Bummer: Disinformation Is A “Problem” Government Can’t Touch

By William Teach July 7, 2022 – 10:30 am

The NY Times seems pretty upset that the Ministry of Truth was shot down in flames (you can read the piece at Yahoo, as well)

Disinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington

The memo that reached the top of the Department of Homeland Security in September could not have been clearer about its plan to create a board to monitor national security threats caused by the spread of dangerous disinformation.

The department, it said, “should not attempt to be an all-purpose arbiter of truth in the public arena.”

Yet when Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the disinformation board in April, Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators denounced it as exactly that, calling it an Orwellian attempt to stifle dissenting views. So did some critics from the left, who questioned the powers that such an office might wield in the hands of future Republican administrations.

Within weeks, the new board was dismantled — put on “pause,” officially — undone in part by forces it was meant to combat, including distortions of the board’s intent and powers.

There is wide agreement across the federal government that coordinated disinformation campaigns threaten to exacerbate public health emergencies, stoke ethnic and racial divisions and even undermine democracy itself. The board’s fate, however, has underscored how deeply partisan the issue has become in Washington, making it nearly impossible to consider addressing the threat.

It could have been something that would have worked had it been capable of taking a light touch, but, a) not with far left moonbat Nina Jankowicz in charge (her picture is featured in the article), and b) federal agencies have their own press outlets. We don’t need some central department deciding what is “disinformation” and what isn’t, especially when we’ve seen a bunch of mule fritters coming from the federal government that was not correct, particularly on COVID. The government itself puts out plenty of incorrect, overly-partisan, and crap information. We don’t need a Ministry Of Truth strolling through social media and deciding what to attack.

Heck, elected Democrats were a font of “disinformation”: would Nina’s Orwellian agency go after them, or, would this simply be against Republicans? Democrats spent 4 years pushing Russia Russia Russia, even though it was false.

Opposition came not only from the right, however.

Three rights organizations — Protect Democracy, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Electronic Frontier Foundation — welcomed the department’s recognition of the scale of the problem but cited the department’s “history of flouting the Constitution in flagrant ways” as reason enough to be wary.

“In the wrong hands, such a board would be a potent tool for government censorship and retaliation,” they wrote in a letter to Mayorkas, calling for the department to reconsider the board.

If there’s a chance that the board could do wrong Constitutionally, it doesn’t need to exist. And, we all know it would have done wrong. That was the point. Look at what Democrats want now

Democrats seek to boost media literacy for students, veterans with two new bills

A trio of Democrats introduced two bicameral bills aimed at boosting media literacy skills for students and veterans by providing funding for nationwide educational programs.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a lead sponsor of the bills in the Senate, said Thursday the effort will “help combat disinformation and misinformation campaigns that seek to manipulate perceptions and sow division.”

“These bills will provide students and veterans with the skills they need to make informed decisions about online content and protect themselves from exploitation,” Klobuchar said in a statement.

The bills, introduced with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in the House, would together provide $40 million to federal agencies to fund education programs to improve media literacy for American students and veterans.

So, a Democratic Party initiative to provide a Modern Socialist world view on things they disagree with, what they call disinformation, regardless of how real it is. Attempting to get young kids to buy into that leftist viewpoint. This, at best, skirts the line that says “Congress shall make no law …. or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;… and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It may cross that line in practice. These attempts at thought control piggyback on what they were trying to do with Net Neutrality.

Read: Bummer: Disinformation Is A “Problem” Government Can’t Touch »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Democrats, Government | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Warmists Super Excited To Force Fossil Fuels Workers To Change Their Jobs

By William Teach July 7, 2022 – 7:00 am

Just, wondering, who is going to be the ones to force them?

Save the Climate by Improving Jobs

The most recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change experts have made two things clear: One, any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change requires dramatically reducing the use of fossil fuels. And two, doing this is a political challenge, not a scientific one. Technologies that can reduce emissions exist now; what is absent is the political will to do so. The deep political opposition to reducing fossil-fuel reliance is the direct result of decades of efforts by the fuel industry to sow climate denial, feed misinformation to the public, influence elected officials and “greenwash” its efforts.

Political, huh? Surprise?

But opposition to an energy transition also comes from workers in the fossil-fuel economy and communities that depend on it. They realize that moving away from such fuel use could end their jobs and remove the industry base that pays for crucial local needs such as public education. If society can understand and mitigate these consequences, a strategy called a “just transition” by labor researchers, it can reduce worker opposition to change while also providing needed support to workers and regions that have relied on fossil-fuel dollars.

