My Interviews with Tom are fun and personal. I truly respect Tom’s views as he has a wealth of experiences from around the world in energy coupled with a vast mental fortitude for acquiring knowledge.
We may have been twins separated at birth, but I think he was the smarter of the two. He says just the better-looking. As a true industry thought leader, he is not an influencer. Tom is more of a knowledge provider and assumes that if you are human you can determine the best path for yourself to follow.
We both agree on many things and having fun while talking about serious topics is a way that we deal with the travesty that has befallen humanity.
Buckle up, get the popcorn, and ponder about what Tom talks about.
Tom, Thank you for your time, fun, and friendship. – Stu
00:00 – Intro
00:41 – Energy Transition Skepticism: Kirkman questions the energy transition, criticizes media and government climate panic, warns of grid collapse due to unreliable renewables, and suggests a conspiracy for population reduction.
05:25 – Global Elites and Conflicts: Kirkman criticizes U.S. involvement in conflicts, advocates for non-interference, and discusses the profitability of war for certain industries.
10:07 – January 6th and Biden Administration: Topics include January 6th events, media coverage, corruption in both parties, and concerns about the Biden administration’s intentions, especially open borders.
14:53 – Political Compromises and U.S. Energy: Kirkman discusses concerns about compromises, alleged corruption, and deliberate U.S. energy supply destruction, suggesting connections to China.
24:16 – Opinions on Figures and Economic Issues: Kirkman shares strong opinions on political figures, geopolitical dynamics, and economic issues. Emphasizes the abuse of the U.S. dollar, advocates for humor, and discusses a potential shift in global economic power dynamics.
34:02 – Religious Schooling and Climate Change Skepticism: Kirkman talks about his religious schooling, encourages questioning, and expresses skepticism towards climate change, focusing on renewable energy challenges.
41:10 – Criticizing Renewable Energy: Kirkman criticizes the renewable energy industry, highlighting issues with solar and wind power. Expresses skepticism about electric vehicles and the green narrative.
44:10 – Unintended Consequences of Wind Farms: Discussion on the unintended consequences of wind farms, particularly their impact on bats and birds. Criticizes the lack of accountability for environmental damage.
48:24 – International Relations and Biden Critique: Kirkman expresses divergent views on leaders like Putin, criticizes Biden’s policies, and asserts deliberate U.S. destruction, predicting a challenging 2024.
56:59 – Outro
Please follow Tom at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkirkman/
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ENB Podcast with Tom Kirkman – The Climate Pope – Final Cut.mp4
Stuart Turley [00:00:03] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Energy News Meet podcast. My name’s Stu Turley President Sandstone group. And I mean I get my Tom Kirkman fix in today. He is a linchpin legend. He drives Ayn nuts. He is known, in my opinion, as the climate pope. He has single handedly pushed Lurch to the side. He now knows more about climate change and energy transition than the entire Biden administration. Thank you very much, Tom, for stopping by the podcast.
Tom Kirkman [00:00:41] Wow, that’s a heck of an intro. Okay. . To know that I do try to poke the censors and poke the Biden administration about the stupid energy trenches and, you know, the Orwellian Inflation Reduction Act, which is the Socialist Green New Deal Redux and all this other stuff. And I’m just laughing at I mean, there’s so many things to laugh about. One, just the sheer panic that the media and the government are trying to push and people are just getting sick of it that they’re pushing back. It’s like the world is not ending, guys. So the energy transition, one, it’s never going to happen. Two. I’m laughing at these massive wind farms that are going bankrupt and losing $1 billion even with 30 to 50% subsidies. And they want more. They demand more. And they’re they’re freaking out. It’s like they don’t want to be held accountable for environmental regulations in the same vein that, you know, offshore oil and gas platforms do. So they’re freaking out. It’s like, oh, but you know, we’re green, so we should be exempt from these environmental regulations of where we can lay our subsidy cables to get the electricity to the shore. It’s like, no, I’m sorry. So right now, the grids, the electric grids in the United States and the EU are both severely screwed. They’re so close to collapsing. If there’s peak energy demand and all it’s going to take is one really cold winter, which this winter may or may not be. We’ve been lucky the last couple of winters. And despite the media nonsense you hear about, you know, this summer is the hottest day in the history of the world. And it’s like, no, there’s one off days that are super hot. But overall, the last this the winter this year, earlier this year and the summer this year were much milder than normal. I can prove this because energy electric utility companies are having budget cuts because people use less electricity than were budgeted and forecasted this year. In 2023, people were using less electricity during the winter and during the summer. So the media is full of nonsense. The government is full of nonsense. All the time. It was the hottest year ever. It’s nonsense.
Stuart Turley [00:03:01] That’s the first time in 5 to 10 years that’s happened.
Tom Kirkman [00:03:06] I know this. So I pay attention to this stuff so that it’s not widely known. But it’s like all this crap that’s coming out of the media, just all this panic. I mean, you see my LinkedIn headline, it’s like I think it says, I have a Ph.D. in climate apocalypse Panic worrying or something like that. It’s just it’s just nonsense. You guys like to poke fun of it.
Stuart Turley [00:03:29] You’re a climate pope and you’ve got 155 over 5 million impressions on LinkedIn or whatever the number is. Man, I.
Tom Kirkman [00:03:38] Yeah, right now it’s about 5 million, 100,000 plus. I haven’t really checked lately, but it’s like I’m laughing at Chicken Little. You know, Chicken Little is running around saying the sky is falling, the sky is falling. It’s like I’m just laughing. It’s like, no, it’s not, you idiot. So what’s happening is what scares me. And honestly, we’re going to go down the road of Darwin Awards. It’s like, how do we get rid of these idiotic governments? They need to, you know, they’re committing energy suicide so that the grids are so overloaded by shutting down reliable coal, reliable natural gas, reliable nuclear and replacing it with unreliable and intimate wind and solar. And that is a recipe for disaster. And as you keep going down that road, it is inevitable it will happen. The grids will crash repeatedly. And I’m waiting to see if this winter is a really, really cold winter. Both the US and the EU will have multiple widespread rolling power blackouts that the government can’t fix. They created this problem. They’re giving subsidies to this. They want this to happen. In my view, the I call them our dear overlords, the people like Klaus Schwab and all that other stuff that just the real sociopaths that want us to eat bugs and all, you know, live in 15 minutes that these guys are truly evil and they want us to die. Literally. People think I’m. You know, the talk about population reduction, let’s go down that path. So you remember the Georgia Guidestones before it got blown up? It says the earth’s population should remain at five. Half a billion, 500 million people in concert with nature. So we’re at 8 billion people. They want 90% of the population to die.
