Renewable Energy Hell: South Australia Loses Power

(News articles direct from The HUFFINGTON POST on 28 September 2016.)

How Did An Entire State of rich Australia Lose Power for days, And What Happens Next? Most of regional South Australia will remain without power for another day, after a severe storm swept through and plunged the entire state into darkness on Wednesday.

The power outage was first reported late Wednesday afternoon and as dusk approached the whole of the state was blanketed in darkness. The local power operator, SA Power Networks, managed to restore metropolitan Adelaide south to Naracoorte and Mount Gambier overnight, as well as Port Lincoln. However, major centres such as Whyalla and Port Augusta will remain without power for today, at least.

Figures on the SA Power Networks outage site suggested 100,000 customers would remain without power until 6pm on Thursday. People in the red shaded area are supplied by damaged transmission lines – unlikely to have power tomorrow. So how exactly did this happen, and what does it mean for residents without back-up power sources and major service providers across the state?

College Tears Down Its Wind Turbines: Bloody Expensive

(Anthony Watt’s article direct from The WUWT on 27 April 2016.)

Busted Wind Turbines Give College Whopping Negative 99.14% Return On Investment. Lake Land College recently announced plans to tear down broken wind turbines on campus, after the school got $987,697.20 in taxpayer support for wind power.

The turbines were funded by a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, but the turbines lasted for less than four years and were incredibly costly to maintain. “Since the installation in 2012, the college has spent $240,000 in parts and labor to maintain the turbines,” Kelly Allee, Director of Public Relations at Lake Land College, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The college estimates it would take another $100,000 in repairs to make the turbines function again after one of them was struck by lightning and likely suffered electrical damage last summer. School officials’ original estimates found the turbine would save it $44,000 in electricity annually, far more than the $8,500 they actually generated.

Renewable Energy Scam Is Destroying South Australia

(Based on depressing article from the STOPTHESETHINGS on 16 June 2015.)

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there was a veritable manufacturing and industrial nirvana. Post WWII, its population grew at a phenomenal rate; and so too did the level of prosperity enjoyed by thousands of migrants fleeing to it from war ravaged Europe – cheap and abundant food, decent, affordable housing, motor cars, televisions – all within reach for the first time for this aspiring class of people; it soon became a paradise for the working class: it was called South Australia.

And it got that way through the efforts of a legendary political performer, Sir Tom Playford. In the 1940s, Playford (Premier for 26 years from 1938 to 1965) had a gift in the form of vast untapped reserves of brown coal located at Leigh Creek, about 260 km north of Port Augusta which sits at the top of the Spencer Gulf.

Through Tom’s tireless efforts he coupled that resource with his own creation, the Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA), which went on to provide cheap reliable power to almost every home, farm and business in very short order: from 1946 to 1965, the proportion of South Australians connected to electricity increased from 70% to 96%. Central to his efforts to populate and industrialise South Australia was the huge power station at Port Augusta.

News last week that Alinta Energy will shut down the Port Augusta power station (which carries Tom Playford’s name), was greeted by the economics lightweights that write for The Australian (and others) with seemingly jubilant headlines such as “Jobs blown away as turbines kill coal”.  We have no doubt that the closure of the Port Augusta power station will have Sir Tom turning in his grave.

Muslims Murdered Jordanian Writer For Jihadi Cartoon

(Staff article direct from The CLARION PROJECT on 26 September 2016.)

Prominent Jordanian Writer Assassinated by Islamist Extremist. Nahed Hattar was assassinated outside a courtroom where he was to stand trial for insulting Islam for a cartoon he posted mocking jihadis.

Prominent Jordanian writer, journalist and left-wing political activist Nahed Hattar was assassinated outside a courtroom where he was to stand trial for insulting Islam. Hattar was arrested August 13 for publishing a cartoon on Facebook that was a sarcastic comment on jihadi fighters.

The cartoon showed a bearded man in heaven smoking, lying in bed with women and calling on God (who is seen peeking through the curtains of his tent) to bring him wine and cashews. At the time, Hattar wrote under the cartoon, “It mocks terrorists and their concept of God and heaven. It does not infringe God’s divinity in anyway.” He deleted the post shortly afterwards but was nevertheless arrested.

Obama Surrendering Internet Control To China & Russia

(Eric Lieberman’s article direct from The DAILY CALLER on 24 September 2016.)

Obama Admin Wants To Surrender US Control Over Internet To Global Bureaucracy. The Obama administration is planning to relinquish American control over a central portion of Internet governance. The implications of this move range from control by an international bureaucracy to totalitarian regimes locking up entire portions of the Internet, according to experts.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is in the process of transitioning stewardship of the Internet’s domain name system (DNS) — the technical network that converts website address names into numbers — to a global entity. The DNS is essentially the “yellow pages” of web addresses. The transition is set to occur October 1.

DNS control is causing deep disagreement in the technology world, as experts in the industry and academia have vastly different opinions on the issue. Some say security and free use of the Internet is better under the umbrella of an organization that resides in America, while others assert this power should be given to a global organization.

Afghan-born Ahmad Rahami Planted 10 Bombs In NYC

(Staff article direct from The NEW YORK POST on 19 Sept 2016.)

A 28-year-old man hunted in connection with bomb blasts in Manhattan and New Jersey was caught Monday after shooting two cops in New Jersey, where he had been found snoozing in a bar vestibule, authorities said.

Afghani native Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth was injured in the Linden shootout after he struck one cop in his vest and injured another officer when his bullet smashed a police car’s window, grazing him in the face, officials said. “We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said during an afternoon press conference in which he urged New Yorkers to submit tips by calling 800-577-TIPS.

Rahami — whose fingerprint was found on an unexploded device — was wanted in connection with the explosion in Chelsea that left 29 wounded Saturday night and other incidents in the two states that sparked fears of a local terror cell, according to federal officials. But FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said during the press conference that “there’s no indication there is a cell operating here.”

China Dumping US Bonds: Interest Rates Going Up

(Scott Lanman’s article direct from The BLOOMBERG on 17 September 2016.)

China’s Holdings of U.S. Treasuries Fall to Lowest Since 2013. China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell in July to the lowest level in more than three years, as the world’s second-largest economy pares its foreign-exchange reserves to support the yuan.

The biggest foreign holder of U.S. government debt had $1.22 trillion in bonds, notes and bills in July, down $22 billion from the prior month, in the biggest drop since 2013, according to U.S. Treasury Department data released Friday in Washington and previous figures compiled by Bloomberg. Saudi Arabia’s holdings of Treasuries also declined for a sixth straight month, to $96.5 billion.

The figures compare with official Chinese data showing that the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves were little changed in July at $3.2 trillion, though they’re down from a peak of close to $4 trillion in 2014. The reserves dropped $16 billion in August to the lowest level since 2011.

Rivers Of Blood: Bangladeshis Slaughtering Millions

(Disturbing news article direct from The DHAKA TRIBUNE on 13 September 2016.)

DHAKA: Rivers of Blood fill streets as Muslims celebrate Eid-al-Adha by cutting the throats of fully-conscious terrified animals, letting them bleed to death in agony. Pouring rains coupled with this massive and barbaric animal sacrifice ritual on the streets of Dhaka have flooded many areas of the capital, creating a gory and horrific scene of red rivers of blood and waste.

Citizens of Dhaka witnessed a horrific sight amidst the celebration of Eid al-Adha on Tuesday.  Rainfall and animal sacrifices across the city created a dreadful scene of blood streams across streets in the city. Water logging in many parts of the city got mixed with the blood following the sacrifices of the animals creating the disturbing scene. The flooded parts of the city gave an impression akin to rivers of blood.

Many said the incident showed how the city corporations had failed to keep the city’s drainage systems functional and had paid no attention to the matter before Eid. The two city corporations designated 1,000 spots – 496 in the north and 504 in the south – for cutting animals’ throats in front of cheering crowds. Areas like Malibagh, Baily Road, Shantinagar, Bijoynagar, Paltan, Motijheel, Jatrabari, Bakshi Bazar and Kathalbagan saw people slaughtering animals right in front of their homes.

Australia Six Weeks Away From Housing-Bubble-Bust

(Frank Chung’s article direct from The NEWS.COM.AU on 13 September 2016.)

Australia six weeks from a housing collapse, US report warns. AUSTRALIA has roughly “six weeks” to prevent a housing market collapse caused by the banks’ crackdown on foreign investor lending, a US defence think tank has warned.

In an article titled “Australia Risks Strategic Setback From a Significant Foreign Direct Investment Drop Due to Changes in Bank Policies”, the Washington-based International Strategic Studies Association warns that Australia “may be entering a significant phase of its economic-strategic development”.

It argues “changes in local banking policies” could see foreign direct investment in the property sector “decline markedly”. “This will profoundly impact the Australian government’s ability to fund major programs in the defence and civil sectors,” it said. The article is contained in the ISSA’s latest Global Information System newsletter, described as a “strategic intelligence service for use only by governments”.