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Amazing ballsy stuff from Elon!
Words to live by: 
Thursday 30 November 2023
Elon Musk to Disney, Apple, IBM, et.al.: “Go. Fuck. Yourself.” And adds: “Is that clear enough?”
Taiwan: Do NOT press for “independence” — the status quo is fine!
After hotheads, mostly from the so-called "pan Dems", called for Hong Kong independence. We knew at the time that that was crossing a clear Red Line. But they didn't listen. Yet the pre-NSL status quo for Hong Kong would have been just fine. We had all our freedoms. Now, rather less….
Instead we now have the Chinese University of HK being upbraided for not adhering strongly enough to the NSL, and declaring itself "grateful" for the criticism. Sigh…
Taiwan parties, and the U.S. must listen to what Beijing says. The status quo on Taiwan is fine for all parties. Stick to it.
Beijing is deadly serious. NO independence. Not even any calls for independence. No, non, nyet, 不要!
We should have listened to Putin, and his repeated, extremely clear, calls to stop the eastward expansion of NATO. Putin had designs of Ukraine anyway, part of his Soviet revanchism, but the U.S. push on NATO sure was a trigger.
So: DPP, listen to Beijing and be serious. NO calls for independence!
Wednesday 29 November 2023
“The Death of the Old Europe—and the Rise of the Right” | The Free Press
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-death-of-old-europe-and-rise-of-the-rightEurope is in shock. Geert Wilders—variously called "far-right," an "anti-Islamist populist," and the Dutch Donald Trump—won last Wednesday's election in the Netherlands. His party is now the biggest in the Dutch parliament. For years, Wilders has been an outcast, considered too toxic by mainstream politics and too extreme by the overwhelmingly liberal media. And yet he has won—and not by a small margin.
Europe is in shock. We are not.
That is because we are both Dutch—and because we both left the Netherlands because of the phenomena that have now brought Wilders to power.
What we have witnessed will tell you not just about how Wilders could win a landslide victory in one of the most liberal countries in Europe, but about what could soon be coming to countries like France, Germany, and other liberal democracies who fail to grapple with the dual challenge of mass migration and assimilation and ignore the very real concerns of their citizens.
Sent from my iPad
“CLP Power … to reduce charges by up to 16%” | SCMP
Electricity prices in Hong Kong going DOWN! How’s that! Where else is that happening?
Bringing our electricity charges to around $US 0.12 per kWh, just one-third of Australia, where price trends are sharply UP, as it moves relentlessly to subsidy-needing wind and solar.
We have ONE-THIRD the carbon emission per capita of Australia, because of a policy of nuclear and natural gas.
Australian Greens are infected with the “perfection is the enemy of action” gene. They are so focussed on renewables that any fossil fuel, ANY, is not OK, not even natural gas; which has been a great interim solution, not just here but in the United States as well, But Greens don’t like interim solutions. Only “perfect” solutions like wind and solar.
And the reasons the costs are going up is that we’ve been conned into believing renewables are cheap. They are not, when you take account of intermittency and the need for a whole new transmission system. Not to mention that in Australia, as in other places, people are getting fed up with the land needed for the solar and wind arms and the transmission lines taking up valuable farm land. Wind and solar take up 300 to 600 times as much land as nuclear. Land is not unlimited not even in Australia where its “abundance” is one of the arguments against nuclear.
But no, for them it’s “nuclear takes too long” (it doesn’t) and “nuclear is too expensive” (it’s not). Though it guess its movement of some sort that they don’t talk of their previous bugbears, waste and safety.
Tuesday 28 November 2023
“Irish writer Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker Prize with dystopian novel Prophet Song” | About Ireland descending into tyranny
When I saw the headline I thought: "hmmm… I wonder, would that be a Right-wing tyranny or a Left-wing tyranny?"
London to a brick, I thought, it's going to be about a Right-wing tyranny. And sure enough: of course it's about a Right-wing tyranny descending on Ireland!
