Politico: “That’s not how our system is supposed to work.”

By William Teach April 6, 2023 – 10:30 am

I still maintain that Bragg did this not to put Trump in jail, but, to jam Trump up, making him waste time and money rather than campaigning, and hoping that voters will vote against Trump. Why else trot an extremely unique set of charges that make little sense and are missing quite a lot of pertinent information?

The Gaping Hole in the Middle of the Trump Indictment

The 34-count indictment of former President Donald Trump is 16 pages long, and was accompanied by a 12-page statement of facts. But nowhere in those 28 pages did Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg provide the most important information about this high-profile legal case: his legal basis for bringing felony charges against the former president.

Every count in the indictment charges Trump with violating a New York felony statute against falsifying business records as part of “a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election” by suppressing a potentially damaging story that Trump had had an affair with a porn star. Bragg could have charged Trump with 34 misdemeanor counts, but under New York law they become felonies if the falsification was done “with the intent to commit another crime.”

This is where Bragg’s indictment has done a disservice to the public and to Trump himself. Beyond a general reference to a violation of “election laws” and a passing reference to taxes, the indictment and statement of facts do not specify what “other crimes” Trump allegedly intended to commit.

Again, that would be the entire basis for raising what are essentially the equivalent of jaywalking charges, for which the statute of limitations ran out on all of them, to a felony.

I’m not alone in wondering what the exact “other crimes” are. Since the indictment was released to the public, I’ve spent hours discussing the indictment with other lawyers, including multiple former Manhattan assistant district attorneys. None of us could determine with certainty what crimes Bragg is using to bump up the misdemeanor counts to felonies.

That is a serious problem. Like every other defendant, Trump has a right to be informed of the nature of the charges against him. His legal team can’t prepare a defense if they don’t know what Bragg’s legal theory is.

I expect Trump’s team soon will file a motion for a bill of particulars, the formal method by which defendants can demand prosecutors provide more specifics about the charges. Most of these motions are a waste of time, but in this case, the motion should be granted.

If Bragg cannot provide that, well, then it should all be dismissed. Will the system act like it should? It’s already gone off the rails with a prosecutor who’s sole purpose seems to be going after a U.S. citizen for the express reason of Trump Derangement Syndrome and that he beat Hillary Clinton.

For now, Bragg seems to be leaving his options open, giving himself an opportunity to adjust his case in the upcoming weeks. That’s not how our system is supposed to work. While vagueness might give Bragg an advantage at this stage, prosecutors are supposed to promote justice, not try to gain an edge unfairly.

No, that is not. But, we’ve already seen the J6 folks railroaded, while most of the Antifa/BLM folks let go. And the list of justice being politicized.

Read: Politico: “That’s not how our system is supposed to work.” »

Posted in Donald Trump, Liberal World | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

CBS News Is Very Concerned With The Food You Eat

By William Teach April 6, 2023 – 7:15 am

It’s just nag nag nag from the Cult of Climastrology. Why can’t they just mind their own damned business? Why are they always attempting to force their beliefs on everyone else? It’s almost like this who thing is about authoritarianism

The food we eat and its impact on climate change

How we grow food, consume it and waste it may play a big role in whether the world can avert a climate catastrophe, environmentalists and climate change analysts say. One big obstacle to changing the most damaging practices is that many of them are in fact encouraged and financially incentivized by countries — including the U.S. — possibly pushing us faster toward a world that’s too dangerously warm.

“If we do everything right — if we reduce energy-related emissions [and] transportation-related emissions as much as we all need, and we don’t address emissions from agriculture, we are still not going to avoid a climate catastrophe,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

Piss off, wanker.

The global food system — the growing, processing, transporting, distributing, consumption and disposal of food — makes up a third of greenhouse gas emissions every year. From cutting down trees for grazing cattle, to food waste in landfills, each stage of the food system creates greenhouse gases: a study published in March estimated that emissions from food production and waste alone could push global temperatures up by as much as 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.98 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

And we’re going to feed people with what, exactly?

But implementing new and climate-friendly practices may be costly and adversely affect yield, cutting into farmers’ bottom lines and making their crops or herds less attractive to investors and buyers. That reality, according to the World Economic Forum, has resulted in a cycle in the U.S. that rewards “the systems that are least regenerative, emit the most greenhouse gases, and result in the most land degradation.” These damaging systems, the World Economic Forum said, “are the most likely to have access to capital.”

Those would be rich folks flying into meetings on private jets and then having lavish meals, right?

Globally, leaders have agreed to dramatically decrease agriculture sector emissions. In 2021, 111 countries, making up 45% of global methane emissions, signed an agreement to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030, and 145 countries signed on to reverse deforestation — which is mostly caused by cattle ranching — by 2030.

Do the peasant level Warmists realize that these leaders are signing said peasants up to be forced to practice this, while the leaders don’t themselves?