Stuart Turley [00:05:24] Yeah.
Tom Kirkman [00:05:25] That’s what they want. It’s like it’s carved in stone and it was carved in stone in seven languages so that, you know, eating bugs, you can’t eat bugs. Bugs have a toxin in them which is allergic to humans. It’s going to make you sick.
Stuart Turley [00:05:37] One question Did the U.S. sign on to that? I heard the old conspiracy theory that the US signed on to get rid of 78% of their population. It does.
Tom Kirkman [00:05:48] I’m not going to say that they’ve signed on, but the the ruthless, you know, super elites. I mean, Bill Gates father was a huge eugenicist.
Stuart Turley [00:05:58] Right? Yeah. Look it up. Look it up.
Tom Kirkman [00:06:00] It’s very, very plain. So you’ve got I mean, Klaus Schwab is Dr. Evil personified. I mean, eat bugs, you know, reduce your carbon footprint, don’t eat meat, don’t eat dairy in the you’re starting to go down on this. And they want to replace everything with leaves. Well, it is have limited range. It’s just taking away your freedoms. So what’s kind of cool in the US? The US has the Second Amendment and the First Amendment. So the Second Amendment backs up the First Amendment. So that’s not going to go away regardless. There’s so many guns in the United States. There’s no way the government is ever going to pull an Australia move and have everyone surrender their guns. It’s just not going to happen. Maybe in the cities, which may be a good thing, I don’t know. The cities have gone completely berserk. But out in the rural areas, it’s like. But that’s never going to happen. So now people are people are going to start resisting. The economy is going down the toilet. Part of it has to do with we’re shipping hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to just horrible places. We should not be involved in Ukraine. We should not be involved in the whole Israel-Palestine mess. We are not involved in the Middle East. We should not be sending money or weapons. My opinion, people say tell me. And it’s like they get really upset sometimes. You must pick a side. It’s like, no, I don’t. The U.S. does not belong in any of this stuff. Oh, but that you’re not making any sense. You have to pick a side. One side is good and one side is not. It’s like now they both suck. I’m sorry. Not all horrible. They are. I don’t like either side. So if they want to kill themselves, we should stay out of it and let them do it. I don’t care. That sounds really bad, but, you know.
Stuart Turley [00:07:43] The Ukraine is insane. I mean, it’s a crime scene. I’m saying.
Tom Kirkman [00:07:49] There is no living. In Asia for two decades. You learn there’s no such thing as black and white. Pretty much everything’s a shade of gray. And all of these conflicts between Russia and Ukraine. I’m sorry, Ukraine used to belong to Russia and it’s a domestic quarrel. And it’s like you don’t ask the police, you don’t want to get involved in domestic quarrels. They’re really, really messy. People don’t make sense, right? Just let them get on with it. And the US should stay out of it. So the same thing with the whole Israel-Palestine mess. I’m sorry both sides suck. The neither of them are whiteheads or good. They both suck. And I don’t care if people get you, people can come and all you want. We should not be involved in this.
Stuart Turley [00:08:31] I feel sorry for both sides. And it’s the Palestinians do not deserve the their leadership that got voted in once and never had another election. And so I’m a humanitarian. The people don’t deserve their governments.
Tom Kirkman [00:08:49] I agree. I agree.
Tom Kirkman [00:08:51] But the people here rise up. Against the government and I’m not calling for revolution, but they need to vote these guys out. Exactly. So until that happens and I’m not holding my breath, they’re just going to continue fighting. So this is a nonstop never ending war. It’s there’s all sorts of politics and religion which will never, ever, ever see eye to eye. They will always fight. So. Right. Why are we encouraging this? Why are we why is the US trying to start World War Three by, you know, funding both sides?
Stuart Turley [00:09:19] There’s a real history behind the Abrams accords that actually started Tom the saying, hey, wait a minute, we might see some headway, but there are some other back players behind it that said, no, not today. So, you know, war.
Tom Kirkman [00:09:37] Is very profitable so that the war machine in the United States, after, you know, the whole conflict in Israel-Palestine started up, their stocks are soaring. So war is very profitable for the companies that manufacture the instruments of death. So it’s like, I’m sorry, guys, I’m I’m so upset and disappointed with the current U.S. government. Both sides, Republicans and Democrats, they both suck. It’s a uni party. It’s two wings of the same bird. Both sides are corrupt with very, very, very few exceptions.
Stuart Turley [00:10:07] I know. We’re off topic. I want your opinion on this, though, Tom. I will swing back to energy. Yep. But the January 6th got me worked up when our new How new speaker released January 6th. It’s not anywhere on the mainstream media. We saw that it was a set up and it it also if you thought Matt Gates was a horrible person for what he did at all and now it’s coming to light that our old speaker was actually a horse’s ass and and because this should have been released and we have innocent people in jail, I know the amount of feds that were there are just now coming to light and it’s not in the mainstream media. This is despicable.
