Life Matters

It has been a bad summer, apparently, for people drowning, particularly at the beaches along our coastline. People have been taking risks such as swimming at unpatrolled beaches, entering water that was dangerously rough and so on. In a couple of cases, people have died in the process of rescuing somebody else who was in trouble.

We add to those people dying in the water to those who lost their lives on the roads, and it is clear that it has been a dangerous summer for many people.

When I was young, I used to love the water. Waves were fun, and the beach was a place that seemed almost magical in many ways. There were a few times when I could have been one of those who was swept out in a rip or suffered an injury from a dumper.

The phrase, “but for the grace of God” springs to mind when I think of those situations.

We are used to thinking about our lives stretching on for ever, with no thought that it might end one day. None of us knows when that time will come. For any of us it could be much sooner than we ever thought possible.

The Bible tells us that “each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgement,” (Hebrews 9:27). There is no replay or second chance. We all get one shot at life.

The Good News is that Jesus, in His death on the cross, paid the price for us. All who put their trust in Jesus can be sure that everything is forgiven and the slate is wiped clean.

Taking a risk in the surf or on the road can be fatal. Taking a risk with God has eternal consequences.

Australia Day On The Farm

The elites hate this country. Woolworths refuses to promote Australia. But one farmer showed us how to make a statement even when corporate Australia wants to shut us down.

Bloganuary Snacks

What snack would you eat right now?

Snacking is the one habit that undermines my health goals.

We always have a cornucopia of food on hand, much of it the glorious sweet variety. I love chocolate. We have a special drawer in our fridge called “The Chocolate Drawer.”

What snack would I eat right now? All of them!

What snack will I eat right now? A crunchy apple, a flavoursome peach or a handful of nuts.

You see, I am training my habits to include healthier options.

Jo Nova: Hertz To Sell One Third of EVs Because Customers Don’t Want Them.

What does this say really about the future of Electrical Vehicles?

From jonova.com

rollercoaster

By Jo Nova

With the western world hurtling into new cars that are more costly, inconvenient, slower to refuel, and prone to burning down carparks and cargo ships, it was only a matter of time before the cracks in the socialist car market started to show.

EV, electric car.

Around the world tonight headlines are sharing the news that Hertz is selling off 20,000 EVs, one third of their fleet, in order to buy some more fossil fuel cars. That can’t be inspiring news for customers thinking of giving up their gas guzzlers. As Oilprice said: Hertz’s Big Move Into EVs Turned Out To Be A Dud.  And as Reuters headlined: Rental giant Hertz dumps EVs, including Teslas, for gas cars.

It was the perfect storm in a bad way. Apparently the customers didn’t want to rent them, and when they did and they scratched them, they cost too much to fix. (Repair costs were twice as high).  Then the bottom fell out of the second-hand market, and to recover the depreciation losses, Hertz would have to raise the prices on a product customers already didn’t want. There was no way this was going to work.

The official dry Hertz announcement politely says that customers want fossil fueled cars and EV’s were too expensive to fix:

“..expenses related to collision and damage, primarily associated with EVs, remained high in the quarter”

“The Company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into the purchase of internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles to meet customer demand.”

Back in October 2021 it was all champagne and fireworks

Hertz put in an order for 100,000 EVs which was so exciting it pushed Tesla shares up 9% briefly to “a trillion dollar valuation”. (Two years later Tesla is worth 30% less.) At the time, Hertz expected to get the 100,000 cars by the end of 2022. Luckily for them, this didn’t happen. Instead they only got 50,000 by the end of 2022. This worked out to be about 11% of the Tesla total fleet. So these EV’s are not even very old. No one can say “the new models are better, because these are new models.

Some of the cars are already on the market. Two year old Telsa Model 3 EV’s are going for $22,000 US.

Hertz will book a $250 million dollar loss, and stocks in both Hertz and Tesla fell on the news.

With uncanny timing the Australian Albanese government is about to launch emissions standards we don’t need to coerce people to buy a product they don’t want, in the hope, they say, of changing the weather.

The insanity would be hard to fathom if EV’s weren’t also the ideal tool for spying, data collection, law enforcement, and political control. Benefits that can launch a thousand political careers…

The ABC At It Again

This is why changing the date of Australia Day will make no difference. The woke activists of the Aboriginal Grievance Industry will still carry on with their petty whining.