“When people think about climate the focus usually snaps to fossil fuels, renewable energy, and that makes sense because it’s the leading driver [of emissions], but food is this super underappreciated part of it. We eat three times a day, so it’s something that we can actually do something about,” said Richard Waite, senior research associate of the World Resources Institute’s food and climate programs.

Oh, F off. Just F right off.

Read: CBS News Is Very Concerned With The Food You Eat »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Study Says Humans May Have Spread Wuhan Flu To Animals In Wet Market

By William Teach April 6, 2023 – 7:00 am

I’m going to take this study with a big grain of salt, as it comes from Chinese researchers, but, it makes a whole lot more sense than it coming from first bats, then pangolins, then raccoon dogs

Humans may have spread Covid to Wuhan market as raccoon dogs ‘not to blame’, say scientists

Humans may have brought Covid-19 to the Wuhan market where the virus first emerged, scientists have said, after finding no proof that raccoon dogs were to blame for the outbreak.

It comes after a controversial study suggested last month that raccoon dog DNA found at the Huanan Seafood Market in January 2020 provided “strong evidence” that the virus was transmitted to humans at the site.

But on Wednesday, the Chinese scientists released their study in the journal Nature and said there was no way of knowing if the raccoon dogs were infected. They also cautioned that the origins of Covid-19 could not be determined from their samples.

Writing in the journal, the authors, which include George Gao, the former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (DCD), said: “These environmental samples cannot prove that the animals were infected.

“Furthermore, even if the animals were infected, our study does not rule out that human-to-animal transmission occurred, considering the sampling time was after the human infection within the market as reported retrospectively.

Remember, data suggests that people were infected with COVID19 as early as November 2019, hence why it is COVID-19, not COVID-20

But the researchers pointed out that humans had already been infected by the time they first took swabs in January 2020, so even if the animals were infected they could have caught the virus from humans.

Meaning humans already had it before raccoon dogs after the Wuhan lab leak

The team also found traces of Covid-19 in sewers, suggesting that infected humans or animals may have helped spread the virus. Previous studies have pointed out that the largest concentration of Covid-19 was found near the market’s toilets.

I wonder what the sewers near the Wuhan lab show. We’ll probably never know. But, any rational person will point the fingers at the laboratory doing research in bat coronaviruses right up the road, releasing it either by accident or on purpose.

Read: Study Says Humans May Have Spread Wuhan Flu To Animals In Wet Market »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Gen Z Opts Out Of Drinking Milk

By William Teach April 5, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Milk is great. I love milk. Tastes wonderful. Mix in a bit of chocolate Slimfast in the morning or after a workout. But, see, Gen Z apparently has a problem with milk, and it was important enough for the NY Times to write an article instead of investigating politicians and government for wrongdoing (no paywall at Yahoo News)

Got Milk? Not This Generation.

climate cowTo the marketers trying to reboot milk as a sports drink for Generation Z, Yvonne Zapata seemed like the perfect ambassador. An exuberant 24-year-old marathoner from Brooklyn, New York, she describes herself as a proud Latina runner. Her nickname is Miss Outside.

The Milk Processor Education Program signed her to its 26.2 project, an ambitious effort to provide training, gear, advice and other support to every woman who runs a marathon in the United States this year. In March, Zapata’s face lit up a giant Times Square billboard. She starred in her own video. Her portrait is one of several anchoring the Gonna Need Milk website.

There is only one problem: Zapata would rather drink oat milk. (snip)

Zapata is part of the Not Milk generation, teenagers and young adults who grew up ordering milk alternatives at coffee shops and toting water bottles everywhere. Turned off by the no-fat and low-fat milks served at school, worried about climate change and steeped in the increasing skepticism toward the dairy industry on social media, many of them have never embraced milk. Last year, members of Generation Z bought 20% less milk than the national average, according to the consumer market research company Circana.

It’s the Evil cows!

Anyhow

The campaign takes several forms. Although the science about the health benefits and drawbacks of milk isn’t settled, some studies have shown that chocolate milk contains basic electrolytes and a precise ratio of carbohydrates to protein that can help muscles recover after workouts. One strategy involves showing athletes such as Zapata that milk is a good sports drink (though the Gonna Need Milk people thought she was more of a milk fan when they signed her up).

And just tastes wonderful after a workout.

“I feel like this is another punchline about us: Did millennials kill milk?” said Rebecca Kelley, 39, a content strategy consultant in Seattle.

She and her friends drink almond milk. “I do have some old millennial guilt because I know from a sustainability perspective almond milk is not great,” she said. But she also sneaks in a glass or two of whole milk with spaghetti or a tuna sandwich, despite judgy comments from friends. “For me, it’s a nostalgia play.”

Almond milk and all those alternatives tend to be worse for the actual environment, as opposed to the climate crisis scam, being incredibly water intensive, for one thing.

