By Jo Nova

Wake up Patsy States! Trump dumps “climate change” and creates a *Council of National Energy Dominance*

Donald Trump is not wasting time unpacking the mess.   In a blockbuster sweep he’s ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately “stop work connected to climate change” and eliminate “climate-related terms” across the agency, and to the “maximum extent permitted by the law”. Homeland Security is supposed to be guarding the USA against terrorists, hackers, disasters and other threats, so this is a major refocusing exercise for an agency that was wandering in the dark trying to hold back the sea, and prevent droughts and floods with windmills and LED lights.

The DHS was set up in response to the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, so it was only 22 years old, yet it had already mutated into an agency that that was “working to inform the American people about climate-related risks, including extreme heat, flooding, wildfire, and drought, and to provide them with clear information about how to reduce those risks. ” In other words, it was a walking-talking scare machine to squeeze more money out of taxpayers to feed The Big Government Blob. The official webpage now has a label saying “Archived Content“.

In true Donald Trump style — stripping the climate barnacles off is not enough, and he’s set up the National Energy Dominance Council. The US doesn’t just need some energy it needs to have more energy than everyone else in the world. “We’re going to make more money than anybody’s ever made with energy,’ said Trump. The race is on. Patsies-beware: he’s thrown down the gauntlet to any leaders still talking about the end of fossil fuels.

The last time around, in 2017 Trump pulled out of Paris but didn’t “interfere with the US IPCC engagement”.  This time he’s pulled the pin and blocked the State Department from sending a team to China for the next round of Paris Agreement extortion. Since the US is pulling out of the Paris agreement this would have been an entirely frivolous junket.

It’s all so exquisitely neat and bureaucratically brutal:

US: Trump ends climate work inside agency that responds to disasters

In a continuing slew of stories being generated by the Trump administration’s attempts to destroy US climate-focused policies, Bloomberg reports that “top officials at the US Department of Homeland Security received a memo on Friday ordering an immediate stop to work connected to climate change and the elimination of climate-related terms across the agency”. The outlet adds: “The memo instructs senior office heads to ‘eliminate all climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology in DHS policies and programs, to the maximum extent permitted by the law’, according to the document seen by Bloomberg News.

Look at the the language — energy is now “liquid gold”:

Matthew Daly, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order formally creating a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-setting domestic oil and gas production.

“We’re going to make more money than anybody’s ever made with energy,’’ Trump said at an event Friday in the Oval Office. The United States has “clean energy, very clean beautiful energy. We’re lucky to have it. I call it liquid gold under our feet. And we’re going to utilize it.”

The new council, to be headed by Burgum, will be granted sweeping authority over federal agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, with a mandate to cut bureaucratic red tape, enhance private sector investments and focus on innovation instead of “totally unnecessary regulation,” Trump said.

No more junkets for climate minions, and no more juice to feed the UN:

By Valerie Volcovici, Reuters

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The Trump administration has halted the participation of U.S. scientists in key U.N. climate change assessments, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters, part of its broader withdrawal from climate change mitigation efforts and multilateral cooperation. 

The stop-work order affects staff members of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who engage with a key working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

And no more apologies for using or producing fossil fuels. It’s excellent.

Essay by Eric Worrall

The clock counts down to 2030, when apparently we are all doomed.

Residents divided as Aussie council erects $18,000 clock in countdown to ‘doomsday’ deadline

It counts down the days, hours and minutes until a pivotal moment in our fight against climate change. But not all are enjoying the message.

Joe Attanasio
Senior Reporter
Fri 21 February 2025 at 8:06 am AEST

A thought-provoking art installation in a major inner-city public garden has continued to spark mixed reactions with locals seemingly divided by the controversial work.

The $18,000 piece features a countdown clock tracking the days, hours, and minutes until 2030 — a pivotal year for climate action in Australia, marked by key national and international targets.

…

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, a City spokesman said the price is “a small part of a modest budget” that goes towards “supporting emerging local artists”. In comparison, the Ouroboros work in Canberra — based on the ancient story of a snake eating its own tail— cost a reported $14 million.

…

n Fitzroy, a young woman walking through the park on Thursday appeared to enjoy the clock. “It’s kind of cool … it makes you think,” she told 7News. “The people in this area probably already know what’s going on,” her companion said. “Maybe it could have been put somewhere else, like Brighton.”

…

On the other end of the scale, one local man hit out at what he described as “bulls**t in my face”.

“Truthfully, it’s just crap,” he said. “I’d like to just keep living peacefully and happily and enjoy this park.”

…

Read more: https://au.news.yahoo.com/residents-divided-as-aussie-council-erects-18000-clock-in-countdown-to-doomsday-deadline-220605666.html

Does this art installation motivate you to reduce your personal CO2 emissions?

I’ve got to say the council didn’t receive a lot for the money they paid to the artist.

The plinth was already present – it apparently used to belong to a statue of Queen Victoria which disappeared under mysterious circumstances 120 years ago. The University of Melbourne is nearby, which raises obvious suspicions – I doubt the students of 120 years ago were much different to the students of today.

The doomsday clock appears to be a few pieces of welded steel sheet and cheap square section, an electronic display which looks like it was salvaged from a road work sign, and a $200 solar panel. Other components could include a low cost microcontroller, a display controller and a backup battery inside to keep the numbers ticking.

I’ve made devices with similar components as part of my professional work. The materials required to make something like this can be sourced for a lot less than $18000.

But I guess the issue of receiving value for money is for local government voters to decide.

I’m curious whether the clock thing will run out of electricity in winter, at 37.8º South, Melbourne winters tend to be overcast and dreary. The sun drops low in the sky, and the length of day drops to a minimum of around nine hours.

Those big bright LED signs consume a fair bit of electricity, possibly too much for the attached solar panel, if that is what it is. The “clock” also appears to be overshadowed by trees, though some of the trees in Fitzroy Gardens are deciduous which might help a bit.

If anyone happens to notice the clock running out of juice, or sees someone sneaking in with a battery pack to give it a boost, please send us a photo for our entertainment – though it is possible there is a fossil fuel sourced grid backup power supply built into the plinth, just in case the solar panel doesn’t cover the climate doomsday clock’s energy needs.