…is a scary looking sky from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Legal Insurrection, with a post on the Martha’s Vineyard’s Citizens For Sanity ad. Progressive or parody?
Read: If All You See… »
…is a scary looking sky from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Legal Insurrection, with a post on the Martha’s Vineyard’s Citizens For Sanity ad. Progressive or parody?
Read: If All You See… »
This has given LA Times columnist Nicholas Goldberg a big sad
Nicholas Goldberg: Americans don’t care about climate change. Here’s how to wake them up
Why is the greatest threat to the planet of so little concern to most Americans?
It couldn’t possibly be due to the fact that those pushing this the hardest seem to always fail to mention what they’ve done in their own lives, could it? That they show themselves as climahypocrites? That they want Other People to be forced to practice the beliefs that the Warmists won’t?
It’s shocking, frankly, that global warming ranks 24th on a list of 29 issues that voters say they’ll think about when deciding whom to vote for in November, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Only 30% of voters say they are “very worried” about it and more than two-thirds say they “rarely” or “never” discuss the issue with family or friends.
No, it really isn’t. When a slight increase in global temperatures in 170 years is matched up against real issues it loses. Many care about it in theory, but, not in practice. And this is after 30+ years of fearmongering, which has really gotten bad over the last 10 or so
How can people be so blithely unconcerned when the clear consensus of scientists is that climate disruption is reaching crisis levels and will result not only in more raging storms, droughts, wildfires and heat waves, but very possibly in famine, mass migration, collapsing economies and war?
Because science is not consensus, and, if it was all so bad, people like Nicholas would tell us how they’ve started driving an EV and made their lives carbon neutral. I’ve read a lot of ‘climate change’ articles over the years. A lot. And of all those, perhaps less than .5% mention what these people have actually done in their own lives.
In his forthcoming book, “The Activist’s Media Handbook,” due out in November, David Fenton says that the forces trying to rouse the world to fight climate change — including philanthropic foundations, environmental organizations and activist groups, among others — have by and large ignored the most rudimentary tenets of marketing and advertising, to their detriment and the planet’s.
That’s because they believe that the business of selling ideas is fundamentally dirty, manipulative and beneath them.
They’re convinced that data, truth and evidence are what matter, Fenton says. To them (and we’re talking here about lots of well-intentioned lawyers, scientists and people who studied the humanities), good ideas sell themselves.
But, see, they don’t provide data, truth, and evidence. They rely on scaremongering, doomsaying, computer models, crystal ball, and a failure to, yes, practice what they preach. And, among the same old ideas, such as keeping the message simple, Nicholas never recommends that practicing what you preach idea.
Read: LA Times: Americans Don’t Care About Climate Doom Or Something »
Seriously, do these people understand how bat-guano-shit insane they appear?
The Best Way To Save The Constitution From Donald Trump Is To Rewrite It
Perhaps you have wandered through much of your life only mildly aware and mostly indifferent to the fact that there is something called Constitution Day. If so, consider me a fellow traveler.
But in these times, in the wake of the Jan. 6 committee’s work exposing Donald Trump’s assaults on rule of law and the orderly transition of power, many responsible people have concluded that Constitution Day complacency is a privilege we can no longer afford. The official holiday was Sept. 17 (you knew that, right?) and in the week before and continuing this week there have been a gusher of speeches and symposiums devoted to extolling the Constitution and illuminating the threats to it. (snip)
The occasion underlined two related Trump-era paradoxes that likely will shape our politics long after Trump’s shadow lifts.
First, Trump is properly seen as a constitutional menace, but from a progressive perspective many of the most offensive features of his tenure were not in defiance of the Constitution. Instead, they flowed directly from its most problematic provisions. He was in office in the first place because the presidency is chosen by the Electoral College rather than by the popular vote. His influence will live for decades because partisan manipulation of the Senate’s judicial confirmation power gave him three Supreme Court justices, who have no term limits and face no practical mechanisms of accountability. Like some other presidents, but more so, he used the Constitution’s absolute pardon power for nakedly self-interested reasons. In short, Trump may be an enemy of the Constitution but he is also the president who most zealously exploited its defects.
