South Africa: Prison inmates escape, aided by gunmen

A group of six prisoners escaped from a police van in South Africa on Friday after it was attacked by armed gunmen. The van was heading to a court in the suburbs of Johannesburg, police said, as they launched a manhunt for them.

"The police have launched a manhunt after six detainees escaped. The detainees escaped on their way to the Vosloorus courthouse," the police said in a statement, about 30km southeast of the capital.

The van was ambushed at a crossroads "by three armed men" driving a luxury car.

According to the police, five of the inmates who escaped are Zimbabweans who were due to be arraigned in the morning on charges of armed robbery, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

The sixth man, a South African, was due to appear in court for the first time for shoplifting.

https://www.africanews.com/2022/01/14/south-africa-prison-inmates-escape-aided-by-gunmen/

 

Tulsi Gabbard Blasts Joe Biden: ‘He Has Betrayed Us All’

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Democratic presidential candidates stand on stage for a photo before a Democratic presidential primary debate. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

President Joe Biden has “betrayed us all,” Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday, accusing the president of going back on his promise to unite the country.

Gabbard, who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary, admitted that she supported him after dropping out of the race.

“I know Vice President Biden and his wife and am grateful to have called his son Beau, who also served in the National Guard, a friend,” Gabbard said in a statement at the time in March 2020.

“Although I may not agree with the Vice President on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people,” she added.

“I supported Joe Biden, and millions of other Americans voted for Joe Biden because he promised to unite us,” she said in the video Friday, speaking of his lofty promises to “bring us together [and to] to end the divisiveness.”

“Sadly, not only has he failed to do this, he has betrayed us all by pouring fuel on the fires of divisiveness that are tearing our country apart,” Gabbard said.

“Biden compares those who disagree with him to racist traitors, to enemies of bygone eras, and Biden now has his attorney general targeting millions of Americans as domestic terrorists,” she continued as her video cut to a clip of Matthew Olsen, Assistant Attorney General National Security Division talking about the U.S. facing an elevated threat from “domestic violent extremists, that is individuals in the United States who seek to commit violent criminal acts in furtherance of domestic social or political goals.”

“Domestic violent extremists are often motivated by ideologies and personal grievances. We’ve seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies,” he added.

“If we allow this to continue, our country, our country, the country that we love, the land of the free, the home of the brave, it will be unrecognizable, and it will be lost forever,” Gabbard warned:

Biden focused on the theme of unity upon taking office, mentioning it several times throughout his inaugural speech. However, he quickly shifted gears months down the road, most significantly during his divisive coronavirus speech in September 2021, where he warned that his patience was “wearing thin” with unvaccinated Americans.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/01/14/tulsi-gabbard-blasts-joe-biden-he-has-betrayed-us-all/

In Panama, a tiny rainfrog named after Greta Thunberg endures

 

In Panama, a tiny rainfrog named after Greta Thunberg, Pristimantis gretathunbergae, endures

January 15, 2022

• A tiny tree frog, new to science, has been named after climate activist Greta Thunberg and her work highlighting the urgency of climate change.
• Scientists found the frog on an expedition to Panama’s Mount Chucantí, home to many unique and endemic species, but which has lost more than 30% of its forest cover in the past decade, mostly to small and medium-scale cattle ranchers.
• High-elevation species like the Greta Thunberg’s rainfrog (Pristimantis gretathunbergae) are vulnerable to fine-scale changes in the environment and climate change and “face a constant risk of extinction,” the study authors write.
• The Panamanian nonprofit Adopt a Rainforest Association created a privately patrolled nature preserve on the mountain where 56 undescribed species have been found by scientists. However, funding shortages made worse by COVID-19 have led to a lack of rangers to protect this unique, forested “sky island.”

Up in the trees of a misty sky island, folded into the foliage, a tiny rainfrog bears the name of a climate giant. The new-to-science species, found on a mountain in Panama, has been named after climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Greta Thunberg’s rainfrogs (Pristimantis gretathunbergae) are minuscule (about 3 to 4 centimeters or 1.1 to 1.5 inches long) and spend much of their time tucked away in bromeliads, the leafy plants attached to trees. There, they sleep, mate, and lay their eggs. Their distinctive black eyes, the researchers say, are rare among tree frogs in Central America.

A complete description of Greta Thunberg’s rainfrog was published this week in the journal ZooKeys.

A Greta Thunberg’s rainfrog (Pristimantis gretathunbergae) perched in a bromeliad. “Rainfrogs” belong to the genus Pristimantis and although many are arboreal, they are not considered true tree frogs. Photo by Abel Batista.