But, hey, if they don’t want to drink milk, more for me.

Some young people don’t like milk because they didn’t grow up with it as a dinner-table staple. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 removed whole or 2% milk from schools, and required that any flavored milk be nonfat. This led to a genre of social media posts complaining that school milk was disgusting. The Department of Agriculture in 2018 allowed 1% chocolate or strawberry milk back into schools.

Good job, Michelle Obama and Democrats.

Read: Gen Z Opts Out Of Drinking Milk »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Food and Drink, Global Warming | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 5, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…are palm trees that will soon grow in Antarctica, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Geller Report, with a post on Chicago changing tracks by electing a Progressive mayor who hates white people and law enforcement.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

The Charges Against Trump Are Even Weaker Than You Thought

By William Teach April 5, 2023 – 10:30 am

There’s going to be a lot said about this over the, well, next few years, because Comrade Bragg wants the trial in January 2024, right in the middle of the primaries

What’s the underlying crime that allowed Bragg to elevate this to a felony? No one knows. Bragg won’t say, so, there should be some interesting motions in the next few weeks

Bragg’s Trump Indictment Folly

A long-standing progressive fantasy was fulfilled Tuesday afternoon when Donald Trump was arraigned on criminal charges in Manhattan.

The spectacle of a former president driving in a motorcade to the courthouse and sitting at a defense table surrounded by his attorneys will long be remembered as a symbol of the poisonous politics of the Trump era.

It’d be one thing if there were a clear felony violation that is consistently prosecuted, but the unsealed indictment is as weak as advertised. (snip)

Hush payments aren’t illegal. But the reimbursements from the Trump Organization to Trump fixer Michael Cohen were logged as legal expenses. This was misleading and is potentially a misdemeanor. Prosecuting Trump over misdemeanors would be too ridiculous even for Bragg, who campaigned on nailing Trump and showing leniency to street criminals. It would also run afoul of the fact that the statute of limitations has lapsed on any misdemeanor.

So Bragg needed a way to transform the misdemeanors into felonies, which he can do, in theory, if the false business accounting was in the service of another crime. There’s been a great deal of speculation about what that other crime is, and the much-anticipated indictment . . . doesn’t say.

He states he doesn’t have to say it, but, isn’t it required that the defendant be appraised of what they’re being charged with?

Asked why he didn’t mention the other alleged crime in the indictment at his post-arraignment press conference, Bragg said the law doesn’t require its being specified in the indictment. Even he must know that’s absurd. The purpose of an indictment is to put the accused on notice of what crimes he has committed, and this other “crime” that Trump allegedly concealed by misdemeanor records violations is essential to the case; the indictment fails its most basic function by failing to specify it.

At the press conference he held after his subordinates unsuccessfully sought a gag order against the defense, Bragg cited New York election law (which doesn’t apply to a federal race), a plan to make false statements to tax authorities (he didn’t say whether these alleged misrepresentations were ever actually made), and a violation of federal campaign-finance law (although it’s doubtful the payments constitute campaign expenses). If Bragg had evidence that Trump committed state tax or election-law crimes, he wouldn’t hesitate to charge them. And if he really thought he had jurisdiction to enforce federal laws, he’d have proudly cited campaign-finance offenses as the crimes Trump was supposedly concealing.

There should be a motion to dismiss over this very lax charging statement, which fails to lay out why this can be a felony when the statute of limitations ended for minor misdemeanors, and Bragg has no authority over what would be federal charges, which Los Federales all passed on. There are so many holes and issues, that, yeah, I think this is all about jamming up Trump to make sure he either cannot win the primary, or, baring that, can’t win the general, and then Bragg would just drop the case.

And, ignore that this is Trump for a moment: this is a political witch hunt and a perversion of the US justice system.

Read: The Charges Against Trump Are Even Weaker Than You Thought »

Posted in Donald Trump, Unhinged Tools | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Personalized Ads Are Creating Climate Doom

By William Teach April 5, 2023 – 7:00 am

Well, this is a new one. I do not believe I’ve ever heard the climate cult blame personalized ads before

How personalised ads are contributing to climate change

A new report from Global Action Plan analysing the scale of unnecessary emissions being generated by Big Tech’s business model has uncovered just how energy intensive it really is.

Recently, it’s become all but impossible to use social media without being constantly bombarded with ads.

And while online marketing is nothing new, you may have begun noticing that whenever you open up your favourite apps these days, the products being pushed onto you are scarily in line with your actual interests.

This is known as ‘surveillance capitalism,’ whereby companies pull together data on us from a myriad of sources to make a far more targeted bid.

It operates by algorithmically profiling users – monitoring, processing, and predicting our digital lives to coerce us into splashing the cash on items we weren’t even tempted by in the first place.

