LOL Reuters, 11 years ago: "Texas has the most wind power in the country, but the wind does not blow during the summer"

Texas has the most wind power in the country, but the wind does not blow during the summer. Ercot said it got about 2,000 MW from wind during the peak hour on Wednesday. Those wind farms can produce about 9,000 MW when all turbines are spinning.

Reuters, here.

Wind generating capacity in Texas today is in the neighborhood of 35,000 megawatts, but only about 7,770 megawatts of that would be available under similar summer circumstances, with much less coal generating capacity available today than in 2011 to fill the breach:

Because of the increase in wind power and the retirement of almost 6,000 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity, coal-fired power plants supplied 18% of state generation in 2021, down from a 36% share in 2011.  

And as a result Texas now gets to listen to this:

Texas grid operator tells residents to curb power as heat hits record highs

Damn fool Biden administration releases crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce fuel prices, 5 million barrels get exported abroad last month, including to China

 

Oil From U.S. Reserves Shipped Overseas as Gas Prices Stay High 

More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month . . ..

Inflation hits new record in Europe, Reuters begins to tell the truth about why

 But they save it for the last paragraph, which probably no one reads.

At minus 0.5%, the ECB's deposit rate has been in negative territory since 2014.  

The contemplated interest rate hikes are laughably small, and laughably timed for later.

"The house is on fire and we'll get around to sending out a crew next week".

 

 

LOL Boris Johnson, leader of Britain's "conservatives"

"It's a very important decision. I've got to tell you, I think it's a big step backwards," he told a news conference in Kigali, where he is attending a Commonwealth meeting. "I've always believed in a woman's right to choose and I stick to that view and that is why the UK has the laws that it does."

Reuters, here.

US COVID-19: The Big Picture, through May 31, 2022

Vaccines have done nothing to stop the spread and little to reduce deaths in any significant way.

Over the last eleven years 2010-2020, heart disease in the United States has killed 1729 people per day on average.

Cancer comes in a close second at 1620 per day.

COVID-19 remains the third leading cause of death, averaging 1221 deaths per day to date, 822 days after the first death on February 29, 2020. 

The best explanation of the data so far remains that the virus has evolved to spread more easily at the expense of lethality, otherwise the explosion in cases in 2022 would have resulted in far many more deaths than we have at present. Deaths per day in the third year of the pandemic remain relatively constant when measured over time.

And who is most victimized?

California, America's largest state by population, continues to show that COVID-19 infects people 65 and over the least, but kills them the most by far. Since May 2021, deaths among people 65 and over in California have changed little, constituting 74% of deaths then and 71% a year later.

This is despite the fact that people 65 and older became the most vaccinated segment of the US population in 2021.

CDC reports that today 95% of them nationally have received at least one dose, 91.2% are fully vaccinated, 69.7% are boosted once, and 29.7% are boosted twice. In California to date nearly 85% of people 65+ have been fully vaccinated with nearly 76% of those boosted.

There needs to be a massive shift in the messaging of the medical establishment away from thinking the vaccines are a panacea for anybody, toward preventing senior deaths by reducing their comorbidities and quickly treating them with drugs like Paxlovid when they become infected with coronavirus: 

In reducing mortality, Arbel said the treatment showed a very high benefit in patients 65 and older - an 81% risk reduction. There were no observed benefits in younger adults, who are at less risk of dying from COVID.

 

Oops, so sorry ve bombed you, dat vas a mishtake, nevermind

India says it accidentally fired missile into Pakistan

 

LOL, supply shortage hits reporting: CNBC relies on Reuters, a blog, and FOX Business for shipping container transportation costs data

 

On Oct. 7, there were reportedly around 60 container ships waiting in open water outside Los Angeles and Long Beach for berths to dock in and unload their goods. Before the pandemic, it was unusual to see even one vessel waiting for a slip. ...

Skyrocketing costs are also part of the problem. Over the past year, the cost to have one container shipped by freighter from China to the West Coast has soared from around $3,000 in Aug. 2020 to more than $20,000 in September of this year.

More.

