries to Egypt were expected to begin on January 1. It will be the first time Egypt will import gas from its neighbor.

Leviathan was discovered 130 kilometres (81 miles) west of the Mediterranean port city Haifa in 2010, and holds an estimated 535 billion cubic metres (18.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.

Besides bringing energy independence, Israel hopes its gas reserves will enable it to strengthen strategic ties in the region and help forge new ones, with an eye on the European market. Natural gas is set to replace coal as the the main fuel for power generation in Israel.

Critics note that while less polluting than coal, gas is still far from being a clean source of energy. There have been public fears that the start of production from Leviathan could bring harmful emissions.

Israel's environmental protection ministry has set up monitoring stations in communities along the northern coast to check for any spike in pollution.

Israeli public radio reported that some residents had evacuated their homes until results of the air testing are verified.

SOURCE 




A great triumph for bullshit

The Duke of Cambridge has announced a multimillion-pound prize fund to promote research into solving the planet’s climate problems that his office described as “the most prestigious environmental prize in history”.

The Earthshot prize, endorsed by the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, will begin this year as part of a ten-year project to reward fifty innovative ideas for tackling problems caused by climate change.

Kensington Palace did not clarify how much money will be awarded to the five winners each year or what the source of the money will be.

The duke said that the prize was intended to stimulate technological breakthroughs in the same way that the American mission to put a man on the moon had done.

“The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve,” he said.

“Remember the awe-inspiring civilisations that we have built, the life-saving technology we have created, the fact that we have put a man on the moon. People can achieve great things. And the next ten years presents us with one of our greatest tests — a decade of change to repair the Earth”

Sir David, who appears in a short film announcing the prize, said: “The spirit of the moonshot can guide us today as we confront the serious challenges we face on Earth. This year Prince William and a global alliance launch the most prestigious environment prize in history, the Earthshot prize — a global prize designed to motivate and inspire a new generation of thinkers, leaders and dreamers to think differently; visionaries rewarded over the next decade for responding to the great challenges of our time.”

The palace said that Earthshot would be run by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with a hope that the prize would become an independent organisation. The duke expects that it could be awarded to “scientists, activists, economists, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities and countries”.

A press release said that the duke hoped to stimulate new ways of thinking. “Prince William is kick-starting 2020 with a new drive to dispel the current pessimism around the environment, and replace it with fresh optimism and action,” it said.

“Just as the moonshot that John F Kennedy proposed in the 1960s catalysed new technology such as the MRI scanner and satellite dishes, the Earthshots aim to launch their own tidal wave of ambition and innovation.”

SOURCE 




Climate Change Protesters’ Traffic Tie-Ups Are No Way to Win Friends or Influence People

The environmental zealots who regularly take to the streets of the nation’s capital for climate change protests clearly have never read Dale Carnegie’s classic self-help bestseller “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

That’s evident from the demonstrations the global warming alarmists stage at downtown D.C. intersections during morning rush hours, unapologetically snarling traffic and creating commuter gridlock.

Causing motorists to be late for work and/or miss appointments is hardly the way to win friends among those they’ve seriously inconvenienced or to influence them to buy into the climate-calamity hysteria. It’s far more likely to alienate them.

For more than seven hours on Dec. 6, for example, hundreds of “Shut Down DC” coalition environmental activist demonstrators lived up to their billing, snaking through downtown Washington, blocking intersections with their bodies, banners, and other props, and forcing traffic to be diverted and detoured.

All the while, they beat on drums, chanted mindless left-wing couplets (“Hey, hey, ho, ho! / [Fill in the blank] has got to go!”) and barked calls and responses (“What do we want?” / “Climate justice!” / “When do we want it?” / “Now!”).

What the amorphous “climate justice” they “want now” entails is anyone’s guess, but it presumably tracks closely along the lines of the radical multitrillion-dollar Green New Deal scheme hatched by far-left freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D.-N.Y.

This much is certain, however: The enormous taxes and spending the Green New Deal would mandate would do a grave injustice to the nation’s economic climate.

According to news accounts, the demonstration in early December began at about 7:30 a.m. with a march from George Washington University to World Bank headquarters along Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, with gridlock ensuing at the height of the morning rush.

Later in the day, for two hours, seven of the protesters reportedly chained themselves to the door of a Wells Fargo bank branch, preventing customers from entering. Cheered on by octogenarian actress Jane Fonda—a longtime agitator who never met a leftist cause she didn’t reflexively support—demonstrators mindlessly chanted, “Wells Fargo, hey, you! / We deserve a future, too.” (Just as an aside, what’s with the left’s obsession with rhyming couplets?)

The bank, presumably targeted for supposedly helping finance the fossil fuel industry, should sue them all for restraint of trade.