But look at history of the last century. On the Right we have the German Nazis; the Italian, Spanish and Greek fascists; Argentina; Chile. But much more on the Left, we have the Stalinist Soviet Union, the Maoist China, the Kim Il-sungian North Korea. Right-wing tyrannies still pop up here and there, but the largest and most enduring tyrannies, the ones that have done the most damage to mankind, are the far-Left ones. You want to see a real dystopia in action today? Go to North Korea, as I've done. It's right there right now and has endured for three-quarters of a century. It's horrid, it's a tyranny and it's a dystopia.
But Paul Lynch can't "imagine" a far-Left dystopia, because that would never bag a Booker!
He claims he was taking a risk writing the book. Shucks, Paul! You're never at risk with the mainstream if you hammer the Right! Sounds like the claim you were "speaking truth to power" when you criticised Trump in office. You did it to the cheers of the media. Like Robert De Nero saying "fuck Trump" at the Oscars to wild cheers, then being called "brave"! What self-regarding nonsense.
Give me a break Paul. You knew that writing about a Right-wing dystopia was catnip for the pussies.
The irony is that the current Left-wing Irish government is debating a "Hate crime bill" that would silence dissent and crush freedom of speech. A genuine step to tyranny. Whither the Left-wing dystopia in Ireland? Don't go to Lynch for any thoughts, for like the good people at Booker and The Guardian, they all firmly believe the only baddies are on the Right!
Palestinian fantasies
David Bernstein @ProfDBernstein I've learned from "X" that the "pro-Palestine" movement lives in a fantasy world where, putting mythology regarding 10/7 aside (for the uninitiated, please note that every single one of these beliefs is utterly false)...
--There was a country called Palestine, where Muslims and a…26/11/2023, 10:12 pm
Deceitful Divisive Doonesbury
Thoughts:
It’s propaganda not humour
Attacks Republicans and people with concerns about vaccine mandates (who G. Trudeau would no doubt call “anti-vaxxers”).
The study quoted (an academic study! In cartoon!) has been shown to be wrong, by Vinay Prasad an epidemiologist and bio-statistician. The error is the “fallacy of range”. Using the same data one could show that Democrats have lagged Republicans in Covid vax uptake. Further, there were confounding factors not accounted for in the study.
Hence the Deceitfulness.
Who does Trudeau think he’s influencing? Only his own followers who are overwhelmingly on the Left of the Democratic Party. Who will only be further entrenched in their certainty that all Republicans are rubes.
Hence the Divisiveness.
Does this help anyone? No.
Monday 27 November 2023
“Nuclear energy is a joke” | Chris Bowen
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Sent from my iPad
Gaza “Open Prison"
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Sunday 26 November 2023
Sabotage of Chinese made wind farms — by the Chinese?!
From the Financial Times:
Last month two undersea cables and one pipeline in the Baltic Sea were damaged in what investigators believe were deliberate acts of sabotage. These are just the most recent examples of mysterious damage to sea-based infrastructure. But new risks are also emerging: Chinese companies are suppliers of wind turbines — whose offshore farms are connected to land by cables on the seabed — and will be crucial for the west’s energy transition. To ensure the west doesn’t become dependent on Beijing for our wind technology in the way it has historically relied on Russia for gas, we need to boost domestic manufacturing.
Since the cable sabotage took place, during the course of a few hours between October 7 and 8, Estonian, Finnish and Swedish authorities have investigated the damage sustained within their exclusive economic zones. A suspect has already emerged: the Hong Kong-flagged, Chinese-owned boxship NewNew Polar Bear, which was being escorted by a Russian-flagged vessel. This comes after two undersea cables connecting the Matsu Islands with Taiwan were severed by merchant ships earlier this year, and the mysterious explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines last September. These incidents are alarming because the west is so dependent on this maritime infrastructure: pipelines to deliver our oil and gas supplies, undersea cables carrying the data for our modern digital economies, and offshore wind to power the energy transition.
