If All You See…

By William Teach February 16, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…are trees dying from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on the Democrats catch and release policy and the MSU shooting.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Bidenflation: People Putting Of Medical Care Over Rising Costs

By William Teach February 16, 2023 – 10:30 am

I love this NY Times article, because the word “Biden” appears exactly zero times despite being the president. Now, just imagine how many times Trump would have been blamed if he was still in office

Higher Bills Are Leading Americans to Delay Medical Care

Megan Swanson has warily watched the erosion of her family’s savings as inflation chips away at a reserve for emergencies.

I’ve been reliabily informed by People In Charge that inflation isn’t harming people

She often postpones any regular doctor’s appointments, including her yearly dermatology appointment, even though annual skin checks are typically recommended for residents of sunny Florida, where she lives in Naples with her husband and their three children.

“Each month we are seeing our costs go up, but not our bank account,” she said. (snip)

Rising out-of-pocket costs are weighing heavily on the scale, pushing aside tests or procedures when troublesome symptoms emerge. And these days, the grocery list (and even the price of eggs) feel more pressing to many families. While some people avoided seeking medical care during the worst of the pandemic, worried about the risk of infection or unable to get an appointment because hospitals and doctors were overwhelmed, now many are finding that inflation and the uncertain economy have thrown up another barrier.

“We are starting to see some individuals who are putting off some care, especially preventive care, due to the costs,” said Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the chair of family medicine for Northwell Health in New York. Choosing between going to the doctor or paying for rent and food, “the health issue is no longer the priority,” she said.

Remember, some un-named guy is getting inflation under control. In fact, it’s that previous guy’s fault according to the People In Charge

The inability to afford medical tests and treatment, a perennial concern in the United States, began emerging as a much more striking issue last year. Nearly four of 10 Americans said they had put off care in 2022 because of cost, the highest number since Gallup started asking people about delaying care more than 20 years ago. The percentage reporting they or a family member delayed health care because of cost rose to 38 percent from 26 percent in 2021.

Probably Trump’s fault, right?

With the prices of prescription drugs, hospital stays and other treatments expected to increase significantly this year and next, some doctors expect families to have an even harder time affording medical care. A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund found that 29 percent of people with employer-based coverage were underinsured, because they had such high out-of-pocket costs even with insurance. The coming roll back of health coverage under the state-federal Medicaid program will very likely lead many people to become uninsured.

And what, exactly, is Biden doing? The New York Times doesn’t bother asking, just tells us how bad things are

The cost of treatments is also likely to rise next year as hospitals, many of whom reported losses in 2022, will raise their rates, said Sean Duffy, the co-founder and chief executive of Omada Health, a company in San Francisco that provides virtual care and coaching to people with chronic health conditions like diabetes. The company’s employees were already starting to see an increase in patients wrestling with how to pay for medicine and healthy food.

Welcome to Bidenflation.

Read: Bidenflation: People Putting Of Medical Care Over Rising Costs »

Posted in Economy, Healthcare, Joe Biden | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Oh, Good, The UN Held A Debate On Sea Rise That’s Your Fault

By William Teach February 16, 2023 – 7:15 am

It’s definitely not the fault of the Elites who take lots of fossil fueled trips and live high on the hog

UN Security Council holds first-ever debate on sea level rise from climate change

Members of the United Nations Security Council held their first-ever debate on sea level rise Tuesday, according to a UN press release.

Hosted in New York, the debate was titled “Sea-Level Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security.”

Council members addressed the various implications of rising seas, such as increased competition for water and land, compromised economies and livelihoods and the destruction of homes and states.

“The impact of rising seas is already creating new sources of instability and conflict,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who opened the meeting.

By “debate”, they mean people yammer about doom and those yammering about DOOM! It reminds me of that bit from the Blues Brothers movie, where they ask the bartender lady at the country bar “what type of music do you have here, Ma’am?” and she answers “oh, we have both types: country and western.”

Guterras cited the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which stated that global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years.

Which is complete horseshit, since the seas rose a whole hell of a lot more and faster during the 12,000 years from when the last ice age started to end. It rose hundreds of feet in the span of a 1,000 years at one point. The average for the 20th Century was around 7 inches, which is exactly average for sea rise over the last 8,000 years.

