Surprise: Scammers Looking To Scam COVID Passport Users

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 6:00 pm

This would be a minor problem if the digital passports were originally positioned as something very simple, but, right from the get go the Big Government folks pushing them wanted them to be more than just a simple name and vaccination record

Scammers are looking to exploit digital vaccine records, officials warn

The push to obtain digital proof of vaccination provides an opportunity for scammers, consumer protection experts warn.

“The consumers are confused, and the scammers know it,” Steve McFarland, president and CEO of the Los Angeles/Silicon Valley chapter of the Better Business Bureau, told Yahoo News.

The BBB has seen an uptick in calls from people facing scams regarding their online vaccination records.

“What’s going on is that [scammers are] claiming that you can sign up for a QR code, maybe some type of a verification with them, and all you gotta do is pay a fee,” McFarland said. “Two, three weeks ago, we had people that were sending pictures of their vaccination card over social media, and of course that was giving your private information over the net, and scammers were jumping all over that.”

Well, you are a fool if you uploaded your vax card to social media, as so many did to virtue signal and even “to own the cons.” And some, let’s be honest, because they have to upload everything, including the cup of coffee they got this morning.

But while the digital version has its advantages, setting it up also presents security risks. Several bogus apps have sprung up in recent months, seeking to lure people into entering their personal financial information.

“They want to do it right now before you have time to think about it, before you have any time to do any investigation,” cybersecurity expert Matt Malone told Yahoo News. “The best thing a user can do to stop from getting scammed is take a breath.”

The best thing would have been for Los Federales setting up something simple that provided no personal information other than name and vaccination record. Nothing else. No social, no date of birth, no address. The last two can be used behind the scenes with strong security behind the scenes, perhaps using the, yes, I know, bad, IRS records, since they already have them. And it could be linked in to your COVID tests, if you have to take one (like I took the other week when I got a cold). But, no, Democrats wanted to make the digital vaccine passports about way more.

New York is currently the only state issuing digital COVID-19 vaccine records through a state-run app. But other states, such as Hawaii and California, have partnered with private companies to create something similar.

Are Hawaii and California having the companies develop, or run? Should those companies be given your private data?

An example of a private company issuing digital vaccine records is GoGotVax, which created VaxYes. Its site allows a person to securely input vaccination information for a digital record that can be added to an Apple Wallet or Android phone. The company said this could be useful for traveling, attending live events or returning to work.

And how safe is that? You want mine, I’ll show you a photo of my card.

“There’s scammers out there [saying], ‘Well, I can send ya over a vaccination card for $50. Just give me your credit card or some gift card information. I’ll do it for ya,’” McFarland said. “Well, people are doing it, and people call us complaining about it. That they wanted a card and they applied for a phony card — they admit it — but yet they want their money back.”

Some people are gullible. Let’s not forget, even the ACLU is concerned about them.

Read: Surprise: Scammers Looking To Scam COVID Passport Users »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Green On Green: Cult Group Says EU’s Green Deal Is Climate Colonialism

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 3:00 pm

It just goes to show that no matter what one does, it’s never enough, and the nutters will always complain. Oh, and that this isn’t about the climate (via Watts Up With That?)

Green Group Accuses Europe of Climate Change Colonialism

…

Cancel Culture Friendly FireMeanwhile, the push for greener sources of energy, particularly in the Global North, is driving the demand for metals like nickel, cobalt and lithium. Labourers in mining communities working to extract these metals face dangerous and degrading working conditions.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the use of child labour in cobalt mines is widespread, putting the lives of children at risk, damaging their health and depriving them of education. In Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, lithium mining uses large quantities of water, accelerating desertification and polluting underground waters and rivers, putting the health of local communities at risk. (snip)

Although the end of colonialism was declared decades ago, its last effects in the form of these extractive industries are clear. The system of Indigenous land takeovers, resource extraction, labour exploitation and wealth transfer set up by European colonialists continues to operate and dispossess people in the Global South.
It is against the backdrop of this neo-colonial reality that the European Union announced its Green Deal at the end of 2019.