I mean, how often do you mention something in passing only for it to appear several minutes later on your Insta stories?

The interesting part is that most of the tech companies who are slamming you with personalized ads are run by leftists, and typically yammer about climate doom.

Besides, of course, the obvious role it plays in turbocharging unnecessary consumerism, which last year added an extra 32% to the annual carbon footprint of all UK citizens alone through the greenhouse gas emissions that result from the dramatic uplift in sales generated by it.

According to a report from Global Action Plan, Big Tech’s ‘toxic’ business model is extremely energy intensive.

Is there anything that the climate cult doesn’t complain about?

In this regard, Global Action Plan argues that Big Tech billionaires are the ‘oil barons of the 21st century’ and that their exponentially growing contribution to the climate crisis is making it harder for the rest of the world to take crucial action.

Urging activists to turn their attention to this multidimensional problem, the charity is focused on exposing the industry as a foundational blocker to meaningful change so that we can start holding the necessary people accountable.

‘Big Tech’s way of doing business is fundamentally at odds with efforts to stave off the deepening climate crisis. These platforms and their eye-watering profits rely on processing massive quantities of data at a huge direct carbon cost,’ says policy and campaigns lead, Oliver Hayes.

So, what, they want to stop the ads? Good luck!

Read: Your Personalized Ads Are Creating Climate Doom »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Great Resignation Turns To Great Regret

By William Teach April 5, 2023 – 6:45 am

They really weren’t thinking about what they were doing, just playing it by ear, and the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence

Great Resignation becomes Great Regret as workers long for their pre-Covid jobs

Most office workers who quit their jobs during the pandemic now regret the decision, with almost three quarters pining for their pre-Covid roles.

A survey of 3,000 white collar workers who moved jobs during the pandemic found that 71pc wanted to return to their pre-pandemic employer.

The finding suggests that the so-called Great Resignation is now leading to a Great Regret, according to recruiter Robert Walters, which conducted the research.

Thousands of workers began quitting their jobs in early 2021 amid dissatisfaction over pay and working conditions during Covid lockdowns.

Things just didn’t work out that well as time went by, especially as inflation ate the increased pay at the new jobs

Toby Fowlston, chief executive of Robert Walters, said: “Across 2021 we saw record pay rises offered to professionals, with promises of an uber flexible and hybrid culture.

“Come 2023, and these pay rises now pale in comparison to the rising cost of living and inflation – with those new starters who were offered inflated salaries being much less likely to have received a pay increase this year.

“It appears that workers are realising that the grass may not have been greener after all.”

New folks are less likely to get raises, right? Also

Dissatisfaction in the workplace sparked a new trend dubbed “quiet quitting” last year. The phrase captured the idea of putting in the minimum effort required at work.

However, rounds of deep lay-offs in the tech sector and warnings of looming recessions appear to have ended this trend.

That, and people realizing they need the job with inflation raging.

Read: Surprise: Great Resignation Turns To Great Regret »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Economy | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Kansas Citizens Are Tired Of Blinking Red Lights On Wind Turbines

By William Teach April 4, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Of all the things that can be problematic with wind turbines, this is not one I’d thought of or that had been discussed much at all

Red lights blinking 24/7 atop wind turbines may stop with deal by Kansas lawmakers

Kansas lawmakers have sent a bill to the governor designed to make the night sky in rural areas less interrupted by flashing red lights atop wind turbines.

If Gov. Laura Kelly signs Senate Bill 49 into law, it would require installation of light-mitigating technology on new and existing wind farms.

The aircraft detection lighting system technology would turn off the lights except for when aircraft are near. Aircraft aren’t near a wind farm about 97% of the time the lights are blinking, said Rep. Lisa Moser, R-Wheaton.

“This bill came about because there are thousands of Kansans who see red blinking lights every three seconds, 24 hours a day,” Moser said, “and this is legislation that will mitigate that.”

Funny how the climate cult needs to have the wind turbines way far away from where they live in the urban areas, eh, which burdens the rural folks to see constant flashing red lights

Rep. Joe Seiwert, R-Pretty Prairie, said the lights make it difficult for people to sleep and can cause traffic accidents.

“These blinking red lights drive people crazy. They’re super annoying,” said Rep. Carrie Barth, R-Baldwin City. “They’re out in the country. They have a clear night black sky that they’re used to, and all of a sudden, now these are blinking on a nonstop basis.”

The average height of a wind turbine is 280, depending on the outlet. Regardless, why would planes be flying that low at night in the rural areas? Interestingly, some of the same enviroweenies complain about light pollution. Let’s start putting these up off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and the fancy pants places.

Read: Kansas Citizens Are Tired Of Blinking Red Lights On Wind Turbines »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 4, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible air conditioner controller causing Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The OK Corral, with a post on sex dolls in the faster transit lane.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 13 Comments | Trackback URL
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