According to the WMO, the rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993, with a 10 millimeter (0.4 inch) increase since January 2020 to a new record high in 2022.

“Although this is still measured in terms of millimetres per year, it adds up to half to 1 meter (1.6 to 3.1 feet) per century and that is a long-term and major threat to many millions of coastal dwellers and low-lying states,” the WMO said.

Nice try, but, the measured data doesn’t support that. However, about 1.6 feet would be the expectation during a Holocene warm period. Anyhow, the UN is very enthused about empowering government to take over your lives, while the elites keep on living theirs as if nothing is going on. Heck, even if the current warm period was mostly/solely caused by Mankind, why are all the policies around authoritarian government?

Read: Oh, Good, The UN Held A Debate On Sea Rise That’s Your Fault »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | Comments Off on Oh, Good, The UN Held A Debate On Sea Rise That’s Your Fault | Trackback URL

Support For Ukraine Keeps Dropping: 38/38 Split On Sending Money

By William Teach February 16, 2023 – 7:00 am

Maybe if we knew what the money was actually being used for, where it was going, if there was some accountability, the support numbers wouldn’t be going down

Trump attacks Haley on Medicare, Social Security cuts

A new poll shows that Americans’ support for sending weapons and economic assistance to Ukraine has dropped since the onset of Russia’s invasion of the country last year.

According to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 48 percent of Americans support sending weapons to Ukraine, a significant drop from May 2022, when about 60 percent supported sending Ukraine weapons. Twenty-nine percent in the new poll said they were opposed to sending weapons, while 22 percent said they did not support or oppose it.

Well, this war just keeps going and going and going. Not sure what’s going through the minds of the 22 percent

When asked about sending government funds directly to Ukraine, Americans were about evenly split, according to the poll. Thirty-seven percent said they supported sending funds, 38 percent said they opposed it and 23 percent said they neither were in favor or opposed to it.

That’s down from 44%, and a 5% rise in those who are against sending funds.

Only 19 percent of Americans in the survey released Wednesday said that they have a “great deal of confidence” in Biden to address the war in Ukraine, while 37 percent reported some confidence in the president and 43 percent said they hardly had any. Along party lines, 40 percent of Democrats said they had a “great deal of confidence” in Biden’s handling, 50 percent reported some confidence in Biden and just 9 percent have hardly any.

They should have asked the question “are Biden, other world leaders, and other nimrods trying to start WWIII?” Even support for economic sanctions has dropped from 71% to 63%. From that link in the first excerpt

“I am sympathetic for Ukraine’s situation and I feel badly for them, but I feel like we need to first take care of priorities here at home,” said Joe Hernandez, 44, of Rocklin, California.

Hernandez, a Republican, added that it’s difficult to support generous U.S. spending on military and economic assistance to Ukraine when many American communities don’t have the resources to deal with the ramifications of migrants crossing into the U.S. at the southern border, a rise in drug overdoses caused by fentanyl and other lab-produced synthetic opioids, and a homelessness crisis in his state.

We just keep sending more and more money while not taking care of our own. Seriously, what’s the plan to get Russia out of Ukraine? Is there one? How does this really help America? It’s not like the leaders in Ukraine are the best of people.

Read: Support For Ukraine Keeps Dropping: 38/38 Split On Sending Money »

Posted in Current Affairs, Joe Biden | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Doom Means People Can’t Fall In Love Or Something

By William Teach February 15, 2023 – 3:10 pm

This is a new one. Who says cults are moribund and can’t come up with new stuff. The sad part is that major news outlets, in this case, the LA Times, publish this cult crap

When climate change looms, how are you supposed to fall in love?

I asked a man to marry me once. Until I met him, I had never known the way that love could provide the magnetic pull of a bearing. Like a pulse through the air, I felt the idea of him everywhere.

For three years, we had been living in the eastern Sierra Nevada. I was as enchanted by our mountain home as I was by him — but it was a demanding affair.

Each summer, there were little losses. A camper left without realizing his fire’s embers remained warm, and what was started for s’mores spread, igniting nearby brush. An acre burned. A mountain biker leaned too far right into a tight turn; their pedal struck rock and sparked. One hundred acres burned. My favorite trail was buried in a landslide. I set out to climb a glacier, only to find that it had melted and was gone.

