NY Times: Hey, It Was Just A Verbal Slip When He Misidentified “President Of Mexico”

By William Teach February 10, 2024 – 10:30 am

The politics section of the NY Times looks a lot like the opinion section (free at Yahoo)

Eight Words and a Verbal Slip Put Biden’s Age Back at the Center of 2024

When President Joe Biden appeared at a last-minute news conference Thursday night, he hoped to assure the country of his mental acuity hours after a special counsel’s report had devastatingly referred to him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Instead, a visibly angry Biden made the exact type of verbal flub that has kept Democrats so nervous for months, mistakenly referring to the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, as the “president of Mexico” as he tried to address the latest developments in the war in the Gaza Strip.

The special counsel’s report and the president’s evening performance placed Biden’s advanced age, the singularly uncomfortable subject looming over his reelection bid, back at the center of America’s political conversation.

Why would Democrats be nervous for months if they are just verbal slips? Everyone does that, right? It’s not like he just said he met with Francois Mitterand, who’s been dead for 25 years, instead of Emanuel Macron just a few days beforehand. Or forgot the name of Hamas. Has to use smaller stairs for Air Force One. Or that President Putin was “clearly losing the war in Iraq”. Or when he ended a speech on gun grabbing with “God save the Queen, man.” Calling the UK Prime Minister “Mr. President.” Referring to Trump as still president, calling Kamala president multiple times. You can add tons and tons of gaffs, along with incidents that make him look frail, just from his time as president.

Yet, the Times calls this a verbal slip

The 81-year-old president — already the oldest in the nation’s history — has for years fought the perception that he is a diminished figure. “My memory is fine,” he insisted Thursday from the White House.

Yet in a single cutting phrase, the report from Robert K. Hur, the special counsel who had investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents, captured the fears of Democrats who hold their breath when Biden appears in public and the hopes of Republicans, especially former President Donald Trump and his allies. The Trump operation has made plain its intent to use Biden’s stiffer gait and sometimes garbled speech to cast him as weak.

Well, yeah, it’s politics.

The Biden campaign has built its strategy around telling voters that the November election is a choice between the president, whatever doubts the public has about his age, and an opponent in Trump, 77, whom they paint as a threat to democracy and personal freedoms.

What freedom is that? Taking away our guns? Forcing us to drive certain vehicles, while actually trying to force the peasants onto public transportation? Expanding the IRS? Dictating what we can and cannot say? Telling social media companies to censor Wrongthink?

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who is close to Biden, predicted that he would receive more calls from “people expressing concern.” But he said he would respond by recounting his direct experiences with Biden, which he said demonstrated that the president was “sharp, engaged and purposeful.”

Is that why he has to head for a restful weekend in Delaware or Camp David most weekends after working around 30 hours a week?

Still, Biden’s mix-up of Egypt and Mexico came soon after a couple of slips in the past week regarding deceased European leaders. First, during a campaign swing in Nevada, he confused François Mitterrand, a former French president who died in 1996, with the country’s current president, Emmanuel Macron. Then, on Wednesday, he referred twice to having met in 2021 with Helmut Kohl, a former German chancellor who died in 2017, instead of with Angela Merkel, who led the country three years ago.

Trump has made his own series of verbal stumbles — he recently confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and previously mixed up the leaders of Hungary and Turkey — but polls show that voters do not question his sharpness the same way they do Biden’s. An NBC News poll released this week found that voters gave Trump an advantage of 16 percentage points on the question of who was more competent and effective — a 25-point swing since 2020, when Biden held a 9-point edge on that question.

Trump doesn’t have a pattern of doing so while also looking frail and old. He isn’t squinting at the podium, eyes barely open. He doesn’t have that flat footed old person walk. He doesn’t fade out during short speeches. He doesn’t bizarrely bring up his dead son Beau constantly while also lying about how he died. He doesn’t just wander off during events leaving people hanging. Melania or a handler doesn’t constantly have to come over and steer him away from talking to people. Trump doesn’t have an issue speaking or forgetfulness.

It’s actually rather disgusting that Democrat bigwigs trotted Biden out in 2020 to start with, because it was quite clear he wasn’t all there, and continue to do so. He’s not well, and you know he’s really not the one making policy. It’s the people in the background, doing Obama’s bidding. Joe’s just there.

Read: NY Times: Hey, It Was Just A Verbal Slip When He Misidentified “President Of Mexico” »

Posted in Joe Biden, Wonky Media | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Atlantic Ocean Totally Nearing Tipping Point Or Something

By William Teach February 10, 2024 – 7:00 am

We can fix this with a tax. And your freedom and life choices

Atlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point, study finds

The circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards a tipping point that is “bad news for the climate system and humanity”, a study has found.