What if they don’t want to change jobs, to learn to do something different? What if they like what they do? And, the answer to force means the Government will force them. Which is interesting, since the same leftists call everyone else Fascists and authoritarians.

Yet in the face of all this opposition, we are making progress. At the state level, Illinois and New York legislators recently passed laws that require higher wages on every renewable energy project over a certain size. The laws tie general wage standards to renewable energy development. This ensures the jobs created can provide family-sustaining wages and economic security, and it breaks a pattern of low-wage work in the renewable energy sector.

Which raises costs to the consumers. Econ 101.

Why can’t these people just mind their own f’ing business?

Read: Warmists Super Excited To Force Fossil Fuels Workers To Change Their Jobs »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 17 Comments | Trackback URL

Having Relatives Report Highland Park Shooter Threatened To Kill Everyone Is Apparently Not A Reason To Deny A Gun Permit

By William Teach July 7, 2022 – 6:45 am

What’s the point of red flag laws if the government won’t use them? Or even laws that use proper due process? This seems to keep happening in Democratic Party run areas

From the link

The Illinois State Police confirmed on Tuesday that the father of the Highland Park parade shooting suspect sponsored his son’s application for a gun permit months after relatives reported that Robert E. Crimo III had threatened to “kill everyone,” and that authorities had “insufficient basis” to deny the application.

The revelation that Crimo, 21, had at least two previous encounters with law enforcement has raised new questions about how he was able to legally purchase his guns and whether more could have been done to prevent the massacre that killed seven people and injured more than 30.

In September 2019, a family member told Highland Park police that Crimo had threatened to “kill everyone,” said Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. Officers visited Crimo’s home and confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a sword, but made no arrest, Covelli said on Tuesday, because they lacked probable cause. However, they notified Illinois State Police, he said.

And this apparently didn’t make it into the report for when Crimo applied for a gun license.

State police had received a “clear and present danger report” on Crimo after the September incident, but because at the time he did not have a pending application or an active permit, known as a FOID (Firearm Owner’s Identification) card, the agency ruled there was no action it could take. When reviewing Crimo’s application less than six months later, state police officials once again decided there was nothing they could do — this time, the agency said, because Crimo had a sponsor.

Always some excuse. What’s the point of bloviating about wanting red flag laws, universal background checks, etc and so on, getting them in law, and then not using them? And the police continue to make excuses, probably a bit of CYA, well, mostly CYA. Did they consider asking a judge?

At a news conference announcing the initial criminal charges against Crimo, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said Illinois’s red-flag law, which allows loved ones to ask a court to temporarily remove guns from those deemed violent or threatening, is “very powerful.” Yet the law is rarely used.

Interesting, because they use it a lot in Florida, to the point that CNN is happy. Why does Florida have no problem?

Read: Having Relatives Report Highland Park Shooter Threatened To Kill Everyone Is Apparently Not A Reason To Deny A Gun Permit »

Posted in Current Affairs, Democrats | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Fault: Climate Doom Is An Existential Threat To Surfing

By William Teach July 6, 2022 – 3:39 pm

Surfing is something I did a lot growing up, but, now, rarely, since I live so far from the beach. This would almost be enough to turn me into a climate cultist, except it’s still a bunch of mule fritters scaremongering

CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO SURFING

From sea-level rise to extreme weather events and temperatures, climate change threatens the survival of surfing as we know it today.

Surfers are wave watchers and wave chasers by nature. The ultimate goal is to be in rhythm with the ocean, score excellent waves and gain more knowledge about their ever-changing environment in motion.

As our planet shows significant signs of an imbalance, the effects of climate change can be felt more acutely in surfing than in many other sports. In some ways those shifts are bringing more favorable conditions, in other ways, they are eliminating them.

You mean things change on the planet? That never happened before

Environmental conversations and nature conservation is nothing new for surfers, who commonly have a deep connection and respect for the ocean. But while the sport that achieved Olympic status in 2020 continues to invest in greener solutions, it remains miles away from being sustainable.

As the desire for bigger waves increases, so do the ripples that are caused by the demand for a more environmentally-conscious surf industry. More and more big surf brands and competitions are jumping on the environmental bandwagon and supporting a more sustainable future for the surf industry.

I’m good with the environmental part. I’m with them. I love clean water. I’ve been witness to what illegal dumping does as trash, including medical waste (with used needles, one stuck in a buddies board) one time, floats around. I hate jets skis and the oily smell they leave behind, and the rainbow on the water. But, unless they want to give up fossil fueled travel while chasing waves (I’ve been up and down the east coast, as well as Puerto Rico and Barbados), they need to just stop this silly ‘climate change’ adherence. Not to mention all the products they use made with petroleum.

Climate scientists have been studying the warming ocean‘s effect on wind patterns. Their predictions of more frequent and intense tropical storms over the next decade can fuel those Big Wave spots with extra fire. The research remains ongoing, but surfers have already sighted the shift. Last year, pro surfers experienced significantly larger swells during a pumping winter period at Mavericks in California. Despite the changes that were seen in an unusually delayed start, the athletes adapted on a high note to a longer-stretched season, making the most out of more peppery giants and extended training time in the water.

Sounds good, but, of course, in Warmist World, this is a Bad Thing.

“Here in Oaxaca, it’s super hot already so it’s a common topic to talk about heat and sweat and being super muggy all day. I can’t imagine it being hotter. I think it could be actually dangerous to go outside and surf at midday. We do talk about taking care of our skin. The sun is super strong so we tend to use sunscreens that are biodegradable and reef-friendly.”

It’s a whopping 1.5F since 1850. Do you really notice it that much?

Beach erosion, is yet another problem facing surfing. Rising sea levels are washing away sand, infrastructure, swimming pools and houses. But what exactly does that look like? Half of the sandy beaches worldwide could be lost by the year 2100,  according to a report, published in March 2020 in the Nature Climate Change Journal.

Piss off. Beach erosion has always been around, and will always be around. It’s the nature of the Earth. Anyway, lots more scaremongering, because the climate cult cannot help themselves.

Read: Your Fault: Climate Doom Is An Existential Threat To Surfing »

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 6, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a cloudy sky caused by too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Maggie’s Farm, with a post on Wednesday linkage.

Read: If All You See… »

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

Lady Gets Lucky In Highland Park, Calls For Gun Control (That Already Exists)

By William Teach July 6, 2022 – 10:30 am

Of course Lilli Martini is making this all about herself, but, I think we can allow it this time. To a point

Look at My Face and Tell Me We Don’t Need Gun Control

I’d been to the July 4 parade in Highland Park so many times. This time, I went with my cousin and her boyfriend, plus another 5-year-old cousin and her grandmother. We walked in the pets and children’s march that comes right before the main parade and then rushed to our seats in front of Walker Bros. pancake house to take it all in—like I had done almost every year of my life.

The ambulances and police vehicles that kick off the parade came by, then the marching band passed. That’s when we heard it: pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I thought it was fireworks until I saw people ducking. Then people started screaming and running and I felt something hit my face.

She was bleeding quite a bit, as shown in the article and the photos

Eventually, I found my cousin’s boyfriend and he was able to drive me to the hospital. There were no ambulances because so many other people were badly injured. I ended up with six stitches to close a graze wound that the doctor said had been cauterized by the heat of the bullet. I know how lucky I am.

If true, and it wasn’t glass or something (see the photo. It could be the passing of a round, or not), she is lucky

Here is the thing: I am just 18 but this is not the first time I have been close to a mass shooting. In 2016, when a shooter killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando with a semiautomatic rifle, I was 10 minutes away, visiting my dad. In 2017, he was living in Las Vegas when a sniper armed with multiple assault rifles shot up the Route 91 Harvest Festival, killing 60 people; my dad being extremely nearby.

I’m a rising sophomore at a college in Colorado who is planning on a career in education. The massacre in Uvalde, Texas, where someone with an assault rifle killed 19 children and two teachers, weighed heavily on my mind.

That is why on Monday, just hours after the shooting, I posted a photo of my bloody face on Twitter (she is limiting who can view her tweets) with the message: “i cant fucking believe i was in the middle of a mass shooting. ive felt safe at this parade for 18 years and today i got hit with a bullet and nothing will change in america this is ridiculous.”

So, of course she wants stricter laws, and we’re supposed to use her story to do this. But

Highland Park Suspect Was Known to Police; Bought Guns Legally

The man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens of others in a shooting that terrorized a Fourth of July parade had been investigated by the local police before. Officers had responded in 2019 after someone reported that he had tried to kill himself. And they came to his home a few months later — seizing a knife collection — after a family member reported that he had pledged to “kill everyone.”

Still, in the years since, the man, Robert E. Crimo III, 21, was able to legally buy several guns in Illinois, including a high-powered rifle that officials said was used in the attack on Monday in Highland Park, a lakefront suburb north of Chicago. On Tuesday, Mr. Crimo was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

The details of those prior police visits raised questions about whether the Illinois authorities missed opportunities to use their relatively strict firearm laws to block Mr. Crimo’s gun purchases, and about whether a newly signed federal gun law might have made a difference had it been in force earlier. In a statement, the Illinois State Police defended its decision to grant Mr. Crimo a permit to own a gun, which he applied for in December 2019, three months after the police took the knives from his home.

That was the NY Times, showing that, despite all the strict gun control that so many want, including Ms. Martini above, the government failed spectacularly in stopping this guy. Gun control groups love Illinois for their gun control strictness. “Assault rifles” are banned in Highland Park, and the nutter planned this for weeks.

(Breitbart) On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) stated that the red flag law in Illinois is “ineffective” and “it certainly does appear that there was enough information” about the Highland Park shooter “to cause a court to cause law enforcement to go in and take his guns away.” Murphy also stated that the gun law recently passed by the Senate would give incentives for states to adopt laws “that are right now working in states like Florida, working less well, it seems, in states like Illinois.”

Yeah, it’s working in Florida, not so much in most of the Democrat states which do not seem interested in actually doing law and order stuff. It doesn’t help when police fail to enter the information into the database that is used to determine if someone can purchase a firearm.

(Reuters) The man charged with killing seven people at a Chicago-area July Fourth parade slipped past the safeguards of an Illinois “red flag” law designed to prevent people deemed to have violent tendencies from getting guns, officials revealed on Tuesday.

The disclosures raised questions about the adequacy of the state’s “red flag” laws even as a prosecutor lauded the system as “strong” during a news conference announcing seven first-degree murder charges against the 21-year-old suspect, Robert, E. Crimo III.

Any system is only as good as the people involved in it, and, when they fail, bad things can happen.

Read: Lady Gets Lucky In Highland Park, Calls For Gun Control (That Already Exists) »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Liberal World | 34 Comments | Trackback URL

Bummer: US Less Concerned About Climate Crisis (scam) Than Most Of The World

By William Teach July 6, 2022 – 7:15 am

The U.S. pretty much has one the biggest media markets in the world, constantly yammering on about ‘climate change’. It’s in the news, in the opinion section, in TV shows and movies, in specials, in museums, art exhibits, aquariums, posters, you name it. They’ve been spreading awareness for 35+ years. And this is the result

What, me worry? Survey shows US less concerned about climate change than most of the world

While two-thirds of U.S. residents in a new international survey said they were worried about climate change, the nation stood out for being among those least concerned about the warming world.

In the survey of more than 100 countries released last week, some 67.6% of respondents in the United States said they were either “very worried or somewhat worried” about climate change.

Among the 24 western hemisphere countries included in the survey, only Haiti at 67.3% had fewer respondents worried about climate change.

By comparison, 95% of the people surveyed in Mexico and 93% in Chile and Portugal reported they were at least somewhat worried. Only Jordan (48%) and Yemen (31%) showed fewer than half of respondents were concerned.

The survey was conducted on Facebook by its owner, Meta, and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

So, basically they are surveying people using a far left social media outlet, and getting responses they wanted, but, still not enough. Of course, they failed to ask what the political beliefs of the respondents are.

Of all those surveyed in North America, the U.S. had the largest percentage (11%) who said they don’t think climate change is happening. That’s compared with 6% of Canadian respondents and 7% of Haitians.

The problem here is the question, as we see at the survey

After being asked about their current level of knowledge about climate change, respondents were given a short definition of climate change: “Climate change refers to the idea that the world’s average temperature has been increasing over the past 150 years, will increase more in the future, and that the world’s climate will change as a result. What do you think: Do you think climate change is happening?”

I’d answer yes on that. The temperature has gone up. It will probably go up some more, because this is a typical Holocene warm period, and, eventually the world will enter a typical Holocene cool period. When they finally ask the question if it’s mostly caused by Human activities, well, in the U.S. the result is in the 40-50% rate. Oops.

What they should have asked is ” are you will to change your own life significantly to match your beliefs?” That’s rather important. People may believe in theory, but, they aren’t will to put this into practice.

Read: Bummer: US Less Concerned About Climate Crisis (scam) Than Most Of The World »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

10% Say Biden’s American Is Heading In The Right Direction

By William Teach July 6, 2022 – 7:00 am

The 10% must be the celebs and rich folks making money off the misery of Americans

Only 10 Percent Say Joe Biden’s America Is Headed in Right Direction, Worst Result Since 2013

Only 10 percent of Americans say President Joe Biden’s America is headed in the right direction, according to a Tuesday Monmouth poll.

While few Americans are pleased with the direction of the nation, 88 percent say Biden’s America is headed in the wrong direction, marking the worst polling on the issue since 2013 when Barack Obama was president.

The poll sampled 978 Americans from June 23 to 27 with a 3.1-point margin of error. The polled respondents disproportionally leaned left. Thirty-one percent identified as Democrats, 43 percent as independents, and only 26 percent as Republicans.

Under Biden’s leadership, the nation continues to suffer under 40-year-high inflation. The southern border remains unsecured, fentanyl has become the greatest killer among 18 to 45-year-olds, gas prices have increased to all-time highs, weekly wages have shrunk, and supply chain woes have persisted.

Who was vice president in 2013? A lot of people were pretty sure they made a big mistake in voting Obama in 2013, too.

Polling suggests that the likely reason Biden’s approval rating has not recovered is the economy. The Monmouth poll found America’s top three concerns are inflation (30 percent), gas prices (15 percent), and the economy (nine percent). The top concerns outweighed abortion (five percent) and guns (three percent).

Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe Biden’s federal government policies have “hurt their family when it comes to their most important concern.” Only eight percent said Biden’s government “has helped” them, while 34 percent said Biden’s policies have had no impact on alleviating their concerns.

If Democrats think abortion, ‘climate change’, and gun grabbing will help them in the mid-terms, they are sorely mistaken. If they think blaming everyone and everything but Biden and themselves for the poor economic conditions, they are barking up a wind turbine. They’re only hope is that the economy turns around by November. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them try and reduce vote by mail, because they want those votes at the very last second. Interestingly, vote by mail, done legally and in a controlled manner, will seriously assist Republicans. They want people to vote GOP early.

Read: 10% Say Biden’s American Is Heading In The Right Direction »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 5, 2022 – 8:00 pm

…is hurting yourself and all sorts of health issues due to ‘climate change’, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on libs traumatized by July 4th flags.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Excitable Paul Krugman: Climate Change Is Bringing The Apocalypse

By William Teach July 5, 2022 – 3:00 pm

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the screed by Krugman says, the headline caught my attention

Another Step Toward Climate Apocalypse

Do we care what this nutter is writing?

We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave. Also a temperate heat wave and an Arctic heat wave, with temperatures reaching the high 80s in northern Norway. The megadrought in the Western United States has reduced Lake Mead to a small fraction of its former size, and it now threatens to become a “dead pool” that can no longer supply water to major cities. Climate change is already doing immense damage, and it’s probably only a matter of time before we experience huge catastrophes that take thousands of lives.

And the Republican majority on the Supreme Court just voted to limit the Biden administration’s ability to do anything about it.

Damned the court for upholding the Constitution! We have doomsday cult rules to put in place. Ones that never seem to affect the rich folks, ones they never voluntarily follow, but, hey, sure, why not?

And partisanship is the central problem of climate policy. Yes, Joe Manchin stands in the way of advancing the Biden climate agenda. But if there were even a handful of Republican senators willing to support climate action, Manchin wouldn’t matter, and neither would the Supreme Court: Simple legislation could establish regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions and provide subsidies and maybe even impose taxes to encourage the transition to a green economy. So ultimately our paralysis in the face of what looks more and more like a looming apocalypse comes down to the G.O.P.’s adamant opposition to any kind of action.

The question is, how did letting the planet burn become a key G.O.P. tenet?

OK, this is all about politics. Which should be no shocker to anyone paying attention. It’s been about politics since the Soviet Union fell and and far left joined the environmental movement. Watermelons: green on the outside, red on the inside.

Why, exactly, are authoritarian right-wing parties anti-environment? That’s a discussion for another day. What’s important right now is that the United States is the only major nation in which an authoritarian right-wing party — which lost the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections yet controls the Supreme Court — has the ability to block actions that might prevent climate catastrophe.

Got that? Requiring the Legislative Branch to do its job and restricting the Executive Branch from creating unauthorized Big Rules is authoritarian.

Meanwhile, more unhinged doomsday cultists

Read: Excitable Paul Krugman: Climate Change Is Bringing The Apocalypse »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 25 Comments | Trackback URL
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