So, a biker (hey, don’t Warmists want Everyone Else to ride bikes instead of fossil fueled travel?) accidentally caused a fire, and we’re supposed to what, give up our modern lifestyles?

From atop the high ridge we walked one evening, I stretched out my finger and traced along the horizon the part of the valley most likely to be destroyed when the inevitable wildfire came. “Don’t you think there are better places to live through this?” I asked him, touching my nose to his nose. It would be hard for him to leave our tiny town. He was an immigrant; his status was tied to his work. “We could get married,” I offered, kicking up snow. Little crystals sprayed around his knees. At home later, we finished two bottles of Grüner Veltliner, maps unfolded around us, pointing out new places we could go.

By the next morning, he had changed his mind. He asked me to leave without him — to leave him.

Illegal or legal? Maybe if you hadn’t freaked out you wouldn’t have had a…checks notes…breakup like has happened since the dawn of Mankind. You aren’t special, it it has nothing to do with ‘climate change’. Anyhow, she became a “journalist”. Looks more like an activist. Skipping forward

An increasing body of research affirms the worry that human-caused global warming may rob us of a future — or one that is pleasant and survivable for most species, anyway. Depending on who you ask, we have somewhere between six and 10 years left until the planet’s atmosphere will cross an atmospheric tipping point beyond which there is no return. Some argue it’s a line we’ve already crossed.

It does not spark joy.

Visit a qualified mental health professional so you can be deprogrammed.

The climate crisis takes so much from us: cool summer nights and the ability to chit-chat with Trader Joe’s cashiers about the weather without wanting to suddenly weep, yes — but there’s also the bigger, harder-to-name thing. What do we do if our love cannot withstand these ever-worsening storms that disrupt our dreams and uproot our lives?

Good grief.

In my work, I have spoken to many people in the midst of an emergency’s fulcrum, fighting to survive unprecedented heat waves, ice storms or floods. Not one of them has made it through on the might of a single relationship. Neighbors install sprinkler systems to point to each other’s roofs in case of fire; community networks deliver life-saving medical equipment days before emergency managers could have. I recognize a bone-deep yearning in these orchestrations. My understanding of what a bond can accomplish is stretched. Such relationships might make here good and elsewhere possible.

So a warming world causes ice storms which means we can’t have relationships? How did people have them during the previous Holocene warm and cool periods? Wackjob cultists.

Read: Climate Doom Means People Can’t Fall In Love Or Something »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach February 15, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is an Evil carbon polluting refrigerator, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Greenie Watch, with a post noting that natural gas is a major source of fertilizers that keeps people eating.

Read: If All You See… »

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

Brandon Admin Doing A Poor Job Of Informing Congress On Balloons

By William Teach February 15, 2023 – 10:30 am

His administration is doing a pretty piss poor job with informing the public, as well

Administration scrambles to quell Congress’s frustration over balloon, UFOs

Senior administration officials scrambled Tuesday to quell frustrations expressed by lawmakers about a lack of timely information concerning several flying objects and a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the past two weeks.

In a classified briefing on Tuesday, the officials offered an update on the three aerial objects shot down Friday afternoon and last weekend. Separately, officials said they believed the objects were not threats to national security and were benign balloons.

It’s unclear just how much the briefing calmed lawmakers, as senators say they didn’t get answers to several questions, including who launched the objects that were shot down in recent days, whether they were military or commercial vehicles and what they were doing in the sky.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after the briefing that Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will lead an investigation into why the balloons weren’t detected earlier.

“We still have questions about why they didn’t discover these balloons sooner, these objects sooner,” Schumer told reporters after the weekly Democratic caucus meeting. “Sen. Tester is going to lead our caucus in investigating this. It’s a good question. We need to answer it.”

“Senior administration officials.” Because there is almost nothing from Biden.

The U.S. military has yet to recover the vehicles shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron, leaving much unknown about them.

It might be nice to know why the U.S. military had to act to shoot the one over Canada. Don’t they have an air force? Meh, maybe that’s a discussion for the Canadian parliament to ask PM Trudeau.

Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration can still be more transparent and forthcoming about its handling of balloons and other aerial objects entering U.S. airspace.

“I think it can be done without compromising, in intelligence lingo, ‘sources and methods,’” he said.