The scientists behind the research said they were shocked at the forecast speed of collapse once the point is reached, although they said it was not yet possible to predict how soon that would happen.

Using computer models and past data, the researchers developed an early warning indicator for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation.

They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world.

This is due to you driving a fossil fueled vehicle and buying things you want, because you cannot afford carbon offsets like the Elites

“What surprised us was the rate at which tipping occurs,” said the paper’s lead author, René van Westen, of Utrecht University. “It will be devastating.”

He said there was not yet enough data to say whether this would occur in the next year or in the coming century, but when it happens, the changes are irreversible on human timescales.

Of course they can’t say. Nor will they. Because that would put them on the hook if their prognostication fails. Who pays the price if this doesn’t happen in the next 100 years? Seriously, it’s going to happen at some point, because it has happened in the past, many times. It has happened on a small scale many times since the end of the last glacial age.

Read: Atlantic Ocean Totally Nearing Tipping Point Or Something »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Denver To Cut Hours On Parks And Recreation, DMV To Pay For Illegals

By William Teach February 10, 2024 – 6:45 am

Hey, you know how supporters of unfettered illegal immigration say that it costs nothing, that, in fact, the U.S. gains money from illegals?

Denver recreation centers, DMV offices are first to cut back hours to help pay for migrant crisis

Denver Motor Vehicle offices will close for a week at a time on a rotating basis, recreation centers will reduce their hours and the parks department will slash programming by 25% to help offset the fast-rising costs of sheltering migrants in the city.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the first round of budget cuts at a news conference Friday morning — changes that, including those reductions and other small ones, will add up to $5 million in budget savings this year, he said.

But more painful cuts may be coming. The city, which was sheltering more than 3,500 migrants in hotels and other places as of Friday morning, is projecting a potential $180 million budget shortfall in 2024 without more state or federal support.

Friday’s announcement signaled a turning point for city leaders. They had been planning for potential budget cuts in recent weeks but were holding out hope that a tentative border deal in Congress would spare any major reductions in city services by providing federal funding to cities like Denver.

Well, they are a self designated sanctuary city, shouldn’t the people who voted to be one pay for this? They’re good with higher taxes in all forms, right? Start with raising the sales tax from 4.81% (weird rate, eh?) to 8%. Raise property taxes for homes and vehicles. Then raise fees on city services, like water, sewer, and trash collection. Higher fees for using things like parks and recreation. Certainly the citizens of Denver will be fine with this, right? Because right now the citizens are being punished for having to practice their belief in illegals streaming across the border. Why should citizens from other areas have to pay for it?

And in SCB

Trendy Boston waterfront district could get new migrant shelter as Roxbury maxes out: reports

An office building in an upmarket waterfront Boston neighborhood is being earmarked as a new migrant shelter more than a week after Democratic Gov. Maura Healey shuttered a community recreation center in the city to shelter migrants.

The office building, a 92,000 square-foot premises, is located at 24 Farnsworth Street in the bustling Seaport district in Fort Point and is owned by the Unitarian Universalist Association, according to The Boston Globe. The association is a liberal religious movement.

The Boston Globe reports that city officials contacted the local Fort Point Neighborhood Association on Wednesday, informing them the site is being considered as a shelter but that a final decision has not yet been made.

It’s great how the citizens of Sanctuary City Boston get to pay for all this, when actual Americans are living on the streets. Have fun with the rise of crime and other issues in the trendy waterfront area.

Read: Denver To Cut Hours On Parks And Recreation, DMV To Pay For Illegals »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Upset Biden Was Allowed To Speak “Late At Night”

By William Teach February 9, 2024 – 3:00 pm

This is delicious

From the link

For years now, President Biden‘s advisers have carefully choreographed his every move to avoid what exploded into view over six hours Thursday: a vivid display of an elderly, irritable man struggling on a public stage.

Why it matters: Days after repeatedly referencing talks with dead world leaders, Biden, 81, went before cameras to bash a just-released special counsel’s report that portrayed him as feeble and forgetful — and then confused Egypt’s president with Mexico’s. (snip)

One House Democrat called Biden’s verbal slip-ups “awful,” and wondered why the president’s staff allowed him to hold a press conference — then field reporters’ shouted questions — “that late at night after a full day,” instead of Friday morning, when he’d be “fresh.”