Obviously, getting rid of the Electoral College is a big thing for the Progressives (nice Fascists), who aren’t happy that they can lose playing by the established rules
Correcting or circumventing what progressives reasonably perceive as the infirmities of the Constitution, in fact, seems likely to be the preeminent liberal objective of the next generation. Progress on issues ranging from climate change to ensuring that technology giants act in the public interest will hinge on creating a new constitutional consensus. Trying to place more sympathetic justices on the Supreme Court is not likely to be a fully adequate remedy. There are more fundamental challenges embedded in the document itself — in particular the outsized power it gives to states, at a time when the most urgent problems and most credible remedies are national in character.
They are likewise unhappy they can’t jam their unhinged agenda through at the national level. They talk a lot about “democracy”, but, aren’t happy they can’t get it through playing by the established rules.
Here, though, is where the breakdown in constitutional consensus becomes potentially climactic — as it did during the Civil War, and threatened to in the New Deal. Popular majority or no, most of those amendments would be opposed by conservatives — which under the terms of the existing Constitution means they likely would not pass. It takes three quarters of the states to approve an amendment, a provision that gives many small, conservative states wildly disproportionate power over the fate of the nation.
This is hardly a new problem, but it is one that threatens to reach a breaking point. The political scientist Norman Ornstein has popularized an arresting statistic, one that is validated by demographic experts. By 2040, 70 percent of Americans will live in just 15 states. That means 30 percent of the population — coming from places that are less diverse and more conservative — will choose 70 senators. Already each senator from Wyoming, the least populous state, exercises his power on behalf of less than 600,000 people, while each senator from California, the most populous, represents nearly 40 million. This distortion of democracy, already hard to defend, could become the defining feature of national life.
See, it’s a big problem that the system works as written
But there are other ways short of violent rupture to survive those moments, as now, when the Constitution no longer reflects the imperatives of the moment. One of those ways is when artful improvisation creates a new consensus. The Supreme Court struck down much of FDR’s initial program, but the New Deal’s core assumption — that we live in a national economy with a robust and responsive national government — prevailed, helped along by a dramatically new understanding of the interstate commerce clause. Another way to survive is good luck. In the Cold War, presidents had (and still have) a power never contemplated in the Constitution — the ability to blow up the world with nuclear bombs on command, in minutes, with no approval by Congress or anyone else.
In other words, they’re say F the Constitution, just do as they want. Because Trump, you know.
Read: TDS: We Can Save The Nation From Trump By Rewriting The Constitution »
They could all give up their use of fossil fueled travel (especially for selfies at places they don’t care about, just wanting the picture), stop using so much electricity for streaming videos, and so much more, making their lives carbon neutral, right?
Millennials and Gen Z want to stop a climate catastrophe. But first they have to get elected.
When a group of young climate activists confronted Dianne Feinstein at her San Francisco office in 2019, the six-term Democratic senator cited her deep experience in Washington in refusing their demand that she endorse the Green New Deal.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what I’m doing,” Feinstein, then 85, told the students. “You come in here and you say, ‘It has to be my way or the highway.’ I don’t respond to that. I’ve gotten elected, I just ran, I was elected by almost a million-vote plurality, and I know what I’m doing. So, you know, maybe people should listen a little bit.”
Feinstein added that the Green New Deal, a package of aggressive environmental reforms championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, would die at the hands of Senate Republicans.
“You can take that back to whoever sent you here,” the senator told Isha Clarke, a 16-year-old student from Oakland.
One student protested that Feinstein should instead listen to her constituents.
“You didn’t vote for me,” Feinstein chided.