Biden is uninterested in being transparent. And Senators are pretty unhappy that they really aren’t getting much information.

(CBC) Former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby said intelligence sensors have been adjusted to detect objects they wouldn’t have been able to see before, which could be why we have seen the recent discoveries.

That means it’s still possible we could see more news of unknown objects in our skies or being shot down.

One would have thought the U.S. military and intelligence agencies would have used their enormous budgets to look for anything, but, I guess they have been distracted by their march towards Woke.

(NY Post) After four “balloon” shootdowns in nine days, plus official denials after one general said this might be a space-alien thing, only one thing is crystal clear: The Biden administration needs to get out a lot more facts and explanations, or conspiracy theories will run rampant.

The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden has no intention of explaining his decisions. Ridiculous.

Are more balloons suddenly coming, or has US policy changed to a “down them all” approach — and if so, why? You have to fear the White House is simply desperate to show toughness after it got caught trying to let the initial Chinese espionage craft proceed safely.

Don’t expect to get answers from Biden anytime soon.

Read: Brandon Admin Doing A Poor Job Of Informing Congress On Balloons »

Posted in Current Affairs, Joe Biden | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Fault: Climate Emergency May Be Spreading Malaria In Africa

By William Teach February 15, 2023 – 7:15 am

Apparently, malaria was super-isolated before fossil fueled vehicles. Just a few cases. No big deal. But, now, Doom!

How Climate Change Is Spreading Malaria in Africa

Warming temperatures are chasing animals and plants to new habitats, sometimes with devastating consequences to ecosystems. But there is little evidence regarding how far and how fast the invaders might be moving.

A new study offers a glimpse of the future by looking to the past. Mosquitoes that transmit malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have moved to higher elevations by about 6.5 meters (roughly 21 feet) per year and away from the Equator by 4.7 kilometers (about three miles) per year over the past century, according to the study.

You mean the early part of the 20th Century, when we are told that CO2 was below the safe level of 350ppm? And there hadn’t been that much warming? Say, can we compare what’s happening now with what happened during previous Holocene warm periods? And realize that mosquitos are found in most US states, found in Alaska, found in Canada, and have been for about as long as Mankind has been in North America?

That pace is consistent with climate change and may explain why malaria’s range has expanded over the past few decades, the authors said. The results have serious implications for countries that are unprepared to cope with the disease.

Well, now, if only 1st World nations hadn’t made it so 3rd world ones stopped using DDT.

“If this were random, and if it were unrelated to climate, it wouldn’t look as cleanly climate-linked,” said Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security and the paper’s lead author. The study was published on Tuesday in the journal Biology Letters.

Sounds more like climate activism than science, eh? All the other Credentialed Media Warmists got the message

And many more. Africa can solve this by paying taxes and installing more dictators.

Read: Your Fault: Climate Emergency May Be Spreading Malaria In Africa »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Too Good To Check: “Sources” Say Trump Wants Firing Squads, Hangings, And Group Executions

By William Teach February 15, 2023 – 7:00 am

This is obviously just the start of the attacks on Trump, and certainly won’t be the craziest

Trump’s plan for a 2nd term reportedly includes firing squads, hangings, and group executions

As Donald Trump’s second re-election bid begins to pick up steam in the new year, details about the former president’s plans for his return to the White House have begun to emerge — including a new report from Rolling Stone, which alleges Trump has begun polling his advisers on whether he should bring back firing squads, hangings, and even the guillotine should he win in 2024.

Ah. It’s from Rolling Stone, which, at one point, was counter-culture, was against big government. Certainty, they have rock solid sources, right?

According to two sources, the former president has even begun exploring the possibility of group executions, with a third person claiming Trump has expressed interest in a government ad campaign to highlight the administration’s lethality and, per Rolling Stone‘s source, “help put the fear of God into violent criminals.” A Trump campaign spokesperson denied the former president had plans for an execution ad campaign in a statement to Rolling Stone.

So, three un-named sources. Consequently, RS refused to name the Trump spokesperson, who seemed to be going on the record, but, naming that person makes the rest look bad.