I wasn’t aware that 7:45pm was “that late at night”. I guess if you get up to do the 6-9/10 radio show it might be late. But, considering his “full day” started at 245pm Thursday in Leesburg, Va, which is not that far up the road from D.C., then back to the White House, and Joe didn’t have to drive at all, doesn’t seem like he did much. And, since he’s going back to Delaware this afternoon, he gets to relax all weekend. Again.

I suspect his handlers are going to start hiding him again, like in 2020. Can they trot him out there for even scripted events, because he messes them up.

Read: Democrats Upset Biden Was Allowed To Speak “Late At Night” »

Posted in Democrats, Joe Biden | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 9, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible extreme amounts of heatsnow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on the 1st Amendment being dead like the rest.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

NY Democrats Get Tough On Immigration Or Something

By William Teach February 9, 2024 – 10:30 am

I’m quite confident that they will offer some excellent ideas on securing the border and discouraging people from coming illegally, right?

New York Democrats finally get aggressive in border fight

Democrats in New York are finally going on the attack over border security and crime — just in time to test the strategy in the first House election of the year.

It took cinematic levels of dysfunction in Washington — from the scuttled impeachment inquiry into the homeland security secretary to failed attempts at a border deal — for Democrats to get mobilized around the politically volatile issues after years of playing defense.

Just this week, both centrist Democratic politicians and liberal coalitions put forth strategies to try to recover ground. Gov. Kathy Hochul demanded the migrants who attacked police officers in Times Square be jailed and New York City’s police commissioner lamented a “wave of migrant crime” in efforts to show spine on the matter.

Progressives sharpened their own message, writing in a memo: “There is no connection between immigration and crime,” while blaming Republicans in an email for “the same xenophobic playbook we’ve seen countless times from Donald Trump and others before.”

Nope, no crime

No crime

OK, let’s see them getting aggressive

The left-leaning [NY Working Family Party] and its allies have been scrambling to combat the political onslaught from the right with nuance and statistics: The memo that Archila’s party released Tuesday stressed that the Times Square violence is an anomaly — a claim backed up with academic studies — and argued newcomers have for centuries enriched communities.

1199SEIU, the politically influential health care workers union, proffered similar points.

“You have to keep saying nobody is for chaos and disorder,” interim Political Director Helen Schaub said in an interview. “But the alternative to chaos and disorder has to be an orderly legal immigration process versus just shutting it down because, frankly, that hurts all of us.”

Basically, it’s all about messaging. No offerings for actually dealing with the illegal alien problem. That’s them getting aggressive. I wonder how this will play in the SCNY areas overrun with illegals, especially those committing crimes.

Read: NY Democrats Get Tough On Immigration Or Something »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Behavior Must Be Changed To Stop Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach February 9, 2024 – 7:00 am

It’s strange: one would think that Warmists would voluntarily change their behavior, not have Certain People within the Cult of Climsastrology find ways to force that change. If they really believe

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Abstract
Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions’ effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior—several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people’s initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.

Unsurprisingly, government force is required

The second outcome was support for climate change mitigation policy (nine items; e.g., “I support raising carbon taxes on gas/fossil fuels/coal”). Given that successful climate mitigation requires large-scale policy reform (1) and the public’s support for climate policies is the top predictor of policy adoption (27), this outcome variable reflects the importance of impactful systemic change, rather than private mitigation efforts based on individual decision-making (28–30). Recent work argues that individual-level behaviors should be targeted alongside structural changes (31), especially since framing climate change as an individual level problem can backfire, leading to feelings of helplessness and concerns about free riding (32, 33).

This is a long, long, long paper, which, much like the new Roadhouse movie, did anyone ask for it? Or, is it just a matter of government gave them lots of money or they wanted to find a way to get lots of money from government, which is happy to piss taxpayer money away on cult science?

Here, climate change beliefs were strengthened most by decreasing the psychological distance of climate change. Support for climate change mitigation policy was increased mostly by writing a letter to be read in the future by a socially close child, describing one’s current climate change mitigation actions. Willingness to share climate change information on social media was increased most by inducing negative emotions through “doom and gloom”–styled messaging about the consequences of climate change. Last, while half of the tested interventions had no effect on the effortful tree-planting behavior, the other half of the interventions reduced the number of trees participants planted. Beyond revealing the utility of harnessing a multioutcome approach, these results also highlight the need for tailoring interventions to target outcomes.

I’d love to see what they wrote. “Hey, I changed a few lightbulbs.” “Hey, I drove a fossil fueled vehicle to a protest.” “Hey, I threw soup on artwork and glued myself to something.” “But, the hell if I’m going to give up my own massive 1st World carbon footprint.” Seriously, why should anyone make any changes when the Elites don’t, and the biggest climate cultists do not?

