GWPF Newsletter: Climate Change May Increase, Not Decrease Arable Land

Global Warming Will Increase U.S. Crop Yields, New Study

In this newsletter:

1) Climate Change May Increase, Not Decrease Arable Land: Study
Press Trust of India, 25 May 2018

2) Global Warming Will Increase U.S. Crop Yields, New Study
Michigan State University, 16 May 2018

Frank Newman: Meth myth

There is no risk to human health from third hand exposure to houses where methamphetamine has been consumed. That is the conclusion of a report released last week by the Government's chief scientific advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman.

In speaking to the report he said, "There is absolutely no evidence in the medical literature of anyone being harmed from passive use, at any level. We can't find one case…Mould is more dangerous than meth."

NZCPR Weekly: Race-Based Democracy Opposed

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into the misrepresentations being used to drive a campaign to remove direct democracy petition rights from local government electoral law, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Michael Coote exposes the underlying agenda of Local Government New Zealand, and our poll asks whether you believe direct democracy petition rights in the Local Electoral Act should be retained.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
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GWPF Newsletter: Green Groups Secretly Invest In Fossil Fuels, Leaked Documents Reveal

Did The Church Of Scotland Just Dodge A Climate Change Bullet?

In this newsletter:

1) Green Groups Secretly Invest In Fossil Fuels, Leaked Documents Reveal
InsideSources, 22 May 2018
 
2) 94% Of Shell Shareholders Reject CO2 Emissions Target Proposal
Reuters, 23 May 2018

Victor Davis Hanson: The Great German Meltdown

Every 20 to 50 years in Germany, things start unraveling. Germans feel aggrieved. Ideas and movements gyrate wildly between far left and far right extremes. And the Germans finally find consensus in a sense of victimhood paradoxically expressed as national chauvinism. Germany’s neighbors in 1870, 1914, 1939—and increasingly in the present—usually bear the brunt of this national meltdown.

Germany is supposed to be the economic powerhouse of Europe, its financial leader, and its trusted and responsible political center. Often it plays those roles superbly. But recently, it’s been cracking up—in a way that is hauntingly familiar to its European neighbors. On mass immigration, it is beginning to terrify the nearby nations of Eastern Europe. On Brexit, it bullies the British. On finance, it alienates the southern Europeans. On Russia, it irks the Baltic States and makes the Scandinavians uneasy by doing business with the Russian energy interests. And on all matters American, it increasingly seems incensed.

Daniel J. Mitchell: Italy’s Countdown to Fiscal Crisis

As a general rule, we worry too much about deficits and debt. Yes, red ink matters, but we should pay more attention to variables such as the overall burden of government spending and the structure of the tax system.

That being said, Greece shows that a nation can experience a crisis if investors no longer trust that a government is capable of “servicing” its debt (i.e., paying interest and principal to people and institutions that hold government bonds).

This doesn’t change the fact that Greece’s main fiscal problem is too much spending. It simply shows that it’s also important to recognize the side-effects of too much spending (if you have a brain tumor, that’s your main problem, even if crippling headaches are a side-effect of the tumor).

Kevin Donnelly: Minions denigrate penetrating legacy of the West

It is hardly surprising that the Australian National University’s National Tertiary Education Union branch president, Matthew King, has attacked the university’s decision to establish a Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation.

According to King, as cited in the Campus Morning Mail yesterday, the centre is guilty of promoting “a narrow, radically con­servative program” promulgating the “alleged superiority of Western culture and civilisation”.

Tom Harris: Now They’re Waging War On Plastics!

Earth Day Network (EDN) chose “End Plastic Pollution” as their theme for this year’s April 22 Earth Day. It is just the tip of the anti-plastic activism that now consumes environmental extremists. A Google search  on “Plastic Pollution Coalition” (a group claiming to represent “more than 500 member organizations” dedicated to “working toward a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts”) yields almost 90,000 hits, including a video actor Jeff Bridges made for the campaign.

Even the United Nations has joined in, making “Beat Plastic Pollution” the theme of its June 5 World Environment Day, “a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.”

GWPF Newsletter: Is Global Warming Hysteria Rotting The Brains of Politicians?

Plans To Frack UK’s First Horizontal Shale Gas Well Submitted

In this newsletter:

1) Christopher Booker: Is The Political Class’s Obsession With Global Warming Rotting Their Brains?
Daily Mail, 23 May 2018 
 
2) Plans To Frack UK’s First Horizontal Shale Gas Well Submitted
BBC News, 21 May 2018 

Ian Madsen: Marx Was Definitely Not Right, Nor Great

Recently, the world was sadly compelled to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.  He was indeed, a major figure in shaping history, but definitely not for the good.