From The Daily Mail:

#f6f6f6;color: ;font-family: sans-serif">ABC is slammed for making New Year’s Eve 9pm show all about ‘Invasion Day’ with ‘woke’ Aboriginal rappers – as disappointed parents ask: ‘Where’s the Bluey fireworks for kids?’

#f6f6f6;color: ;font-family: sans-serif">By Sarah Liversidge For Daily Mail Australia and Jordan Mccarthy For Nca Newswire

The ABC has been blasted for making its family friendly 9pm coverage of the iconic New Year’s Eve celebrations about ‘Invasion Day’.

The extravaganza is typically known as the ‘fireworks for children’, with younger audiences going to bed before the midnight display.

This year, after the characters from the popular cartoon Bluey were projected onto the pillars of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the 9pm show kicked off with a racially-charged monologue followed by a rap performance of a song called ‘Our People’ by Indigenous rap group ‘3 Percent’.

The song slams Australians for voting ‘no’ to the Voice to Parliament, calls them ‘sick’ and says the country is going ‘backwards’.

Confused parents took to social media complaining the lead in to the Calling Country fireworks display was not appropriate for children.

‘Why is everything so woke…just play some pop music and show the fireworks,’ one person wrote on X. 

Read the full article here

Predicted Droughts Give Way To Floods, But It’s Not the BOM,s Fault!

From Jo Nova

#d6b15c">The BOM predicted a hot dry summer right before the flooding rains came…

Hot Dry El Nino News.

By Jo Nova

Australians are angry the BOM didn’t see the flooding rains coming

Worse, we’re betting the nation on the BOM’s ability to predict the climate.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) tells Australians that record breaking extremes are getting worse because of our cars and our air-conditioners (that’s “The State of the Climate“). But when the BOM can’t predict record breaking rain a month in advance, or even the day before, we know the BOM doesn’t understand what drives the climate.

Somehow the BOM expect Australians to spend trillions and rearrange their economy based on their fifty year prophesies, but not to mind when “this summer” goes right off the rails.

Back in September the BOM issued its El Nino alert, and Australians were told it would be a hot and dry and to prepare for a summer of bushfires. Farmer sold their lambs, and adjusted harvest accordingly.

This was the BOM solemn prediction in late October, for the very next month of rainfall

Across most of Australia the odds were only 20-40% of getting average rain.


Instead this is what happened:

Bureau of MeteorologyAustralian rainfall percentages

BOM

And in December most of the country was predicted to have a fifty fifty chance of getting “average” rain.

 

But the real weather gods had another idea, and all the places under any shades of green below got somewhere from 100% to 300% of the average rainfall. The indigo and purple zones got even more.

Bureau of Meteorology Australian rainfall percentages

BOM

This was a savage downpour — seven feet of rain in five days fell at one location:

No fewer than 12 locations across far north Queensland posted record rainfall totals.

Some areas received a year’s rainfall in a single day, isolating towns, closing highways and leaving hundreds stranded by surging floodwaters. Black Mountain near Cooktown recorded a cumulative 2189mm over the five days, while Mossman South, an hour northwest of Cairns, had 1935mm.

–The Australian

As the Mayor of Douglas Shire said:

“If this is so record-breaking, how did no one know this was going to happen … we need to have forecasts closer to what is going on.”

–The Australian

The BOM suddenly wants to absolve itself of liability

People have noticed there is now a mandatory check box forcing users to agree to a legal disclaimer clearing the BOM of all liability:

Users of the BOM app now have to agree to a 699-word “terms and conditions” statement that includes “information at this app … may not be accurate, current or complete”.

“To the maximum extent permitted by law, the bureau excludes any liability that may arise in connection with the BOM Weather app or any information or material presented therein or your access to or use of any of the same,’’ the bureau says in a “terms and conditions” statement that appears when a user attempts to download its app. — Mackenzie Scott, The Australian

They know they are in trouble.

I say the BOM can have immunity the same day Australians can also tick a box excluding ourselves from any and all costs, imposts and taxes related to any BOM predictions.

The Australian editors gives the BOM an escape valve it doesn’t deserve:

To be fair to the BOM, a hysterical and ill-informed media has allowed climate alarmism to infect reporting of what should be routine weather events.

For thirty years the Australian media has made hyperbolic scare stories about the weather while the BOM tacitly stood by and smiled. Where were they as the tenets of science were trashed, and critics were called “climate deniers”? If the BOM are victims of this hyperbole now, they reap what they sowed.

