It was ice, not global warming, that killed and entombed millions of mammoths and woolly rhinos in Siberia and Alaska.
     It was unrelenting cold and then ice, not global warming, that forced the Vikings out of Greenland.
     It was bitter winters, not heat waves, that finally defeated the armies of Napoleon and Hitler in Russia. George Washington’s army also suffered from an unusually bitter winter at Valley Forge in 1778, in the depths of the Little Ice Age.
     Snowy blizzards periodically kill more cattle than heatwaves in Colorado, South Dakota and Texas.

     When the Tambora volcano exploded in 1816 it spewed massive volumes of ash and “greenhouse” gases including carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There was no global warming from the greenhouse gases, but the heat-blocking ash-filled atmosphere and a quiet sun caused “the year without a summer”. Failed crops and famine stalked Europe, Asia and America.

to THE AUSTRALIAN
     Someone needs to explain to Noel Pearson and Pat Anderson why there has justifiably been ‘almost complete silence from government’ since the Uluru ‘Statement from the heart’ (‘Silence follows Uluru summit’, 25/10).  It has nothing to do with a ‘lack of responsibility’ or ‘failure of understanding’ among parliamentarians or COAG.  It comes from the sensible recognition in high places that the advisory body made demands which the majority of Australians will never be persuaded to endorse.
     Constitutional recognition of any kind has been shown to be inequitable, unjust to other citizens and a danger to our national unity, stability and security.  Waffle about Aboriginals being left ‘in the demountable out the back’ or that disadvantage cannot be tackled without ‘structural reform’ simply ignores reality.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

     The Show is over and the next big event on the social calendar is the Melbourne Cup—‘the race that stops a nation’.  Enthusiasts study the ‘form guide’ and place their bets on the horse most likely to guarantee a return in relation to the odds offered by the bookmaker or betting agency; it can be great fun!

     Others enjoy the occasion by ‘investing’ what they can afford to lose in ‘Calcutta Sweeps which is also great fun and even better if you draw the winning horse!  Much depends on ‘Lady Luck’ or perhaps in these politically correct times, ‘Person Luck’!

to THE AGE
     Julia Banks simplifies and misrepresents the ‘no’ case that legalizing same-sex marriage involves injustice to children (‘I’m a Liberal and this is why I’m voting for “yes”’, 25/10). By contrast the matter is well put by Penny Mackieson (Letters): we should not be endorsing a change to the law which will  ‘facilitate the conception of children to be intentionally separated from their biological/genetic parent or parents’ and raised by others. This is only one aspect of the matter.
     Advocates of ‘no’, one feels, have been at a disadvantage in this postal survey, because their case is much less easily presented in alluring simplifications. That is one reason why the Government should not rush into legislation ‘before Christmas’ if the ‘yes’ case wins the ballot.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

to THE AUSTRALIAN
     The core idea chosen for its annual conference by the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English is excellent (‘Teachers give identity politics a classroom push’, 27/10).  Secondary students indeed could benefit greatly from teaching that examines the role of ‘iconoclasts, dissidents, the marginalized and those who do not swim in the mainstream.’
     However, it appears that the actual choice of speakers and session themes is irresponsibly biased in favour of currently fashionable left-wing preoccupations. Nothing changes! I lost interest in VATE after struggling in vain with some other English teachers to save the Higher School Certificate and its examinations structure in 1983. Even then VATE appeared to have been ‘captured by the left’!
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

to THE AGE
     The Government has faced realities in its response to the campaign for constitutional recognition (‘Coalition rejects Indigenous “voice” to Parliament’, 27/10). The Australian people will never sign away their national unity in a referendum powered by misguided idealism.
     Claims that people are not willing to listen to what ‘First Australians’ want are without foundation. No ‘First Australians’ are alive today!
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

to THE AGE
     Andrew Bragg is unrealistic in imagining that ‘no’ voters in the postal survey will suddenly cease discussion of the issue if they lose (‘Fair, focused debate needed as survey ends’, 26/10). Deeply held convictions will not be surrendered because of a political defeat that many will believe was achieved by ensuring that the public as a whole was inadequately briefed on the issues involved.
     He is right to urge a continuation of ‘respectful debate’ and consideration for the opinions of ‘no’ supporters. That is not compatible with his call for the legislation of same-sex marriage by Christmas. For the sake of ethical integrity and national unity, the government, if ‘yes’ wins, should proceed slowly and carefully and not act before all reasonable concerns about children’s welfare, free speech and parental rights have been addressed.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

     The New York Times is getting heartburn about White nationalism and the Alt Right – that is, people like us:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/opinion/sunday/white-nationalism-threat-islam-america.html

     Face it, if you are White and make a squeak about race, immigration, and especially banking and the rule by the global financial elites, then you are a bad guy, according to the cosmopolitanists and globalists:

     Lives of Our Own (Createspace, 2017), is a brilliant new book by leading social credit theorist and philosopher, M. Oliver Heydorn. The subtitle of the book aptly sums up what this treatise is about: Social Credit, Catholicism, and a Distributist Social Order.