Finland suspends use of Moderna in men 30 and under

 Story.

The J&J C19 vaccine is still getting banned around the world

 The latest case is Slovenia.

Denmark was the first country to ban it, in early May.

Belgium followed suit shortly thereafter because of a vaccine related death. 

I've just spent an hour trying to find a decent list of all the countries banning J&J but cannot. That's surely by design.

C19 vaccines are working just great in the UK, just great

But while 81.3% of people over 16 have received two vaccine doses, there are currently 8,340 COVID-19 patients in hospital in Britain, compared to just 1,066 a year ago.

Reuters, here.

 

Joe Biden's Jul 23 phone call with Afghan President Ghani shows him unfit to be Commander in Chief, but not for the reason being trotted out

Everyone on the right is fixated on Joe Biden encouraging Ghani to paint a rosier picture to the press about the progress of the war in exchange for "aid".

In other words, Joe was trying to bribe Ghani to lie. The scenario is very reminiscent of VP Joe Biden's intimidation of the Ukrainians involving his threat to withhold US aid unless they fired a prosecutor who was looking into the Ukrainian activities of Biden's son, Hunter.

But this framing is a diversion, and a misrepresentation.

The call, to the extent Reuters has reported on it, shows Ghani reciting a litany of woe to Joe Biden about how catastrophe is imminent.

In what world does it make sense for Joe to respond to that with the offer of "aid" to a man who is clearly convinced that the end is nigh? Ghani was reciting that litany because everything was falling apart precisely because of the American pull-out. Just three weeks prior the US pulled out of Bagram in the dead of night Jul 2, from which point everything began to cascade out of control.

Ghani had to find what he was hearing from Biden incredible, in particular the promise of "continued close air support".

But close air support had already been withdrawn from Jul 2. It wasn't "continuing". It had already ended weeks prior. That was the problem, AND BIDEN DIDN'T KNOW IT. And even if he once knew it because his generals and advisers told him, HE FORGOT IT. Biden is behaving in the call as if he has resources at his command which are no longer there.

Imagine being Ghani having to deal with such unreality coming out of the mouth of the American president.

By the time of the call, Jul 23, the US withdrawal was already more than 95% complete according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, as reported by CNBC on Jul 21:

At the Pentagon on Wednesday, the nation’s highest military officer told reporters that the U.S. has completed more than 95% of the herculean task of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

“The sheer volume of movement involved in this operation has been extraordinary,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, adding that the U.S. conducted more than 980 airlifts of cargo in less than three months.

“Furthermore, all the military operating bases, outside of Kabul, have been fully transferred to the Afghan Ministry of Defense and the Afghan security forces.”

Joe Biden was in no position to act as Commander in Chief in Afghanistan on Jul 23 because there was nothing left to command. In truth, he hasn't been fit since before the election, during which he campaigned from the safety of a bunker, protected by the media in the tank for him.

His unfitness for the duties of the office is self-evident to anyone paying attention day to day, except that everyone pretends not to see.

They just smile and pass.

But Ghani didn't pretend. He prepared himself an out. That's why he escaped and is alive today and living in the UAE.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, is living in la la land.

FBI had at least a dozen "informants" involved prodding along the Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot

But as it was revealed that the FBI had at least a dozen informants heavily involved in the Watchmen — including that Iraq veteran — critics say the G-Men did as much to prod the plot as they did to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The agents took an active part in the scheme from its inception, according to court filings, evidence and dozens of interviews examined by BuzzFeed. Some members of the Wolverine Watchmen are accusing the feds of entrapment. ...

Since the 9/11 attacks, the FBI has reportedly recruited thousands of informants. Some, according to a recent investigation in The New York Times that centered on the dubious arrest and conviction of the so-called “Herald Square Bomber” by the use of an informant, said they were retaliated against if they refused. ...

Coulson said he and others are “very upset” the FBI hasn’t arrested anti-government and anti-fascist protesters who have been leading violent demonstrations in Portland and Seattle for more than a year — yet are bearing down so hard on those arrested for the insurrection at the Capitol.

Read it all here.