Tom Kirkman [00:10:59] I was aware of this years ago. I have been following this and anonymous forums and I’ve been I’ve been in anonymous forums since the turn of the century before the turn of the century. So I’m very familiar with basically uncensored anonymous forums. And you can probably guess what they are. For example, for Jan, you know, it’s like it it it’s stupid stuff. But you know, some of the smartest people I know are on forums like that that, you know, there’s a lot of junk out there, but there’s some real gems in there and it’s like people just refused. You will get savagely thrown apart for lying or, you know, posting stuff that is completely wrong and they will just dig in like, you know, like a dog chomping on a pork chop. It’s like they’re just not going to let go. So I know about this. It’s never going to get resolved. I can’t fix this. I don’t see it ever being resolved. I don’t believe that the proper people will ever be held accountable. Mm hmm. That’s just the way the politics work. Because don’t look at the Republicans to fix this because they’re just as corrupt as the Democrats in a different way. The Republican Party basically wants fundraising and money. The Democrats basically want power and control less, less, less about the money. But it’s about the power and control and laws and restrictions and censorship. And the Republicans use everything to do fundraising. They want to get rich. So both the Democrats and Republicans are private parties. There’s no nothing in the Constitution that says these political parties need to even exist. Why can only Democrats or Republicans hold office their private political for profit, for power and control parties? That’s the way it is around most of the world. So, for example, let me compare this with Singapore and the People’s Action Party. The ruling power in Singapore is basically a dictatorship. But you know what? Mostly it’s a benevolent dictatorship for the most part. As long as you toe the line, you won’t get in trouble. But it’s really, really strict. You can’t, you know, throw a cigaret butt on the ground. You can’t have chewing gum. There’s all sorts of these rules. But you know what? It’s safe. It’s quiet. It the government is looking out for most most of the best interests of the people, while of course, the people in power get rich. But that’s that’s what politics is for. Politics is all about power, money and control. Power first, money and control.
Stuart Turley [00:13:27] But at least the people are safe and they’re being taken care of. Yes. Is that a fair statement?
Tom Kirkman [00:13:32] Yes. So that’s why I said I’m trying to compare this with what’s going on right now. Biden was installed. The elections were a joke. That’s my opinion. And I have strong opinions about this. But Biden was installed to continue what Obama was doing and Obama was installed to destroy the United States. I mean I mean literally destroy the United States. So this is this is Obama’s third term. Biden is just a useless puppet. And he was installed to make deliberate destruction look like stupidity and incompetence. It is an act. He is there to destroy the United States. Why do you think the southern border is open and all these military men keep coming over? It’s primarily military age men. You look you look at the hordes of people that are coming in, the millions and millions of people that are flooding through the borders. You don’t see the women and children mostly. You see hordes and hordes of military age men coming in who are mostly hostile to the US. They want a free handout. And I’m just wondering what is going to happen. So I hold my breath. I don’t know if there’s actually going to be elections in the U.S. in 2024. I believe there will be a false flag event. I don’t know what it will be. I don’t know. Can’t predict. But everything is pointing to the elections are not going to be allowed to proceed. That’s what I see. I’m I have I have.
Stuart Turley [00:14:52] Conspiracies about Trump.
Tom Kirkman [00:14:53] He had his chance. And I’m very disappointed in in what happened. And we’ll see. So back to energy, because people are going to get really pissed off when they hear, you know, we’re going into politics, things like, okay, I have strong feelings about it, but you know what? Energy is mixed in with politics. And right now, the Inflation Reduction Act slash Green New Deal. It is a political construct designed to destroy the energy supply in the United States. It is a deliberate destruction of reliable energy in the United States, and it benefits China. China has clearly compromised Biden and the Biden family.
Stuart Turley [00:15:29] We think this.
Tom Kirkman [00:15:30] They’re doing with the Inflation Reduction Act.
Stuart Turley [00:15:33] With China and this past week. They were looking away.
Tom Kirkman [00:15:38] Yes, I know. Again, Biden is compromised and the puppet masters behind Biden are compromised. This is not accidental. It is the deliberate destruction of America made to look like incompetence and stupidity.
Stuart Turley [00:15:52] Wow. That’s my.
Tom Kirkman [00:15:54] View. And I’m not going to back off on this. I don’t care how many people get upset. This is my view. This is what I see.
Stuart Turley [00:16:00] This is validated. I never thought that I would see the Biden administration force one of our military men to hold a China flag. That is not a pet. That makes me so disappointed and angry. It’s disgusting. I’m sorry.
Tom Kirkman [00:16:23] You saw the. Pictures of the parades in San Francisco or whatever it was. All you see is hordes and hordes of China flags. Not a single American flag. I did not see a single one. All I saw was Chinese flags held by Americans.
Tom Kirkman [00:16:36] This.
Stuart Turley [00:16:38] Is why I so enjoy our conversations. But both of us get all worked up and lathered on our podcast listeners both. I’ve got foam rolling all over like a like a rabid dog. This is disgusting.
Tom Kirkman [00:16:51] It is. And this is why when I write posts, I most people know I don’t know what I’m going to write. Just just like when I’m talking here, I have no idea what’s going to come out of my mouth. So when I type. Back. In because of my dyslexia, I can only type one finger at a time. That’s just the way it goes. I wish I could type with even two fingers, but I can’t. I can only type with one finger. So I just start typing and whatever comes out comes out and then it hits. And sometimes I have to go back because I don’t. I get so impatient sometimes I don’t check to see if I’ve got typos, but I generally don’t. Generally don’t go back and edit the content of my post. Maybe I’ll fix up a typo or I made a punctuation mistake because I didn’t bother to check it before I hit send. I just send. More error. And then even my my shit posting, it’s like. I view my posting as just as valid as my serious posts about international oil and gas because I’ve written literally more than 25, probably close to 30,000 comments about international oil and gas in the last ten years or so. I started off on Oil Pro and I had 8000 comments there before it got closed down. And I still know a lot of people from Oil Pro, the oil pro crowd that got shut down and I don’t want over to Oil price forum and I had 8000 posts and comments there as well so that’s 16,000. I’ve been on LinkedIn for. Probably a decade, and I’ve got way more than 10,000 posts on LinkedIn in the last ten years. I normally write something every day, so I know my way around international oil and gas and all the politics that goes with it, and I have really strong feelings about it and I love writing about it. At my age, it’s like I write to keep my mind active and I just write what what I want. And I also have fun poking the censors on LinkedIn. But you know what? I had practice in Asia where you can get a knock on your door from the police if they if you write something the government doesn’t like, it’s a very real risk. Even if you’re an expatriate, it’s like, Hey, guys, calm down. So it’s a fun game. And I chose LinkedIn rather than Twitter. Twitter is one short form and two, that for me, LinkedIn is the censorship is a challenge. Can I get these ideas across without getting censored? So I have to do wordplay and lewd and do the, you know, the verbal dance. And sometimes I’ll come out and say stuff and sometimes I’ll drop the Earthbound bomb and, you know, it’s like, okay, let me go back and edit that out a little bit. So, you know, because people say you shouldn’t be swearing on LinkedIn, so why should you in real life? So this is the way I am, but I’m trying to get these ideas out to people and more and more I keep thinking I like these