A devilish innovation in the world of “transphobia.”
Y2Kyoto: Stop Making Sense
5 Things I Truly Don’t Understand About The ‘Inevitable Energy Transition’
In a world that is apparently getting both warmer and colder because of global warming, how is it that we can increasingly rely on non-dispatchable (i.e., intermittent, usually unavailable), weather-dependent electricity from wind and solar plants to displace, not just supplement, dispatchable (i.e., baseload, almost always available) coal, gas, and nuclear power? In other words, if our weather is becoming less predictable, how is it that a consuming economy like ours can, or should even try, predictably rely on weather-dependent resources? ERCOT exemplifies this: the Texas grid operator has around 31,000 MW of wind capacity but goes into winter expecting only 6,000 MW (just 20%) of wind farms to be available to generate electricity. Again, in the marketplace, the “alternatives” you keep hearing about are proving to be far more supplemental than alternative.
Further, good wind and solar spots are finite, based on geography, so new builds, naturally, will be forced into areas that are less windy and less sunny, lowering their already very low 35% capacity factors. And because they devour immense swaths of land, interrupting a whole host of things, that Renewable Rejection Database is mounting very quickly. If wind, solar, and electric cars too are as effective and low-cost as so many keep promising us, there would obviously be no need for government subsidies for broad adoption. Yet, there is, gigantically so. Huge amounts of taxpayer money going into this, what I call “the holy climate panacea triad,” are vulnerable to changing politics and bound to become politically untenable at some point:“Ford Is Losing $66,446 On Every EV It Sells.”
The Global Common’s Alliance
Today I argue that an influential element of the “degrowth” campaign is both watermelon-flavored and also adjacent to the institutionalization of a much deeper and more serious challenge to science and democratic governance. That challenge involves the blossoming of myriad non-state actors funded by large foundations who are implementing a framework of “planetary boundaries” into the decision making of businesses, governments and multilateral institutions.
This is not a conspiracy — it is simply a group of powerful and well-funded groups organizing to advance their shared special interests. They are doing so out in plain sight. This is the normal stuff of politics. However, the complexity of the organizational arrangements, their work outside of governmental oversight and the incredible pervasiveness of their work can make them hard to see, much less to hold accountable. For whatever reasons, journalists and academics have spent essentially no time documenting the rise of these organizations, their goals or their influence. Today’s sunshine is just a start of the attention I’ll be paying to them.
In this new world of independent publishing, consider subscribing to one or two of your best reads to support them (particularly those who don’t already have large audiences already). Roger is a good place to start, but there are dozens of others that we link to frequently.
Literally the Dark Ages
When I visited South Africa in 2015, two hour power outages were a regular occurrence most evenings in the suburbs, but unheard of in townships which voted ANC. Not so anymore. Even ANC strongholds are now experiencing 12 hour outages, which is finally threatening the ANC’s stranglehold on political power.
But don’t get your hopes up. The main beneficiaries might be the overtly Marxist Economic Freedom Front, whose Stalinist leader thirsts for the mounting chaos which he believes could open the door for a dictatorship of the Proletariat.
It Was Always About Power
Victor Davis Hanson writes about the left-wing elites in America.
Collateral damage
Remember when nearly every medical expert said assured us that the economy will just “recover” from the lockdowns? Inexplicably, a growing number of companies did not get that memo. As for what the future holds, just wait until all those pandemic assistance loans come due.
“We’re seeing bankruptcies up 116 per cent year-over- year,” said Tostenson, and less than 50 per cent of all restaurants in a recent survey were making money.
“A lot of business owners took those loans on the premise (business) would come back,” noted Tostenson. “And it did for a couple of months, but then inflation kicked in.”
The hospitality entities listed in the petition currently owe BMO about $13.6 million, while Bomber Brewing owes $1.25 million, according to the petition. Their monthly debt servicing payments total about $295,000 a month.
A great comment by John”: “Its nothing dancing healthcare workers can’t fix..”
How To Become A Nazi
Old Joe has the answer. Simply follow conservative media. We don’t have to worry about that up here in Trudeau’s Canada. The media is tightly controlled by the Liberal Party.
The Best Healthcare System in the World
Globe and Mail- How Canada’s emergency rooms are faring as major staffing shortages persist
Meanwhile in completely unrelated and unreported news…
It’s Probably Nothing
Ban All The Things!
Gavin Newsom goes full Michael Bloomberg: California Set to Ban Skittles & Other Candy Over Health Concerns
Biden’s America
Victor Davis Hanson writes about how the left has pushed the envelope.
Ponzi returns
This Bloomberg headline typifies the classic spin that leftist corporate media hacks excel at. You can read enough of the article before the paywall blurs it out to see that a lousy rate of return is not so lousy because, well, it could have been even lousier. This is how a decline magically turns into a “boost”.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board earned 1.3% …. as declines in equity and fixed income markets eroded the benefits of a weaker Canadian dollar and gains in infrastructure.
As far as the benefits of a falling currency go, if that were the key to prosperity Zimbabwe should be the richest nation on earth. Since most “infrastructure” projects these days are money-losing boondoggles, that angle won’t get very far either.
Yahoo Finance has a more straightforward analysis if you want to dig deeper without paying up front for spin doctoring.
Universal Death Care
It’s $150 a pop at a vet clinic: Quebec spent nearly $6 million on doctor-assisted suicide in 2022
Our Moral And Intellectual Superiors
Nihilist Nonsense
Victor Davis Hanson on the absurdities of our age.
Maybe climate change?
The post-pandemic spike in excess deaths is simply becoming too large even for the leftist corporate media to ignore, but it seems that most favored approach is to throw up one’s hands and declare that it’s all just a baffling mystery.
Statistics Canada last week published what are called “provisional” mortality counts for New Brunswick, which estimated 9,288 people died in the province through 2022.
If confirmed, the number will be a record for the province, obliterating the previous high set in 2021 by a stunning 1,179 deaths.
New Brunswick’s Department of Health is aware of the record 2022 death estimate but it has no theories about a cause — and isn’t prepared to draw any broad conclusions about what it means.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
[Mao] tampered around with agriculture too and came to the perfectly ignorant but quintessentially Marxist conclusion that household vermin are agents of capitalism. Yes, like capitalists, they exploit the labour of the proletariat and therefore must be totally eradicated. And by far the worst of all these bourgeoisie oppressors was, naturally, that most vile and heinous creature, the sparrow…
As part of the “Smash Sparrow Campaign,” children were enlisted to bang pots and pans around, chasing the sparrows out of their nests. Later, adults knocked the nests out of the trees and crushed the eggs underneath their sandals, until there were almost no sparrows left in all of China… Within a year of the “Smash Sparrow Campaign,” itself part of the larger “Four Pests Campaign,” the locust population exploded and did what locusts do best. The Communists had played God and literally created a Biblical plague.
For devotees of the absurd and grotesque, Professor James O’Flannery’s lively documentary series on the Chinese Revolution. Or, to borrow one of the professor’s chapter headings, Our Turn Fuck Up World.
Reality bites
When pandemic measures began mandating restaurant closures and the segregation of businesses into “essential” versus “non-essential” enterprises, we were assured that this could never be a long term problem because the economy would “recover”. In reality, recovery is starting to look an awful lot like recession.
Bankruptcy filings in food services have spiked 116 per cent since 2022, according to Restaurants Canada. It says about half of restaurants are unprofitable right now, compared to only 12 per cent before the pandemic.
Restaurants Canada is calling on the federal government to extend the CEBA repayment deadline. The program offered interest-free loans of up to $60,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits. The deadline to pay back loans is Dec. 31, 2023.
Restaurants Canada estimates 20 per cent of its members won’t be able to pay back the loans by deadline.
Wasted money
If you’re interesting in buying some trash, Naomi Klein’s latest book is all set up for pre-ordering. I imagine there will be little difference between it and her other disconnected, rambling word salads.
It’s official: my new book comes out September 12. It braids together memoir, political reportage, and cultural analysis into what I am told is a pretty wild ride.
Affordable housing
Nearly everyone cheers the downward slide in interest rates over the last forty years and its inevitable consequence: soaring asset values. Since rents are tied to housing values, why would anyone express surprise when rents soar as well?
It is a steal compared to the city-wide average, renting at just $1,650 per month, but the spartan unit comes with some very unique conditions.
The owner states that since males live on the upper floor of the home, they “prefer to rent the basement to the males,” specifying that there are three beds in the space, and can be rented to up to three “guys.”