Wind power currently accounts for 17 per cent of Europe’s electricity, and this figure is set to increase: in an effort to counter the effects of climate change, the EU, Norway and the UK plan to double their offshore wind energy capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050. That will mean a rapid increase in construction, especially for offshore wind, which has only reached 16GW so far. The EU recently held a security exercise focusing on wind farms in the North Sea, and operators have begun sharing data from sensors and cameras with their respective ministries of defence in an effort to discourage sabotage.
The offshore installations themselves face both sabotage threats and the ever-present risk of cyber intrusion. Wind farms face a further, troubling vulnerability: dependence on China in their supply chains. Chinese-made wind turbines cost less than half the average price of those manufactured elsewhere — and while the number of European countries that are using them is still low, Chinese companies have declared their interest in participating in European wind energy auctions and in opening up production facilities on the continent.
Things that are bad
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Sent from my iPad
“UK not perfect, but few regrets for BN(O) expats” | SCMP
If I were a 40-something, or 30-something Hongkonger, I’d be doing something like these above who’ve taken up Britain’s offer of “British Nationals (Offshore)” visas.
99% say they won’t come back to Hong Kong, even if they might not be making as much as they were here.
I’d be getting to somewhere else — maybe Oz, maybe U.S., maybe U.K. — because the trend here is not good.
Note the comments above on the schooling. Less pressure in the U.K., but their kids learning more. Getting a better education.
Why I stay here now is because it suits me at 70-something. Safe city, good healthcare, great hospitals, home help, excellent facilities, easy to get in and out if we want to (right now, I don’t — haven’t travelled since Covid!). And basically a clean non-corrupt government. These are all things to cherish.
But younger, with career ahead, and kids to think of… sure, outta here.
Saturday 25 November 2023
Jeffrey Sachs, lifelong Democrat, leaves the party over incessant government lying
More in the Covid lab-leak theory.
Sachs: “Open the books!”
Friday 24 November 2023
"US democracy in decline? Not if its purpose is understood”
Posting this just because it’s such an unusual take in the South China Morning Post.
Letter to the SCMP on 22 November 2023, from Roberta Schlechter, Portland, Oregon, a very far-left place:
Jonathan Power is an accomplished European, nine years my senior. My American bio includes three terms as a legislative staffer and an ongoing student of history and public policy. Having read Power’s opinion on “declining US democracy”, I respond from my context.
Power’s use of the term “democracy” is disconnected from our use. Beyond the one-person-one-vote democratic model, America operates as a representative republic built on a constitutional foundation of federalism – a formal power-sharing arrangement that recognises the co-equal value of the individual and the sovereign state.
Thursday 23 November 2023
“Going nuclear: how Asia is leading the zero-emission power push”
China has 16 nuclear power stations under construction. The rest of Asia has 75% of the global commitments to nuclear power stations.
Meanwhile Australia drags its feet. All sorts of nonsense excuses: like “it’s illegal” (!). Like “it takes too long”. Like, “we can’t build large-size nuclear” (why not?). Like “Small Modular Reactors are not viable” (yet). Maybe Australia could get working on repealing legislation that makes nuclear illegal. At least start that process.
While the Australian Conservation Foundation is clearly ideologically against nuclear, the Australian population is in favour of Australia developing nuclear power. Time for ACF to get in board, or at least be neutral. Nuclear supporters also support renewables. Renewables supporters are often against nuclear. Why is that?
“The western world is in denial about the reality of Israel” | Daniel Levy
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| Click above for the video |
See if you are persuaded by the arguments of Daniel Levy. Who was an adviser to Israel PM Ehud Barak and to US President Barack Obama. So he’s of the Left. Does that mean there are things he can’t see, despite his telling those who don’t agree with him to “do some history”? Why, yes, it does. He sees no agency, no responsibility, none, niente, nada, on the Palestinian side, let alone of Hamas. It’s all the fault of Israel. Israel’s failure to be compassionate. Israel’s failure to grasp peace. Israel’s genocidal intentions. Israel’s “apartheid” (Amnesty says so!). All Israel. All Israel. All the Jews. No fault of Hamas or the PA.
