Bummer: Bat Soup Virus Blew Up The Plan To Take Down Trump

By William Teach March 31, 2020 – 10:30 am

At least Politico is admitting that the plan of the Democrats and the media was unhinged

How coronavirus blew up the plan to take down Trump

For many Democrats, it’s the election of a lifetime. Yet the question preoccupying the party for several days this month was whether their presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden, could get the webcast working in his rec room.

It was a telling obsession, one that revealed the extent of the party’s anxiety as it comes to a nail-biting conclusion: Despite all the arguments Democrats have crafted and all the evidence they have amassed against Donald Trump, his reelection is likely to rise or fall on his handling of the coronavirus crisis and its fallout alone.

“It’s the most dramatic example I can think of in my lifetime about how you cannot control the agenda,” said Les Francis, a Democratic strategist and former deputy White House chief of staff in the Carter administration.

“If life were fair,” he said, Trump would already be paying a price for his chaotic handling of the pandemic. Instead, the president’s approval rating has not taken a hit, and the dominant images are of him “at the podium in the White House, quote, in charge,” Francis said. “If those stick and they’re not countered effectively, he could get reelected.”

Hey, perhaps the Democrats could impeach him again, that would do the trick, right?

The effect of the coronavirus on Trump’s popularity will not become clear for weeks or months. But the pandemic’s impact on the Democratic Party has already been severe. Primary elections are being postponed, allowing Bernie Sanders to linger in the race and delay until June the ability of Biden to mathematically clinch the nomination and fully turn his focus to Trump.

Let’s be honest: it is severe. Joe has an almost insurmountable lead in the primaries, and his mental condition is not well, sad to say. But this means Democrats cannot get him out. But, then, is Comrade Bernie a better solution if they want to beat Trump? They would have been better served getting behind a more moderate (for Dems) candidate like Tulsi Gabbard. Optics matter in political races.

The public’s unbreakable focus on the virus is narrowing the range of issues on which Democrats can effectively draw contrasts with Trump — temporarily sidelining a broader agenda involving once-pressing issues such as climate change and gun control.

“It was always going to be a referendum on Trump,” said Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2004. “But the referendum was going to be about things like climate change and how you want to reform health care and all these other things. Now it’s only going to be about this one thing — whether Trump is competent and sane.”

What people outside the beltline are seeing is a president who is trying to be positive, trying to get people back to work and not losing their minds. On the other side, they see Democrats and the media trying to go apocalyptic. For all his faults, did anyone have complaints about Obama trying to be positive during the economic downturn? I didn’t. You need a president who will be positive, rather than a Negative Nelly.

Scott Brennan, an Iowa Democratic National Committee member and a former state party chairman, said, “If the economy pops back … it’s hard to know what people are going to think.”

If the economy bounces back “bigly”, expect an easy Trump win, especially going against Joe Biden and all his faults, not too mention him serving as Vice President under Obama and his super slow economic rebound.

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Don’t Cough On Me

By William Teach March 31, 2020 – 7:15 am

Get your Don’t Cough On Me gear here.

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This Is Totally The Time To Talk About Hotcoldwetdry, You Guys

By William Teach March 31, 2020 – 7:01 am

You know, I totally agree with Warmist Joel Makower

This is exactly the time to be talking about climate change

I rarely get exasperated from reading environmental business media, but a quote last week in a Bloomberg article about sustainability and the U.S. economic crisis got me headed in that direction.

The quote came from Ted Nordhaus, co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute, a research group whose founders, self-described environmentalists, have made a career out of being gadflies — for example, arguing in favor of nuclear power and natural gas, arguing against putting a price on carbon emissions and claiming that there’s no real limit to the earth’s carrying capacity, or that energy efficiency doesn’t work because of something called the “rebound effect.” (snip)

Here’s last week’s quote, in reference to the notion of integrating climate measures into congressional appropriations as we rebuild the economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. Said Nordhaus:

It’s not the time to be talking about climate change or demanding climate policy. … That’s going to cause extraordinary economic pain for a lot of people, most of whom don’t have the privilege of worrying about climate change. It would be tone-deaf to talk about climate change now.