Scientists found the new frog on a 2012 expedition to Mount Chucantí, the tallest peak in the Majé mountain range in eastern Panama. At 1,439 meters (4,721 feet), the mountaintop forms a “sky island” habitat: cool, damp, cloud forest, rising up from a sea of lowland tropical rainforest.

Abel Batista, a researcher at Chiriquí Autonomous University in Panama, and Konrad Mebert from the State University of Santa Cruz in Brazil, along with local guides, rode horses and hiked up the steep muddy slopes of the mountain to access the forest. Once there, they set up a base camp to survey for amphibians and reptiles.

Because the mountain is high and isolated (more than 100 kilometers away from any other cloud forests), many unique and endemic species have evolved there, making it ripe territory for species discovery.

The cloud forest on Mount Chucantí, home to the new frog species and many other unique species. Photo by @AdoptaBosque.

“During the first night, on the way to the top of the mountain, the forest was very dark and all covered by clouds,” Batista told Mongabay. “At about 10 p.m., in between bromeliad leaves, we saw a yellow-lipped and big black-eyed frog. Immediately, we had the cue that it could represent a different species to those found in Panama up until that time.”

Using DNA analyses, the researchers confirmed that the frog was indeed new to science. And then came the naming. The Rainforest Trust, a conservation nonprofit, hosted an auction offering the naming rights for several new species, including the rainfrog. The auction winner named the frog in honor of Greta Thunberg and her work highlighting the urgency of climate change, according to a Rainforest Trust press release.

“The plight of the Greta Thunberg Rainfrog is closely linked to climate warming, as rising temperatures would destroy its small mountain habitat,” Batista said.

Greta Thunberg’s rainfrogs cling to a few, high-elevation pieces of habitat. As climate change raises temperatures, the frog species may have nowhere left to go. Photo by Macario González.

When temperatures rise, many species adapt by moving to higher elevations. But for species that already live at the top, there’s nowhere else to go. High-elevation species are especially vulnerable to fine-scale changes in environment and climate, and “face a constant risk of extinction,” the paper says.

Beyond climate change, the tree frog faces habitat loss and the risk of exposure to the deadly chytrid fungus, a notorious tropical amphibian killer. Because of these threats and its small, fragmented, and high-elevation habitat, the authors have suggested that Greta Thunberg’s rainfrog be listed as vulnerable to extinction according to IUCN Red List criteria.

“An urgent conservation plan is required to protect the cloud forests and the distribution of this new, unique and endemic species,” the paper says.

A) Frog habitat on Cerro Chucantí  B) Understory bromeliad with new frog C) Frogs in amplexus  D) Female guarding eggs E) female taking care of its eggs with a male holding on the female in reverse position  F) female with eggs about to hatch. Figure from (Mebert et al 2022).

One group working toward this goal is the Panamanian nonprofit Adopt a Rainforest Association (ADOPTA). In 2005, ADOPTA began purchasing land on Mount Chucantí to create the now 600 hectare (nearly 1,500 acre) Cerro Chucantí Private Nature Reserve.

In his years of working as a forest guide, ADOPTA founder and executive director Guido Berguido often brought tourists to the mountain to see birds and wildlife, including black-headed spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps rufiventris), great curassows (Crax rubra), and (if they were lucky) a cougar. But year after year, he witnessed something else.

“We witnessed the rainforest [as it was] slashed and burned,” Berguido told Mongabay. “But our frustration led to one of the largest private nature reserves in Panama, where dozens of organisms previously unknown to science have been discovered.”

At least 56 new-to-science species have been found in the reserve, Berguido said, though not all of the species have been formally described by science as the process is costly and time-consuming.

Local law enforcement joins private rangers to patrol the Cerro Chucantí Private Reserve. Photo by @AdoptaBosque.

A cougar (Puma concolor) caught via camera trap (hidden camera) in the Cerro Chucantí Private Reserve in 2019. Image via @AdoptaBosque.

Over the past 10 years, the region around the reserve on Mount Chucantí has lost more than 30% of its forest cover, according to the Rainforest Trust. This deforestation is driven by small and medium-scale cattle ranchers, Berguido said, made worse by government policies that incentivize development.

Now, private game rangers patrol the Cerro Chucantí Private Reserve to protect the forest from ranchers, squatters, illegal loggers and poachers. But, due to funding shortages made worse by COVID-19, only two rangers are currently working, which Berguido said is “not nearly enough.” ADOPTA sometimes manages to cover the expenses of local law enforcement to join forest patrols, but this is expensive.