On one hand, that really shows what federally elected officials think. That they’re better than the average person, that they do not need to listen to the citizens of their states, that they are not beholden to them. Especially Democrats. On the other hand, these children invaded her office, refused to leave, and Demanded not only an audience, but, that Feinstein do what they say. They’re children, they really have no life experience, and it’s a pretty poor way to get someone to listen. Feinstein should have asked them what they’re doing in their own lives.
Clarke, now a sophomore at Howard University and cofounder of Youth vs. Apocalypse, told Insider the protest got a “huge reaction” from the public.
“We are literally facing the end of humanity and politicians are like, ‘Sorry, no can do’ in the face of people who it’s going to impact,” Clarke said.
The nonbinding Green New Deal resolution, meanwhile, went nowhere — just as Feinstein predicted.
The episode illustrates the tension between the nation’s youngest Americans, who are demanding political action on a huge scale to fight the planet’s climate crisis, and aging government leaders who don’t share their sense of urgency.
So, basically, instead of making their own lives carbon neutral, they need to get elected to force their Beliefs on Everyone Else. And then there’s Youth vs. Apocalypse (non-paywalled at Yahoo)
The spread of ‘climate doom’ on TikTok is hurting the climate justice movement – and Gen Z
…
The climate crisis has become quite the hot topic on social media apps like Twitter and Instagram. On TikTok, the hashtag #ClimateChange has about 3 billion views, with countless videos under it. Many posts revolving around the climate crisis depict a teen dramatically posing while a sad song plays in the background. “None of our efforts are helping the climate crisis, the world is ending, there’s no point in even trying anymore” is plastered across the screen in bold text. We’re all viewing this content – and internalizing it, whether we like it or not.
“Climate doomism” is the idea that global warming is so advanced that any effort to combat it is meaningless. According to environmentalist Isais Hernandez, it “is often used as a scare tactic to disempower collectivized communities on their journey for environmental liberation.” (snip)
While some say videos that spread fear can be a call to action, they also often cause people to lose motivation with the climate crisis. Ultimately, people might give up their efforts because they think they will not have a lasting impact. To be clear, the grave effects of climate change need to be emphasized. But when videos that do nothing but spread fear gain thousands of likes, harm is done.
The adults have turned these kids into emotional messes, freaking about something that’s not going to happen. And making it worse by freaking themselves out. All while refusing to do much of anything in their own lives.
Read: Millennials And Gen Z Need To Get Elected To Do Something About Climate Doom »
…are Evil fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Gen Z Conservative, with a post a woman covered in tattoos complaining she can’t get a job.
Please stop doing the hand up near the head/grabbing hair thing. It just looks so awkward.
Read: If All You See… »
It continues to be funny that sanctuary cities are losing their minds over receiving a fraction of the number of illegals/migrants that the border state cities are getting. What about all the small towns who received a bunch via Biden’s dead of night flights?
Dem strongholds beg the White House for help with migrants
Blue cities for months have pleaded for help from the White House as they struggle with the massive influx of migrants. They claim they’re still waiting.
Since the summer, mayors in Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., have faced massive strains on their shelters and health services after Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott bused thousands of migrants to their cities from the southern border.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, this week said the situation is so dire that he suggested housing migrants on cruise ships to help alleviate the crisis.
“We do need help. We need the federal government, the state government, to play a role,” Adams told reporters on Tuesday. “This is a humanitarian crisis created by human hands.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, also a Democrat, last week said that she met with officials at the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies and “made it very clear” that they need a plan to help.
“We need federal support, resources, communication and collaboration,” she said. “And that has to come in short order.” But that can’t happen, however, until the city first applies for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Cue the tiny violins. They got what they wanted. They said all illegals are welcome. Abbott and DeSantis sent them a bunch. Now they don’t want them?
Abbott’s move has burdened resources and drawn outrage from city leaders, who say the Texas GOP governor and DeSantis are using migrants as pawns in their political stunts. The Republican governors, who are both running for reelection this year, have said they’re trying to draw attention to the Biden administration’s border policies — but the Democratic city leaders say the transports are creating a humanitarian crisis.
See, it’s a political stunt. It is. And it’s worked. It’s shown the hypocrisy of Democrats who support open borders and unfettered immigration. They’re getting a small taste of what those border cities are dealing with. Will it change minds among Independents and some Democrats?
“What our country needs is for Congress to fix the immigration system,” Bowser said in a statement after the vote. “We also encourage the Administration to fulfill the requests of cities and states that are receiving buses and planes with no coordination or notification from those sending them.”
Correct. We need to fix it so that people cannot simply show up and demand asylum, which most won’t qualify for, and be let into the country, after which most will simply disappear and blow off their hearings. Then demand legal status years down the line, demand citizenship for their children. Let them apply for asylum outside of the U.S. If you’re caught crossing the border, you’re immediately put back across the border.
Read: LOL: Democrat Strongholds Begging White House For Help With “Migrants” »
California is a on a serious roll. I just have to wonder, if it’s so darned important why not ban the sale now? How about banning the use of big rigs? You know, if Saving Earth From Climate Doom is so important?
California seeks to ban sales of diesel big rigs in a bold bid to cut pollution
Saying they had a “moral obligation,” California regulators could soon ban the sale of diesel big rigs by 2040, ending a long reliance on the polluting vehicles that are the backbone of the American economy.
The proposal by staff of the California Air Resources Board would further require that, by 2035, medium- and heavy-duty trucks entering ports and railyards must be zero emission and that state and local government fleets be so by 2027.
The new regulations would likely demand a radical buildup of electric charging infrastructure, placing new stresses on California’s already fragile power grid and force the trucking industry to reshape how it does business. Regulators and activists say any disruption would ultimately be outweighed by lives and money saved.
It’s very easy to say this, but, once the price hikes hit, it’ll be real. Once truckers decide to blow off California ports (which is already a problem with the existing PRC requirements) and it’s harder to get goods, it’ll be real. If Mexico is smart, they’ll work to make ports for ships, with special access and roads for truckers, reduced or no tariffs, moving the goods through New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas
“Pound for pound, heavy-duty trucks are putting out far more pollution than anything else on the road,” said Will Barrett, national senior director for clean air advocacy with the American Lung Assn. “And that’s really directly contributing to the fact that California has the worst air pollution in the country.”
The California Air Resources Board, which must vote on the truck proposal, is expected to consider it Oct. 27.
You know this will pass. And, in fairness, the non-greenhouse gas elements of their exhausts are bad for air quality, but, much better than they used to be. It’s just a matter of not really having an alternative that works as well, as dependable, and affordable, nor is there the infrastructure available.
Remember, all the members are appointed, not elected, so, they have zero accountability to the citizens, and can make massive decisions all on their own. And I still have not seen any reporter ask any of the members if they’ve switched to electric vehicles in their own lives.
Read: People’s Republik Of California Looks To Ban Big Rig Sales »
I’m sure Joe will be laser focused on fixing it, right?
In case anyone thought that sky-high inflation would be easy to control this year, Bank of America has some bad news for you.
“The inflation genie is out of the bottle,” researchers at the bank wrote in a Wednesday research note, adding that it could be a long time before it goes back to normal.
The team of analysts, led by Athanasios Vamvakidis, studied cases of inflation in advanced economies above 5% from the 1980s to 2000s. They found that on average it took 10 years to bring inflation down to 2%.
“The consensus still expects G10 inflation to drop to 2% by 2024, but we are concerned it could take longer,” analysts wrote.
They added that with formidable rates around the world—the U.S. year-over-year inflation rate is at 8.3%, while the UK’s is at 9.9%— central banks around the world are “not in full control” of inflation, and wrote that policy tightening has its limits.
I’m sure Joe and the Democrats will pass legislation that will totally help the situation, right? Or, they could let in more migrants who deflate earnings while the cost of living goes up
The analysts did not give an exact timeline for when they believed U.S. inflation could be brought under control. But out of the two possible scenarios—either positive a “soft landing” for the economy if interest rates go down, or a negative “hard landing” if they continue to increase and the Fed is forced to continue to raise rates—the researchers offered an ominous prediction.
“Our baseline is the positive scenario, but risks for the negative scenario are increasing, in our view,” the team wrote, adding that the rest of the year’s inflation data would help them decide which scenario would unfold.
I don’t want to hear any Biden voters, nor the “Republicans” who were Never Trumpers, complain. This is on you.
Oh, and the Democrats, along with some idiot Republicans, are not helping
(AP) In a major action to address climate change, the Senate on Wednesday ratified an international agreement that compels the United States and other countries to limit use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are far more powerful than carbon dioxide.
The so-called Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution requires participating nations to phase down production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs, by 85% over the next 14 years, as part of a global phaseout intended to slow climate change.
The Senate approved the treaty, 69-27, above the two-thirds margin required for ratification.
In normal times, this wouldn’t be a problem, but, now, this will significantly raise the cost of air conditioning and anything remotely involved.
You just knew this was coming, right? It’s traditional. Expected. Invariable. Unfailing. The climate cult’s orthodoxy
Hurricane Fiona is a harbinger of climate future
For the second time in five years, Puerto Rico has been blasted with a massive hurricane, causing widespread flooding and power outages, and the increasing severity of these storms is caused by climate change, according to studies.
The island, a U.S. territory that has still not fully recovered from Hurricane Maria in 2017, was hit by Hurricane Fiona on Monday. Parts of Puerto Rico received 30 inches of rain, causing landslides and overflowing rivers. Some rural roads have become impassable and have stranded residents. As of Tuesday morning, 1.17 million of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million utility customers were without electricity, according to estimates from PowerOutage.us.
Hundreds of Puerto Ricans have been forced from their homes, and the storm is gaining strength as it moves eastward to the Dominican Republic and north to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned of “life-threatening” flooding in those nations on Tuesday. Now a Category 3 storm, with winds reaching 115 miles per hour, it has caused deaths in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe. (snip)
The Caribbean has always experienced hurricanes in late summer, but the storms have become more intense, on average, as a result of global warming. For each additional degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of temperature, the air holds 7% more moisture. More water in the air leads to stronger storms. According to NASA, the average global temperature has risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the Industrial Revolution, as humans have emitted heat-trapping gases by burning fossil fuels.
Storms are also made stronger by warmer ocean temperatures, which provide the energy that powers hurricanes.
Just because someone says something doesn’t mean it’s true. Yes, temperatures have risen, but, there’s no hard proof obtained using the scientific method that it was mostly/solely caused by the actions of mankind, especially fossil fuels. If fossil fuels are so bad then why haven’t all the Warmists stopped using them themselves? The first recorded was Hurricane San Roque in August of 1508. And many since, because of where Puerto Rico is. Though, it doesn’t get as many as you would think because of different factors. The strongest was Hurricane San Felipe II in 1928, the only category 5, which killed 312 (Maria in 2017 was a category 4 at landfall).
Last year, a study of satellite images going back to 1979, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that climate change had increased the chance that a hurricane would reach Category 3 or higher by roughly 8% each decade. A Category 3 hurricane is defined as one with sustained winds of at least 110 mph.
What about all the other storms since the beginning of the Modern Warm Period in 1850? Can we compare this to tropical systems in the Little Ice Age? How about the Medievel Warm Period and Roman Warm Period? Rather important to have those baselines and comparisons, to see if this is different. Of course, the climate cultists need neither science nor proof, because it’s all about scaremongering.
Read: Hurricane Fiona Is Harbinger Of Climate Doom Or Something »