SPAIN BLACKOUTS: AN ANONYMOUS EXPERT VIEW
From a deep groupchat, last night, translated from Spanish, written by an expert in transmission and distribution of power. Not my words.
"What has happened on April 28 has a well-located origin: the Aragón-Catalonia corridor, which is one of the most important electric highways in Spain. There is not only the electricity produced by our solar and wind farms in the northeast, but also the electricity that we import from France. This international interconnection, although weak (it can only contribute 3% of our demand, well below the minimum of 10% that marks the EU), in times of stress is essential to balance the network.
At 12:32 p.m., in that Aragón-Catalonia corridor there was an electric shock. What exactly does "shake" mean? It means that suddenly and abnormally, the power that flowed through those lines began to vary violently, rising and falling in a very short time. Such abrupt variability can be due to three main causes:
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That a relay or transformer on that electric highway detects an abnormal flow of current or voltage (higher or lower than expected) and automatically disconnected to avoid burning or destroyed. This is called that "opens" a relay or switch: it jumps and cuts the passage of electricity to protect itself.
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That the enormous concentration of renewable energy in that area (mainly solar and wind) has created an electrical resonance: electronic inverters, which synchronize current, can sometimes be amplified between them if a small voltage alteration (for example, due to clouds, strong wind or a slight failure) extends like an echo to all devices, causing widespread oscillations.
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That a wrong control order has been sent (by mistake or attack) from the SCADA systems, disconnecting or reducing the generation of multiple hit plants. There is no confirmation of this possibility yet, but it is being investigated.
What is known is that as a consequence of that shake, the interconnection with France jumped: we were isolated just at the worst time, when the peninsula needed external support to stabilize.
Without that French help, the frequency of the peninsular network (which should always be 50 Hz exact) began to drop quickly. The frequency is like the heartbeat of the network: if it falls too much, the systems understand that the patient (the network) is collapsing and automatically disconnected so as not to self-destruct. Thus, in just five seconds, the solar and wind farms were turned off —very sensitive to frequency variations—, 15 GW of power was lost suddenly (60% of all the electricity generated at that time), and the network could not take it anymore: it was It collapsed completely, showing the Redeia Platform (REE) a "0 MW" nationwide. That does not mean that all the turbines were physically turned off, but there was no generator synchronized at the common frequency of 50 Hz. It was, for practical purposes, a country off.
To ignite a completely dead network again, one essential thing is needed: plants that can start in black, that is, without receiving energy from anywhere else. Spain has identified five large hydroelectric jumps capable of doing this. However, and here is one of the great negligences that are coming to light, three of those five groups were stopped in scheduled maintenance, by business decision supervised by the administration. Only two were operational. That made the recovery much slower and weaker than it should be in a normal contingency plan.
Rich people problems
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from.
The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
"Democrats are learning … that Democrats can not only be the party of resistance."
"Like we resisted so hard between 2017 and 2024," Smith said. "We impeached the guy [Trump]. Like, we prosecuted him. Convicted him of 34 felony counts. And guess what, he still got elected. I don't know how much harder we can resist right now." //
Scott Jennings @ScottJenningsKY
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I can't believe it. They finally admitted it on live TV:
The prosecution of President Trump was an organized effort by the Democratic Party "resistance."
Lawfare is real. The justice system was weaponized against President Trump.
5:39 PM · May 15, 2025 //
"Just to be clear, everyone that now touts the 34 felonies, take it from Lis, this was not a real case," Jennings said. "This was a plot to upend the presidential campaign. Which backfired." //
cupera1 Mildred's Oldest Son
13 hours ago
The Trump Soviet Union show trial in NY City is a Rube Goldberg legal construction that should not have worked. The original alleged crime is a simple misdemeanor under a New York law against falsifying business records. This law passed the Statute of Limitations over five years ago. The NY DA’s office looked at this case at that time and passed on it. Then Trump announced his candidacy to run for president and everything changed.
To defibrillate the case against Trump they claimed that misdemeanor, Penal Law Section 175.05, was connected to an alleged election violation felony. This secondary statues the prosecutors cite, state and federal election crimes, cannot and were not proven. The state law had also passed its statute of limitation years ago. Federal law can’t be tried in a state court. The FEC looked at this case and laughed at it.
