Another data point, another major downward revision lower.
In the past month, the Biden Department of Goalseeking Stuff Higher Before Quietly Revising It Lower The Next Month (BDOGSHBQRILNM) has been busy, and after slashing jobs, JOLTS, new home sales, housing starts and permits and industrial production, moments ago it took the machete to Q2 GDP, which in the first revision of the "data" was just cut to 2.1% (or rather 2.07% to be specific), down from an initial "red hot" print of 2.4% which turned out to be nothing more than some overzealous political activist's excel adjustments, and well below the consensus estimate of 2.4%.
Britain's Climate Change Committee (CCC) has urged millions of Britons to not heat their homes in the evening to help the government hit its net zero target.
No, they aren't urging elites to ditch their private jets for commercial, or not to burn 1,000 of fuel taking the yacht out for a jaunt. Chris Stark, head of the CCC, wants ordinary citizens to turn off their electric heaters (heat pumps) at night as part of a wider drive to deliver "emissions savings," which includes a shift away from gas boilers - which Chris, a hypocrite, still has.
Contained in a document on "behavior change," the CCC recommended that Britons instead "pre-heat" their houses in the afternoons when electricity use is lower, and would theoretically save families money.
"There is significant potential to deliver emissions savings, just by changing the way we use our homes," reads the CCC's sixth "carbon budget" paper, which lays out how the UK should reduce its emissions between 2033-37.
"Where homes are sufficiently well insulated, it is possible to pre-heat ahead of peak times, enabling access to cheaper tariffs which reflect the reduced costs associated with running networks and producing power during off-peak times."
Critics boil
"The grid is already creaking and daft ideas like this show just how much worse it will become," Andrew Montford, the director of Net Zero Watch, told The Telegraph. "It's clear that renewables are a disaster in the making. We now need political leaders with the courage to admit it."
And according to Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, head of his party's Net Zero Scrutiny group, "It is becoming clear that adherence to judicable Carbon Budgets and edicts coming from the CCC are developing into farce."
"The Climate Change Act 2008 will require amendment to free us from madcap and impractical targets foisted upon the population by long departed politicians.
"This latest advice to freeze ourselves on cold evenings merely shows the truth that the dream of plentiful and cheap renewable energy is a sham.
"I came into politics to improve all aspects of my constituents’ lives, not make them colder and poorer," he told The Telegraph.
Lower bills?
The CCC insists that following the advice means "homes will still be warm, but bills can be lowered," adding "This is a demonstration of homeowners benefiting from periods of the day when electricity is cheaper."
"Using electricity to heat a home opens the prospect of choosing a time when prices are lower, something that’s not possible with a gas boiler," he continued, adding "Smart heating of homes like this also makes the best possible use of the grid and supports greater use of cheap renewable generation."
Downing Street has hinted it is now set to U-turn amid warnings the move would increase rural fuel poverty and put more strain on the struggling electricity grid.
The CCC is an independent body set up by ministers in 2008 to advise the Government on how to hit its climate targets.
In its latest report, the committee criticises No 10 over its “worryingly slow” action on climate.
It states that Downing Street’s support for new oil and coal exploration and the expansion of airports meant Britain was no longer a global green leader. -The Telegraph
Last month Stark, the head of the CCC, admitted that he still has a gas boiler at home instead of an electric heat pump (gasp!). And he's not alone.
"I have a gas boiler. I wish I didn’t, but I live in a flat and heat pumps are a very difficult thing to put in there," he told the Commons environmental audit committee. "The gas boiler guy who comes round and fixes my gas boiler – it breaks very often – tells me they will never work."
German government pledges to cut taxes, bureaucracy
1 hour ago
The leaders of Germany's ruling coalition sought to project unity during a two-day retreat outside Berlin. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a major tax cut.
German schools have yet to find an effective way to maintain education standards as classrooms become increasingly diverse, according to researcher Axel Plünnecke from the German Economic Institute.
London’s famous Notting Hill Carnival reached its highest level of stabbings in seven years as men with knives, 275 arrests, and several hospitalizations marred the two-day spectacle.