It’s a specious ploy often used by conservatives. Following a mass shooting, it’s not the right time to talk about gun control. Following a hurricane, it’s not the right time to talk about climate-exacerbated weather events. Following the police shooting of an unarmed black man, it’s not the right time to talk about race relations and inequality.

Of course, later on, when it’s presumably “the right time,” the public’s fickle attention likely has moved on to other front-burner topics.

Well, if the issue is so important, people will be receptive once emotions have cooled and adult logic is considered, right?

Just because a problem isn’t in the news doesn’t mean it somehow has been solved. All of the above challenges remain, pandemic or not. And, to varying degrees, they all need to be kept alive, even amid other pressing priorities.

So, Nordhaus is dead wrong: This is exactly the right time to be talking about climate change.

In fact, we need to be talking unapologetically about climate, the clean economy, renewable energy, resilient food systems, sustainable mobility, the circular economy and the Sustainable Development Goals with more vigor than ever.

See, we need to talk about creating a new economy similar to Soviet Russia’s and initiated Chinese style authoritarian government.

It will take everyone’s hard work and best intentions, not to mention visionary thinking, to ensure that the solutions to our economic woes align with where we want to go, not where we’ve been. We simply can’t slough off the climate crisis and other environmental and social challenges as expendable conversations during tough times. Much as we need to mobilize and remain unflinching as we fight the pandemic, we can’t put other pressing issues on hold. The climate, for one, won’t wait.

Here’s the question: what if most people are not interested? We’ve seen surveys and polls time and time again that show that ‘climate change’ action is popular in theory, but not in practice. Most people refuse to pay more than $10 of their own money a month to help out. Other polls show even less money. Will they be forced to comply?

So, yes, this is the perfect time to discuss this, things like forcing airlines to shoot for zero emissions (meaning you’ll have to be a rich person to afford to fly), implementing total control of the agricultural sector, and force transition from all fossil fuels, three things Makower mentions. Let’s discuss that the world will look like what’s going on now with Bat Soup Virus. No, it wouldn’t be as bad, but it would be bad. Let’s discuss that. What would Warmists have to say?

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Oh My: Florida To Check For NY Driver’s Licenses At State Line

By William Teach March 31, 2020 – 6:45 am

Here’s a little story that escaped notice over the weekend

Report: Florida Will Check New York Drivers at State Line on I-95

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Saturday the creation of a checkpoint at the I-95 state line on Florida’s northern border to screen drivers traveling from the New York City area to try and contain the spread of coronavirus.

The announcement came a day after DeSantis said he would set a similar checkpoint at the Northwest Florida border with Louisiana, targeting travelers from that state, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

“Upon entry in Florida, each arriving traveler or responsible family member (if traveling as a family) will be required to complete a traveler form,” the Florida Department of Transportation announced on Sunday.

The form requires travelers to fill out their contact information and trip details and failing to do so could violate Florida law.

The I-95 checkpoint is the latest screening in a series of screenings already taking place at Florida airports, aimed at people trying to come from New York City and the tri-state area, one of America’s hotspots for coronavirus.

Will this cause New Yorkers to go all Smokey and The Bandit and cruise the backroads into Florida? Really, should be checking everyone coming into the state, but, since NYC is one of the major hotspots (who knew that millions living on top of each other would be bad?), it’s understandable. In fact, the FDOT announcement actually targets New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Louisiana, and any area with a substantial outbreak. They’d probably give me a problem being from Raleigh, a major city in NC.

At that point, people will be required to isolate for 14 days or the duration of their visit, whichever is shorter. So, they aren’t being stopped. Just warned in an attempt to keep them from coming in the first place.

Meanwhile, at the southern border

President Donald Trump’s border reforms are helping the Department of Homeland Security to eject most southern migrants in just 96 minutes, according to a report in the Washington Post.