Underpinned by an apolitical narrative that humans have already changed the Earth’s climate and degraded the majority of its ecosystems, so action needs to be taken, the Green Deal completely ignores the fact that the Global North was the main driver of climate change and environmental degradation across the world.

But, I bet if you give these people a lot of money they will be happy, right? Nah, they’ll just demand more

The European Green Deal also ignores the environmental impact of Europe’s drive for renewable energy and electric mobility on other parts of the world, where resources for this economic shift will have to be extracted. It also does not pay attention to how climate change and environmental degradation have disproportionately affected its own marginalised communities and the poor and destitute in the Global South. (snip)

The EU’s apolitical narrative on climate change – ignoring the impact of colonialism and capitalism and heavily influenced by the very corporations who profit from them – could result in climate action that is not only non-impactful but, worse, could be unsustainable and damaging for marginalised communities on the continent as well as the Global South.

The author does have a point on that, though, in that the 1st World Warmists require environmental destruction in 3rd world shitholes to get all the necessary materials so 1st World Warmists can force Everyone Else to live off solar and drive an EV. Still, these “activists” with their crazy talking points are nuts. Eric Worrall at WUWT notes

It would be easy to write off Equinox Initiative For Racial Justice as yet another sad group of climate communists. But I strongly agree with their point that many rich country climate justice types seem to have a big blind spot when it comes to the ruthless exploitation of people in poor countries, to obtain the deluge of toxic minerals needed to supply their precious green energy revolution.

Yup. Unfortunately, these crazy green groups are crazy, sound like they want to end capitalism, sound like Marxists, and yammer about all the same left with crazy.

Read: Green On Green: Cult Group Says EU’s Green Deal Is Climate Colonialism »

Posted in Environment, Global Warming | Comments Off on Green On Green: Cult Group Says EU’s Green Deal Is Climate Colonialism | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an Evil carbon pollution infused beer which will cause bridges to collapse, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Don Surber, with a post on understanding white rage.

Hopefully Imgur works, had problems last time. Photobucket is misbehaving this morning.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

GOP Senators Feel Blindsided By Sleepy Joe’s Bad Faith On Infrastructure Deal

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 10:30 am

I’m not sure why they are surprised in the least that Joe would double deal, as this happened numerous times while Joe was Vice President, with Obama backtracking on deals that were hammered out and agreed to. They had to know that Joe would not negotiate in Good Faith

Key GOP senators balk at terms of Biden infrastructure bill

President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal has been thrown in doubt as Republican senators said they felt “blindsided” by his insistence that it must move in tandem with his bigger package. The White House doubled down on the strategy, meanwhile, saying it should have come as no surprise.

The rare accord over some $1 trillion in investments faced new uncertainty Friday, barely 24 hours after Biden strode to the White House driveway, flanked by 10 senators from a bipartisan group, with all sides beaming over the compromise.

Senators were described as “stunned,” “floored” and “frustrated” after Biden publicly put the conditions on accepting their deal, according to two people familiar with the private conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the reactions. (big snip)

But Biden’s vow to essentially veto or refuse to sign the bipartisan accord without the companion package being negotiated by Democrats, which is now eyed at nearly $6 trillion in child care, Medicare and other investments, was an additional step that throws the process into doubt.

Instead of being stunned, floored, and frustrated, they should simply walk away and constantly talk about Joe’s Bad Faith negotiations, his double dealing, and make it clear they will pass nothing if this is what Joe wants to do. If you negotiate with me in bad faith, I’m taking my deal off the table and walking away. I’ve done it before. Happened just a few months ago. Person made an offer, we accepted. It was a really good deal, better than most with a very limited amount of product available. We went an got the product, which cost us more money. He came in and said would only purchase for another $500 off plus another $200 in accessories. We said no. He said that’s the only way he’s going to purchase. We said have a good day. Product sold by end of day. Next day he wanted it. Nope, gone. And we refused to do the same discount or locate another. In stock only. Nor would I print out the original deal. I don’t do bad faith deals, and neither should the GOP.