ideas that nobody’s going to agree with. And I sometimes I’d go on a rant and it’s like, I’m just surprised at how much support I get from so many people. It’s like, You’re right, Tom. People are waking up. People are not paying attention to CNN and MSNBC and the the Biden administration and or Congress. It even even Congress is not listening to Ferc. So Ferc told back in May, they testified, formally testified to Congress that the U.S. electrical grid is so overloaded and so strained that all it’s going to take is intense demand and there will be energy shortages, which is a nice, polite way of saying repeated rolling power blackouts. So we’re going back to that again. If we have a cold winter this year, this will call a stop to this insane inflation reduction act, which is just socialism pushed, you know, to to push electric vehicles, which are a control mechanism rather than industrial, you know, internal combustion cars, the limited range EVs, you know, cold weather, it all all shuts down lack of charging stations and it’s going to hamstring people. So and then replacing reliable natural gas, coal and nuclear with wind and solar is a recipe for disaster. And it’s only a matter of time before it collapses in a heap. And I would rather have that happen sooner rather than later. If we wait and it doesn’t happen until five years from now, it’s going to be so far down the road, there’s going to be so many closed down. Natural gas and coal and nuclear is getting this started up again with all the regulations. It’s just impossible. So China benefits from this. They’re they’re basically supplying 80% of the supply chain of all this crap for wind and solar and EVs and batteries and all this other stuff. So China is getting rich while the U.S. is. Committing energy suicide. So is the European Union. And I’ve really strong feelings about this. This is not accidental. These leaders are compromised. They have been bought out. And we’re going to you know, you want to go down, bought out. So Epstein Epstein was most likely a mossad up and the of the so many politicians and so many rich people are compromised by being caught on tape. And this goes back to the days of, you know, Playboy. Hugh Hefner was at CIA and so many politicians got compromised on tape. So Epstein is just a more. Involved app designed to compromise politicians. So once the politicians are bought, they have to do whatever they’re being told. So that’s just my opinion. I can’t prove it. But it’s like you look at the evidence and it’s like, this is just so obvious. Why is the Epstein, you know, flight like never really been released? You know, you can see pictures of Epstein next to Kamala Harris. I have it. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen some of the stuff that was on Hunter’s lapsed laptop. And I’m not going to get into it. And I can’t even discuss what I’ve seen, but it’s just horrific. Some people have seen it and I refused to download it to my my computer or anything just because it is so blatantly illegal. But I’ve seen it. So Biden is so compromised. It’s insane. Not just Hunter, but I’m talking our quote unquote President Biden right now. He is so compromised. He has He is selling out and has already sold out the United States to China. In my viewpoint, I can’t prove it. But the logic, the signs are all there. All this crap that they’re doing, opening the southern borders, letting floods of people in, trying to reduce guns so that people can’t defend themselves. The Inflation Reduction Act eaves compromising our power supply. The United States has hundreds of years worth of natural gas. Why are they shutting it all down and trying to replace it with electricity, which is fleeting and transitory, and making all these batteries and all that stuff? And I’m not a fan of Elon Musk either. I believe he has control opposition. I like what he’s done with Twitter. But that’s if you listen to the other stuff that he’s doing, he is not a nice person. I’m sorry. He’s a very, very smart person. But he is gaming the system and he exists solely because of subsidies. You take subsidies away. Elon Musk fails all of us. All of his companies that he’s doing fails without all the subsidies.
Stuart Turley [00:23:55] In the CEO of Twitter, a ex-director of the World Economic Forum.
Tom Kirkman [00:24:02] I’m not sure they have. Well, I know Trudeau is. He was in the Young Leaders Forum that Ursula von Doom. I can’t remember the last name in the EU, Ursula von.
Stuart Turley [00:24:12] Something or other doom.
Tom Kirkman [00:24:14] And that’s what I call that. I can’t remember the last.
Tom Kirkman [00:24:16] Name, but it’s true. She’s evil. She she’s a true sociopath. Trudeau is a sociopath. Gavin Newsom in California is a sociopath. He’s got this wonderful, evil grin. It’s just it’s just this is the mark of a sociopath who’s also a narcissist and is so happy with himself. And he just thoroughly enjoys destroying the lives of other people with a smile on his face. Trudeau’s exactly the same way. He has successfully destroyed Canada. Biden was installed to destroy the United States and is doing a bang up job. And I’m not going to apologize for my views here. If you can prove me wrong, go ahead. Please tell me, what are the wonderful things that Trudeau has done? What are the wonderful things that Biden has done? The economy is in a mess regardless of what was the pilot. You know, whatever the politicians and newspapers say. I’m sorry. Inflation is out of control when people go grocery shopping that they can’t afford groceries, the inflation just printing money out of thin air that that Fiat money is they’ve ruined the dollar. They’re in the process of removing the petrodollar because all these using the dollar is a blunt weapon of mass destruction against countries that the United States does not agree with. It’s been abused so much against Iran, Venezuela, Russia. Not that I’m saying. Their governments are good. They’re bad. They’re horribly corrupt governments. I’m not about that. I’ve been all over the world. People are nice. Governments suck, mostly. I have a respect for a few Scandinavian governments. That’s it. They generally can do good things. But that. That’s a tiny minority. Most governments around the world suck, but most people around the world don’t. You talk to people, and if you’re not a dick to people when you’re visiting their country, they’re nice, they’re friendly, they’ll get along with you. It’s like, Hi, how are you doing? As long as you make the effort of being nice and smile, they’ll be nice and smile back. Mostly I’m like, Well, New York, that’s a different story. But I lived ten years in New York, so I can be a gruff New Yorker, too. But using the dollar as a weapon has been so abused and it has horrified when the U.S. seized all those U.S. dollars from Russia illegally seized their bank accounts. Other countries around the world were horrified. It’s like, you know, if I get on the wrong side of the U.S., they can do the same thing to us. So this is why you see the massive expansion of BRICs. So there’s 19 I think it’s 19 other countries that want have formally applied or expressed. They want to join BRICs. So Saudi Arabia is a key one. If Saudi Arabia, you know, formally joins BRICs along with being an OPEC and the there’s going to be a convergence between OPEC plus countries and the BRICs plus countries. And what’s going to happen is the U.S. dollar and the petrodollar will lose clout. It won’t happen overnight. I’m not saying the U.S. is going to be bankrupt while the U.S. is already bankrupt. They just keep printing money, too, out of thin air. But the pushback, if you remember the Non-Alignment organizations decades ago, U.S. did not want to get it. Many countries did not wanted to get involved in the Cold War between Russia and the United States. So there was a non-alignment movement of we’re not going to side with either. We’re going to remain neutral. So you had India, you had all these countries around the world that just don’t want to get involved in this fight. So now you see the U.S. is funding these these battles in Ukraine and now Israel. Palestine mess. I mean, the U.S. is funding both sides. It’s like this is a literal war machine. More and more, I view bricks plus as a sort of a political non alignment pushback of countries that are horrified about how the U.S. petrodollar has been weaponized and they want to come up with something else. I don’t know what they’re going to come up with. I don’t know. But what’s going to happen is the use of the U.S. dollar for buying oil is going to diminish and the key driver is going to be Saudi Arabia. So Saudi Arabia is pretty pissed off at Biden.
Stuart Turley [00:28:26] And yes, not once. Let me throw this in just real quick. In the last year, the EU is trying to put in more sanctions to get out of the Ursula again, they’re trying to sanction now Russian uranium. Russia and India have successfully been trading above the sanctions for the sanctions and India’s buying everything they can. Russia has been successful on avoiding those. They’ve had a great fiscal year on that. So I think that your point being on BRICs is right through the goalposts you’re on. But I think in in getting to the next one, people are starting to use either the woman or the ruble or the Indian. They’re starting to use Caribbean Sea between each other and that’s what Brexit support. And there the Chinese and BRICs, BRICs Plus is also setting up the Swift counterpart. So you have the Dart fleet, you have the swift counterpart, and it’s already moving. And then I just interviewed George McMillan. You will love this interview. And he came in with a validation of just about everything you hit. My my two hour interview with him is being released this week. And everything that you have said is now validated with this guy. I mean, in a different way. I know. I don’t think you know him and I can’t wait because I would love to have a conversation with you and George together on the same thing. This would be a hoot. So I hate to interrupt on you on there, but your validation point is in about 16 different ways with this all these threads that I’m watching. So anyway, I’m sorry for interrupting.
Tom Kirkman [00:30:31] No, it’s fine. And the thing is, I made this I posted this publicly repeatedly, so I know my brain is wired differently from other people. I view things differently from other people due to my dyslexia. And I’ve got that autism is a spectrum. I’m on the very low end, but I have very obvious autistic tendencies. So and I’m also ambidextrous. I was born left handed and forced to become right handed and I had some things I do left handed, right handed. My brain is just all screwed up. So I know that I view things differently and I view all these as assets for a long time. I view them as liabilities. It’s like, No, there’s nothing wrong with me. I just view things differently, my brain, things differently from other people. So all the stuff I’ve just rattled off the top of my head right now, these are just my observations. Doesn’t mean I’m right. But I’m open to you. If you think I’m wrong, then tell me how I’m wrong. Please tell me how I’m wrong. So my, my. I told you this before my tagline when I was a moderator. I’m with the two oil and gas forums was just my opinion. As always, you are free to disagree. I’m not telling people what to think, although it may come off that way. I’m just spouting off. This is the way I see things. You are free to argue. You are free to counter me. We can get into arguments, but I usually don’t go too far down the road with people who I’m very much pro oil and gas and I don’t see currently I don’t see anything replacing oil and gas. And so anyone who says, Oh yes, wind installer will replace oil and gas, and it’s like, you know, I’m not going to talk to you. So I just block people. It’s like, I’m not going to talk to a brick wall. If you honestly believe the world is ending due to climate change and CO2 and that you can save the world by, you know, shutting down oil and gas and nuclear and switching everything to wind and solar. I’m sorry. You’re a moron. I’m sorry. I’m just. If you honestly believe this, you can have that opinion. But I’m not going to waste my time talking to you, because clearly, we’re never going to see eye to eye. And I post constantly. Look, if you don’t like what I’m saying, please block me. You know, I don’t want to upset you. I don’t need your audience. I’m writing mostly for me, for my own amusement. That’s why I write. I write for my own amusement to keep my my brain occupied. And I love seeing the comments. Whether it’s about international oil and gas. But I really have a hoot when I’m doing a shit posting. So like I just post stupid stuff and then people play the game and it’s like it’s just a game of who can post the stupidest stuff in the comments. So it’s like they come up with comments like and I just go with it. It’s like, okay. And I do it, I guess.
Stuart Turley [00:33:05] And it’s like, I got busted the other day. I was rolling on the floor reading your trail, you know, what was going on in there. And I just was rolling. And everybody’s looking at me like, What are you doing? I’m like, I’m watching shit posting.
Tom Kirkman [00:33:23] People need to laugh. There’s so much crap in the world.
Tom Kirkman [00:33:26] Let’s just have silly stuff. You’re not allowed to laugh anymore. Oh, everything is the sacred and oh, you must be serious about everything. And oh, you must take a side and oh, fight, fight. Yeah, I get tired of that after a while. So laughing is essential. It’s good for health. It relieves stress. So my view is shit posting is just as essential as my serious posts about oil and gas and climate and energy and governments. And I. I freely invite people to block me. You don’t like what I’m saying? I upset you. Well, it’s better if you just block me because I’m not going to stop talking.
Stuart Turley [00:34:01] You know, I’m just.
Tom Kirkman [00:34:02] Now I’m not going to stop writing.
Stuart Turley [00:34:04] I think this is our third podcast that we.
Stuart Turley [00:34:06] I think.
Stuart Turley [00:34:07] Fourth. Yeah. I’ll tell you, I got to get my Tom Fix a little more often so and my the folks that have been hopping on the podcast thoroughly enjoy you. I have gotten great feedback on your episodes. So you are a selfishly a treasured guest in our show. And I’m going to start teasing your episodes as I have the Pope of climate on and, you know, the pope, the climate. When are you going to go hang out in the Vatican with that evil son of a gun?
Tom Kirkman [00:34:48] Oh. The anti-pope. Ooh, that’s right. Evil, nasty person. I don’t know what happened.
Tom Kirkman [00:34:53] I don’t I’m not going to to the Catholic Church. But this guy is just like, what are you doing? You are eating meat. Wow. So the pope is now commenting on climate. That’s. I don’t get it. That’s it.
Stuart Turley [00:35:06] I don’t get it. I the cat I have. I love religion. I don’t care what religion it is. I love studying religion.
Tom Kirkman [00:35:14] I was at church this morning. I had a great sermon. So I people watching. It’s like, really? Yeah. Even with my cursing and swearing. But, you know, most people don’t know this. I was raised most of my schooling was private religious schooling, and I was going to be either a Christian day school teacher or minister. And I got kicked out of my senior.
Stuart Turley [00:35:33] Year come and.
Tom Kirkman [00:35:34] I got kicked out. Of after my second year in university, the religious university, for questioning the professors on doctrines. And I would say, where, where, where’s this doctrine in the Bible? I did that, if you think about it. So I would have made probably a terrible minister or terrible Christian teacher because I expect people. My view is God gave me a brain and I expect he wants me to use it. So I tell people and I’ve actually done some teaching before. I did teaching for a year, teaching English as a second language when I was in Malaysia and I taught Iranian students and I taught South Korean students. The South Koreans were grade school in high school, in the Iranians were adults because Iranians can go to Malaysia without a visa for six months. So and I would teach them and I would teach the South Korean students that. Question Everyone. Question Everything. Question Your parents. Question Your teachers question me. Question all authority and realize South Korea is almost as rigid as Japan. Japan is probably the most cohesive, rigid country in the world. Maybe North Korea is more so, but it’s very same race, same culture. You’re not allowed to, you know, respect to authority. You don’t question your elders, all this other stuff. So I’m telling these students. Question everyone, question everything. If it seems wrong, it probably is. If it sounds stupid, it probably is. And you know what? Just keep digging. So find what interests you and pursue it no matter what it tells you. And if people tell you to start questioning question more, why are that? Why are they asking you to stop questioning? That’s what science is. It’s finding its curiosity. And I would get parents of students coming up to me and it’s like, you know, I get worried a second. You said these parents are going to get really pissed off and throwing these ideas of using your brain to think and asking questions and exploring and being curious and, you know, refusing to back down. If you find something interesting, the parents are like, I don’t know what you’ve done to my son or daughter, but it’s fabulous because this is the first time in their life these kids are being told question, ask questions and just refuse. If it sounds stupid, if it sounds silly, if it sounds ignorant, it probably is. They’re just keep asking questions. And the more you get taught to stop asking questions just like this, climate change, why am I not allowed to ask questions? If this is subtle science, why are we not allowed to question the science? That’s the exact opposite of science. So there’s climate change bullshit you’re not allowed to question. Oh, it’s settled that the climate is changing. No, it’s not. You morons. You are the epitome of Chicken Littles. You were just running around thinking that the acorn on your head is the sky literally falling on you. And it’s like, I’m sorry, the world is not ending. What might end is World War three and a nuclear war. And that is very, very scary to me. But I can’t stop that. But you know what? This climate change, panic hysteria bullshit, it has to stop. And probably the only way it’s going to stop is. Multiple repeated rolling power blackouts in first world countries in the Western world because they have totally screwed their electric grid. So. It is our. Not going to happen. There’s not enough charging stations. The electric grid simply cannot be improved enough. David Blackman and Irina Slav have gone off on this, you know, in all the details and much better than I can, but it simply can’t happen. So you want to talk about, okay, so you’ve got a new solar power farm or a new wind turbine farm. So you’ve got to build a new substation to hook this into the grid. So, okay, let’s look at the lead times for the materials. Circuit breakers. Industrial circuit breakers have lead times of two years to 4.5 years. Circuit breakers. You can’t. You know that. Okay, so electrical transformers. 2 to 4 years. And the lead times keep pushing up because what’s happening is there’s a certain capacity to manufacture these industrial goods, and the demand has quadrupled, or even more so in the space of the last couple of years. They can’t manufacture more of these. You can’t build a new factory to make more of these because it’s years to build these factories. So the demand has gone up, so the prices have skyrocketed. The lead times have gone out because let’s say you could manufacture a thousand electrical transformers in a year and you’ve got a thousand customers that want. It’s cool. What happens when you’ve got 10,000 customers that want 1000 of these? This is what we’re seeing in wind and solar. And you’ve got these small little startup companies that think they’re going to get massively wealthy and rich. All they’ve got to do is make a new solar power farm or wind wind farm either onshore or offshore or an offshore offshore wind is probably the most expensive way in the world to burn electricity, as somebody pointed out. Well, actually, you can make a more expensive way if you just make it an oven and burn dollar bills to create the steam to to, you know, generate the turbines to make the turbines win. But wind offshore wind is incredibly expensive. They’ve got 30 to 50% subsidies and they’re still failing. So this is the only reason offshore wind exists in any shape or form is due to massive government subsidies and they’re still going bankrupt. And they are not held to the same environmental standards as offshore oil and gas. I know this. They don’t have to do the same environmental impact. I can prove that because what’s happening with all these whales washing up dead.
Stuart Turley [00:41:09] Yeah. David.