The BOM raised the stakes, and they don’t get to weasel out by saying “we used the best science” as if the best science wasn’t riddled with holes. If the science is good enough to throw away trillions of dollars, then the worst failures need a truckload of explanation.

Predicting the weather is hard. We could forgive the BOM for getting a complex immature science wrong, but not when they also tell us it’s just simple physics, they’re absolutely sure, and there is no doubt they’re wrong (give us your money!).

The Slippery Slope of Euthanasia Laws: Brian Pickering

From The Daily Declaration

euthanasia

The Slippery Slope of Euthanasia Laws

28 DECEMBER 2023

2 MINS

#212121;margin-top: var(--h4_typography-margin-top);margin-bottom: 10px;--fontsize: 22;--minfontsize: 22">ACT Set to Implement Most Permissive Euthanasia Laws in Australia

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is on the brink of implementing the most permissive euthanasia laws in the country, perpetuating a concerning culture of death.

Unlike other states, the ACT is moving forward without requiring terminally ill patients to have a predicted time of death to access euthanasia. This approach deviates from the rest of the nation, where patients are generally required to have a life expectancy of 6 to 12 months to be eligible for assisted suicide.

While the Federal Government paved the way for euthanasia in the ACT in 2022, the Territory’s continued exploration of expanding its scope is deeply troubling.

The earlier consideration of allowing teenagers as young as 14 to access euthanasia underscores a growing and distressing trend. The Government may have abandoned that specific proposal, but it remains committed to exploring even more controversial paths by considering the inclusion of terminally ill minors and individuals with dementia in the euthanasia framework.

This reflects a stark reality in which the sanctity of life and the value of compassionate palliative care are being overshadowed by an increasing focus on providing state-sanctioned suicide as an alternative. The ACT’s eagerness to push these laws forward neglects the potential negative consequences on the vulnerable, sending a disconcerting message about the worth of human life and the culture it is fostering. The sanctity of life should be protected and cherished, not undermined by a rush towards more permissive euthanasia legislation.

#212121;margin-top: var(--h4_typography-margin-top);margin-bottom: 10px;--fontsize: 22;--minfontsize: 22">Tragic Euthanasia Choice for Palliative Patient When NDIS Funding Cut

The recent tragedy of James “Jim” Mills is a troubling reminder of the tragic effects of legalised assisted suicide on our society’s most vulnerable. Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021, Jim’s reliance on repurposed NDIS funding led to a brutal choice when it was abruptly cut, pushing him to opt for euthanasia rather than stay in hospital.

Reinstated funding came too late, illustrating how the existence of euthanasia fundamentally alters incentives for government agencies, healthcare providers, and patients. This scenario also highlights the impact on palliative care, which faces a significant challenge when assisted suicide appears a simpler option.

Jim’s heartbreaking story emphasises that even stringent safeguards around euthanasia and assisted suicide are inadequate, leaving room for individuals to fall through the cracks and experience heartbreaking outcomes for themselves and their families.

#212121;margin-top: var(--h4_typography-margin-top);margin-bottom: 10px;--fontsize: 22;--minfontsize: 22">Netherlands Euthanising People Just Because They Have Autism

A recent report on euthanising people with autism and intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands is deeply troubling. Cases mentioned in the report, including people with autism aged under 30, set concerning precedents that go beyond the law’s original intent.

It’s distressing that some with autism view euthanasia as a solution, reflecting society’s failure to support vulnerable individuals and hints at a form of eugenics.

We must consider the broader implications and the risk of pressuring our vulnerable into ending their lives. The media’s portrayal of euthanasia as empowerment should not overshadow the ethical, moral and scriptural questions raised by these practices. This report reminds us of the need for a critical examination of these policies.

 

Kurt Mahlburg: Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

From the Daily Declaration:

pfizer

Texas Sues Pfizer — and the Lawsuit’s Ripples Could Reach Australia

20 DECEMBER 2023

4.3 MINS

The state of Texas is suing Pfizer for an allegedly defective Covid-19 product in a lawsuit that has grabbed the attention of The Australian.

The State of Texas has launched a major lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for engaging in “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices” in the marketing of its Covid-19 injectable.

Lodged by Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton late last month after a thorough state investigation, the 54-page suit calls Pfizer’s product “the miracle that wasn’t” and takes particular aim at the company’s “95% effective” claim.