Read: Your Behavior Must Be Changed To Stop Hotcoldwetdry »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

LOL: Special Council Report Refers To Biden As Elderly With Poor Memory

By William Teach February 9, 2024 – 6:45 am

This has sent Democrat supporters into apoplexy

‘A nightmare’: Special counsel’s assessment of Biden’s mental fitness triggers Democratic panic

President Joe Biden sidestepped any criminal charges as the investigation into his handling of classified documents concluded, but the political blowback from the special counsel’s report Thursday could prove even more devastating, reinforcing impressions that he is too old and impaired to hold the highest office.

If it were you or me we would have been charged. If it was some low level federal bureaucrat or staffer they would have been charged. But, a guy who really, truly, should have known better, no biggie. Which is the reverse, where the higher you go the more accountable you should be

Biden Brain SuckerSpecial counsel Robert Hur’s portrait of a man who couldn’t remember when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president, or the year when his beloved son Beau died, dealt a blow to Biden’s argument that he is still sharp and fit enough to serve another four-year term.

In deciding not to charge Biden with any crimes, the special counsel wrote that in a potential trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

It was tough enough for Biden to reassure voters about his heath before Hur’s report hit like a thunderclap Thursday afternoon, prompting members of his own party to question whether he could remain the nominee in November.

“It’s a nightmare,” said a Democratic House member who asked to speak anonymously to provide a frank assessment, adding that “it weakens President Biden electorally, and Donald Trump would be a disaster and an authoritarian.”

I’m rather surprised the news media is even mentioning it, and, I’m not seeing many shy away. The Big Three cover it, NY Times, Washington Post, and so many others, so, either they’re trying to figure out how to counteract this, or, they want to replace Biden. You can bet Trump will be repeating this again and again and again. If he’s smart. No need to throw out his normal insults, just read the relevant part of the report.

(Breitbart) “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report states. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.”

“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Hur’s report is riddled with examples and assessments that Biden’s mental faculties and memory have deteriorated, saying, “Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations.”

Yikes. And

In his interview with our office… He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (“if it was 2013, when did I stop being Vice President?”), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (“in 2009, am I still Vice President?”).

If the GOP is smart (but, we know their messaging tends to be garbage) they’d focus on this, but, wait till Biden is the nominee so it would be tough to replace him

That would be falsifying a federal document.

Read: LOL: Special Council Report Refers To Biden As Elderly With Poor Memory »

Posted in Joe Biden | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Ford Reassess Their EV Strategy

By William Teach February 8, 2024 – 3:00 pm

What happens when you rush pell mell into manufacturing vehicles only a small number of people actually want?

Ford is reassessing its EV plans, including vertical battery integration

Ford Motoris rethinking its electric vehicle strategies, including “reassessing” the need for in-house production of batteries, CEO Jim Farley said Tuesday.

The Detroit automaker previously confirmed plans to delay or cut $12 billion in spending on all-electric vehicles, but the comments made Tuesday are the most detailed about Ford’s changing plans for EVs, sales of which are growing at a slower-than-expected rate.

“One of the things we’re taking advantage of in taking some timing delays is rationalizing the level and timing of our battery capacity to match demand and actually reassessing the vertical integration that we’re relying on, and betting on new chemistries and capacities,” Farley said during the automaker’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

Farley reiterated the company still believes EVs will grow, but noted widespread adoption for mass-market consumers won’t happen until the costs are more in line with traditional vehicles. EVs are typically thousands of dollars more expensive than their gas-powered counterparts.

Even if they were in line with fossil fueled vehicles, people will still opt out. They do not want vehicles which do not go very far, take a long time to charge, and have a higher auto insurance cost, hence why the low cost ones are not selling well either. Heck, people still opt out of hybrids because of the cost/benefit.

Overall, Ford did make money, however

The company’s EV business, known as Model e, lost $4.7 billion last year, including $1.57 billion during the fourth quarter of 2023, offset by profits in the company’s fleet and traditional internal combustion engine units. Both businesses earned more than $7 billion each last year.

What’s selling? Fossil fueled trucks and SUVs. Not EVs.

As Ford pulls back and reevaluates the EV business, it intends to lean in on sales of hybrid vehicles, specifically trucks. The company expects its hybrid sales to increase 40% this year. It sold 133,743 hybrid vehicles in the U.S. in 2023.

That makes more sense. But, will those who want big trucks want hybrids?

Auto companies are learning that the market dictates what people want, not the companies.

Read: Ford Reassess Their EV Strategy »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 8, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…are giant high carbon producing homes, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post on Michael Mann saying that Everyone Else is the problem.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 10 Comments | Trackback URL
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