“There’s a lot of conversations taking place right now as to what the president meant,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in an interview with a Fox affiliate in New Orleans shared by his office.

Cassidy noted that the president may have misspoken and said he hoped “it won’t be as if we crafted something just to give the president a point of leverage to get something that Republicans disagree with.”

Cassidy is an idiot. Biden didn’t misspeak. It’s what he wants. Demand a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and, if Dems renege, walk.

Read: GOP Senators Feel Blindsided By Sleepy Joe’s Bad Faith On Infrastructure Deal »

Posted in Democrats, GOP, Joe Biden | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Totally Not A Cult: Salon Writer’s First Thought On Building Collapse Was ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 7:11 am

I was hoping to move on from the climate cult’s linking of the Sunrise building collapse with their cult beliefs, but, this one is too nutty to ignore

The Miami Building Collapse Is a Warning

When I saw Thursday morning that a condominium building had partially collapsed near Miami Beach, the first question I had wasn’t if anyone had died (that was second), but to wonder why the building had collapsed in the first place. Really, it was to wonder if a building collapsing in Miami would be investigated as a potentially climate change–related disaster.

That’s is pure, 100% unadulterated cult crazy. And climate cultists like Slate’s Susan Matthews (remember when Slate wasn’t moonbat nation?) aren’t even scare to admit, or even ashamed, that their first thought wasn’t about the people involved, but the climate crisis scam and how to link it to the disaster.

While authorities are understandably trying to frame Thursday’s collapse as a unique and freak accident, a few options have been raised about what possibly went wrong. Peter Dyga, president and CEO of a Florida chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, told the Miami Herald that investigators would be looking into numerous factors, including the building’s architectural plans, construction materials, and maintenance records. “This is going to be probably multiple years in trying to figure out what happened here. There are so many variables,” he told the Herald. “It’s probably more than likely going to be a combination of bad things.” Burkett told a local TV news station that “he couldn’t imagine any reason for the tragedy other than if a sinkhole occurred or someone pulled the supports out of the building.” The vice president of a construction company explained to another local news station why Florida is a particularly difficult place to build—if steel gets exposed to salt or chlorides, it can corrode; if soil subsides, it can affect the foundation and overall structure of a building.

It was built on a barrier island on a soft, sandy, limestone base. It’s been there for 40 years exposed to salty ocean water, through tropical systems and thunderstorms, and was apparently ill-maintained. But, you know

climate change joke

Pretty soon, however, news stories started to assess possible connections between climate change and the collapse. The Washington Post reports that “experts on sea level rise and climate change caution that it is too soon to speculate if rising seas helped destabilize the oceanfront condo,” and then goes on to explain all of the things we already do know that feel quite relevant: Miami is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise—some estimates in Miami suggest it’s seen a foot of rise in the past century, half of that coming since the 1990s—and sea-level rise in limestone is a particularly worrisome combination (because the water goes through instead of being held back, which can exacerbate corrosion). The Palm Beach Post sorts through the same issues, with various experts weighing in from various directions about the most likely culprits. Some think sea level rise and its corrosive effects might have played a role, others are more inclined to suggest it was the crane on the roof that might have been a bigger factor. The experts largely dismiss sinkholes as a possible cause because they’re less prevalent in the immediate area, though for what it’s worth, a paper published in the Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences in 2018 looked specifically at climate change’s effect on sinkholes in Florida and concluded that “for every 0.1°C rise in global temperature, the number of sinkholes increases by 1%–3%.”

But, of course the climate cultists went right to Hotcoldwetdry. Like, immediately. Trotting out pieces designed to prop up their cult and scaremonger.

