By Gregory J. Rummo. – Re-Blogged From WUWT
It was one week after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 when envelopes containing a white powder began showing up at random locations in four states; among them, a newspaper office in Florida, the Washington D.C. office of then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC News and the New York Post. The white powder turned out to be anthrax spores, engineered to be readily dispersed and inhaled – a potentially deadly bioterrorism weapon.
“Higher education kind of destroyed me.” Gina Florio graduated Harvard University as an angry atheist taught to hate America. So much so that she abandoned her birth country for Australia. When a freak accident sent her back to the U.S., a video by Candace Owens, then others by Dave Rubin and PragerU, opened her eyes to the lies she had been believing all of those terrible years. This is Gina’s story of discovering truth and reclaiming her freedom.
Please watch the VIDEO
What is the difference between free-market capitalism and democratic socialism? And which system is actually more fair and responsive to the needs of the people? Here’s a hint: names can be deceiving. Dinesh D’Souza has the answers.
Please watch the VIDEO
Please watch the VIDEO
By Kip Hansen – Re-Blogged From WUWT
I grew up in a medical household. My father was one of the leading pediatricians of the Greater Los Angeles, California area. Every single day I was greeted with pragmatic, practical news on the advances being made in medicine, public health, and especially in the treatment and care of children and their diseases. And every day, it was plain, when my father came home, if he had lost a patient that day – he was stoic and realistic, but every baby lost, every child that died, crushed part of him. That was in 1950. There was a vaccine for smallpox but almost nothing else. Children were expected to suffer through measles, mumps, chicken pox and German Measles (Rubella). We almost all did. The worst was the dreaded risk of polio.
By John Murawski- Re-Blogged From Headline Wealth
A white physician working in Raleigh, N.C., says he has participated in multiple diversity training exercises – including two in the last two years – without a fuss. But he was taken aback when his employer, Duke University Health System, said this summer it will roll out a comprehensive strategy to purge the last vestiges of racism from the workplace.
The way it looks to him, Duke basically wants him to admit he’s a racist and repent.
Like a growing number of organizations around the country responding to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, Duke is adopting anti-racist advocacy as an organizational mission. That mission doesn’t mention time-honored workplace goals like color-blindness, meritocracy, or equal opportunity; instead, its target is the so-called complicity of America and its citizens in “structural racism,” “oppression,” and denialism.
Brandon Tatum grew up idolizing sports figures like Michael Jordan. After his own dreams of playing in the NFL fell apart on draft day, he was devastated—until a fateful encounter with a new kind of hero helped him discover a new calling as a police officer. But when the nation’s leaders and the media turned against law enforcement, Brandon struggled to reconcile his own experiences with their anti-police rhetoric and began questioning everything he was taught about how he should think as a black man in America.
Please watch the VIDEO
By Dave Archibald – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Who does the virus call ‘Daddy’? In the 1950s, oil geologist Michel Halbouty said that “oil is first found in the minds of men“, meaning that someone has to imagine the existence of an oil field before they can go out to find it. The same is true of most of the fruits of mental endeavour.
Similarly, the COVID-19 virus is artificial so someone conceived it in his mind before it was created in the lab.
WalkAway founder Brandon Straka’s political opinions were once wrapped up entirely in his sexual identity. But after a profound healing experience at an AA meeting, his resentment for heterosexual and conservative people melted away. With a clear mind and open heart, he was soon awakened to the narrative of hate and division that he had bought into. Now free to finally think for himself and honestly investigate the truth, his world turned upside down.
Please watch the VIDEO
By Kip Hansen – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Judith Curry recently highlighted the 9 October 2020 Wall Street Journal piece by Matt Ridley titled: “What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Science”. [ It is annoyingly paywalled, so Dr. Curry offers extensive excerpts at her own blog, Climate Etc. ]
[ Full version of Matt Ridley’s piece is available at his own website here. — h/t to Malcolm Robinson]
What do Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want America to look like? They say they want America to emulate Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden. But do their proposed policies reflect that? Or do they point down a darker path? Debbie D’Souza, a native Venezuelan and political commentator, investigates.
Please watch the VIDEO
By Associated Press – Re-Blogged From Headline Wealth
The Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Google has been abusing its online dominance in online search to stifle competition and harm consumers, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant act to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. It could be an opening salvo ahead of other major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
By Jennifer Marohasy – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Journalist Clarissa Bye from the Daily Telegraph has done a really good job of summarizing my concerns and recommendations for better bushfire management across Australia. The article entitled ‘Burning Question on Fires and Climate Link’ has been republished in so many of the News Ltd regional papers including The Frazer Coast Chronicle and The Byron Shire News and is based on Chapter 16 in my new book, ‘Climate Change: The Facts 2020’. Clarissa writes:
By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are the poster child for the impacts of climate change on species, and justifiably so. To date, global warming has been most pronounced in the Arctic, and this trend is projected to continue. There are suggestions that before mid-century we could have a nearly ice-free Arctic in the summer. This increases the urgency with which we must act to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to delay or avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change.
America’s key institutions are broken. More people wake up daily to that reality. They are preparing for the moment this realization dawns on Americans at large, which explains why the markets for physical bullion are so active.
Markets certainly aren’t working. Perpetual central bank intervention, rampant Wall Street cheating, high frequency trading, index funds, and many other factors have divorced the price of securities from fundamental realities, such as high unemployment.
The adjacent screen capture from CNBC in April says it all about how badly markets are doing at reflecting true economic fundamentals.
By Dr. Judith Curry – Re-Blogged From WUWT
The scientific method remains the best way to solve many problems, but bias, overconfidence and politics can sometimes lead scientists astray
It’s been awhile since I have been so struck by an article that I felt moved to immediately do a blog post. Well, maybe because today is Saturday and it is one day after the landfall of Hurricane Delta, I actually have a half hour to do this.
Matt Ridley has published an article in the WSJ What the pandemic has taught us about science, that is highly relevant for climate change as well as for Covid-19. It is excellent, I agree with and endorse every word of this.
The paper is behind paywall; Dan Hughes kindly sent me a topic of the text. Here are extensive excerpts
By University of Exeter – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.
A team of geologists, led by Professor Frances Wall from the Camborne School of Mines, have discovered a new hypothesis to predict where rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium could be found.
The elements are among the most sought after, because they are an essential part of digital and clean energy manufacturing, including magnets in large wind turbines and electric cars motors.
By Eric Worrall – Re-Blogged From WUWT
h/t JoNova; Rajesh Khanna, a University of Arizona professor of pharmacology who specializes in researching pain and pain treatments, has discovered that a Covid-19 viral spike protein appears to block pain signals caused by inflammation. Rajesh has received multiple reports from people who suffer from chronic pain conditions stating that while they were infected, they didn’t experience any pain.
UA scientists study theory that the coronavirus may briefly block pain, masking illness
For all its deadly effects, the novel coronavirus may actually have one unexpected side effect.
…
By attaching to this receptor, called the neuropilin-1 receptor, the virus seems to decrease or stop pain entirely, according to the study’s lead researcher, Rajesh Khanna.
“The pathway for pain is shut off,” Khanna said.
…
He has received dozens of anecdotal emails since his study published from patients who had chronic pain conditions before getting sick.
“Then they got COVID and now their pain is gone,” he said. “I fully acknowledge that these are anecdotes … but it’s a recurrent theme. It’s mind boggling!”
…
Professor Khanna’s study is available here.
Professor Khanna thinks this potent pain masking effect might be an evolutionary adaption. It could allow the infectious to carry on with their normal lives, blocking awareness that they are sick.
Thanks to Professor Khanna’s research, It seems likely that doctors may soon have a potent new pain medication in their arsenal, to help improve the lives of people who suffer from debilitating chronic pain.
By Kip Hansen – Re-Blogged From WUWT
The brilliant zoologist and “bone whisperer” Susan J. Crockford has a new paper just published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. The new paper is titled: “Domestic dogs and wild canids on the Northwest Coast of North America: Animal husbandry in a region without agriculture?”. The other authors are: Iain McKechnie of the University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute as lead author and Madonna Moss of the University of Oregon. The paper is about dogs [and not polar bears].
Dr. Crockford is one of the world’s leading experts “… on the evolutionary history of dogs, especially in regards to their domestication and speciation. In 2007, she was called upon as the scientific consultant for the PBS documentary, Dogs that Changed the World, focused upon the domestication of dogs. In the two-part documentary, she was called upon multiple times to give insight into the process of domestication and the emergence of dogs as a separate species from wolves.” [ Wiki ]
What’s the difference between absentee balloting and universal mail-in balloting? The latter might sound like a great idea, but is it really? Eric Eggers of the Government Accountability Institute answers this vitally important question.
Please watch the VIDEO
Try to remember the kind of September,
When life was slow and oh so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow….
–Tom Jones
By Associated Press – Re-Blogged From Headline Wealth
Federal regulators have not taken adequate steps to protect computer systems on airliners from hackers, a government watchdog agency reported on Friday.
The agency said the Federal Aviation Administration has not developed a training program for cybersecurity or test airplane computer systems that could be vulnerable to attack.
By – Re-Blogged From https://www.news.com.au
Lockdowns have been used to control the coronavirus around the world. Now a WHO official has questioned the success of them.
Please watch the VIDEO
By David Middleton – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues scientists
Researchers have detected a group of lakes hidden under the red planet’s icy surface.
Jonathan O’CallaghanTwo years ago, planetary scientists reported the discovery of a large saltwater lake under the ice at Mars’s south pole, a finding that was met with excitement and some scepticism. Now, researchers have confirmed the presence of that lake — and found three more.
By Eurekalert – Re-Blogged From WUWT
From the TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH (TUM)
Stellar explosion in Earth’s proximity
When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova – a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago.
Discovery of a nearby supernova 2.5 million years ago boosting cosmic rays may lend credence to Svensmark’s cosmic rays modulate clouds on Earth theory.
WUWT readers may recall that NOAA did an experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that vindicated my findings about the effects of local urbanization on surface temperature measurements.
The urban heat island (UHI) effect is strongly affected by urban-scale changes to local land surfaces. Basically, the more asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc. that exist near a thermometer, the more the overnight low temperature is biased upwards due to heat storage.
By Kip Hansen – Re-Blogged From WUWT
[ Just a note about a curious thing to lighten your day. ]
This is the time of year that ladybugs start to look for places to spend the winter. They don’t migrate like songbirds, but hibernate, more like bears or turtles. Many of us find ladybugs inside our homes once the weather starts to get cold, or, even more often, in the spring when the ladybugs that have been sleeping inside our home’s walls all winter come out on the inside of the house instead of the outside!
Ladybugs are Good Bugs!
In your flower or vegetable garden, ladybugs are beneficial – both the adult (ladybug) and the larvae eat aphids, mealybugs and spider mites, all of which cause damage to your plants. Ladybugs are so helpful that they are sold as natural “pesticides”, shipped to your home for release in your garden.
Re-Blogged From WUWT
Rutgers study is the first to model impact of 5G radiation “leakage” on forecasting
Upcoming 5G wireless networks that will provide faster cell phone service may lead to inaccurate weather forecasts, according to a Rutgers study on a controversial issue that has created anxiety among meteorologists.
“Our study – the first of its kind that quantifies the effect of 5G on weather prediction error – suggests that there is an impact on the accuracy of weather forecasts,” said senior author Narayan B. Mandayam, a Distinguished Professor at the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB), who also chairs the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
By Willis Eschenbach – Re-Blogged From WUWT
I ponder curious things. I got to thinking about available solar energy. That’s the amount of solar energy that remains after reflection losses.
Just under a third (~ 30%) of the incoming sunshine is reflected back into space by a combination of the clouds, the aerosols in the atmosphere, and the surface. What’s left is the solar energy that actually makes it in to warm up and power our entire planet. In this post, for shorthand I’ll call that the “available energy”, because … well, because that’s basically all of the energy we have available to run the entire circus.
Christopher Columbus, the most famous explorer in history, was once a celebrated hero. Now, many consider him a villain, a despoiler of paradise. So which version of Columbus is true? Michael Knowles answers this question and offers some much-needed historical perspective.
Please watch the VIDEO
By Nic Lewis – Re-Blogged From WUWT
I showed in my May 10th article Why herd immunity to COVID-19 is reached much earlier than thought that inhomogeneity within a population in the susceptibility and in the social-connectivity related infectivity of individuals would reduce, in my view probably very substantially, the herd immunity threshold (HIT), beyond which an epidemic goes into retreat. I opined, based on my modelling, that the HIT probably lay somewhere between 7% and 24%, and that evidence from Stockholm County suggested it was around 17% there, and had been reached.
I then showed in a July 27th update article[1] that mounting evidence supported my reasoning.
By Chris White – Re-Blogged From WUWT
By Cliff Mass Weather Blog – Re-Blogged From WUWT
A number of groups and individuals are claiming that the recent major wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are predominantly or significantly the result of climate change produced by increasing greenhouse gases.
In fact, many have called these conflagrations “climate fires.” Did global warming (a.k.a. climate change) have a significant impact on the Northwest wildfires of the past few weeks?
Precious metals markets are advancing this week as a massive new stimulus bill makes its way through Congress.
On Thursday evening the House of Representatives passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill on a party line vote.
It’s a big deal whenever Congress commits to spending that kind of cash, especially when it’s money that has to be borrowed into existence. These days, though, it’s not that unusual for Washington to dole out trillions of dollars at a time.
By Polar Bear Science – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Posted on September 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Potential impact of the second-lowest sea ice minimum since 1979 on polar bear survival
The annual summer sea ice minimum in the Arctic has been reached and while the precise extent has not yet been officially determined, it’s clear this will be the ‘second lowest’ minimum (after 2012) since 1979. However, as there is no evidence that polar bears were harmed by the 2012 ‘lowest’ summer sea ice this year’s ‘second-lowest’ is unlikely to have any negative effect.
What once was the start of healthy debate is now just as often a catalyst for personal and professional destruction. “The mob” is out to cancel anyone who crosses it. Paris Dennard describes the problem and offers a solution.
Please watch the VIDEO
Aaron Saunders – Re-Blogged From CruiseCriticIn its latest Fact Finding 30 report, FMC Commissioner Sola indicates that Florida has lost $3.2 billion in economic activity and 49,500 local jobs paying approximately $2.3 billion in wages as a result of the suspension of cruising following the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s No-Sail Order, in effect through September 30.
By Associated Press – Re-Blogged From Headline Wealth
The Justice Department is expected to bring an antitrust action against Google in coming weeks, focusing on its dominance in online search and whether it was used to stifle competition and hurt consumers, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press Thursday.
The department also is examining Google’s online advertising practices, said the person, who could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Antitrust officials at the department briefed state attorneys general Thursday on the planned action against Google, seeking support from states across the country that share concerns about Google’s conduct.
By James D. Agresti – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Overview
Roughly two-thirds of U.S. residents don’t believe the CDC’s official tally for the number of Covid-19 deaths. This distrust, however, flows in opposing directions. A nationally representative survey conducted by Axios/Ipsos in late July 2020 found that 37% of adults think the real number of C-19 fatalities in the U.S. is lower than reported, while 31% think the true death toll is greater than reported.
By Judith Curry – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Subtitle: our failure to live in harmony with nature.
I’m taking a breather today from nonstop hurricane stuff. Well, ‘breather’ may not be quite the right word.
As I’m writing this, I’m looking out into the smoke from the California fires that are blowing into Reno (not to mention much of the rest of the U.S.). Schools in Reno are supposed to be open (they have a good COVID protocol), but have been closed more than half the time for the past month owing to bad air quality from the fires.
The mantra from global warming activists that manmade global warming is causing the fires, and therefore fossil fuels must be eliminated, is rather tiresome, not to mention misses the most important factors. More importantly, even if global warming is having some fractional impact on the wildfires, reducing fossil fuels would fractionally impact the fires but only a time scale of many decades hence.
Nestride Yumga experienced real corruption and civil rights abuses in Africa. Then she came to America, the land of opportunity, education, and freedom. So when Black Lives Matter protests declared America guilty of systemic racism and injustice, she knew she had to defend her adoptive country.
Please watch the VIDEO
By Jim Steele – Re-Blogged From WUWT
Scientific evidence reveals there has been no climate effect regards California’s wildfires! None! The data below proves it beyond all doubt. There is no denying that warmer temperatures can cause drier fuels and promote larger fires. But that fact is being misapplied to all wildfires. About 70% of California’s 2020 burnt areas have been in grasslands and dead grass is so dry by the end of California’s annual summer drought that dead grasses are totally insensitive to any added warmth from climate change. Dead grasses only require a few hours of warm dry conditions to become highly flammable.
It’s fire weather not climate change that is critical. Furthermore, the century trends in local temperatures where California’s biggest fires have occurred reveal no connection to climate change. In most cases the local maximum temperatures have been cooler now than during the 1930s. Those cooler temperatures should reduce the fire danger. Newsom is either ignoring or distorting the scientific evidence, is totally stupid, or is a dishonest demagogue.
By Headline USA – Re-Blogged From Headline Wealth
As part of the 1960s counterculture, Northern Irish rock legend Van Morrison was revered for helping the hippie generation fight against the forces of fascism.
Now, the famously reclusive “Brown-Eyed Girl” singer, 75, has come full-circle in his contrarian tendencies by attacking the “fascist bullies” responsible for coronavirus lockdowns that have been driven largely by leftists.
Multinational aerospace corporation Airbus is investigating a new way for airliners to save fuel: by flying in formation, like a herd of migrating geese.
Victor Tangermann – Re-Blogged From Futurism
A team of researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has built a bionic device that they say can restore vision to the blind through a brain implant.
The team is now preparing for what they claim will be the world’s first human clinical trials of a bionic eye — and are asking for additional funding to eventually manufacture it on a global scale.
As pundits weigh in daily on who has the edge in this year’s political horserace, investors want to know how the election will affect their pocketbook.
It could affect it in a big way. A major disruptive threat looms in the 2020 election like no other in recent history.
It’s not that one candidate or the other would be uniquely bad for markets. Wall Street could be okay with either a Trump or a Biden victory, albeit probably for different reasons.
By Polar Bear Science – Re-Blogged From WUWT
This essay about medical researchers having trouble getting their papers published because the results don’t support the official pandemic narrative has disturbing parallels with my experience trying to inject some balance into the official polar bear conservation narrative.1 Especially poignant is the mention of models built on assumptions sold as ‘facts’ that fail once data (i.e. evidence) become available – which of course is the entire point of my latest book, The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened.