The event, which took place from Aug. 27 to 28, attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees on the streets of England’s capital, and features live music, performances, and entertainment.
Over 2 million attended this year’s annual festival, which has earned its stripes as Europe’s largest street party and one of the world’s biggest celebrations of Caribbean music and culture.
But despite its joyous nature, violent riots and vicious attacks plagued festivities, leaving eight people stabbed as a 29-year-old man remains in critical condition.
Suicides by women in Afghanistan are skyrocketing according to a new report that has come out a year after President Biden catastrophically pulled US forces from the country handing it over to the Taliban.
The despair of Afghanistan women suffering under the deadly oppression of the Taliban is palpable to all women and it should bring great shame to the Biden administration.
One young woman was kept from becoming a doctor and then was forced into a marriage with her cousin who was a heroin addict. She felt she had nothing left to live for and proceeded to take her own life in a country where more women than men commit suicide.Ads by
“I had two options: to marry an addict and live a life of misery or take my own life,” the 18-year-old stated during a phone interview from her home in central Ghor province withThe Guardian. “I chose the latter.”
Watch: Canadian Activists Demanding Return Of Mask Mandates Attack Counter Protester
The covid cult is still out there, desperate for a return to the days of lockdowns and restrictions and in Canada they appear to be highly militant.
Mask mandates were perhaps one of the most egregious violations of science during the pandemic scare (though there were so many violations, that question is up for debate). Government officials including Anthony Fauci in the US admitted in the early days of the crisis that masks would do little to save the public from transmission. Suddenly, the narrative changed and masks became a hard requirement in many regions just to enter retail establishments to buy necessities.
Medical tyranny was upon us.
Protesters describe the event as an "expression of outrage," ignoring the reality that their mindless fears conflict with the facts at hand, and are also irrelevant to individual freedoms. What the above news broadcast conveniently cuts out is how the mask obsessives react when someone expresses a viewpoint contrary to theirs:
In Vancouver, Canada, protesters demanding mandatory masks physically attack a man over his sign
So, why continue to support the mask mandates to the point of violence? Because the masks became more than a safety tool. They became a signal of ideological virtue, a uniform for the political left. The masks were also a signal of submission to state controls, and for a period of a couple years maskers were like an army, an extension of state power, and they loved it. They could easily identify their "enemies" merely by looking for a missing mask, thereby applying mob pressure to force those people to conform. It doesn't matter to them that the masks offer little-to-zero protection, that was not their true purpose anyway.
With the masking mandates gone from most of the west and covid exposed as an over-hyped illness with a tiny Infection Fatality Rate of 0.23%, leftists act as if they are floundering. They got a taste of power and then it was taken away from them, and now they're angry. The lesson? People who want power this badly should never have access to it. Hysteria is food for fanatics.
Tucker Carlson Apologizes To Hungary On Behalf Of America, Slams 'Disgusting' US Ambassador Over Lack Of Diplomacy
Tucker Carlson flew to Hungary last week where he gave two powerful speeches - apologizing for the United States' lack of diplomacy and its "cultural imperialism."
Carlson started by apologizing on behalf of the United States after US Ambassador David Pressman, a gay activist, lectured the Hungarian government over LGBTQ rights.
"The point of diplomacy is not to hector other nations for its own sake," said Carlson. "To show up in someone else's country and scream at them because they're different from you."
"I'm not in the habit of apologizing for the United States. In fact, I don't think I ever have, but the behavior of the American ambassador to Hungary makes me want to apologize," said Carlson. "It's disgusting and inexcusable. It's also so far from the norms of diplomacy in my country that it's hard for me to believe that David Pressman is actually doing what he's doing.
"And so for a creep like David Pressman, who is not a diplomat - who's a political activist and Biden donor - to show up in your country and lecture you about your culture, and threaten you because you do things differently from the way they do things where he lives... hurts the United States and is a grave embarrassment to me as an American, and an outrage to me as someone who pays his salary. It's disgusting."
Hungary under Orbán has been tightening laws targeting LGBT propaganda. Currently same-sex couples in Hungary aren't allowed to adopt children, and changing genders is also illegal. Pressman, meanwhile is a gay human rights lawyer and California-born former aide to former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Earlier this year, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto slammed Pressman, saying he was way out of line.
Carlson also criticized America's 'cultural imperialism,' insisting that larger countries have a responsibility not to force their ideologies or lifestyles onto smaller ones, and that this behavior undermines the notion of self-determination.
"That is not the basis of a successful Empire," he said.
"Everybody wants Freedom everyone understands the concept of self-determination," said Carlson, adding "Hungary isn't hassling anybody else; Hungarians have views, your government has views."
Tucker Carlson went off in Budapest:
"The ruling party is the childless, the unmarried, working for low wages for large corporations and living in tiny apartments in overcrowded cities rife with crime, having food delivered by immigrants, and spending time glued to a screen." pic.twitter.com/Im62rNPShO
Carlson then warned: "It's the ones who tell you the 180 degree opposite of the truth who you need to be careful of and they're the ones who will enslave you."
He also warned NATO... "The world is reseting completely. The post-war order is collapsing. NATO is going to collapse. NATO cannot stand long term."
Tucker in Hungary: "The world is reseting completely. The post-war order is collapsing. NATO is going to collapse. NATO cannot stand long term." pic.twitter.com/QzEla49erc
"The most important thing I ever did other than get married was read books not tweets, not electronic but paper books in traditional form and read them every day," said Carlson, pondering whether the decline in reading is responsible for the clouding of the world's collective wisdom.
He then conveyed a message to the West...
"What Hungary is saying to the West is we want to be part of the West... maybe don't push your garbage on us so aggressively," he said - in essence, that Hungary doesn't want to be an island, it wants to participate in Western civilization but without the oppressive force of cultural changes that don't align with its values.
Watch the entire speech below:
Carlson's speech echoes some of what he told a crowd in Esztergom, Hungary two years ago, when he told the crowd that the US media landscape lacks objectivity, and discussed the importance of respecting culture, history, and beauty in society. Carlson views these elements as essential for human happiness and effective governance, something he thinks Hungary has managed better than the U.S.
"If you disobey the political orders from the ruling party they'll shut you down," Carlson said (prior to being shut down).
Carlson was particularly struck by Hungary's stance on migration. "Hungary stood alone essentially in saying you know no thanks, and that struck me as a totally legitimate thing to do," he said, referring to the Orban's decision to block migrants from entering the country.
With consensus expecting only a modest drop in the July job openings from 9.582 million to 9.5 million, what the BLS reported instead was a doozy: in July there were just 8.827 million job openings, the first sub-9 million print since March 2021. It was also the 3rd biggest miss on record!
Ukraine updates — German busted for sale of parts to Russia
Published 7 hours agolast updated 50 minutes ago
Germany has arrested a man accused of selling military hardware, used for making drones, to Russia. Meanwhile, Kyiv is working to step up its domestic defense manufacturing. DW has the latest.
More than 1,600 scientists, including two Nobel laureates, declare climate "emergency" a myth
The global coalition of scientists say that politics and a journalistic frenzy has propelled a doomsday climate change hysteria. The signatories also ask other scientists to "address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming."
Washington power company raises rates to cover increased expense due to climate legislation—AG's office instructs them not to tell consumers reason for higher prices
“…this is not only dishonest but violates the spirit of Washington’s laws and constitution."
National Archives reveals it has 5,400 Biden emails in which the president potentially used FAKE NAMES to forward government information and discuss business with son Hunter
NARA has acknowledged holding around 5,400 emails, electronic records, and documents suggesting President Biden used pseudonyms while Obama's VP
The existence of the emails came to light in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in June 2022
Emails are connected to the aliases Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters, and JRB Ware — all pseudonyms the 80-year-old president was known to utilize while serving
Photo by Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A California professor accused of lying about being Native American dodged a university investigation into the allegations after agreeing to retire from her position, the New York Times reported Sunday.
Andrea Smith, an ethnic studies professor at the University of California, Riverside, reached an agreement with the school to retire from her teaching position in August 2024, according to a separation agreement obtained by the Times.
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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