The only way this trial against Trump could have worked was using “lawfare" for Democrats: Selecting a jury of anti-Trump partisans. Using known liars and perjurers to support the charges. Keeping Brady evidence from the jury, don’t want anyone to get a conscience. And a DNC judge with his thumb on the scales that made multiple reversible errors during the trial and violating Trumps 6th Amendment rights. We learned that Trump was going to be found guilty BEFORE the jury came back. Democrats applied the same legal philosophy of Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, head of the NKVD under Stalin "Show me the man and I will find the crime."
Insurrection Barbie @DefiyantlyFree
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So let me get this straight the plane that was a gift from Qatar was actually a conversation that was started a year ago by the Biden administration with the Qataris? You literally can’t make this stuff up.
3:31 PM · May 15, 2025 //
“What the media isn't telling you and what no one's talking to you about is this same 747 has been in negotiations for a year,” Mullin revealed. “The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations.”
"It didn't start in the Trump administration. Why? Because we need a backup for Air Force One. Because right now, the President of the United States is flying around on a 40-year-old plane and there is no backup for it."
Mullin reiterated his initial point.
"No one is discussing that part. They're discussing that the deal ended with President Trump," the senator continued. "Maybe the media doesn't know."
Nevertheless, they believe our order applies to tens of thousands of individuals.
So, you get the sense that the appellate court was a tad exasperated with the plaintiffs' more expansive reading as to who was entitled to exemption from the EO. Nevertheless, Whitehead's subsequent order read as indignant and snippy, particularly toward the administration (but even a bit toward the appellate court). He characterized their interpretation of the 9th Circuit's prior order as "'interpretive jiggerypokery' of the highest order." He concluded that [emphasis added]: //
As anticipated, the administration quickly sought further clarification from the 9th Circuit (and, "in light of the increasingly contentious collateral proceedings over compliance in the district court," a complete stay of the district court's injunction).
On Friday, the 9th Circuit obliged and, in a very succinct order, again clarified that plaintiffs (and by inference, Whitehead) were again reading the scope of the exemption too broadly [emphasis added]:
Our order should be interpreted narrowly, on a case-by-case basis, to apply to individuals with a strong reliance interest arising prior to January 20, 2025, comparable to Plaintiff Pacito. //
Cynical Optimist
7 hours ago
“Jiggerpokery?” A judge actually used that word in an official document?
Susie Moore Cynical Optimist
7 hours ago
Yup. Now - he was actually quoting Antonin Scalia (from his dissent in King v. Burwell). 😂
”Watery tart” is still my favourite expletive.
The order by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich came amid a lawsuit by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, an immigrant-rights aid group, against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not," Friedrich wrote in his order.
(Note: Friedrich, a Trump appointee, is a woman, so that would be her order.) //
Under the tax code, those records are kept confidential and may not be shared outside the IRS, unless a particular statutory exception applies. 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a). As relevant here, one such exception, § 6103(i)(2), allows the head of any federal agency to request tax return information to aid in investigating or preparing for a judicial or administrative proceeding to enforce designated criminal statutes. Id. § 6103(i)(2). //
Also on Monday, Friedrich denied the motion of American Oversight (a group involved in several suits against the Trump administration) to intervene in the case. In doing so, she noted that she was unsealing most of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the IRS and DHS, along with the parties' briefs, thus obviating American Oversight's contention that intervention was warranted to access the documents at issue:
The MOU is a central focus of this litigation, and the information contained in the redacted MOU has been widely discussed, including on the record in open court at the April 16, 2025 preliminary injunction motion hearing. Although the government objects to its full disclosure, it has not asserted a compelling interest or high risk of prejudice with disclosure of the MOU and briefs. The public need for access is high given that the MOU's content is essential to the claims raised by the plaintiffs and the Court's reasoning in its forthcoming opinion on the 28 Motion for a Preliminary Injunction. The Court will not order, however, that the IRS "points of contact" on page 13 of the MOU be unsealed. With respect to those lower level government employees, the Court concludes that their personal privacy interests outweigh any public need to access their names and contact information.
While judges have the authority to issue temporary injunctions to protect one of the parties in a case from harm while the court considers the case, the Trump administration claims the judges have abused this power, claiming to protect people across the country who aren’t parties to the suit.
Sauer noted that courts have issued 40 universal injunctions against the federal government, including 35 from the same five judicial districts.
He argued that these injunctions “prevent the percolation of novel and difficult legal questions” through the normal legal process. He also argued that “they encourage forum shopping,” that is, parties filing lawsuits in certain areas, seeking friendly judges who will issue injunctions on their behalf. He further argued that they circumvent Rule 23, the process by which plaintiffs apply for class action.
“They create what [Supreme Court] Justice [William] Powell describes as repeated and essentially head-on confrontations between the life-tenured and representative branches of government,” Sauer added, referring to a justice who served from 1972 to 1987. //
Justice Clarence Thomas asked Sauer about the history of universal injunctions, and the solicitor general pointed to 1963 as the first example.
“We survived until the 1960s without universal injunctions?” Thomas asked.
“Correct,” Sauer responded. “Those were rare in the 1960s. It exploded in 2007. The 9th Circuit started doing this with a bunch of cases involving environmental claims.”
The solicitor general noted that “the court consistently said you have to limit the remedy to the plaintiffs appearing in your court.” //
In response to questions from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Sauer brought up the history of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, where “there were passionate challenges to nationwide policies,” but when judges held New Deal policies illegal, they issued “hundreds of injunctions protecting individual plaintiffs.” //
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s appointee, suggested that universal injunctions might be healthy for the judicial system.
“It seems to me that when the government is completely enjoined from doing the thing it wants to do, it moves quickly to appeal that,” bringing the case to the Supreme Court.
Sauer responded that the courts are supposed to work more slowly, methodically considering cases and not rushing them through emergency dockets to the Supreme Court. The “percolation” of cases through lower courts up to the Supreme Court is “a merit of our system, not a bad feature of our system,” he responded.
Prior to 1960, no maximum retirement age existed. Although it’s a colorful story, ripe with questionable political ethics, the maximum retirement age for U.S. pilots operating in a Part 121 environment was arbitrarily established at 60 and remained so for 47 years until it was changed to 65 in 2007. //
In 1959, the CEO of American Airlines, C.R. Smith, publicly convinced the first FAA administrator, Elwood Quesada, that after age 60, pilots begin to suffer disqualifying medical issues, notwithstanding being significantly challenged in the transition from props to jets. No substantive studies, medically or otherwise, were presented for such arguments. Privately, Smith was simply attempting to reduce the number of higher-paid older and more senior pilots.
It would seem that the same strategy of a medical argument is repeating itself in the current environment. Although some truth exists as to aging pilots succumbing to more ailments and requiring the use of more sick time leave, past studies indicate that sudden incapacitation, such as a cardiac arrest causing an accident, is highly unlikely. Because of initial screening and continued FAA medical exam scrutiny, the airline pilot population trends healthier than the general population. As for cognitive skills, the argument has often been made that pilots who demonstrate successful performance during recurrent training cycles in a classroom and in a simulator are definitive proof of mental capabilities. //
One of the larger hurdles is the fact that ICAO rules still restrict pilots over 65 to fly internationally. But based on recent ICAO agendas, it would seem the organization is seriously considering lifting the ceiling. If ICAO’s research studies bear out that airline pilots’ above-average health does not pose a risk to the flying public even in cases of sudden incapacitation, why have a ceiling at all? Why establish another arbitrary age? //
Pilots flying under Part 91 and Part 135 operations have no age restrictions. They fly in the same environment as airline pilots, so the only justification seems to be that those operations put less people at risk per flight. With some exceptions, air traffic controllers still must retire at age 56. Why would a healthy controller be any different than a healthy airline pilot to continue on the job?
If airline pilot mandatory retirement age has no ceiling, recovery from sudden pilot incapacitation should be a training requirement. Recognition is key, especially during critical phases of flight like takeoff or landing. Perhaps as was initially instituted for age 65, a restriction for pairing pilots in the same cockpit at certain ages should be considered. Can the public, let alone airline pilots, embrace two 75-year-olds on the same flight deck? //
My argument for mandatory airline pilot age is simple. If no substantive study with accurate data quantifies a particular age whereupon medical and cognitive issues indicate enough of a decline to create a risk to the flying public, then why define another arbitrary age?
A group of lawmakers in Congress is putting forward a bill that would undo much of the more than 50-year-old rule banning most supersonic flight over U.S. land.
The Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act, introduced Wednesday by Senator Ted Budd of North Carolina and Representative Troy Nehls of Texas, would instruct the FAA to revise a 1973 statute prohibiting nonmilitary air travel that exceeds Mach 1 over land. The rule was introduced to limit sonic booms, which are not only loud but capable of damaging property on the ground below.
The proposed bill would allow civilian aircraft to travel at Mach 1 and faster provided no sonic booms reach the ground. Its supporters said American companies have already developed “quiet supersonic” technology that makes the current ban irrelevant. //
The Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act is cosponsored by Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, and Tim Sheehy of Montana, together with Representative Sharice Davids of Kansas.
Duffy said during Monday’s press conference. “In July of 2024, the Biden [and] Buttigieg FAA moved control of the New York Newark airspace from New York [N90] to the Philadelphia Tower [Philadelphia TRACON].”
He said that as part of the move, the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) system which processes radar data for Newark stayed based in New York. Telecommunication lines would feed this data from New York to Philadelphia TRACON, where controllers would then handle New York arrivals and departures.
“The Biden [and] Buttigieg FAA bungled this move without properly hardening the telecom lines feeding the data which was already well known to be error-prone,” he said. “Without addressing the underlying infrastructure, they added more risk to the system.”
This weekend, control of the Newark-area airspace sector will be reassigned from New York’s Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) to Philadelphia’s facility, a transition that will encompass not only Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) but Teterboro (KTEB), Morristown (KMMU), Caldwell (KCDW), and Linden (KLDJ) airports. As a result, area designation will change from New York Approach to Newark Approach, while the switch in ATC communications should be seamless for operators. The FAA claims the move will help alleviate short staffing at the New York Tracon in Westbury, New York.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that a key hotline between the Pentagon and the air traffic control at Washington National Airport has been inoperative since 2022. But what would have been a mundane failure turned deadly in January when a military helicopter collided with a regional airliner, killing 67 people. That phone line would have typically been used by the Department of Defense to report when its aircraft were in the vicinity and what their intentions were.
The modern western mind views time as linear with a beginning and end. Whether you ascribe to the theory of evolution or creation, the timeline for planet earth is the same, a beginning and an end. The creationist views this span of time in the thousands of years with the beginning the creation of the earth by the hand of God and its destruction also by the hand of God. The evolutionist views this span in the billions of years with the beginning the creation of the earth through cataclysmic events and its destruction through another cataclysmic event. //
Time is not linear it is circular. A clock is not a timeline but a circle for the simple reason that time does not begin or stop, it continues without beginning or end. In the same fashion days and years are also circular.
If the timeline above for the span of the earth and man is bent back onto itself, we create a circle of time. With a circular view of time our perspective on the beginning and end of the earth and man change. No longer is the beginning the beginning and the end the end, but a continual cycle of beginnings and endings. ///
Thomas Cahill (Gifts of the Jews) begs to differ -- the linear view of history is one of the greatest gifts of the Jews
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The safety nightmare continues at Newark Liberty International Airport, where all air traffic control will be manned by just one fully qualified person during its busiest time tonight, The Post can exclusively reveal.
One air traffic controller (ATC) and a trainee will operate every flight in and out of Newark between 6.30pm-9.30pm — despite 15 staffers being the standard requirement for a shift.
A New York-based ATC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as “pure insanity” and warned that the schedule shows the control tower for the airport will operate “at bare bones” while between 168 and 180 planes are usually scheduled to take off and land.
Muller 🔶 @mystisk_za
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This part right here means "they got away before we had a chance to get our revenge and punish them"
What the instigators of this falsehood seek is not safety, but impunity from transformation. They flee not from persecution, but from justice, equality, and accountability for historic privilege.
8:06 AM · May 13, 2025
Reading that sent a chill down my spine. These are people whose ancestors have been in South Africa for nearly half a millennium. They are as much South Africans as black Americans are Americans, which is to say, fully. To claim they are fleeing "transformation" while citing "justice" and "accountability for historic privilege" is terrifyingly Orwellian. Everyone knows exactly what that means, which is the continued ethnic cleansing that has been endorsed by South Africa's ruling party.
At this point, the United States should not even consider reopening diplomatic ties with South Africa (the ambassador to the U.S. was expelled in March). The Trump administration should likewise pressure Europe into speaking out or face consequences. They have sat idly by, ignoring the forcible seizure of land and extra-judicial killings committed under the guise of punishing "historic privilege" simply because it's been coming from an African government.