     The tone of the book is set with an epigraph from Hilaire Belloc, published in 1934, expressing his support for the rationality and morality of the social credit agenda, of overcoming restricted purchasing power, freeing people from wage-slavery, and ensuring that people are “to be fully fed, well housed, well clothed and given manifold opportunity for the enjoyment of life.” This is no longer a truism, because our world of 2017 is quickly approaching that of the Great Depression era, with record numbers of homeless and unemployed.

to THE AGE
     Both the current Spanish crisis (‘Civil war wounds reopened as sides fire up over Catalonia’, 16/10) and ongoing controversy over the events in Australia in 1975 (‘Did Britain have a role in Dismissal?’) are similar in that, behind argumentation about constitutional matters, two different and mutually hostile visions of the political order are embattled.
     Historian Jenny Hocking appears to be conducting her research in order to fire up anti-British and pro-republic sentiment. Both in 1936 and today Catalonian separatism has been used to try to move Spain away from Christian monarchy towards secular and atheistic republicanism. This is accompanied by misrepresentation (‘Franco’s Falange’):  Franco was a Catholic patriot, not a fascist, and successfully kept both the Falange and Hitler at arm’s length after the 1939 Nationalist victory. He bequeathed to Spain the present unifying monarchy.
     History shows that we have much more to fear of an Australian republic going communist than of our present Christian monarchy going fascist.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

     We have often wondered whether “our” pollies are just mad, evil, and/ or on “something.” We do not have any data for Australia, but there is some American material that may shed some light on the matter:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-10-15-pharmacist-who-shuttles-carloads-of-pharma-drugs-to-congress-admits-theyre-senile-brain-damaged-patients-who-might-not-even-remember-what-happened-yesterday.html
https://www.statnews.com/2017/10/11/pharmacist-congress-drug-delivery/

“Mike Kim, the reserved pharmacist-turned-owner of the pharmacy, said he has gotten used to knowing the most sensitive details about some of the most famous people in Washington.
“At first it’s cool, and then you realize, I’m filling some drugs that are for some pretty serious health problems as well. And these are the people that are running the country,” Kim said, listing treatments for conditions like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
“It makes you kind of sit back and say, ‘Wow, they’re making the highest laws of the land and they might not even remember what happened yesterday.’”

     With all of the debate about same sex marriage and the issue of transgenders, it is relevant to note that there appears to be a rise in the requests for transgender reversal surgery:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4942482/The-rise-transgender-reversals.html

“There has been a surge in patients wanting to reverse their transgender surgery, according to a leading doctor in Serbia, the global hub of transgender corrective surgery.
Dr Miroslav Djordjevic, a urologist in Belgrade, has been treating patients from all over the world for about 10 years.
His clinic in the capital of a country that is openly hostile to LGBT groups, became an unlikely haven for transgender patiets.  But now, Dr Djordjevic has told The Telegraph that he is seeing an increase in the number of patients seeking reversal surgery.

     John Bruce Leonard has contributed two essays on the Europe question:
https://www.counter-currents.com/2017/10/redressing-the-european-question/
https://www.counter-currents.com/2017/10/europe-and-europa/

     Using the Catalan independence from Spain and the similar case of Sardinia as examples, the question arises as to what is a nation: is it blood and ties of ethnicity, or is it abstract principles? I suppose for many readers it will be abstract principles, such as “democracy” and liberty.

to THE AGE
     Anna Krien is illogical in her claim that in their ‘no’ campaign the churches ‘should shut right up about the protection of children’ (‘Churches’ marriage-vote hypocrisy’, 18/10). The fact that a minority of church people have been guilty of child abuse does not mean that other church people have no ‘moral high ground’ from which to comment on the ways in which marriage, as currently defined, protects children. Nor can either group be equated with ‘the churches’.

     Krien’s blanket assertions that the Safe Schools programme is ‘far from radical’ and is not linked to ‘marriage equality’ do not constitute a convincing answer to the detailed arguments and evidence that the ‘no’ advocates have placed on the public record.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

to THE AUSTRALIAN
     Kevin Donnelly comments (‘Barbarians at the door after the left’s long march’, 18/10) that ‘the cultural left controls the academy’. Judging by the likelihood of a ‘yes’ victory in the marriage postal vote and by the collapse of the Liberal Party as a defender of conservatism, it seems that the left is gaining control of the nation. Why has this happened and what should traditionalists do about it?
     The industrial revolution, the huge growth of cities, the squalid conditions of urban living, the development of mass education, the psychology and behaviour patterns of left-wing agitators (whose disgruntlement leads to a will-to-destroy) and the pseudo-religion of egalitarianism and ‘democracy’ have all combined to produce this tide of communistic barbarianism.
     The ruthless nature of the financial system and large corporations has provided ample targets for the leftist indignation.
     Only a revival of faith on a large scale can stem the tide. This does not mean adherence to antiquated beliefs and theologies. It means a rebirth of imagination, of attunement of human souls to the beyond, of renewed emphasis on a wisdom that comes from ‘the peace that surpasses logical understanding’.  Poetry, the culture of books, music and the fine arts, protection of the natural environment and the honouring of romantic love can all assist in a renaissance.
     NJ, Belgrave, Vic

     News, very bad news, comes that 8 percent of new homes in Queensland sold between September 2016 and June 2017, were purchased by “non-residents,” mainly Chinese. But non-residents gobbled up 25 percent of new homes in New South Wales and 17 percent in Victoria over the same period:
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/chinese-buy-8pc-of-new-homes-in-queensland-credit-suisse/

     Then we have the next wave of colonisation, harking back to the MFP Japanese city proposal of the 1990s, of a $ 1 billion Chinese city:

     I have been interested in presenting available material refuting the current ideology in human pre-history studies, that humans evolved in Africa about 100,000 years ago, then migrated around the world. Africa is thus, the mother of us all, or so they say.

     As pointed out in the journal Renewal vol. 24, no. 1 September 2017, p. 7, the out of Africa hypothesis is inconsistent with a vast array of evidence. For example, it is pointed out that palaeontological evidence from a dig, in what is now San Diego, contradicts the hypothesis. In that dig palaeontologists found mastodon bones that had been broken apart, presumably by use of five large stones that were found next to them. Further tests were made on the breaking of modern elephant bones indicating that these 130,000 year-old bones, were broken by humans, the only creature capable of breaking the bones.

     Jim Goad has penned a thought-provoking piece about the present movement by Californians to leave the Union and become a separate state:
http://takimag.com/article/california_adios_jim_goad/print#axzz4vi8sD41Q

     Although there have been attempts at secession, the most recent, “Yes California” movement means serious business:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_California

     According to The Australian, October 17, 2017, p. 1, history courses at Australian universities are “lost” in identity politics, which means radical Left wing feminism, cultural Marxism and “queer’ studies etc. etc.  An audit of 746 history subjects over 35 universities, found that 244 (about one third), were based on identity politics. The understanding of the basis of Western civilisation still took place, but was declining:
https://ipa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/IPA-The-Rise-of-Identity-Politics.pdf

     The conservative response to this is to increase the courses teaching the pillars of Western civilisation, which of course, is a great idea. But, what needs to be noted is that the long march through the universities by cultural Marxism is complete, and in humanities and Social Science topics, even involving the canon of Western civilisation, such a Shakespeare studies, postmodern philosophies and ideologies are used to deconstruct the “racist” texts of dead White males.  Discourse on White racism is spread right through all of these disciplines, and I know of a statistic methodology course at one university which is more about identity politics than mathematical methodology. The universities are full of fanatics, crazy people who do not deserve to be there, while decent scholars have been driven from the campuses long ago.

     This story is from the mainstream Los Angles Times, which amazingly enough is still printed in English:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jesus-campos-vegas-20171016-story.html

“The story seemed straightforward: The unarmed security guard approached Stephen Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, distracting the gunman and potentially saving lives.
With a gunshot wound to his leg, he helped point officers to the gunman’s location and stayed behind to evacuate hotel guests.
He was hailed a hero by many, even as the story changed. Twice.
Now, the man that many want to honor and who can help bring clarity about the timeline of the shooting has vanished from the public eye.”