Marx, along with his patron, Friedrich Engels, created the political-economic philosophy (perhaps a religion) commonly called Communism. Its essential tenet is that what we commonly call ‘capitalism’, which is based on the free exchange of goods, services, labour, ideas, money, and other things, is inherently evil and doomed to a brutal, violent, and ignominious extinction.

NZCPR Weekly: A Change in Direction

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the Budget and outline some of the risks around the direction that Labour is taking the country, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Frank Newman provides a comprehensive analysis of the Budget, and our poll asks whether you support or oppose the coalition’s first Budget.

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GWPF Newsletter: Britain Can’t Afford To Delay The Shale Revolution Any Longer

'Let The Paris Climate Deal Die. It Was Never Good For Anything, Anyway'

In this newsletter:

1) WSJ: ‘Britain Can’t Afford To Delay The Shale Revolution Any Longer’
Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, 21 May 2018
 
2) Britain’s Fracking Revolution Set To Take Off As Ministers Vow To Force Local Areas To Accept New Gas Projects
The Sun, 17 May 2018 

Melanie Phillips: Rudderless over immigration in Brexitland

What a mess the British government is now in over immigration — a mess that the arrival of the new Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, is unlikely to clear up.

Consider. Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary through misleading Parliament over whether or not the government had “uncompassionate” targets for removing illegal immigrants. This followed the revelation that the government had treated appallingly Caribbean “Windrush” immigrants who arrived in the sixties but who were threatened with deportation decades later.

Brian Gaynor: Finding money to get Auckland on the rails

Auckland’s transport system, particularly the proposed light rail project, will generate considerable debate over the next few years.

The objective of this column is to assess the potential financing of the light rail plan rather than assessing the merits of the development. Will it be funded by rates increases?

What role will the New Zealand Superannuation Fund play? What contribution will central government make?

GWPF Newsletter: UK Government Unveils Support Package For Shale Gas Development

GWPF Welcomes Govt Announcement, But More Speed is Required

In this newsletter:

1) UK Announces Extra Measures To Support Shale Gas Development
Reuters, 17 May 2018
 
2) UK Government Unveils Support Package For Shale Gas Development
Energy Voice, 17 March 2018

Kevin Donnelly: Our 21st century tragedy - how the west was lost

Douglas Murray argues in The Strange Death of Europe that ­“Europe is committing suicide”, as proven by the mass immigration of thousands of young Islamic men and the failure by many ­within academia, the media and politics to acknowledge and ­defend the unique strengths and benefits of Western civilisation on which Europe is based.

Such is the dire nature of events, Murray concludes: “By the end of the lifespans of most of the people currently alive, Europe will no longer be Europe and the peoples of Europe will have lost the only place in the world we had to call home.”

GWPF Newsletter: Green Europe May Be On The Verge Of Blackouts

As Dutch Gas Production Collapses, Europe's Dependence On Russia Grows

In this newsletter:

1) Green & Anti-Shale: Europe May Be On The Verge Of Blackouts
Bloomberg, 16 May 2018 
 
2) Europe Grapples With Dutch Gas Production ‘Collapse’ & Growing Dependence On Russia
Euractiv, 16 May 2018

GWPF Newsletter: Paris Climate Agreement In Disarray

Developing Countries Demand Long-Promised $100 Billion P.A. From Richer Nations

In this newsletter:

1) Paris Climate Agreement In Disarray As Developing Countries Demand Long-Promised $100 Billion P.A. From Richer Nations
National Post, 11 May 2018 
 
2) China, India Outsource CO2 Emissions, Risking Paris Agreement – Study
Reuters, 14 May 2018 

NZCPR Weekly: A Society of Equals

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we highlight some the power plays being used by the iwi elite to gain influence, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Karl du Fresne outlines the wider implications of the Craggy Range debacle, and our poll asks what you believe the Craggy Range winery should do about their walking track – capitulate to iwi, or stand their ground and do nothing.

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Brian Gaynor: Budget prudence needed, not borrow and hope

Recent Budget announcements on both sides of the Tasman clearly indicate the Australian Government has had a borrow and hope strategy, while our Finance Ministers have taken a more prudent approach.

The big question is whether Grant Robertson, the new Labour Finance Minister, will maintain this prudent approach when he delivers his first budget on Thursday.

Mole News

Why not to have Maori Wards
A few days ago, Western Bay District Mayor Garry Webber shared his views about why Western Bay should have a Maori ward.

......The Mayor correctly notes that the law enables ratepayers to demand a poll when a Maori ward is proposed, but not when geographical wards are created or modified.