“Placing their trust in Pfizer, hundreds of millions of Americans lined up to receive the vaccine. Contrary to Pfizer’s public statements, however, the pandemic did not end; it got worse,” the petition reads.

“More Americans died in 2021, with Pfizer’s vaccine available, than in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. This, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of Americans received a COVID-19 vaccine, with most taking Pfizer’s.”

Pfizer’s Alleged False Advertising

The lawsuit’s significance was not lost on Australia’s national broadsheet, with Adam Creighton of The Australian warning Tuesday that events in the Lone Star State “could have wide-ranging political ramifications across the developed world”.

“Pfizer appears to have exaggerated the effectiveness of its vac­cines, making unfounded claims that routinely were parroted by governments, health officials and much of the mainstream media,” Creighton wrote.

He continued:

Remember “95 per cent effective”? According to Texas, “0.85 per cent effective” would have been a more accurate sales pitch. Pfizer ran one large clinical trial in 2020 to obtain emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, which then green-lit the rollout. About 22,000 people were given a placebo and another 22,000 two shots of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine, and the results recorded two months later.

In the placebo group 162 people developed symptomatic Covid-19, but only eight in the vaccinated group, which is how the “95 per cent effective” was calculated. Yet according to the US Food and Drug Administration’s own guidelines this “relative risk reduction” measure is misleading and should at least be accompanied by the “absolute risk reduction”, which in this case was 0.85 per cent (0.9 per cent risk of contracting Covid-19 without vaccination, minus 0.04 per cent with).

Interestingly, the trial didn’t test the groups for asymptomatic Covid-19 using PCR tests, the kind we had to undergo repeatedly for the best part of two years, so who knows how many people in either group were infected. In terms of deaths from all causes across that two-month trial period, 21 people died in the vaccinated group and 17 in the placebo group — the opposite of what one might have expected.

“What’s on trial isn’t merely Pfizer but the institutions of governance in the developed world,” Creighton concluded.

“If Texas wins, it will have highlighted perhaps the greatest medical fraud in history, and the abject failure of medical regulators on a scale at least as large as banking and financial regulators in 2008.”

Covid-19 Injections and All-Cause Mortality

If the Texas lawsuit is successful, the implications in Australia could be monumental.

A recent study looking at deaths by all causes in 17 southern hemisphere countries, including Australia, uncovered a “definite causal link” between the rollout of Covid-19 injectables and peaks in all-cause mortality.

The Canadian team behind the study identified approximately 1 death for every 2,000 injections and concluded that “the Covid-19 vaccines did not save lives and appear to be lethal toxic agents”.

Data from various Australian states apparently corroborates this finding.

Most Queensland Covid-19 deaths were of people who were “fully vaccinated” when the state borders first opened in December 2021.

Likewise, Western Australians suffered exceptionally high rates of adverse events following Covid-19 injections — with a staggering 57% of them presenting at a hospital — at a time when most of the population was injected but no Covid-19 cases were recorded.

Indeed, excess deaths were already being detected in Australia in 2021 when the injection rollout was in full swing but many states still had no Covid-19 cases.

Injection Mandates and Censorship

Despite the Australian Immunisation Handbook explicitly stating that vaccines “must be given voluntarily in the absence of undue pressure, coercion or manipulation”, Australian governments imposed heavy-handed injection mandates on the nation’s citizens.

Australians were deprived of their freedom to work, travel, use public and private amenities, and be with loved ones at important moments such as births, deaths and funerals, unless they received the Covid-19 products that are now the subject of the Texas lawsuit.

Rather than listening to community pushback, the Australian Government voted down two bills aimed at shielding citizens from vaccine discrimination and launched a campaign of censorship against those who raised concerns. 

Following an FOI request by Senator Alex Antic, it was revealed that the Department of Home Affairs — whose purview includes border security and counter-terrorism but not public health — wilfully violated the free speech of thousands of Australians.

As reported at the time by The Daily Declaration, 

In total, the Australian Government flagged 4,213 Covid-themed posts for suppression.

While some posts contained irrational or unverified statements, the Commonwealth also blacklisted many legitimate claims made by Australian citizens.

Among them were posts correctly stating that Covid-19 injections did not stop infection or transmission of the virus, that masks and lockdowns were ineffective, and that Covid-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Content posted by Australian medical professionals was also censored, along with calls for peaceful protest against heavy-handed pandemic measures, and perhaps most cynically of all, testimonies of the vaccine-injured.