Ultimately, what upsets me most about the collapse is the immediate death, the count of which is sure to grow. But I also am disturbed that my brain wrapped around this horrific event by jumping a few steps further into the future, into a world where building collapses are just another thing that journalists cautiously acknowledge as catastrophes that might be exacerbated by climate change, but we end up just dealing with them, just like we have learned to deal with the heat waves and the fires and the droughts and the hurricanes. The water is already boiling. We’re just getting more accustomed to treating the burns.

BS all around. Susan admitted the first thing she cared about was ‘climate change’, not people hurt and killed. Because this is a cult. And there were plenty more unhinged pieces I scrolled through while searching climate change over the last 24 hours.

Read: Totally Not A Cult: Salon Writer’s First Thought On Building Collapse Was ‘Climate Change’ »

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

DOJ To Sue Georgia Over Voting Law That’s Less Restrictive Than Delaware

By William Teach June 26, 2021 – 6:54 am

Why is the DOJ suing? Didn’t they get the memo that Democrats are now supporting voter ID? Also, there’s that whole Constitution thing, which empowers states to set their own conditions for voting and limits Los Federales (say, when is the DOJ going after states which allow illegal aliens to vote?)

In Suing Georgia, Justice Department Says State’s New Voting Law Targets Black Voters

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the U.S. Justice Department is suing the state of Georgia over its new voting law, saying that the controversial measure is intended to restrict ballot access to Black voters.

“Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia’s election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,” Garland said at a news conference.

Ah, so playing the Race Card. I guess that’s Garland’s only argument

Georgia AG: DOJ lawsuit against new election law is a ‘campaign flier’ and ‘blatantly political’

Illegitimate President Joe BidenGeorgia Attorney General Chris Carr defended his state’s new voting rights law on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” pointing to what he called the politicization of the Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

The law, signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, requires voters to present identification to request and/or file an absentee ballot, replacing the signature matching processes.

It also requires ballot drop boxes in each county, while mandating they are physically secure, and stiffens penalties on electioneering at polling stations — the subsection of the bill decried by Democrats as purportedly preventing voters in line from being given bottled water.

The passage of the law caused President Biden to declare it “Jim Crow on steroids,” and Major League Baseball to pull its All-Star Game out of the Atlanta area and move it to Denver.

Proponents of the law point to the fact it makes Georgia a proverbially freer state election-law wise than the president’s home state of Delaware and the similarly deep blue stronghold of New York – where the MLB is based.

For instance, Georgia will formally have 17 days of early voting, while Delaware will have just 10, starting in 2022. Georgia has no-excuse mail in voting; Delaware doesn’t. Delaware does require a voter to prove their identification. Most states, including Delaware, do not allow people to randomly wander around and give people in line food and drink, because there is no electioneering with a certain distance, and it is almost considered a bribe.

Carr called the lawsuit a “campaign flier,” telling host Tucker Carlson the DOJ “is playing politics.”

“They are not upholding the rule of law and this blatantly political lawsuit is legally, factually, and constitutionally wrong. Anybody who looks at our law can see it improve security and access, improves transparency in Georgia’s law,” he said.

Well, yeah. But, Democrats do not want to actually read the Georgia law. They just want to trot out their hater talking points.

Carlson pointed to the DOJ official spearheading the lawsuit, Biden appointee Kristen Clarke.

Carlson called Clarke a “bigot” – in reference to her previous writings about Black people being a superior race due to higher levels of melanin, a claim that Clarke told Congress during her confirmation hearing was a satirical collegiate exercise.

So, a Race Card lawsuit with a bigot spearheading it.

Read: DOJ To Sue Georgia Over Voting Law That’s Less Restrictive Than Delaware »

Posted in Current Affairs, Democrats, Election Fraud, Elections | 72 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Cult Won’t Give Up On Blaming Climate Crisis (scam) For Surfside Building Collapse

By William Teach June 25, 2021 – 3:00 pm

You know when anything happens the Cult of Climastrology will immediately link it to their cult beliefs, as I showed yesterday. The climalunatics are still going strong, but, not we have the media chiming in

From the cult screed

Saltwater and brine-soaked air settle into the pores of coastal construction, growing a rusty crust around the steel skeletons that reinforce oceanfront structures. It weakens the bonds between metal and concrete creating cracks and crumbles in vulnerable areas, such as balconies.

Well, yeah. That’s one of the dangers of living in a coastal area. Hence why so many eschew using metal and concrete, and go with wood. It’s why I would never ever buy a vehicle that is from any area within 10-20 miles of the beach.

But some building experts wondered Thursday if an environmental assault supercharged by climate change could have played a deeper role in the catastrophic collapse at the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla.

“Sea level rise does cause potential corrosion and if that was happening, it’s possible it could not handle the weight of the building,” said Zhong-Ren Peng, professor and Director of University of Florida’s International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design. “I think this could be a wakeup call for coastal developments.”

The building is at the beach in south Florida. An area prone to tropical systems, strong thunderstorms, salt water blowing around, subsistence, and is barely above sea level to start with. There’s no reason to blame Bad Weather on Mankind, except if you’re in a cult

Still, Albert Slap, president of Boca Raton-based RiskFootprint, said it can be invisible machinations — the push and pull of tides on limestone bedrock — combined with rising seas that can weaken a building’s integrity.

The average for the last 8K years is 6-8 inches per century, meaning a warm period should be much higher as cool periods will see much lower and even negative.

Between 2000 and 2017 alone, sea-level rise at the Key West tide gauge measured about 3.9 inches, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Change Compact’s 2019 sea-level rise report.

The actual NOAA official tide gauge doesn’t show that. There is no big jump, it’s a pretty steady 2.5mm per year, coming to .82 feet of sea rise per 100 years, barely above average. Same with Virginia Key (closest to Miami area), Mayport, and Fernandina Beach. I highlight these because they are the long term stations for Florida’s Atlantic Ocean side.

South Florida’s coastal waters could jump 10 to 17 inches by 2040 and 21 to 54 inches by 2070 above the 2000 mean sea level in Key West. The long-term sea-level rise is predicted to be 40 to 136 inches by 2120, the report says.   The compact stresses that South Florida’s sea-level rise could be faster than the global rate because of a slowing of the Gulf Stream current.

If you’re dropping prognostications of future Doom, you’re no longer discussing the building, but, scaremongering with cult propoganda.

BTW, there were a lot of unhinged tweets from cultists

The USA Today article Marisa is Doomsaying does mention sea rise deep in, but, mentions lots of issues with the building itself

A Florida high-rise that collapsed early Thursday was determined to be unstable a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida International University.

The building, which was constructed in 1981, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a study in 2020 by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment. (big snip)

In 2015, a lawsuit alleged building management failed to maintain an outside wall, resulting in water damage and cracks. The owner who filed that suit had previously sued over the same issue, according to a court filing. The management company paid for damages in the earlier case, according to records.

You’re building these huge towers in areas with not the best stable grounds. But, it’s still your fault for that burger you ate last week.

Read: Climate Cult Won’t Give Up On Blaming Climate Crisis (scam) For Surfside Building Collapse »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 25, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is a fruit that will be wiped out from climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Bunkerville, with a post on many of Biden’s bizarre comments.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | Comments Off on If All You See… | Trackback URL

Republican Introduces Bill To Ban COVID Passports

By William Teach June 25, 2021 – 10:30 am

I actually do not support this as written

Republican Rep. Warren Davidson introduces bill to ban vaccine passports

Rep. Warren Davidson is introducing a bill Thursday to ban the federal government from issuing vaccine passports, severely restrict states from doing so and ban private businesses from requiring proof of COVID vaccination, arguing that such requirements represent “an inherent violation of civil liberties.”

“They’re not really providing a rational basis for discriminatory activity – they’re busy separating healthy people from other healthy people on the presumption that people without a vaccine are not healthy,” Davidson, R-Ohio, said of vaccine requirements in an interview with Fox News. “It’s a violation of civil liberties.”

The Vaccine Passport Prevention Act, first obtained by Fox News, would bar the federal government from issuing any form of vaccine passport; ban states from doing the same as a condition of receiving federal funds; and bar businesses connected to interstate commerce from requiring “any patron or customer to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination, or post-transmission recovery, as a condition” of service.

This goes significantly further than bills introduced earlier this year, including by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., that would only prevent the federal government from issuing vaccine passports. It is highly unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives or ever become law. But it does represent growing opposition from Republicans to vaccine passports that’s been reflected in similar bans in several states.

It has zero chance of making it to the House floor for a vote. Most like it will be tabled in committee. The problem here is that Los Federales should have no business in telling private companies and states that they cannot have a passport, which would most likely, knowing the way bills are written, ban private companies from even asking a person’s vaccination status. They can couch it as it being an attempt to stop discrimination, but, really, there is a 10th Amendment, and any power to ban passports and such is for the states. Los Federales can only stop them if they are traveling across state or federal borders. Which is how they involve themselves in private business, which is a disturbing use of federal power.

Of course, you see that the feds have power because so many states, counties, cities, and even private companies receive federal money. Too much power. And Davidson should be pointing out that Democrats want ID for vaccine status but not for voting.

They really should just stick with banning the federal government from requiring them, along with not allowing federal employees to be fired for not getting vaccinated. And perhaps set national standards for any vaccine passport which prohibits the use of personal data beyond what is actually on a COVID vaccination card. Keep them from expanding.

Meanwhile, scaremongering?

Delta Covid variant has a new mutation called ‘delta plus’: Here’s what you need to know

The “delta variant” has come to dominate headlines, having been discovered in India where it provoked an extreme surge in Covid-19 cases before spreading around the world.

But now a mutation of that variant has emerged, called “delta plus,” which is starting to worry global experts.

Is this scaremongering, or simply information? It’s hard to tell at this point, because there was so much scaremongering since February 2020 that it’s hard to tell the difference anymore.

Read: Republican Introduces Bill To Ban COVID Passports »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, GOP | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

The Most Important Weapon Against Climate Crisis (scam) Is Gender Equality Or Something

By William Teach June 25, 2021 – 7:08 am

Aren’t we getting gender equality with all these men stating they’re women taking women’s positions in sports and other things? Isn’t it equality that men with mental illness are in female locker rooms, changing rooms, and showers at schools?

Gender equality is important weapon against climate change

Climate change can be devastating for everyone, but it affects women and men differently, according to a new report by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The report noted that projecys and investments that aim to counter climate change are less effective when they are implemented without women’s meaningful participation.

The EIB’s roadmap for €1trn of climate and environmental investment over the next decade highlights the effectiveness of well‐targeted investment in assisting the “green transition”, and contributing to social development and gender equality.

“Gender-responsive climate actions can strengthen climate and environmental outcomes and often make a solid business case for investment,” the bank’s gender specialist, Moa Westman, noted in the new report, titled Global Solutions, International Partnerships: the European Investment Bank Development Report 2021.

Why is this sounding more like Modern Socialist doctrine, forcing compliance throughout nations rather than about trying to keep the temperature down?

She added, “Investments that take women’s needs into account help expand firms’ customer base, enhance customer satisfaction, improve financial and business performance and attract more funds from other investors looking to make an impact.”

If you’re thinking “there’s nothing wrong with equality”, Modern Socialists do not really mean equality, they mean implementing control of the private sector by Government, using the scare of doom from the climate emergency and the squishy “shouldn’t women have the same chance as men? Who could possibly be against that?” If you don’t support women, you’ll be branded a sexist and misogynist and that you hate women. Let’s face it, it’s a pretty good means of trying to pass their agenda, since most will fail to dig deep and see what this actually looks like in practice, that it ends with massive government control of our individual lives and the private sector.

Read: The Most Important Weapon Against Climate Crisis (scam) Is Gender Equality Or Something »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove