Covid, Climate and the ‘Consensus Trap’

Scientists are as prone as anyone else to groupthink, and stifling dissent often produces disaster. -Steven E. Koonin and Scott W. Atlas

Three of the costliest policy failures in recent decades—

• the 2008 financial crisis, 
• the Covid lockdowns and 
• the campaign for rapid decarbonization

—share a pathology we call the Consensus Trap. 

• Problems began with the output of complex, unvalidated models presented as facts. 
• Institutions and public figures under pressure to appear authoritative ignored uncertainties. 
• Along with the press, these institutions and people became arbiters of truth, amplifying the declared consensus rather than critically assessing the evidence...

The refinery war and the vulnerability of modern society - Watts Up With That?

Worldwide economies and militaries run on transportation fuels MADE FROM refined crude oil. - Ronald Stein and Yoshihiro Muronaka

The war in Ukraine is revealing something that is easy to overlook in peacetime: 

modern military power, like modern civilization itself, depends on continuous supplies of usable transportation fuels and other products made from crude oil...

...Why would a refinery be such an important target? 

The answer lies in the difference between crude oil and refined products.

Crude oil is a valuable natural resource, but it is not directly used as gasoline for a car, diesel fuel for a truck, or jet fuel for an aircraft...

In this sense, the refinery is a critical conversion point between a natural resource and the usable forms of energy required by our modern industrial society...

Analyst blasts Democrats in leftist state for attacking, and subverting, democracy * WorldNetDaily * by WND Staff

Analyst blasts Democrats in leftist state for attacking, and subverting, democracy * WorldNetDaily * by WND Staff: 

He cites the "dishonesty, intimidation and political bullying have become standard operating procedure at the Colorado Capitol," where Democrats are in the governor's office and hold the majorities in the House and Senate.

"The message from lawmakers is increasingly simple: Vote however you like — we'll make sure it turns out the way we like," he explained, "When voters might say no, they rewrite the question. When elected officials won't cooperate, they replace them. When citizens organize an initiative, they sabotage it. And when the law becomes inconvenient, they exempt themselves from it."

Crowd Roars as Bill Maher Puts Canadian Liberal In His Place With Truth Bombs! - YouTube

(171) Crowd Roars as Bill Maher Puts Canadian Liberal In His Place With Truth Bombs! - YouTube

One country allowed millions of low IQ migrants to flood in, while the other didn’t.

Be like Poland - Kurt Russell@KurtRussellUSA

Lunch video-----The rise of Cultural Marxism In 5 Minutes | Heydel Mankoo - YouTube

(171) The rise of Cultural Marxism In 5 Minutes | Heydel Mankoo - YouTube:

Noon-toon

 

JD Vance announces MASSIVE crackdown on companies and universities replacing Americans with foreigners | Blaze Media

JD Vance announces MASSIVE crackdown on companies and universities replacing Americans with foreigners | Blaze Media: 

Vice President JD Vance says Microsoft and other firms have been suspended from a program temporary H-1B visa holders often use to gain permanent residency in the United States The Trump administration has heavily criticized companies for allegedly abusing the H-1B program, replacing Americans at high-paying jobs with foreign workers.

Can't "break the script", can we? Or maybe real life Trumps TDS?

 

It's the culture, stupid!

 

USS Abraham Lincoln Comes Home With Its Island Superstructure Covered In Kill Marks

Standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Secretary Pete Hegseth looked up at the flattop’s superstructure and got a good indication of many of the targets the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) destroyed during its six-month fight with Iran. - Howard Altman, Ian Ellis-Jones

Encounters ended! Winning!

 

If you're looking for solid reporting from the frontlines in Paris, give Luc a follow!

First tensions on Place de la Bastille.  - Emily Spanton@whatdoesntkillu
Luc Auffret@LucAuffret - Oct 8

• First tensions on Place de la Bastille. 
• Police charge after numerous projectile throws. 