Paul Driessen: Perverse, Conflicted Ethical Systems

Third Reich Forest Minister Hermann Goering was an avid hiker and ecologist who once sent a man to a concentration camp for cutting up a frog for fish bait. In 1933 he and other Nazi Party leaders enacted anti-vivisection laws to stop what he called “unbearable torture and suffering in animal experiments.”

Intensely hostile to capitalism, the Nazis controlled all industries and envisioned large-scale wind turbine projects that would generate “huge amounts of cheap energy” and create millions of German jobs.

Fred Roeder: The WHO and Ebola - an illustration of failure

The World Health Organization is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars with incredibly skewed priorities. 

The World Health Organization is a large and antiquated United Nations body that is expensive unnecessary and counterproductive to its own cause of "public health." It's time to take the appropriate measures and defund it.

The WHO and Ebola: an Illustration of Failure

As the Ebola crisis was ravaging a number of African countries in 2014, we put our trust into a number of international organizations to assist West African countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea or Nigeria to contain the spread of the virus and aid those who were unable to receive medical care. The World Health Organization (WHO), with its ambitious goal regarding public health, was one of them. 

Bud Jones: Racism in the Universities

Does spiritualism, religiosity and racism have a place?

First a little about my background and credentials.

After immigrating from America, I had service with the NZ Symphony Orchestra for 40 years and as Artist Teacher at Victoria University for 26 years 1990—2016.

I was awarded a QSM in 2013 for services to education at the high school and university level, including director for NZ National Youth groups, and also for environmental achievements.

Daniel Mitchell: More Pay for Unionized Teachers Is the Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem

Education spending and teacher pay have become big issues in certain states.

Unfortunately, not for the right reason. In an ideal world, taxpayers would be demanding systemic reform because government schools are getting record amounts of money (higher than any other nation on a per-student basis) while producing sub-par results.

Instead, we live in a surreal parallel universe where teacher unions are pushing a narrative that taxpayers should cough up more money because teachers supposedly are underpaid.

GWPF Newsletter: UN Climate Talks Fail To Reach Agreement On Paris Agreement

China Calls For Renegotiation Of Climate Deal

In this newsletter:

1) UN Climate Talks Fail To Reach Agreement On Paris Agreement; China Calls For Renegotiations
BBC News, 10 May 2018 
 
2) Nikki Haley: U.S. Rejects UN Global Pact For The Environment
Fox News, 9 May 2018

NZCPR Weekly: Labour's Disastrous Track Record of Welfare Reform

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we outline how changes to the welfare system introduced by previous Labour Governments created intergenerational benefit dependency and we urge caution over planned reforms, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Lindsay Mitchell describes some of the policy changes signalled by Labour and the Greens, and our poll asks whether you believe that under Labour the downward trend in the number of children growing up in families dependent on welfare will continue, or be reversed.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
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Richard Epstein: Senseless in Seattle

On first inspection, Seattle is and ought to be the envy of the rest of the United States. In 2017, its population stood at about 713,000 people and was growing at 3.1 percent per year, the fastest growth rate of any U.S. city. Its economic revival has been driven by an influx of new software, technology, and internet companies. Among the major corporations headquartered there are Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Weyerhaeuser.

But all is not well in Seattle, which is now riven by deep political divisions over what to do about the problem of homelessness. Right now, about 8,000 people within the city limits are homeless, and the city saw 169 homeless deaths in 2017.

GWPF Newsletter: U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil Exporter

Shale Revolution Puts U.S. In Driver’s Seat

In this newsletter:

1) U.S. To Become World’s Top Oil Exporter -- Citi
Tim Daiss, OilPrice, 2 May 2018  
 
2) Oil Prices Fall On Rising U.S. Crude Inventories, Record Production
Henning Gloystein, Reuters, 3 May 2018

Lee Harding: Unethical Electric Cars

Anyone who says electric cars will save the world is dreaming. The adoption of electric cars over the next 20 years will barely shave a single percent from the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the batteries that power these cars rely on a nightmarish swath of human devastation. 

Most electric car buyers who pride themselves on “doing the right thing” have no idea of the birth defects, premature deaths, child labour, and virtual slavery it took to make their new wheels move. All this is to keep carbon out of the air and a few hundred ducks out of oil sands tailing ponds.

Electric batteries have far more to do with cobalt than carbon. Cobalt is an essential element in lithium-ion batteries, the lighter kind that packs more energy than lead-acid batteries. It is true that these “green” batteries are also found in tech devices and not just cars. But the 10 grams of cobalt for a smartphone battery or the ounce in a laptop are overwhelmingly outweighed by the 15 pounds of cobalt found in a typical electric car battery.