“Migrants who cross into the United States illegally are being expelled to Mexico in an average of 96 minutes under emergency coronavirus measures now in force across the U.S. southern border, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the latest government statistics,” the newspaper reported Monday.

When will AOC and other Open Borders advocates start whining?

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The Coronavirus Outbreak Is Part Of ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 4:21 pm

I’ve pretty much given up on digging deep to find Hotcoldwetdry pieces that have nothing to do with Bat Soup Virus at this point, because the Cult of Climastrology has to link their cult to everything that happens, so, let’s just run with it

The coronavirus outbreak is part of the climate change crisis

…

These sweeping and unprecedented measures taken by the government and international institutions could not but make some of us wonder about another global emergency that needs urgent action – climate change.

The two emergencies are in fact quite similar. Both have their roots in the world’s current economic model – that of the pursuit of infinite growth at the expense of the environment on which our survival depends – and both are deadly and disruptive.

In fact, one may argue that the pandemic is part of climate change and therefore, our response to it should not be limited to containing the spread of the virus. What we thought was “normal” before the pandemic was already a crisis and so returning to it cannot be an option.

Or, one could just avoid eating bats (or, some say, Pangolin) from wet markets. Or, potentially, screwing around with viruses in centers that have security issues.

Despite the persistent climate denialism in some policy circles, by now it is clear to the majority across the world that climate change is happening as a result of human activity – namely industrial production.

In order to continue producing – and being able to declare that their economy is growing – humans are harvesting the natural resources of the planet – water, fossil fuels, timber, land, ore, etc – and plugging them into an industrial cycle which puts out various consumables (cars, clothes, furniture, phones, processed food etc) and a lot of waste.

This process depletes the natural ability of the environment to balance itself and disrupts ecological cycles (for example deforestation leads to lower CO2 absorption by forests), while at the same time, it adds a large amount of waste (for example CO2 from burned fossil fuels). This, in turn, is leading to changes in the climate of our planet.

This is all interesting, considering the large amount of energy used by Al Jazeera, which published this screed. And that AJ is owned by the government of Qatar, which produces vast amounts of fossil fuels. Shut them down. To Save The Planet.

While some have called for climate change to be just as drastic as the one undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it should not be. We need a just climate transition which ensures the protection of the poor and most vulnerable and which is integrated into our pandemic response. This would not only reverse the climate disaster we are already living in but also minimise the risk of new pandemics like the current one breaking out.

Remember how all those fossil fueled vehicles caused the Black Death centuries ago?

We should demand that government funds are instead allocated to decentralised renewable energy production in order to start implementing the Green New Deal and create new meaningful jobs amid the post-COVID-19 economic crisis. In parallel, we should ensure the provision of universal healthcare and free education, the extension of social protection for all vulnerable populations and the prioritisation of affordable housing.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…are tropical trees which will soon grow in Canada because Other People ate meat, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on a gritty Monday.

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CUNY Law Professor Pushes China’s Version Of Government, De Blasio Threatens Churches

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 10:30 am

Is it any surprise that Democrats are taking China’s side? First, they want to dunk on Orange Man Bad. That’s how deranged they are, that they would promote authoritarian China. Second, Democrats are authoritarians at heart. Here’s Surya Deva, an associate professor at City University’s School of Law (Hong Kong), who specialises in the area of business and human rights.

With coronavirus crisis, China sees a chance to export its model of governance

…

However, we should not miss the evolution of China’s newest export: the Chinese model of governance (and political ideas underpinning it) as an alternative to the Western liberal model. This export is strategic because mere economic might will not suffice to sustain China’s superpower status.

Rather, as the West has in the past, China would also need to influence social, political and cultural landscapes in other countries in its quest for dominance.<

China’s governance model is built on concentration of power by a small group of leaders, making all state institutions
subservient to the Communist Party, prioritising economic development over human rights, using law as a tool to suppress civil liberties, treating religious or linguistic diversity as a threat to national unity, using media as a tool for government propaganda, and invoking national sovereignty as a shield to ward off any criticism of the government’s human rights record.

Didn’t they have a long period of protests and riots in Hong Kong, mostly about the authoritarian mode of Chinese government? Deva is not condemning, in fact, noting “China’s model offers efficiency, because unlike in democracies, there is no cost of dissent”

There are several reasons why some countries are finding the Chinese governance model attractive. First, this model has proved to deliver fast economic growth. China has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty and become the world’s second-largest economy.

Second, the Chinese model offers efficiency, because unlike in democracies, there is no cost of dissent. Nor does one have to worry about following tedious processes to accomplish an agreed outcome.

Third, the Chinese model offers more political and social stability in that it avoids uncertainties linked to periodic democratic elections and political transitions. It also keeps both civil society and the media in check.

Sounds pretty good to American politicians, eh? De Blasio must approve

(Hot Air) Mayor Bill de Blasio still hasn’t shut down the public parks in New York City, despite multiple complaints from the health officials. But he’s threatening to shut down some other facilities. Those would be the churches and synagogues who continue to hold services during the ban on gatherings of more than ten people. And if they continue to tend to their flocks in this fashion, he’s warning religious leaders that he may shutter the houses of worship “permanently.”

Interesting view, Bill.

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St. Greta Says We Can Fight Coronavirus And Solve The (fake) Climate Crisis At Same Time

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 7:18 am

St. Greta is applying all her worldly experience and college degrees (sarc) to explain how we can do this

Greta: We must fight the climate crisis and pandemic simultaneously

The world needs to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and climate change simultaneously, and guard against people who try to use the current crisis to delay action cutting carbon emissions, Greta Thunberg has urged.

Sadly, the rest is behind a true paywall, but you get the point. And it’s super easy for people with no responsibilities and no actual financial concerns to push this stuff. She’s a minor, and Someone Else, be it her parents or all the others who are providing aid, is paying for her current lifestyle.

And then this snowflake

Commentary: Outbreak shows we can confront climate change

I’m 18 years old. In the four years I’ve spent fighting for climate justice, I’ve constantly heard the same excuses from the leaders who are supposed to protect me, my future and the future of generations to come: “We just can’t do that. We can’t transform our economy. We can’t change that fast.” (snip)

Well, the coronavirus pandemic has blown their cover. It has exposed how government leaders, and the American public, actually can make immediate, dramatic behavioral changes; even when those changes have serious consequences for the economy and our quality of life. It’s just that, until now, they haven’t been willing to.

Well, yeah, in a real emergency. What has Jamie Margolin sacrificed?

When it comes to the climate crisis, most of the statistics are flipped: Young people will suffer the most. A United Nations study estimates that countries have roughly 10 years to take “unprecedented” actions to cut carbon emissions, before it’s too late. In a decade or two, many of today’s most influential politicians won’t even be around. But my generation will be. And we will be suffering and dying in massive numbers from the countless harms of the climate crisis: air pollution permanently damaging our lungs and immune systems; more pandemics of infectious diseases; severe and frequent natural disasters, droughts and famine; a projected 150 million people displaced by sea level rise.

Uh huh

You want young people to sacrifice — to stop socializing, to shut ourselves inside — so older people can live. But many older people aren’t sacrificing so the youth can live.

The older should pass rules that only apply to those 25 and under who are pushing this stuff, see how they like it. I suspect after 3-4 more months of economic disaster and having to stay home, a lot of young climate cultists will be giving up their religion.

Read: St. Greta Says We Can Fight Coronavirus And Solve The (fake) Climate Crisis At Same Time »

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Don’t Have Bank Account Info On Record With IRS? Mnuchin Has A Solution To Get Check Quicker

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 6:54 am

I’ve mentioned before about the concern that lots of people would have to wait months to receive their $1,200 because they do not have their bank account information on record with the IRS. Around 23.4 million owed the IRS for 2019, slightly less for 2018, which were the terms the “stimulus” bill required. Then there are all those who processed in another way to get their refund. But, there’s a solution coming, per Mnuchin (doesn’t help if you do not have a bank account at all)

Mnuchin lays out when Americans can expect their coronavirus rescue package checks

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Sunday morning interview that qualifying Americans can expect to see their $1,200 checks deposited into their accounts “within three weeks.”

