Blogs

Stefan Molyneaux has recently made a plea for help. I'm not even going to link it, because he doesn't deserve the views. But the essence of his problem is that if he does make enough money from various social media supporters, he would not be able to find a normal job in mainstream society because One search and it would be functionally impossible. Yes, apparently Stefan is upset that his own words, his racism, his conspiracy theories, etc might reduce his job prospects. Apparently the free-market capitalism which Stefan so readily advocates has spoken.

Life of the project: 60 years

Area of project: 447km2

Estimated water usage: 12.5 billion litres per year

Amount of water Adani must return in the first 5 years: 6%

Number of bird species supported by wetlands around Abbot Point terminal: 154

Amount by which Adani have exceeded their pollution discharge limit at Abbot point to date: 800%

Volume of Great Barrier Reef seabed dredged around Abbot Point: 10,000m3

Estimated production: 2.6 billion tonnes of (mainly low grade, high ash) coal

Irrespective of whether we as a nation accept or don’t accept the science behind climate change, Australians are being forced to deal with an increasing number of disasters. Despite the herculean efforts of so many Australians, many volunteers, others salaried staff from multiple agencies and institutions, the current spate of bushfires around the nation highlights we, as a people, are not adequately prepared for what is ahead of us.

It's important to remember that sexism plays a major role in American politics. Historically, the answer to the question, "Can a woman be elected president?" has been a resounding no. Female candidates are held to a much higher standard than male ones, and are punished much more severely for failing to live up to that standard.

One of the big questions about carbon taxes are what to do with the revenue. The two main suggestions are to a) use it to pay for mitigation projects or b) refund it to taxpayers in equal lump-sum payments (which is called "fee and dividend").

There's also a third approach, which says that the proceeds from a carbon tax should be used to reduce capital gains and income taxes. The idea here is that reducing those taxes will lead to more long-term economic growth, which effectively reduces the cost per ton of CO2 that gets mitigated. This approach is called "double dividend".

On the subject of identity, the allegation that Bruce Pascoe is not an Indigenous Australian originated from a site called "Dark Emu Exposed".

The site claims to be run by 30 independent researchers. The editor of the site is a businessman called Roger Karge, who occasionally writes opinion pieces for the Murdoch press under the title "amateur historian".

Here's what the site has to say about the other "independent" researchers:

Sure Andrew Forrest’s $70 million donation is conditional.

Sure only $10 million is going to actual relief, while another $10 million will cover the cost of his volunteers and $50 million goes to his own think-tank.

Sure $70 million represents 0.005% of his net wealth and a minuscule fraction of the unpaid taxes he owes.

This is our first glance at what may end up becoming the proper climate change legislation of the Green New Deal. It's emphatically not finished yet, but it is still an interesting start.

Some key takeaways:

Updated rankings for the 2020 Democrats after the 6th and final debate for the year. This time only seven candidates made the cut which makes things easier to talk about, but whether many people are paying attention this close to Christmas/just after Donald Trump's impeachment remains to be seen.

Sarah Morgan recently discovered an old newspaper from 1969 which contained the following advertisement:

It seems appropriate to compare this will minimum wage rates.

Minimum Wage Australia, 1969 c$1.39
Rent of a 2 bedroom flat, Drummond Street Carlton: $21 pw.
Hours worked to pay for 1 week's rent: 15.12