“This work is very gratifying,” he added, “but can be quite frustrating when we don’t receive enough support … We feel there are only a few of us against a giant foe.”

https://southafricatoday.net/environment/in-panama-a-tiny-rainfrog-named-after-greta-thunberg-endures/

Why Climate Change Is a Fraud

 Source: https://newswithviews.com/why-climate-change-is-a-fraud/

By Edwin Berry, Ph.D.

January 14, 2022

The Science of the people who will not be slaves again!

The journal, Science of Climate Change, published my landmark scientific paper on December 14, 2021.

My paper, and papers by Murry Salby and Hermann Harde, are checkmate proof that natural CO2, not human CO2, causes most of the increase in atmospheric CO2. Physics proves our CO2 does not change our climate.

President Bush began the climate fraud.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes this core assumption:

Natural CO2 remained constant after 1750 and human CO2 causes all the observed increase in atmospheric CO2.

IPCC’s core assumption is the basis of all climate laws, regulations, treaties, taxes, and education. It has cost us dearly in our energy sources, our economy, our national defense, our lives, our minds, and our freedom.

My paper shows why this assumption in wrong. But more important, my paper shows this assumption is not the result of a simple error by the IPCC. This assumption is an obvious fraud of global proportions.

President GHW Bush was the main force in forming and funding the IPCC in 1988. There is nothing in IPCC’s Charter about investigating the cause of climate change. The IPCC merely assumes our CO2 causes climate change.

In June 1992, President G.H.W. Bush and 107 other world leaders attended the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, or the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro.

Secretary General Maurice Strong chaired the conference that 20,000 climate activists and green lobby members attended. The UN and the US government paid all attendees’ expenses.

Strong declared in his Summit speech,

“A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns. We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse. Isn’t it our responsibility to bring this about?”

Strong declared,

“the real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will in fact become like the Ten Commandments.”

Strong long supported global governance at the expense of national sovereignty. He said environmental mandates require the eventual dismantling of the power of the nation state:

“It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation-states, however powerful. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation.”

“We need a system of global governance through which nations can cooperate and deal with issues they cannot deal with alone. The ultimate example is climate change.”

In 1992, Al Gore claimed,

“Only an insignificant fraction of scientists deny the global warming crisis. The time for debate is over.The science is settled.”

I attended the meeting in the San Francisco Bay area where Bush’s toady told some 100 climate physicists like me that we were out of a job. They did not want physicists to tell them our CO2 does not cause climate change. They wanted and would fund only ecologists to write reports on the damage we do by burning carbon fuels.

We must stop the climate fraud.

I am sorry to see Frosty Wooldridge has fallen for the climate fraud (NWV Dec 30, 2022). I like many things Frosty does, but his promotion of the climate fraud is wrong.

Frosty wrote:

“The fact remains: adding population adds to catastrophic climate destabilization with millions of more people burning millions of barrels of oil 24/7.

“That means more wildfires in the 6th year of an “exceptional drought” in the West.  That means more extraordinary tornadoes in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma ad nauseum.

“It means massive hurricanes sweeping up our coasts. It means raising the temperatures at the poles to a point where all glaciers melt into the oceans.

“It means dropping more acidic carbon molecules into our oceans to kill more than 100 species daily across the planet.”

“Well, now, we’ve got catastrophic climate destabilization breathing down our throats.”

Frosty’s climate claims are not science.

The dark side propagates its climate fraud by trying to scare you with its claimed consequences if you do not do what they tell you to do. Fear causes us to abandon our logic and common sense. Likely, the witch doctors of old used the same techniques.

How to understand the climate fraud.

Every day, the news media tells us about a new “climate catastrophe.”The subliminal message is “because it’s bad, you caused it.”

The climate fraud may be the mother of all frauds. Belief in IPCC’s core assumption dumbs us down and makes us susceptible to other frauds, like gun control and COVID mandates.

They say, “natural CO2 emissions stayed constant and human CO2 caused the problem.” This is the ecological nonsense of “Nature is Good, Human is Bad.”

My book Climate Miracle explains in a short read the logic you need to defend yourself against climate alarmism.

The proof is important.

According to the scientific method, it is impossible to prove a theory is true (as climate alarmists try to do) but it takes only one contradiction to prove a theory is false. My paper supplies that contradiction.

According to the scientific method, my paper overturns the “consensus” claim that IPCC’s core assumption is true, and it “outvotes” the thousands of IPCC papers that claim IPCC’s core assumption is true.

Now, the only scientific way for them to justify their climate alarmism is to show there is a major error in my paper. Many have tried but no one has succeeded.

Human CO2 does not “accumulate” in the atmosphere.

