Portland Is Taking On Climate Doom Causing Concrete

By William Teach June 29, 2022 – 7:15 am

It would probably be in Portland’s best interest to take on things like their rising crime rate. Neighborhood Scout rates them as a 3, meaning they are safer than just 3% of U.S. cities. That is not good. Not good at all. They’re still down a lot of police officers, and more are leaving. The constant violent protests. The massive homelessness. And so much more. No, they go with

How Portland is fighting climate change by tackling concrete

unintended consequencesWith concrete used throughout the city of Portland, city staff and leaders are re-thinking how concrete usage impacts the city’s carbon footprint.

According to an announcement by the city, chief engineers from Portland’s infrastructure bureaus approved recommendations to add specific concrete requirements for all city construction projects.

The recommendation is apart of Portland’s commitment to climate action and climate leadership, added the press release.

“Most of us don’t think much about the concrete beneath our feet,” said Stacey Foreman, who leads the project as the city’s sustainable procurement program manager. “As the most widely used building material in the world, it has a significant environmental impact. Portland is a leader in establishing these thresholds and in our approach of bringing multiple stakeholders together to develop them.”

The city explained that the largest component of concrete is cement. This means cement production alone generates 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the announcement.

So, what are they going to do?

“When considering all city projects that use concrete, the annual reduction is significant. The city uses concrete for a high volume of projects, including sidewalks and ADA ramps, bicycle and pedestrian paths, fire hydrant pads, retaining walls for parks, and large infrastructure projects such as the Water Bureau’s Bull Run filtration facility and the Bureau of Environmental Services’ wastewater and stormwater infrastructure,” said the press release. “By adopting higher sustainability standards for concrete, bureaus will accelerate their use of concrete that is durable and that has been manufactured with lower climate impacts.”

So, more sustainable blah blah blah. You know what this really means? More expensive construction. It is already super expensive in Portland. This will drive up the cost of driveways and home foundations. And lots of little things, like the pad an AC sits on. And then the price of public works. Oh, and then commercial buildings, for which the companies will simply build outside of the city limits. Eroding the tax base. Good job, Warmists.

Read: Portland Is Taking On Climate Doom Causing Concrete »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden’s HHS Head Unveils Abortion Plan Or Something

By William Teach June 29, 2022 – 7:00 am

The Yahoo front page blurb for the article is Biden’s health secretary unveils abortion ‘action plan‘, which both Yahoo and ABC changed the headline. The URL’s sat

  • https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bidens-health-secretary-unveil-action-plan-abortion-access/story?id=85850353
  • https://www.yahoo.com/gma/bidens-health-secretary-unveil-action-145857371.html

But, I guess they thought “um, they don’t actually have a plan

Biden’s health secretary tells reporters ‘there is no magic bullet’ on abortion

Health Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Tuesday that there’s no “magic bullet” that could restore Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, but said the administration was still working with its top legal advisers to explore every option, including ways to increase access to medication abortion.

“Stay tuned,” he said.

Becerra has announced several steps aimed at protecting existing protections for women, including ensuring that pregnant patients can get emergency medical care and safeguarding patient privacy. In his remarks, Becerra also noted that federal law allows for abortions through its Medicaid program in cases of rape and incest — a standard at odds with states like Arkansas.

The actions though were not expected to open abortion access to most women in states that have banned it.

Let me get this straight: the Brandon admin knew a decision was coming down months and months ago. They had to think there was a good chance the Constitution conservative judges would knock Roe down. The leak happened on May 3rd, so, they had almost 2 months to put a plan together. And this is all they have? I guess that’s a good thing for the pro-life side, but, it mimics almost everything else this admin is doing, whether it’s baby formula, inflation, food prices, you name it, always behind.

Just 1% obtain an abortion due to rape, and .5% from incest, per a USA Today report. Only about 6% are for the true health of the mother. So, the vast majority are for convenience. It’d be a hell of a lot more convenient if they used contraception, with is readily available and affordable in 2022.

When pressed by ABC Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce on why he didn’t have more concrete proposals if the ruling was predictable, Becerra noted that he wanted to ensure the administration was on firm legal ground.

Yeah, they had almost 2 months to do this since the leak. And, now, they really do not have much, because the ruling said this is a state’s rights issue, not a federal one. It’s up to the states to decide.