Marian Tupy: Income Equality Is No Measure of Human Progress

Following the Great Recession of 2008, income inequality became a focal concern of those who feel that market economy has let them down. In 2011, “We are the 99 percent” became a unifying slogan of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2013, the U.S. President Barack Obama described income inequality as the “defining challenge of our time.”

Concern over income inequality did not disappear.

A year later, Pope Francis called for a “legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state,” while leftwing economist Thomas Piketty tried to supply the movement for greater income equality with intellectual ammunition in his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. 

Viv Forbes: Weather, Climate, Carbon Dioxide and Global Warming.

There are three big drivers of weather for any place on Earth – the latitude, the local environment and solar system cycles.

The biggest weather factor is latitude – are you in the torrid, temperate or frigid zone? These climatic zones are defined by the intensity of heat delivered to Earth’s surface by the sun.

In the Torrid Zone the sun is always high in the sky. It is generally hot, often moist, with low atmospheric pressure, muggy conditions and abundant rain and storms, some severe. Places close to the Equator get two summers per year (really just one long summer) and very little winter. Further from the equator there are two seasons - “The Wet” and “The Dry”. The Torrid Zone produces many equatorial rain forests but also contains some deserts. Most people dream of vacations or retirement in the warm zone.

Tony Orman: The Missing Links in Solving the Global Warming Equation

The global warming debate can at its most feverish state reach dizzy depths. Hot air and defensive name calling of sceptics as deniers is destructive of sensible discussion. The climate has always fluctuated, changed and indulged in cyclic fashion. The climate has always had its periods of warming and has done so for millions of years. 

Where I live in Marlborough if you chance to travel along state highway 63 to the West Coast, the road will follow the valley towards St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti.  Towards an hour’s drive, the highway comes to its first significant rise. That low hill is the old moraine from a glacier that several million years ago, a glacier  groaned, ground and grated down the Wairau valley pushing rubble ahead of it to about the Wairau River’s confluence with its tributaries the Branch and Goulter Rivers. The moraine from the glaciers is evident in the low mound-like hills on both the Wairau River’s east and west banks. 

It is so logical that as the ice age waned, the glacier retreated and the climate warmed. 

GWPF Newsletter: Tesla Is Burning So Much Cash It Could Go Broke By The End Of The Year

Electric Cars Are Failing To Woo Average American

In this newsletter:

1) Tesla Is Burning So Much Cash It Could Go Broke By The End Of The Year
Bloomberg, 30 April 2018
 
2) Electric Cars Are Failing To Woo Average American
Jon LeSage, Business Insider, 1 May 2018

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: The insidious ‘normalisation’ of chemical and nuclear weapons

Last month saw the US, UK and France reacting to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. In her defence of her decision to launch a strike against Syria, British PM Theresa May stressed that the objective of the joint military action was to send a clear warning that the ‘normalisation’ of the use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated.

I am not going to get into the ‘whodunit’ debate. I have argued earlier in these annals (“Syria chemical weapons attacks – we still don’t know who is responsible”, Breaking Views 31 August 2013 - see HERE) that the evidence linking that particular Sarin attack to the Assad government was scanty, and my position on the incident that prompted the Western strike will depend on the outcome of the OPCW investigation. But there is no denying that chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian conflict – repeatedly.

Daniel Mitchell: Why Is the EU Celebrating Karl Marx's Birthday?

Celebrating the 200th birthday of Karl Marx is a slap in the face of millions of people killed by communism. The evil ideology known as communism left a track record of unimaginable horror. Experts estimate that 100 million people were killed by Marxist regimes. Some were murdered. Other starved to death because of the pervasive economic failure of communism.

Yet there are dupes and apologists who overlook all this death and misery. One of them is Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. A few days from now, this über-bureaucrat will help celebrate the 200th birthday of Karl Marx.

NZCPR Weekly: The Pitfalls of Change

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into the nature of change and expose some of the agendas that are undermining our freedom and liberty, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Brian Giesbrecht examines the impact of the #MeToo movement, and our poll asks whether you believe that the position of Race Relations Commissioner should be disestablished.

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GWPF Newsletter: Europe's Green Madness Goes OTT

Ireland Faces Annual EU Green Energy Fines Of €600 Million

In this newsletter:

1) Europe’s Green Madness Goes OTT: Ireland Faces Annual EU Green Energy Fines Of €600 Million
The Irish Independent, 30 April 2018
 
2) Madness II: EU Rule Could Leave Theatres Dark
The Guardian, 29 April 2018