Looks more and more like a replay of the FBI's Michigan Hutaree Militia fiasco from 2010.

 

Someone should tell NASA Mars helicopter team that a Wright Brothers moment requires a HUMAN piloting a PLANE

NASA scores Wright Brothers moment with first helicopter flight on Mars :

"The twin-rotor whirligig's debut on the Red Planet marked a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment for NASA . . .. NASA engineers affixed a tiny swath of wing fabric from the original Wright flyer under Ingenuity's solar panel before sending it on its way to Mars."

WHO numbers per CNBC: Death rate from coronavirus infection rises to 3% (not 2%)

77,794 cases

2,348 deaths

3.018% death rate overall

Per Reuters:

In total, China has reported 75,569 cases to the WHO, and 2,239 deaths, Tedros said. According to available data, the disease remains mild in 80% of patients, and severe or critical in 20%. The virus has been fatal in 2% of reported cases.

The Reuters numbers yield 2.96%.

Someone's just phoning it in.

South Korea's 2.5 million population city of Daegu in a panic over coronavirus superspreader at a church

Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 53 new cases of the virus on Thursday, following 20 a day earlier, taking the total across the country to 104. Of that national tally, 70 patients are from Daegu or nearby and the majority have been traced to an infected 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended a church, a scenario that KCDC described as a “super-spreading event”. ... Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin told residents to stay indoors as he warned of likely further cases. ... Kwon cautioned that at least 90 more of the about 1,000 other people who attended services at the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony were also showing symptoms. 

More.

Brain dead Dr. Dena sources story from The Grauniad instead of Reuters, which says parents from Wuhan visited daughter in Shanghai, not the other way around

Shanghai woman visited by parents from Wuhan flies to Germany Jan 19, infects co-worker Jan 21, flies back to Shanghai Jan 23 and only then becomes ill on plane from coronavirus

Reuters has the story.

This thing will be global shortly.

There's strife in Iran

200,000 protesting fuel tax increases of 50% designed to pay for subsidies for 18 million poor. At least 143 killed. Perhaps 4,000 arrested.

731 banks, 140 government offices, 70 gas stations set ablaze.

50 internal security forces' bases attacked.

Reuters.

Maybe the rag-headed heathen bastards should stop funding nukes, rockets and terrorism instead.

Supremes tell Michigan Dems to take a hike, Republican drawn districts to remain

Story.

The contagion of the record low 10-year Treasury yield of July 2016 has spread to the 30-year in August 2019

U.S. 10-Year Treasury Yield Closes at Record Low:

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note settled at 1.367% Tuesday, breaching the previous close low of 1.404% set in July 2012 when investors rushed into haven debt amid the depth of the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. Yields fall as bond prices rise. ...

On an intraday basis, the U.S. 10-year yield touched as low as 1.357%. It was 1.446% Friday and 2.273% at the end of last year. The U.S. bond market was shut Monday for a holiday.

Traders say the 10-year yield still has room to fall. Investors and analysts say bond yields are in uncharted waters now and that it is hard to predict how low yields could go in this environment.

Few in the financial markets have foreseen a period of negative interest rates touching off globally. The total of sovereign debt with negative yields jumped to $11.7 trillion as of June 27, up $1.3 trillion from the end of May, according to Fitch Ratings.

The pool is likely to expand further in the months ahead due to ongoing purchases of government bonds by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. ...

The 30-year Treasury bond has been the market darling, and the buying spree has pushed down its yield to record lows lately. The 30-year bond’s yield settled at 2.138%, falling below its record close low of 2.226% Friday.

The 30-year bond was usually the playground for pension funds and insurance firms. But it is now being bid up by a broader investor base due to the global hunger for income. Analysts say it wouldn’t surprise them if the 30-year yield falls below the 2% mark in the weeks ahead.

Three years later:

U.S. 30-year bond yields hit record low, curve inversion grows:

In late Wednesday trading, the yields on 30-year government bonds were 1.939%, down 2.2 basis points from late Tuesday. They hit an all-time low of 1.905% earlier Wednesday.