But don’t let me poison your views! Go ahead and watch. And remember: this is amongst the best of the arguments on the anti-Israel, the pro-Hamas side. The best. The least deranged. Do they make sense? If you’ve “done some history”?
Greenwald v Harris Redux: Love-Hate, Hate-Love and Love-Hate again
Glenn Greenwald is a famous journalist and podcaster. Sam Harris is a famous philosopher and neuroscientist.
I first came to know of Sam Harris. I bought his “End of Faith” in 2006. And others: His book on “Free Will” (2012). His discussion with Maajid Nawaz on "Islam and the Future of Tolerance" (2015). I subscribed to his “Making Sense” podcast.
What I liked about Sam was his clear thinking. His analysis. His take on the danger of ideologies and in particular the ideology of Islam -- Islamism. He’s read deeply the Trinity of Islalm: The Koran, the Hadith and the Sarah (the life of Muhammad).
I first heard of Glenn Greenwald as a counter to Harris. Glenn didn’t like Sam’s scorching criticism of Islam. According to Sam, Glenn took quotes out of context and then attacked them. Sam described this as “Greenwalding”. (TBF: it’s pretty much a standard operating procedure on social media these days. Aka Straw Manning).
So, of course, I hated Glenn Greenwald. I was very much in Sam’s side as I thought, and believe to this day, that he’s widely and deeply read in the core tenets of Islam, as an ideological structure, which needs to be criticised and which he did with skill and verve.
Then in 2016 came Trump and Sam’s brain was broken. He had a severe case of TDS. Which he has to this day. The first I noticed was with the Senate Hearings on Brett Kavanagh for SCOTUS. Sam wanted Kavanagh found guilty of sex charges even though there was no evidence (and is none to this day). Sam managed to twist the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” with his silver tongue rationalisation. But I didn’t like it. It damaged his kind of “just the facts, ma’am” brand. His hard-data, science-based brand.
Then I started to hear more about Glenn, as he’d left the Intercept, a company he’d founded, because of disputes with its board over the issue of free speech. And set up his own podcast. To continue free speech. I liked that.
Reminder: that Glenn was the guy who broke the Edward Snowden story, via The Guardian. So he’s no stranger to big stories.
And I’ve liked his podcasts, a number of which I’ve linked to on this blog.
Then came Gaza and Sam did “The Bright Line Between Good and Evil” online essay.
While Glenn went all pro-Hamas and anti-Israel. It seems he has his own Derangement Syndrome, this time Israel:
- He’s fully behind the massive pro-Palestine demos in the west, even as they call for the genocide of Jews, chant “Hitler was right! Kill the Jews”. Yes, even as they do that. And even as they are shot through with Hamas supporters and Hamas messages, even as they call for a “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea”, which is simple code for “get rid of the Jews”. Yes, Greenwald, a Jew, supports that.
- He supports the Gen Z fascination with the rediscovered Osama bin Ladin Letter to America. Supports its contents. Supports the Chomskyan views that “we deserved it”.
- He supports the narrative of “grievance”. Of Muslim grievance. Even of Hitler grievance! (i.e. “they had to do it”). Which I’ve shown to be, instead, a matter of ideology, not grievance, back in 2009.
- He’s gone crazy in a flurry of X-posts. And it’s not nice. To me, anyway. So I come back to having respect for Sam Harris for his take on “The Bright Line Between Good and Evil”.
So, we’re back full circle. Back to liking Sam and avoiding Glenn. Though I must be careful to keep looking at both. Otherwise the dreaded Silo. The dreaded Bubble. Which we ought be fighting against all the time, difficult as it sometimes is to read and hear the views of others.