Mnuchin, who played a lead role in the $2 trillion bill’s passage, told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” that there will be an online system created so Americans who are not signed up, can do so and skip waiting for a physical check.

“We expect that within three weeks that people who have direct deposit information with us will see those direct deposits in their bank accounts,” he said. “And we will create a web-based system for people where we don’t have their direct deposit they can upload it, so that they can get the money immediately as opposed to checks in the mail.”

Individuals are eligible for payments up to $1,200, but that decreases for those who earn an adjusted gross income of more than $75,000 a year. The bill says that the payment is reduced by five percent of every dollar above that mark, or $50 for every $1,000 above $75,000.

Hopefully it works better than the website for Obamacare when it launched.

It is rather disturbing that the IRS keeps the bank account information on file though, isn’t it? But, Mnuchin had some sobering news, as well

Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he believes that by the third quarter of 2020, Americans will see an economic recovery with production and employment levels back up.

Hopefully, he’s being conservative in his estimate, because lots and lots cannot wait till at a minimum June. $1,200 won’t last. Small and medium businesses will be gone for good. People will be evicted, homes foreclosed. Cars repossessed. No money for food. We need things to get going before then. On the bright side, there will surely be crazy sales, better than on Black Friday. The NY Times editorial board wants this to happen

It increasingly appears necessary that for the next eight weeks, and possibly for longer, all nonessential businesses should be closed, domestic travel restricted and the “shelter-in-place” measures being employed by some parts of the country extended to the rest. Such a shutdown will be enormously expensive in the short term, likely requiring fresh rounds of federal aid on top of the $2.2 trillion Congress approved on Friday. But scientists say that based on what they’ve learned from Europe and Asia, that’s the only way to get the virus, which is spreading like wildfire across the country, under control.

It’s easy for people that are getting paid in full and don’t have to worry about anything to make these pronouncements, eh? The only way this happens is if Congress does another aid bill that gives most people $2500 or more a month.

Read: Don’t Have Bank Account Info On Record With IRS? Mnuchin Has A Solution To Get Check Quicker »

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UK Police Pour Black Dye In Lake To Try To Stop Instagramers

By William Teach March 29, 2020 – 3:05 pm

I’m of two minds with this. Who are they really hurting? If they’re keeping their distance, shouldn’t be a problem, right? On the other hand, these people who go out to take these social media shots are annoying. It’s all about the likes, rather than enjoying things

Coronavirus lockdown spurs police in England to dye ‘Blue Lagoon’ black to deter Instagrammers

In the age of social distancing due to the coronavirus, authorities in England have dumped black dye into a picturesque bright blue lagoon to stop Instagrammers from gathering to snap pictures.

The Derbyshire Police said Wednesday that despite instructions by officials in the U.K. to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19, people were still congregating at a former quarry known as the “Blue Lagoon” in Harpur Hill, located near Buxton.

“No doubt this is due to the picturesque location and the lovely weather (for once!) in Buxton,” police said on Facebook. “However, the location is dangerous and this type of gathering is in contravention of the current instruction of the UK Government.”

The department shared photos of the bright blue water on Facebook, showing the moments before and after the black dye was added: “to make the water look less appealing.”

Of course, there is something else going on

While it may resemble something from a travel magazine, the water in the abandoned quarry gets its color from caustic chemicals in the quarry stone that can cause skin irritation, according to Sky News.

In addition to high PH levels, the water reportedly is very cold and has trash and dead animals in it.

Hey, if people want to make themselves Darwin Award nominees, let them. And, they’re still annoying.

Of course, the same police department is also shaming people for …checks notes…walking their pets and simply being outside while being separated from people

More on that and others in this article about a 13 year old boy arrested in Leeds for daring to ride a bike. And, in NJ, a guy was arrested for holding a party. Have we gone too far yet?

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