Tom Kirkman [00:41:10] That was oil and gas. If if, if offshore oil. Platforms were causing dead whales, just imagine the screaming that would be going on. Oh, but no wind. We’re green. No, you’re not. You’re just greedy. Subsidy rent seekers that want all this money from the government and you don’t give a toss about being green or reliable or anything. I can say this because I was a project manager to install a solar power farm in an upper peninsula in Michigan about three years ago. For year I lose track. So we installed 20,000 solar panels and the only thing driving this was we had to get it done before the end of the year because the tax subsidies from the government, I believe it started about 20% tax subsidies. And then every year that that subsidy would be reduced by 2%. So if you’ve got $100 million solar power farm. And you’re getting 20% tax rebate. That’s a chunk of money. And they freak out because the turnover date where it gets reduced 2% every year. If you reduce this and you miss that date, you’re losing. How much money. And if it’s in two years, which is what’s happening right now, these these offshore wind farms and a lot of these massive solar power farms, they’re slipping not just one year, but two years. And all this money that I thought won, they’re not getting the revenue that they thought would be rolling in for the next 20, 30 years. And their shareholders are getting pissed, but they’re also losing out incrementally every year. And the amount of subsidies being thrown out by the government. So this inflation reduction Act is simply a giveaway to the companies which which is making China rich and making, you know, us poor. It’s like, why would you want to buy? Why would you want to buy an E? I don’t get it. They’re more expensive. They’re unreliable. They’ve got limited range. There’s not enough charging stations. What happens when you run out of power and you can’t get out of the car because the door won’t open? The windows don’t roll down as No, thank you. Don’t want it. So all of these cottage industries that are here for rent seeking and I’m very blatant about this these are rent seeking companies. They are not concerned about the environment. They’re not concerned about green. They’re all concerned about getting subsidies and then having money roll in for the next 20 or 30 years. It is not environmentally friendly. It is not. Solar power panels are toxic. The wind turbine blades are toxic. The it’s killing wildlife both onshore and offshore. So.
Tom Kirkman [00:43:44] You know, sand dunes, lots of bad vibrations.
Stuart Turley [00:43:47] It’s sad. There’s two things. It’s sad. I’m sorry I’m getting worked up to. You’re not the only one that deserves to be worked up. There’s a second order of magnitude that I saw. I think it was up and it wasn’t Pennsylvania, but it was one of them where they said they’re having a mosquito outbreak because all the wind farms are killing the bats. And I’m like, Oh geez, I didn’t see that one coming.
Tom Kirkman [00:44:10] Do you know how the bats are being killed? It’s not that they run into the blades. They don’t.
Stuart Turley [00:44:16] How do they get killed?
Tom Kirkman [00:44:17] The same thing with a lot of the birds. And the thing is, it’s not just birds. It’s that. It’s the type of birds. It’s the raptors, the Eagles that, you know, the important birds, not sparrows.
Stuart Turley [00:44:29] They got a bounty on sparrows or pigeons to kill them.
Tom Kirkman [00:44:32] So here’s what happens when these giant wind turbines are spinning, right? It creates a vacuum. Behind them, just like, okay. And then if a bat or bird flies through them, their lungs explode because they’ve got a sudden change, a massive change in air pressure. And what happens is that their lungs explode to the massive short, abrupt change in air pressure in the wake behind the wind turbines. Google it. Prove me wrong. Go ahead. I dare you. It’s not like the stupid birds are running smack into a blade. That’s not what’s happening. It is.
Tom Kirkman [00:45:14] That. It is the physics involved. In a massive drop in air pressure and the lungs of the bats and the birds can’t handle it and the lungs explode. That’s not a very nice way to die. That must be horribly excruciating. And their lungs exploded and they fall out of the air. It’s not like people portray, Oh, the stupid bird ran into this rotating, huge, giant thing. It’s like, how can they not see that? No, that is not what’s happening. This is why so many bats are dying. Their lungs explode. So I did. Bats. Bats and raptors are the ones that that fly up there high. It’s just horrible. And whales, they get thrown off by one when they’re when they’re doing the, you know, subsidy explorations and sonar and all these explosions. It throws off their internal, you know, sound systems.
Stuart Turley [00:46:08] Yeah. David Wagman and Megan Lab did a great job on that. Yeah, I had her on. I read it as well. And but David’s notched it up with her on on the right whales and everything else. We I love resources like David Blackmon and Megan Lappe. Sorry, I didn’t mean to throw that in, but.
Tom Kirkman [00:46:26] David’s a smart cookie. I don’t really know Megan, but I’ve been reading David I’m a page. I’m a page to describe it to. David Blackmon and Arina have been for a while, a rainy day. Grace I can do with her and I support their work. It’s like, yes, there’s what They’re one of the few people who I will shell out of my pocket book to support these guys because they’re doing important work. I don’t have a well, actually I do have a substack, but I don’t write there. I like the challenge of writing and LinkedIn, which has sensors. I wouldn’t be the same writing on Substack because it’s like.I’m on LinkedIn, I have to. Dance to the sensors and it’s like it’s a challenge to come up with something that people will hopefully find interesting and not get too pissed off about it. And it’s like in these podcasts, it’s like, Yes, I can use naughty words because that’s the way I’m in real life. It’s like, I’m sorry, this is the way I talk. So anyway. These these. Wind farms both onshore and offshore, are causing massive wildlife losses and they’re not held to the same environmental and HSC type of accountability that that. When oil. And gas and nuclear. Are. Clearly. So, again, just if if offshore oil and gas platforms were causing hundreds of whales to die, there would be a massive outrage. Why is offshore wind allowed to get away with it? Because they’re. Protected class.
Stuart Turley [00:47:54] I you we have we got about ten more minutes here. Okay. Yep. Time flies with you. I feel like we just sat down and I really appreciate you, your humor, your leadership, your knowledge. I don’t mean to be too nice to you because I want you to come back. I want to. You know, I know that you thrive on that. And I love your title. The Pope Edge of of Climate.
Tom Kirkman [00:48:24] Clearly, I’m not job hunting. I’m doing the exact opposite. I’m comfortable where I am. And it’s like, you know what? So many people have stupid, boring job titles on LinkedIn. And it’s like, Yeah. I don’t want to do that.
Stuart Turley [00:48:35] Now I’ve got to be somewhat politically correct. In fact, my partner, Michael Tanner, who I dearly love, just gets really irritated when he sees me comment on some of your stuff and he’s like, Quit it. I love. Tom. But you’ve got to be a little more corporate. And I’m like, Well, I hate it. He’s my conscience.
Tom Kirkman [00:48:57] But I clearly don’t have one because I’m a horrible, evil, nasty person who questions the settled science. It’s like, Holy crap. This is a horrible excommunication device. It’s like, how dare you question the science? Well, that’s what science is, you morons. This is what science is asking questions. And just don’t stop asking questions. And there is no such thing as settled science. It’s an oxymoron. And it’s only when morons believe there is such a thing as settled science. I’m sorry. I can say that because it’s true. Go ahead. Buy me Rob. Anyway, back to yoYou you were going to say something probably important. And I got you.