When all was said/chanted and done, The Washington Post reported, “Despite hours of disruptions and tense moments between protesters and D.C. police, officials said no arrests were made.”

How is that even possible? Why does the city blithely allow these protests to disrupt traffic and inconvenience motorists and pedestrians, as well as businesses and their employees and customers? At minimum, why weren’t the most disruptive and unruly among the protesters not fined and/or arrested?

These protests, organized by groups with names like Extinction Rebellion, surely cost the city thousands of dollars for policing and security, so District of Columbia taxpayers are in effect subsidizing them.

There was no indication, however, that that seems to faze the ultraliberal city’s officials, many of whom no doubt support the protesters and their cause. Did either D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser or D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham issue to police a stand-down order? One has to wonder, inasmuch as 32 people were arrested during a similar protest on Sept. 23.

Regardless, do these climate change extremists really think they’re winning “hearts and minds” to their cause by grossly inconveniencing commuters, businesses, and others? To the contrary, one would reasonably expect they’re having the exact opposite effect, turning off those who aren’t already global warming “true believers.”

In the demonstrators’ self-righteous view, the end justifies the means, even if it’s counterproductive in terms of public relations. They went so far as to insist to those who complained of the inconvenience: “We’re doing this for you. It’s your planet, too.”

But this smug notion—“It’s for your own good”—is belied by a January poll conducted by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It found that 68% of respondents oppose paying an additional $10 a month to combat climate change, while 43% aren’t even willing to pay an extra $1 a month on their electricity bills for that purpose.

More telling, the poll failed to include any mention of how much warming supposedly would be abated by paying an additional $1, $20, or $50 per month. In each scenario, the answer is next to nothing, and that would only decrease even further their willingness to pay such a tax.

Another irony, lost on these climate change Chicken Littles, was that the traffic tie-ups they caused resulted in long lines of cars idling, spewing more—not less—of the tailpipe carbon emissions they claim are contributing to the supposed impending climate catastrophe.

On its website, Shut Down DC insists that there’s “no time left for business-as-usual,” but regardless of how righteous the protesters consider their cause to be, D.C. officials and police need to remind them, forcefully, that the right to swing one’s fist ends where someone else’s nose begins.

SOURCE 




Prominent Australian conservative politician says China and India 'couldn't give two tosses' about whether or not Australia cut its carbon emissions - and has no influence over them

Barnaby Joyce has called Australians 'naive' for believing that reducing the nation's carbon emissions will inspire coal-obsessed China and India to follow suit.

The 52-year-old former leader of the Nationals party told Sunrise hosts and Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon Australians had little to do with carbon emissions on a global scale.

'You can't preach to the international community...  We are doing our bit, but we can't start saying single-handedly we can influence what China does or what India does, or change the climate itself,' he said.

Joyce said there was no single piece of legislation that could be introduced in parliament that would change the climate back to the way it once was.

'The climate is changing, there's no doubt about it... do you honestly believe there is a piece of legislation we can move in Canberra that will change it back? The answer is no,' he said.

Mr Fitzgibbon argued that Australians could make a difference by 'having a go' and acting as a leader for the other powerhouse nations.

'The place is burning and the rest of the world is... shaking their heads at us and asking why we don't just do our bit,' he said.

'We are at risk of becoming the pariah of the international community because we are not just having a go.'

But Joyce said anybody who believed those claims was 'naively overreaching the influence of Australia'.

'The actual fact is that China or Russia or India don't give two tosses what Australia thinks... don't start thinking for one second that we are some great moral mover in global politics, because we are not.' 

The duo also clashed about Prime Minister Scott Morrison's recent trip to Hawaii.

The PM apologised for causing anxiety by taking personal leave during the worst bushfire crisis Australia has seen but said he did so because he was trying to keep a promise to his daughters, Lily and Abby.

Upon his return, Mr Morrison held a press conference where he reiterated there would be no amendment to the climate policy as a result of the bushfires.

On Monday morning, the PM told the Today show his government has reduced Australia's emissions by 50 million tonnes each year for the past two years.

'We have more renewable energy going into our system now than we have seen before,' he said, before adding Australia is on track to meet its commitments for the Paris Agreement.

'Australia is taking action on climate change. 'But what we won't do is engage in reckless and job destroying, economy crunching targets which is... taking advantage of national disasters. 

'No Australian would think that the direct policies of any single government in the world is directly linked to any fire event. That's not true,' he said.

SOURCE 

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For more postings from me, see  DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. Home Pages are   here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  

Preserving the graphics:  Most graphics on this site are hotlinked from elsewhere.  But hotlinked graphics sometimes have only a short life -- as little as a week in some cases.  After that they no longer come up.  From January 2011 on, therefore, I have posted a monthly copy of everything on this blog to a separate site where I can host text and graphics together -- which should make the graphics available even if they are no longer coming up on this site.  See  here or here

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