Australia’s Pfizer Contracts in the Spotlight

The most significant implications of the Texas lawsuit for Australia will likely be in regards to the agreements struck between the Federal Government and pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer.

When signing contracts with Covid-19 injection suppliers, the government granted companies total legal immunity if their products resulted in the maiming or killing of Australian citizens.

In the case of contracts with Pfizer, those agreements were based on the same trial data now being scrutinised in Texas.

It was on the basis of the same trial data that the Australian Government purchased vast quantities of Covid-19 injectables from various Big Pharma outfits, to the tune of almost ten doses per citizen.

To date, the Federal Government has spent at least $18 billion on Covid injectables and other treatments, approximately half of which have since been binned.

Of the first 255 million vaccine doses purchased, only 60 million were used, with more than half set to expire and be dumped, to the estimated value of $3 billion.

Approximately half of all Covid-19 injectables acquired by the Australian Government were purchased from Pfizer.

The lawsuit brought by Texas AG Ken Paxton alleges five violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and is seeking more than US$10 million in civil penalties against Pfizer.

It has been filed in Lubbock state district court in north-west Texas.

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

From The Daily Declaration

anti-Semitic

Anti-Semitic Incidents in Australia Surge 738% Since Last Year

19 DECEMBER 2023

2.3 MINS

A shocking new report reveals a skyrocketing increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia following the Hamas invasion of Israel.

Death threats, graffiti, beatings and chants of “intifada” are among a record 662 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Australia in just October and November of this year, in a shocking new report from the Executive Council of Australia Jewry.

The same period last year saw 79 such events, marking a dramatic 738% rise in anti-Semitic incidents year-on-year.

In one incident, a group of 13-year-old Jewish girls in their Jewish school uniforms were pelted with food at a mall in Bondi Junction, Sydney, before having a box thrown their way decorated in swastikas.

A Jewish cyclist sporting an Israeli flag was the victim of another attack in Melbourne, when a female attacker grabbed his flag and two men pushed the victim to the ground before kicking him in the chest and back.

In a seperate incident that took place on a train in Melbourne, an assailant shouted at a Jewish man, “If I could get a hold of a machine gun I’d gun down 10,000 of you tomorrow.” He also threatened to “blow a hole through your synagogue,” and said, “Jews aren’t people, they’re pieces of sh*t”.

The ECAJ explains in the report that their figures are provisional and are likely to rise significantly as more reports come in covering the October-November period.

‘It’s a Shame for Our Country’

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the ECAJ, has warned that in response to the surge in anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, Jewish parents have begun telling their children to conceal their Jewish identities in public, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

“Parents are speaking to their children about not disclosing their Jewishness in public, about hiding Jewish attire and symbols,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“The fact that in our society, in our time, these conversations are taking place, that one segment of our community feels that unsafe and that vulnerable from other Australians, it’s a shame for our country.”

In a Sky News interview, Walt Secord, Public Affairs Director or the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), said “I’ve lived in Australia now for 36 years and I have not seen anti-Semitism — the public expression of anti-Semitism — reach these levels in my entire life. It’s extraordinary.”

Mr Secord called the attacks “absolutely unAustralian”.

“We know that it’s a small group engaging in this activity but it’s absolutely unacceptable and it’s put the Jewish community on edge,” he added.

Global Surge in Anti-Semitic Incidents

A rise in anti-Semitic incidents is not just confined to Australia but has become a global phenomenon since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7 that saw 1,200 Israelis murdered, 6,000 injured and 250 taken hostage.

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League recently reported that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have risen by 388%, the majority of which had direct links to the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile in the UK, anti-Semitic incidents have surged 514% according to data from the Community Security Trust.

The Jerusalem Post reported in late October that a joint study found a global rise in anti-Semitic attacks of 500%.

Albanese Government Calls for Ceasefire

The shocking Australian report comes as the Albanese Government effectively revokes its support for Israel by voting at the United Nations for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

It is an about-turn that has angered Israel and delighted Palestinian advocates, given Hamas’ genocidal intent for the Jewish people and desire to see the Jewish state annihilated.

The Australian Christian Lobby has launched a petition calling on the government to respond to the rise in anti-Semitism seen around the nation.