Becerra’s comments are likely to be a steep disappointment for progressives after he promised to take action in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

“How we respond will speak to how we view the rights, the dignity and the well-being of women everywhere,” he said, before taking questions from reporters. “At HHS, we will leave no stone unturned.”

Dignity? We’ve seen the videos

Plenty more of this trash out there.

Read: Biden’s HHS Head Unveils Abortion Plan Or Something »

Posted in Joe Biden, Unhinged Tools | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

LG SP8YA Soundbar With Dolby Atmos

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 7:40 pm

I mentioned looking to upgrade my soundbar a couple weeks ago with a Vizio 5.1 with Dolby Atmos, then returning it. I lately gave the LG SP8YA 3.1 a try. It’s one heck of a great deal on Amazon. Normally $799, it’s on sale for $379. If this is something you’re looking for without spending a heck of a lot, great deal. Both are. While the Vizio tends to get rated a little bit higher on sound quality, I think the LG was a little better. Bigger speakers, and the upfiring Atmos speakers are at the ends of the bar, rather than near the center. It’s a much bigger bar than the Vizio, giving bigger internal speakers. Also, I did not have the problem with the volume levels like with the Vizio. If it was something which I would normally play at level 10 on the existing soundbar, would be the same with the LG. Though, a few things had differences, especially between the commercials and the content.

The upfiring Atmos speakers worked well, even on non-Atmos content. I played Carnival Row, which is Atmos. Survivor episodes on Paramount Plus. Some Hell’s Kitchen. The Tomorrow War. A few other things. Also, The Lord Of The Rings via the Blue Ray player, the songs Heavy And Hell from Black Sabbath (really provides great resonant bass) and Aja by Steely Dan (great all around for setting up any sound system). Did sound fantastic. The subwoofer provided great bass, more resonant than thumping, which is the way I like it.

However, just like with the Vizio, “after getting it all set up, the first thing I noticed was that all the voice was coming from the center.” It wasn’t quite as centered as listening to an Echo Dot, but, definitely noticeable that the voice was coming from a specific area, rather than the whole soundbar. I turned the volume down on the center, just still couldn’t do it. I just do not like it separated as such. 3.1 or higher is not for me.

If you do like this, you can also get surround speakers that connect wirelessly.

It’s going back, and I’m going to give the Philips B8405 a shot. it is a 2.1, and one of the few with Atmos. And it uses what’s called Play-Fi, so can hook up a wide variety of satellite speakers.

To be clear, the way it works is that a system with a 2.0 means that all the sound comes out of all the speakers. A lot of people think it means 2 speakers. Let’s say you have a stereo receiver with 2 speakers. All the sound comes from both, right? Now you add 2 more speakers. It’s still a 2.0 system. Add a subwoofer and it’s 2.1. Most 2.0 soundbars have 3 speakers in them. A 3.1 has left, right, and a center channel. It might have more than speakers, but, it is separated into the channels to give a more surround sound. The center isolates the voice, to make it clearer. And it does. A 5.0 adds more.

BTW, it’s also wise to hook your TV into the ARC HDMI of the soundbar and ARC on the TV, that way you have the sound and video passing through that cable, and can control both with fewer remotes. Many soundbars have a second HDMI port, so, that gives you an extra device to hook up. Most receivers these days have multiple HDMI inputs, including an ARC, so you can hook up more devises.

Read: LG SP8YA Soundbar With Dolby Atmos »

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Your Fault: Every Heat Wave Is Now Worse

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 3:00 pm

I’d ask if they were comparing the heat waves during this warm period with previous Holocene warm periods, but, first, that is almost impossible, and second, the climate cultists wouldn’t care, yammering on about this time being different because you won’t give up your fossil fueled vehicle, money, and freedom (it’s behind the paywall, but, you can save it to Pocket and read the whole thing)

Every heatwave occurring today is more intense due to climate change

Every heatwave today was made more likely by climate change and there is no longer a need to wait for studies to tease out global warming’s role in individual extreme heat episodes, according to the scientist who pioneered such studies.

Researchers usually caution against blaming specific extreme weather events on climate change. Heatwaves in China and Japan this week would not usually have been considered caused by climate change before “attribution studies” are run to model the difference in likelihood of the heatwaves between a world with our changed climate and one without. Such studies have come of age in the last decade, led by Friederike Otto of Imperial College London, and can now be turned around in days.

However, Otto says for heatwaves at least, we no longer need to wait before declaring climate change’s role. “I think we can very confidently now say that every heatwave that is occurring today has been made more intense, and more likely because of climate change,” she says. While changes to land use might after affect the likelihood, she adds: “There is no doubt that climate change is really an absolute game-changer when it comes to heatwaves.”

Science, schmience, just take our word for it, peons. They’ve apparently been doing “research” for decades, but, there is not control group, there is no comparison to previous warm periods. They aren’t even comparing it to the very hot 1930’s.

Most severe droughts around the world, by comparison, are not attributable to climate change, the review found. And neither are most wildfires, with a high confidence in a climate link only found in increasingly frequent fires in the western US. However, heavy rainfall events have been found to have increased in most part of the world due to climate change, and nowhere on Earth has the likelhilhood strongly decreased.

Hmm, that’s interesting. Of course, the Warmists will still blame those on anthropogenic climate change, including all the western fires that have all pretty much been set intentionally or unintentionally by humans.

Read: Your Fault: Every Heat Wave Is Now Worse »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is what might be a horrible oil rig causing Bad Weather clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Chicks On The Right, with a post on a 29 year old trans beating a 13 year old girl in a skateboarding competition.

Read: If All You See… »

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

Supreme Court Destroying Mythical Separation Of Church And State Or Something

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 10:30 am

There are just so, so, so many hot takes on abortion, they keep coming and coming, like

Abortion returns to the states, but states can’t make gun decisions? This is the Trump Court.

Abortion doesn’t appear in the Constitution; guns do. While the 1st Amendment was meant to apply to the federal congress, meaning that states could, in fact, limit what is mentioned in the 1st, the other 9 original Amendments applied to the entire Republic. Anyhow, here’s a hot take on religion rulings

U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at separation of church and state

Bill Of RightsThe conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court has chipped away at the wall separating church and state in a series of new rulings, eroding American legal traditions intended to prevent government officials from promoting any particular faith.

In three decisions in the past eight weeks, the court has ruled against government officials whose policies and actions were taken to avoid violating the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition on governmental endorsement of religion – known as the “establishment clause.”

The court on Monday backed a Washington state public high school football coach who was suspended by a local school district for refusing to stop leading Christian prayers with players on the field after games.

On June 21, it endorsed taxpayer money paying for students to attend religious schools under a Maine tuition assistance program in rural areas lacking nearby public high schools.

On May 2, it ruled in favor of a Christian group that sought to fly a flag emblazoned with a cross at Boston city hall under a program aimed at promoting diversity and tolerance among the city’s different communities.

Too bad there’s not a law that people have to read and understand the U.S. Constitution before opining on it. There is no separation of church and state. That derives from a letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, and what he meant was that government should not be promoting one specific branch of Christianity over another. Jefferson remembered the influence of the Church of England on the British government, which is where the “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” part comes from. It’s the very first thing the Bill of Rights says. Meaning government shall not take sides in religion, and shall not pick one over another (back then it was about Christian denominations). Nor will it declare one as the true one over others.

If they wanted to provide taxpayer money to religious schools, it would be fine, as long as it made it available to all. And Maine’s Constitution is similar. If they are going to make this money available, and the parents want to send their kids to those schools, there should be no problem. The government is not endorsing religion, they are not establishing it.

The very next part of the 1st Amendment states “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. Meaning, government cannot interfere, and it doesn’t matter if the person in question is a public employee on government land. The coach was not forcing players to pray, and the players who did participate did so voluntarily and willingly, as they stated in court. Interestingly, though, the Washington Constitution may actually preclude what the coach did, stating

SECTION 11 RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship, shall be guaranteed to every individual, and no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state. No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise or instruction, or the support of any religious establishment: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That this article shall not be so construed as to forbid the employment by the state of a chaplain for such of the state custodial, correctional, and mental institutions, or by a county’s or public hospital district’s hospital, health care facility, or hospice, as in the discretion of the legislature may seem justified. No religious qualification shall be required for any public office or employment, nor shall any person be incompetent as a witness or juror, in consequence of his opinion on matters of religion, nor be questioned in any court of justice touching his religious belief to affect the weight of his testimony. [AMENDMENT 88, 1993 House Joint Resolution No. 4200, p 3062. Approved November 2, 1993.]

A direct reading could mean that there are no prayers on public property. But, no one seems to argue what the state constitutions say.

As for the flag, if Boston city hall is going to allow some flags, they really have to allow all. Flying the LGBTwhatever flag? Nothing wrong with the religion flag. If someone wants to fly an Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, etc flag, sure. Perhaps the city should simply not allow flags other than the American, state, and city ones. Just stay neutral. Easy peasey.

In Monday’s ruling, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the court’s aim was to prevent public officials from being hostile to religion as they navigate the establishment clause. Gorsuch said that “in no world may a government entity’s concerns about phantom violations justify actual violations of an individuals First Amendment rights.”

And therein lies the problem, leftist government being hostile to 1st Amendment rights.

It was President Thomas Jefferson who famously said in an 1802 letter that the establishment clause should represent a “wall of separation” between church and state. The provision prevents the government from establishing a state religion and prohibits it from favoring one faith over another.

In the three recent rulings, the court decided that government actions intended to maintain a separation of church and state had instead infringed separate rights to free speech or the free exercise of religion also protected by the First Amendment.

This Reuters news piece actually is better than normal reporting, as it actually delves into details, not just a one sided view

But, as liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the Maine case, such an approach “leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation.”

She’s read the Constitution, right? The U.S. one, not those of other nations.

Read: Supreme Court Destroying Mythical Separation Of Church And State Or Something »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Constitution | 22 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Fault: Climate Crisis (scam) Causing Fewer Tropical Cyclones

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 7:00 am

Hey, we’re back to the few but more powerful meme, after earlier this year they were saying there would be more

Global Warming Causes Fewer Tropical Cyclones

Global warming is making the atmosphere more hostile to the formation of tropical cyclones. By the early 2010s there were about 13 percent fewer storms across all oceans than there were in the late 19th century, according to a new study published on Monday in Nature Climate Change.

But having fewer hurricanes and typhoons does not make them less of a threat. Those that do manage to form are more likely to reach higher intensities as the world continues to heat up with the burning of fossil fuels.

I have to wonder, are they seeing something in the potential formation for the rest of the 2022 season that is making them come out with this? You just know that if the season sees a lot of tropical storms they will be right back to claiming that your carbon footprint is creating them. And if the season flames out, that will also be your fault

Scientists have been trying for decades to answer the question of how climate change will affect tropical cyclones, given the large-scale death and destruction these storms can cause. Climate models have suggested the number of storms should decline as global temperatures rise, but that had not been confirmed in the historical record. Detailed tropical cyclone data from satellites only go back until about the 1970s, which is not long enough to pick out trends driven by global warming.

It’s too short a time to make a determination, since you had cooling till the late 70’s, then warming, then a long Pause, then some warming, and now another pause. What about the cooling from the late 40’s through the late 70’s? The warming of the 30’s through late 40’s? How about what it looked like during the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period? Yes, yes, it is damn near impossible to collect that data, but, it would be crucial to understand if what we’re seeing is expected.

Of course, Warmists will say “but, that was then, it was natural, now it’s all Someone Else’s fault.”

The new study worked around those limitations by using what is called a reanalysis: the highest-quality available observations are fed into a weather computer model. “That’s something which gets us close to what the observation would have looked like,” essentially “filling in the gaps,” says study co-author Savin Chand, an atmospheric scientist at Federation University Australia. This gives researchers a reasonably realistic picture of the atmosphere over time, in this case going back to 1850. Chand and his team developed an algorithm that could pick out tropical cyclones in that reanalysis data set, enabling them to look for trends over a 162-year period.

OK, so, they’re just making shit up. No surprise.

Read: Your Fault: Climate Crisis (scam) Causing Fewer Tropical Cyclones »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Baby Killing Judges Block Abortion Laws In Some States

By William Teach June 28, 2022 – 6:45 am

I guess they missed the part where the Supreme Court said that states have primacy, and the duly passed and signed laws of those states rule. But, you know that leftist abortion on demand supporting judges couldn’t care less about the law, the state constitutions, or the federal constitution

U.S. abortion ruling ignites legal battles over state bans

Battles over abortion shifted to state courts on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide, as judges blocked statewide bans in Louisiana and Utah and clinics in Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas sued seeking similar relief.

The six are among the 13 states with “trigger laws” designed to ban or severely restrict abortions once the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a right to the procedure, as it did on Friday.

In Louisiana, abortion services that had been halted since Friday began resuming after Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin Giarrusso on Monday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state from carrying out its ban.

By what standard does this judge in this district have to enact a statewide order? It has jurisdiction in the Orleans district.

Later on Monday in Utah, 3rd District Court Judge Andrew Stone, at the request of a Planned Parenthood affiliate, issued a temporary restraining order that would allow abortion services to resume in the state after a 2020 ban took effect on Friday.

Once this hits the the state supreme court of Utah, same in Louisiana, the abortion laws will be in effect.

Abortion rights advocates plan to challenge an Ohio ban on abortions after six weeks that took effect on Friday, and in Florida, a group of abortion providers went before a judge on Monday to argue a challenge to that state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In those states, along with Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Texas, will see the suits at their state supreme courts quickly, and the death merchants will quickly lose. I mean, for goodness sakes, the whole Dobbs case was about the Mississippi law, and Mississippi won. If the death merchants do not like it, move to a death merchant state. The same people saying the democracy democracy democracy are now whining about losing at the ballot box. And the state supreme courts should really be the last court necessary.

Oh, and then there’s this idiot, who supposedly has a law degree

Harris: Administration ‘Looking at’ Travel Vouchers for Women to Receive Abortions

Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead” that in response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration was “looking at” giving vouchers for travel expenses to women who leave their state to receive an abortion.

Anchor Dana Bash said, “What about the idea of financial resources? Some form of voucher for travel, child care services, other forms of support for people, for women seeking abortions in states where it’s not legal, but they just don’t have the means to go elsewhere.”

Harris said, “So this is something that we are looking at because we know, for example, in terms of how this is going to actually impact real people, over half of women who receive abortions in America are moms. That means that if they’re going to have to travel, they have to find daycare and pay for it. It means that they will if they are working, which most are, they’re going to have to have time from work, and if they don’t have paid leave, they are going to have to figure out how to afford it. It means they may have to put up money for a train or a bus or a plane, much less a hotel, and so we want to make sure that there does not result in extreme disparities or any disparities based on who can receive care based on how much money they’ve got.”

Is Harris aware of the Hyde Amendment, which blocks the federal government from using taxpayer money for anything abortion related? If they are looking at it, it shouldn’t take long. And if they attempt it, lawsuits will fly their way in federal court. And, of course, since Dana Bash is not a reporter, but, a Comrade, she failed to ask about it.

Read: Baby Killing Judges Block Abortion Laws In Some States »

Posted in Constitution, Democrats | 23 Comments | Trackback URL

Thousands Of Protesters Take Fossil Fueled Trips To Protest G7 Or Something

By William Teach June 27, 2022 – 3:00 pm

Of course, it is a massive mixed bag of climate nutbaggery and far left wishes

Thousands protest against G7 in Munich as leaders gather for summit

About 3,500 protesters have gathered in Munich as the G7 group of leading economic powers prepare to hold their annual gathering in the Bavarian Alps in Germany, which holds the rotating presidency this year.

Police said earlier that they were expecting a crowd of about 20,000, but initially fewer people showed up for the main protest, which started at midday on Saturday, the German news agency dpa reported.

Pretty shy of 20k. I’m guessing a lot of them couldn’t afford to travel with their leaders enacting policies that jack up fuel costs

Fifteen groups critical of globalisation, from Attac to the World Wildlife Fund, will participate in the demonstrations. Their various demands include a phase-out of fossil fuels, the preservation of biodiversity, social justice and greater efforts to combat hunger.

“My demands for the G7 are that they have a clear commitment to energy transition, that is the exit from fossil fuels, all forms of fossil fuels, by 2035 at the latest, so we can stop financing wars and conflicts,” said Kilian Wolter from Greenpeace.

Everyone who showed up should be required to give all use of fossil fuels. Let’s see how they like it first.

And for a palate cleanser, heading over to France

The guy looks like a soccer player taking a dive. But, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Read: Thousands Of Protesters Take Fossil Fueled Trips To Protest G7 Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach June 27, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled engine, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Blazing Cat Fur, with a post on non-binary wankers whining about there being no 3rd gender option for flying.

Read: If All You See… »

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