Wednesday 22 November 2023
“Visiting Ministers call for ceasefire in Gaza” and unleash a blizzard of misinformation on Gaza
Going one-by-one on the highlighted bits above:
“... following an attack by Hamas last month.” What? “... an attack"?! How about, more correctly: “following an unprovoked massacre of civilians, including babies, women and children, by the terrorist group Hamas”. Hmm?
Wang: “China opposes any forced displacement and forcible transfer...”. (1) This is not done by the IDF. Instead, it warns Gaza civilians that it will bomb a certain area at a certain time. So they have the chance to get out of the way. What happens then, usually, is that Hamas stops the citizens from escaping because it wants the civilian deaths to play out on western media. Which the media then pliantly report. (2) Hypocrisy China, much? They forcible transfer citizens, eg in Xinjiang and Tibet. And -- for a very long time -- have limited the domestic movement of its own citizens.
The “foreign minster” of the Palestinian Authority, Riyad al-Maliki, claims the war is to “eliminate the existence of the Palestinian people...”. No it’s not. (1) Clearly not, because of the measures that that IDF takes to minimise civilian deaths. Measures that go far beyond the requirements under international law and further than any modern army. (2) Hypocrisy PA, much? They, like Hamas, specifically and in writing want the worldwide destruction of the jews. They also pay a lifetime pension to any Muslim that murders Jews in acts of terrorism.
Wang: “China supports the just cause of the Palestinian people to recover their national rights”. (1) There has never, in history, been a “Palestinian state”. So how can they “recover national rights”? (2) Hypocrisy much, China? The national rights of the Tibetans? The Uiguhurs in Xinjiang? They used to be separate national status, more so than ever the “Palestinian people” (who, by the way, were the Jews. It was they who were referred to as “Palestinian”, since Roman times until the 1960s, when Yasser Arafat usurped the term. Until then, what are now “Palestinians” had been Egyptian Arabs, or Syrian Arabs, or Lebanese Arabs, or whatever.)
Wang repeated China’s “call for a two-state solution”. Reminder: people now called Palestinian have refused a two-state solution since 1937. Again in 1938, and 1948, and 1967, and 1999, and 2000 and 2008. All times it’s been the Palestinian side that has refused the two-state solution.
The pressure from the west, and from the likes of China (if they really do believe in the need for a “settlement of the Palestinian issue”) needs to shift the Arab side to negate the Khartoum Resolution of 1967, which gave us the infamous “Three Noes”: No Peace with Israel; No Negotiations with Israel; No recognition of Israel. How on earth can Israel negotiate with that? What basis is "Three Noes" for a two-state solution?
Instead, the narrative must shift: to demanding the Palestinian side negate the Three Noes. That’s difficult, sure, but “difficult" is better than “impossible".
Wang: “... persistent disregard for the rights of the Palestinian people.” Let’s correct that for Minister Wang: “the persistent disregard of the Palestinian people to accept peace; to recognise the rights of Israel to exist and the persistent refusal of the Palestinian people to negotiate with Israel for the equal rights of Jews and Arabs to live together in peace in the region.” (FIFY!)
Something like that. Better than the ongoing nonsense spouted by China’s foreign minister, in cahoots with the “foreign minister” of the “Palestinian Authority”, and by the chatterati in the west. Enough.
PS: not to mention that “Israel has the right to self-defence” and at the same breath calling for a “ceasefire”, are mutually exclusive. There can be no long-term self-defence if there is a ceasefire that allows Hamas to regroup, to lock and reload, to carry out another massacre.
Tuesday 21 November 2023
Xena: leaves Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, racing to Subic Bay Philippines, April 2014
🎂 Xena long-time crew member Michael Dangar (“MC Danger”) birthday today. He’s now down in Oz.
We did this race, Hong Kong to the Philippines around ten times on Xena. The first, in 2008, we won. We didn’t win again, though we usually had a podium place.
It’s fun in the Philippines! Downtown Olongapo is crazy fun, ditto San Fernando.
The race is around 600 nm (~1,111 km...), taking us 3 to 5 days, wind depending. There’s often a big wind “hole” approaching the Philippine coast, and there have been times we’ve been stopped dead in the water, sails flapping, fishing for squid and taking a swim in the deep blue deep ocean off the stern.
We’ve cruised the islands after the race, including in our older boat, Thea. Many lovely bays, and the friendliest of people.
We sold Xena in 2018.
Australia win Cricket World Cup! Their 6th! Yay!
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| Click above for the video |
India were heavy odds-on favourites to win. Having won all ten previous games in compelling, flawless fashion and playing in front of a home crowd of 92,000, and the Indian Prime Minister.
But Australia ended up the winners by 6 wickets! With 8 overs to spare. That’s a thorough trouncing. Captain Pat Cummins did something no one expected. Like, no one. He won the toss and elected to bowl! No one had won a match against India when India batted first. There you go, Pat taking a risk.
The Grade Cricketer lads, Sam Perry and Ian Higgins, tear it up, in the above video. They’re funny, knowledgeable guys, quick wittted, and a way with words. Give them a listen.
ADDED: There’s some pretty mean-spirited reporting out there, blaming India’s loss on choking. But it was Australia win the game far more than India lost it. First the gutsy call to bowl, followed by some superlative bowling, supported by flawless fielding (Head’s incredible fast-running catch of the ball over his shoulder is a memory for the ages), and then spirited batting to bring it home. Failing to acknowledge Aussie brilliance a shame.
Norman Finklestein is a Hamas Propagandist
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| Click above for the interview |
I came to watch Finklestein, because he’s a storied defender of Palestinian rights and stern critic of Israel. So I presumed some deep insights.
But... none.
I found him woefully ignorant; that, or duplicitous. And when called out by Lake, didn’t fight back but just said “I’m not going to quibble”. Right. Cause he was wrong (eg, on the population density of Gaza; on their alleged “food insufficiency”).
He claims the PLO accepted the terms of a deal for the Two State Solution. Except I remember it, in real time, and they didn’t. Which is also how history records it. So, I’m, like, Huh? What’s with this man? You could only make statements like that if you were in deep thrall to the PLO and now Hamas.Which indeed he is, with his horrible equivalence-ing of the Hamas massacres on October 7, and the Polish Ghetto Riots of the holocaust. Quite horrid.
At best he’s ignorant. Which I can’t believe. So it must just be that he’s a hypocrite and a liar. For the cause. And it’s a horrid cause. The Islamification of the world, starting with killing off all the Jews in the land of Palestine.
Monday 20 November 2023
Palestinian polls: huge majorities love Hamas, agree with massacre of Jews, hate America, loathe Israel. Two State “solution” is done.
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No, is the answer.
Because such polls — despite some headlines reporting them as "shock polls" — have been around for decades. We have known their attitudes for a long time. Turning the other cheek, or "radical generosity" would only embolden Hamas and its wide swathe of Palestinian supporters.
Big majorities of Muslims, even those living in western countries, do not agree with western values. Big majorities hate the "small satan" of Israel, and hate the "great satan" of the United States even more. Hate the west and its values. As I argued back in 2009, here, and in 2014 here.
This has been known all along, even as we have welcomed vast numbers of Islamic immigrants into the west, majorities of whom — by all polls — hate the west. Listen again to Sam Harris on his “Bright line between Good and Evil”.
Yet in the west many people confuse high degrees of hate with the righteousness of their cause. They are so angry, and have been so for so long, they must be right! But they are not right just because they're angry. And trying to make them less angry by addressing "grievances" won't work because the fundamental issue to Palestinians is not land but Jews. Jews anywhere. It's the ideology of fundamental islam that drives the hate.
Sigh…
Debunking Palestinian myths
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| Click above for the video |
It’s true that the Palestinians never accepted a split of the land.
So?
You don’t get to have a veto vote when there’s historical rewriting of countries happening all around, and there’s a fairness in play as well, all in the hands of the United Nations. You just don’t get to do that. You get to have a say. And when you decide you don’t want a say, then too bad for you. Which is what it’s been. Palestine people have suffered most for the bad leadership they have. Bad leadership they voted in. Most crazily Hamas.
Sunday 19 November 2023
“South China Morning Post” ➡️➡️ “China Daily”
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| Front page of the South China Morning Post, Sunday. Full of pro-Party fluff-puffery |
China Daily aka "Good News Daily”. The above front page is not that of a serious and credible paper. It’s just communist party propaganda, parading as “news”.
Above: One: puff piece on Xi Jinping. Second, another puff piece on Xi Jinping. Third: an authoritarian warning from our Chief Executive John Lee. And one nice fluffy pic of happy residents.
This sort of front page is new in recent months. Almost like they got warnings from someone on high in Beijing.
“Do not try to rewrite past and ignore the brutality of Hamas” | Amir Lati
This above is clear and correct history.
Sadly not cutting much ice in the bulk of western media. For which a Hamas massacre must be met with: “ceasefire now!”
A key point made by Amir Lati above: Gaza had an airport between 1998 and 2001, when it was closed down due to the second Intifada. That is, because of Hamas.
There was a plan to build a seaport and a new airport, after Israel handed Gaza back to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. Again that was sabotaged because Hamas decided in 2007 that shooting missiles at Israeli citizens was more important than making Gaza’s better off.
That’s relevant because one of the criticisms of Gaza -- always blamed on Israel -- is that it’s an “open-air prison”. Well, to the extent it’s true (which is, not really), it’s down to Hamas. Directly and clearly.
PS: I’m glad they ran this article in the South China Morning Post, which for the most part is very pro-Palestinian to the point of Hamas apologia.
Tik Tok Ning Nongs praise Bin Ladin.They need to read more
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| Click above for video, by Megyn Kelly She does a follow-up with Rob O’Neill here. |
What they haven’t read is Bin Ladin’s letters to the Muslim world. Where he says the reason for attacks is because they are not Muslims. It is true that “they attacked us because of our Freedoms”. These have been collected in Raymond Ibrahim “The al Qaeda Reader”.
I wrote about it in 2009: “If we give away Israel all will be ok… (not)”. /Snip:
“In fact, Muslims are obligated to raid the lands of the infidels, occupy them and exchange their systems of governance for an Islamic system, barring any practice that contradicts the Sharia from being publicly voiced among the people…”. (Al Qaeda Reader, p.51).
Those Tik Tokkers going through an “existential crisis” as a result of reading his Letter to America must also read his letters to the Islamic world. For its the latter that is the real Bin Ladin.
Again, my post in 2014: “Islamic State atrocities: products of ‘grievance’ or ideology?”. /Snip:
Consider Osama’s own words in an internal letter to fellow Saudis:
"Our talks with the infidel West and our conflict with them ultimately revolve around one issue — one that demands our total support, with power and determination, with one voice — and it is: Does Islam, or does it not, force people by the power of the sword to submit to its authority corporeally if not spiritually? [emphasis added]Yes. There are only three choices in Islam: [1] either willing submission [conversion]; [2] or payment of the jizya, through physical, though not spiritual, submission to the authority of Islam; [3] or the sword — for it is not right to let him [an infidel] live. The matter is summed up for every person alive: Either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die. (The Al Qaeda Reader, p. 42)
So, it’s clear, right? Muslims will attack non-Muslims wherever they are, simply for being non-Muslims, for not believing in Allah and his messenger, Mohammed. No matter what we do. And not matter what grievances we try to repair. We are alway the infidel, the kaffir, and deserve to be killed, unless we pay the jizya, the tax for being non-Muslim. That’s today, in the 21st century. And Zoomers love it! Praise it. Because they’ve half-digested a half-story by a halfwit, Osama bin Ladin. On Tik Tok, the Chinese influence machine. Oh dear.
Saturday 18 November 2023
Why don’t Arab nations accept Palestinian refugees?
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| Click above for video |
On the other side of the coin: why is Singapore so successful?
Some reasons given, here:
- Focus on Law and Order
- Strong Property Rights
- Sound Fiscal and monetary policy: low tax
- Legal Transparency: uncorrupt judiciary
- Free Trade
All these factors hold for Hong Kong, which is also very rich.
It’s super easy to do the counter factual on Gaza. Imagine if they’d done the above, instead of spending all the money they got, from the United Nations and international aid bodies, on those things rather than digging tunnels and building rockets. It’s easy: it would be more like Singapore. Wouldn’t the people of Gaza, the Palestinians, be better off? Than by where they are today: chanting slogans about “being free from the River to the Sea”, after murdering their neighbours children and babies? I mean... it’s clear isn’t it?
Friday 17 November 2023
AGM of the Australian Conservation Foundation: How to say you’re anti nuclear without saying you’re anti nuclear
I attended a Zoom AGM of the Australian Conservation Foundation yesterday. Around 60 on the Zoom.
I was first a member of the ACF in 1969 in Canberra, just three years after it was founded. I still remember going to meetings at a shed in the Corroboree Park, in those early days. I haven’t been financial for most of the time since, but recently rejoined.
At the end of the formal stuff, confirming the Minutes and so on, there were questions. I let them all go by, mostly they were about membership and how the ACF is doing financially. At the end, and with seeming noone else asking a question, I put in mine. Which was about Nuclear. (wrinkling of ACF attendees’ noses).
Pointing out that I lived in Hong Kong, where we get a majority of our electricity from nuclear power, that I’ve visited the Daya Bay Nuclear Power station (and it’s great!), and that we also have 20kW of solar on our roof, my question was: given that the Australian population had shown itself to be in favour of Australia developing nuclear, would the ACF now have another look at it? I knew the policy of the ACF on nuclear, which is very negative. But should it/would it, have another look?
The chair, Liana Downey, tossed the question to someone whose name I didn’t catch, who answered along the lines of something that I’d summarise as “how to say you’re against nuclear, without saying you’re against nuclear”. Because he did say he was not “ideologically opposed to nuclear”, whereas it became apparent that he was. And that he associated pro nuclear with the cretins of the Liberal (ie conservative) party.
A sum of his points:
1. Big nuclear power stations like France, Canada, etc... not good for Australia. And this is the conclusion of all major energy and science bodies in Australia.
2. Australia would only consider Small Modular Reactors: but they are failing, eg the one in Utah.
3. Too long to install.
4. California and France nuclear stations now having problems, lack of water, etc.
5. Australia would keep on using nuclear energy: via fission! Using the fission of the sun for solar power! Heh.
6. Thus: renewables forever, for Oz.
I didn’t get any chance to reply to those points, as it was not a discussion format, rather a Q and then an A, that that’s it. You’re cut off. I understood this, and so I simply noted that answer.
I’m not sure that it’s even worth trying to change any mindset in the ACF. Then again, they do have an impact on the broader consciousness about energy related issues, including nuclear. Still, there’s now a majority of Australians that are in favour of developing nuclear power in Australia, whatever the ACF thinks.
ADDED: I’m not going to go through the points above by the AGM guy talking anti-nuke, save to say that re the first point: it’s not at all clear to me why a standard large-scale nuclear power station as made by France or Canada (or even China?!), should be out of bounds for Australia. For the rest, there’s my “Case for nuclear power”.
Temple Stone Flying Bird
Top character "Sì" = Temple
Bottom "Shí" = Stone
Bird shadow = flying swallow
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