Stuart Turley [00:49:33] I I’m old. I did a squirrel. You and I have many of the same attributes, everything from attention span to being in pedestrians. I played many of my sports right handed, but I am left handed. I am not truly 100%, but I’m close so I don’t have the same. I have the multi-threading problems that have been going on my entire life. And I think that’s why we see things. It’s like why my news site is doing so well is because you have to look at multiple threads. Second order of. Impact and of the way things are going. So you can’t just say climate change and here’s the basics. You got to look at why things are going. And that’s one of the reasons that people need to follow you on LinkedIn is because your step is you got don’t look at all phases of everything because it’s all related and it’s really scary. Like the Bushes, the Bushes and the Obamas dad have relations. And I’m sitting there, I’m I’m like, Holy smokes, This is frightening.
Tom Kirkman [00:50:58] The Bushes were evil. I’m sorry. I’m unreserved in this, so I’m not going to get into the details. That’s going to get people upset. And so you can do your research. It’s like. That. I was disappointed to find out. Let me let me just pissed off a whole bunch of people right here, right now. So. Putin. I respect the guy. Yes. Not that he’s a nice guy. I’m not saying that he’s an evil bastard. I get it. But you know what he is doing? What a president of a country is supposed to do, which is looking out after the interests of most of the people in his country. He has a huge popularity in the United States or in his country and United States, Russia. He has people like him because he is. Are you trying to do. The NATO’s push this whole war in Ukraine. Naito kept breaking their promises repeatedly. They crossed a red line that Putin repeatedly stated Don’t keep expanding naito right on my back door and put missiles right next to my border. So he does. He’s doing the same thing. It’s like what would happen if Russia put a whole bunch of missiles in Mexico right on the southern border? How would the United States react? Well, that’s exactly what happened in Russia. So I’m not saying Russia is right. But you know what? Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, definitely the most corrupt country in in in the area of Europe. It’s just a money laundering thing. And. So I interviewed the former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad. And you know what? I think he’s probably the most intelligent man I’ve ever spoken to in my life. He is My view is he was essentially a benevolent dictator. Yes, he made himself filthy rich. But you know what? He dragged the country of Malaysia up from a third world swampland, put it on the map, set up the national oil company made the Twin Towers, which at that time were the tallest in the world and made something of the country. Yes, he enriched himself, but that’s what all politicians everywhere in the world do. They enrich themselves and their family power, money, control. There’s no escaping this. But he genuinely wanted to improve the life of so many of his citizens. And that is what a president or a benevolent dictator should do. This guy is sharp as a tack, and I interviewed him like, I don’t know, five years ago, one on one in his in his own private office when he was retired. Very, very smart guy. And I respect him. Not that I agree with his points of view, but he is doing what a president of a country is supposed to do, which is looking out for the interest of the citizens in that country. Biden is doing the exact opposite. He is doing everything possible to destroy the United States. He is not looking out for the best interests of the citizens, the United States. He is letting in millions and millions of illegal, hostile foreign military every age. This is this is not going to end well. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But as it’s being set up, he’s destroyed the economy. He’s sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to countries that we should not be funding. It is he’s creating inflation, massive inflation. He’s destroying the petrodollar, is pissing off countries all over the world. This is not what the president of a country is supposed to be doing. And I don’t care who he is. This is not what a president is supposed to do. He is actively, knowingly destroying the country. And I keep repeating this is not accidental or stupid or incompetent. This is deliberate. He’s just a puppet. The people here pulling his strings have been bought up by China and by the World Economic Forum, and they’re here to destroy the US. And you know what? They’re doing a bang up job. The US is a terrible country shape right now in 2024. I’ve stated this repeatedly. I believe the United States in 2024 is it’s going to be one of the worst years ever in the entire history of the United States.
Stuart Turley [00:55:05] I hope we don’t know what’s going to happen.
Tom Kirkman [00:55:07] But it’s not going to be nice. Now, guess what? So I hope you guys are ready. I know I am. I I’ve been preparing for years. My sister laughs. Oh, you’re a prepper yet? Well, yes, there’s a reason for it. I see what’s coming. I don’t know what horrible thing is going to happen, but I know I’ve discussed what I wrote about Covid, you know, in January before it hit the U.S. It’s like, look, guys, here’s what I see coming. And people just laugh and joke. It’s like, you’re a moron. Okay? You can call me a moron all you want, but here’s what I see. And you know what? I wish I was wrong. But most of the times I’m usually not.
Stuart Turley [00:55:42] So it scares and sounds.
Tom Kirkman [00:55:43] Arrogant and stupid, but. When I’m talking about energy and all the politics that goes with it, it’s like, I’m sorry. You are free to argue and disagree, but prove me wrong. Come up with a different way of looking at it.
Stuart Turley [00:55:57] So I got to go work out because this conversation got me all worked up and I got to get my mind back into a good place. I did get some good church and end the. But for our podcast listeners, this was Tom Kirkman. Follow him on LinkedIn. He’s the climate Pope. And now for our podcast listeners on YouTube, he’s got what I recognized as a part of an oak or a for a plow, a horse or mule. Oh yeah, right. Hanging on his wall over his left shoulder.
Tom Kirkman [00:56:36] I’m on a farm. This was actually used on the farm.
Stuart Turley [00:56:39] I have several in my blacksmith shop for my granddad on our farm and everything else. And I’m rebuilding my blacksmith shop for the very same reason of everything that we’ve talked about. So anyway, with that, thank you so much, Tom, for stopping by the podcast.
Tom Kirkman [00:57:03] It’s been a pleasure and a laugh and a hoot talking with you as usual. So Stuart, you are one of the few people that really understands how my brain works because we seem to have similar similarly differently wired brains. What can I we add?
Stuart Turley [00:57:18] I think we were twins at birth that we’re separated. I’m not going to say Siamese, but we were like.
Tom Kirkman [00:57:26] I think I got dropped on my head a couple of times when I was a baby, so that might have something.
Stuart Turley [00:57:30] I fell in the well, got kicked by a mule. My eyes got straight. That was a never mind. Okay. Thanks, man,