CO2 flows through the atmosphere like water flows through a lake. Imagine a lake where a river sends water into a lake and lake water flows out over a dam. Pretend we arrive when the inflow is small but constant and the water flowing over the dam is equally small and constant.

The lake level is at equilibrium. Its outflow equals its inflow. The lake level is constant. Suddenly, the inflow increases. It raises the lake level. This rise in the lake level makes more water flow over the dam. The lake level rises just enough to make its new outflow equal its new inflow.

That illustrates now human and natural CO2 that flow into the atmosphere change the CO2 level in the atmosphere. Nothing accumulates. The level rises only enough to make CO2 outflow equal to the CO2 inflow.

Let’s do a first approximation.

The IPCC says annual human CO2 emissions are about 5% of natural CO2 emissions. This is like a recipe. What you put in is what you get. The only difference here is your recipe is flowing out of a hole in the bottom of your bowl as you pour things in.

Because human CO2inflowis5% the human CO2 level in the bowl is also5%. The natural CO2levelin the bowl is95%.

Same for CO2 in the atmosphere. This first approximation says human CO2 is only 5%.

But the IPCC theory is that human CO2 is at 30%. This shows IPCC’s core assumption is wrong.

Let’s do more accurate calculations.

My paper uses IPCC’s natural carbon cycle data and annual human CO2 emissions data to calculate the true effect of human CO2 emissions. Notice I use IPCC’s own data to prove its assumption about human CO2 is false.

Human and natural CO2 do not react with each other. So, we can calculate their effects independently, which simplifies the calculations.

My calculations include human CO2 that recycles back into the atmosphere and the transfer of human carbon from the slow carbon cycle to the fast carbon cycle. The whole banana.

The result, as of 2020, is human CO2 has increased to only 8% of all atmospheric CO2. This is still nowhere near the 30% required by IPCC’s core assumption. Therefore, IPCC’s core assumption is wrong.Not even close. In fact, a fraud.

The IPCC attempts to explain this problem.

The IPCC tries to get around this problem by claiming human CO2, but not natural CO2 stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. And by staying around longer, the human CO2 goes up to 30%.

Thus, the IPCC digs its own grave.

This IPCC claim is absurd because human and natural CO2 molecules are identical, so they flow out of the atmosphere at the same rate.

IPCC’s story (and it is a story) would require a magic demon in the atmosphere that can separate human CO2 from natural CO2 molecules, and then detain the human molecules. It can’t happen. No one should fall for this baloney.

IPCC’s climate fiction is so absurd that it proves the IPCC committed a fraud of global proportions.

The COVID shutdown did not reduce the increase in the CO2 level.

The 2021 emissions reduction due to COVID did not stop the inevitable CO2 increase caused by natural CO2. This proves climate treaties and green energy are useless because they ignore that unstoppable nature is the dominant cause of the CO2 increase.

Carbon dating data prove nature dominates the CO2 increase.

Carbon dating measures the percent of carbon-14 in a quantity of carbon-12. Carbon daters call these measurements δ14C (delta 14C).

We can use δ14C data to prove nature dominates the CO2 increase.

The natural level of δ14C is zero. That does not mean there is no carbon-14. It means the amount of carbon-14 compared to carbon-12 is exactly what nature has produced for millions of years.

But from 1950 to 1965, the atomic bomb tests almost doubled the δ14C level. After 1965, the δ14C level gradually decreased and today the δ14C is back to zero.

Here’s the thing.

Human CO2 from burning carbon fuels has zero carbon-14. Therefore, human δ14C is negative 1000. So, if human CO2 caused the CO2 increase, it would have lowered the δ14C equilibrium level below zero.

Look at it this way. Suppose you have a drink that has 8% alcohol, and you pour in an equal quantity of water. What happens to the 8% alcohol level? It drops to 4%.

Similarly, if human carbon causes all the CO2 increase, it would have lowered the equilibrium level of δ14C below zero. Data show human emission have had no effect on the δ14Cequilibrium level of zero. Also, the increase in atmospheric CO2 has had no effect on the equilibrium level of δ14C.

Therefore, natural CO2 dominates the increase in atmospheric CO2.

Conclusions:

The only scientific way for alarmists to argue that human CO2 dominates the increase is to prove there is a major error in my paper. No one has done that.

I will make videos to help you understand my paper.

My paper shows if human CO2 emissions were to stop, the small human-caused CO2 increase would quickly fall, meaning there is no scientific basis to claim there is a climate emergency or worry about our grand kids.

My paper overturns IPCC’s climate fraud with a clarity that can win in a court of law. Good high school students can understand my paper. Now, we need lawyers willing to overturn climate laws, regulations, and taxes.