#1 This day 1978----- Exile - kiss you all over - YouTube

(170) Exile - kiss you all over - YouTube:

The UN has publicly announced that climate change never existed!!

Solar power generation was just about vested interests. - TeoAnon17@TeoAnon17 

Canada is collapsing before their very own eyes! And few see it!

 

Nike CEO's Memo to Employees Is Soul-Crushing to Woke Activists Who Captured Company for a Decade

Nike CEO's Memo to Employees Is Soul-Crushing to Woke Activists Who Captured Company for a Decade: 

Nike’s CEO has come to a startling conclusion about his company: It turns out that an athletic-wear corporation sells athletic wear, not politics.

In an employee memo reported this week, Elliott Hill admitted that the company had been spending most of 2026 putting “sport at the center of everything we do,” as the company’s share price drops and the brand loses market share.

A 15-year-old schoolboy named Fraser, a supporter of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, was arrested at home by four West Midlands Police officers in the early hours of August 3

The target of his online jokes was Wolverhampton Conservative leader Simon Bennett, who has admitted referring the boy to police. - M.A. Rothman

His offense: 

complaining that Bennett showed up to a council meeting in a T-shirt and shorts, then saying he was glad the councillor later wore a suit and wasn’t “𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘺.” 

That is an insult about clothes, posted by a child.
The response was 

• 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐬, 
• 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥, 
• 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬, 
• 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐠𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 
• 𝐚 𝐃𝐍𝐀 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 
• while two officers went through his bedroom and he was 
• pressured to hand over his phone. 

More than two months later, police still haven’t decided whether to charge him...

AM Fruitcake

 

History for October 10

History for October 10 - On-This-Day.com 

Paul Kruger 1925 - Politician (South Africa)

• 1845 - The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, MD.
• 1865 - The billiard ball was patented by John Wesley Hyatt.
• 1933 - Dreft, the first synthetic detergent, went on sale.
• 1978 - The U.S. bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
• 1984 - The U.S. Congress passed the 2nd Boland Amendment which outlawed solicitation of 3rd-party countries to support the Contras (who were fighting the communists). The amendment barred the use of funds available to CIA, defense, or intelligence agencies for "supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, group, organization or individual."
• 1991 - The United States cut all foreign aid to Haiti in reaction to a military coup that forced President Jean-Claude Aristide into exile.

California schemin': Alert issued for state plan that sets up church properties for confiscation * WorldNetDaily * by Bob Unruh

California schemin': Alert issued for state plan that sets up church properties for confiscation * WorldNetDaily * by Bob Unruh: 

It started with concerns about affordable housing when, in 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat with known hopes for higher office, signed into law a plan letting "religious institutions and nonprofit colleges … bypass local zoning laws in order to quickly establish affordable housing."

The idea was accommodating growth with housing services, including for low-income and homeless populations.

The way we were-----They Never Thought a Bank Ad Would Become a Classic - YouTube

(170) They Never Thought a Bank Ad Would Become a Classic - YouTube:

Jaguar Wants £130,000 for This — After Selling Just 6 Cars in Britain

Jaguar Wants £130,000 for This — After Selling Just 6 Cars in Britain:

Breitbart Business Digest: The Fed’s Tariff Math Doesn’t Add Up to Inflation

Its sample covers just 20 percent of the consumer basket. - John Carney

• It’s widely being read as showing that tariffs have pushed up consumer prices, with many reports claiming that goods inflation ran 2.9 percentage points higher because of tariffs.
• In reality, however, the paper shows no such thing.

In the first place, the paper does not show and does not even claim that tariffs pushed up overall inflation by 2.9 percentage points.
Its sample covers just 20 percent of the consumer basket.
Translate the estimate into a contribution to overall consumer prices and you get roughly six-tenths of a percentage point, before accounting for anything happening elsewhere in the economy...

The idea that tariffs drove overall inflation higher is challenged by the fact that over the year the paper studies, inflation actually fell...