This latest report has earned harsh rebukes from some, including journalist Oliver Willis, who called it the “kind of fascist s–t Republican primary voters love.” Citing a 2016 campaign event in which Trump enthusiastically lauded the disproven myth that U.S. General John Pershing summarily executed dozens of Muslim prisoners in the Philippines with ammunition “dipped […] in pig’s blood,” Semafor Washington Bureau Chief Benjy Sarlin wryly noted that now Trump was “moderating his stance ahead of 2024, before he just favored summary executions while defiling the bodies.”

If you’re calling Oliver Willis a journalist, you have no credibility. Semafor leans left.

Could the report be correct? You never know with Trump, and never know if he’s just yammering off the top or really serious. Anyhow, the Rolling Stone piece yammers a lot about prisoners on federal death row. These are horrible people who did horrible things. If a piece is going to run 3 anonymous sources, offer zero proof, it’s exactly what Trump constantly called fake news. And most Americans aren’t going to cry over executing the scum of the earth.

Read: Too Good To Check: “Sources” Say Trump Wants Firing Squads, Hangings, And Group Executions »

Posted in Donald Trump, Journalistic Malpractice | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

We Totally Need Bipartisan Climate Doom Solutions Or Something

By William Teach February 14, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Listen, I’m not necessarily against certain measures if done correctly. I’m not against solar, wind, geothermal, hydrothermal, as long as they are effective, reliable, and inexpensive, without destroying the landscape and waterways. I’m not against EVs, they do not need to be forced on citizens in a Free country. I’m dead set against measures that skyrocket the cost of living and give government more power over citizens. I’m not against doing more for clean air, land, and waters, but, that is an environmental issue, not a climate crisis scam issue. Unfortunately, there are some Republicans who are buying into the scam. This is written by

Ryan Costello, a Republican from Pennsylvania, served in the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019 and was a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus.

Francis Rooney, a Republican from Florida, served in the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021 and was the co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.

And they are no longer in Congress, because they suck

Opinion | How to Make Climate Change a Bipartisan Priority

As a divided Congress gets underway, the environmental movement must confront a fundamental, and perhaps uncomfortable, reality: The U.S. will not be able to successfully address climate change without bipartisanship.

This is not to discount last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats squeezed through Congress without any GOP votes. However, there is still much work to do on climate and likely a decade’s wait, or longer, until Democrats again secure unified control of government. In the last half century, neither party has recaptured full control of Washington, after losing it, in fewer than 10 years. In the post-World War II period, the average time it has taken is 14 years. At this pace, it will be 2033, 2035, or 2037 before Democrats again hold the House, Senate and White House.

They seem rather upset that no Republican voted for the IRA scam, and seem bummed that Democrats won’t control Congress anytime soon, where they can jam through climate BS like the IRA.

We simply cannot wait that long to pass additional climate legislation. The stakes are too high and the time is too short, especially in light of increasingly frequent and visible climate impacts. So relying exclusively on Democrats for continued climate progress would be a strategic blunder. Bipartisanship is the only assured path to decarbonizing at scale and speed.

See? And they are upset that Republicans won’t bend the knee, when Democrats never do.

Despite this reality, the climate movement has done far too little to lay the groundwork for bipartisan action. For years, philanthropists have poured money into progressive climate groups, while largely overlooking opportunities to engage right-of-center communities on this topic. The data bear this out. According to an analysis by Northeastern University, less than 2 percent of climate philanthropy has gone to engaging conservatives on climate change. On a very practical level, this imbalance misses an opportunity to build a broader tent and delays the elevation of climate as a bipartisan priority.

Because Conservatives haven’t drunk the climate koolaid, but, some squishy RINOs have. And there’s lots of whining by the two, especially in terms of why Republicans won’t just capitulate and Do Something, but, it’s short on recommending any actual solutions. They can both f*ck off with their climate cult crap.

From the nexus of climate and trade to pollution pricing to natural climate solutions, there are many promising areas for bipartisan progress. But unless the environmental community embraces this mandate, and dedicates resources and attention accordingly, we will fail to meet the responsibilities of our moment in history.

This is the environmental movement’s vulnerability, but also its opportunity. Building bipartisan routes forward on climate won’t be easy. But it is the work that can, and must, be done.

Funny how the climate emergency is being linked to pretty much everything, right? It’s almost like this has nothing to do with climate or science.

Read: We Totally Need Bipartisan Climate Doom Solutions Or Something »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming, GOP | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove