Surprise: California AG won’t Share “Gun Violence” Data

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 6:48 pm

Over in the House today, they passed two bills on guns. One, which I’ve mentioned before, simply extends background checks to almost every private transfer. No biggie there, but, hey, I’m sure criminals will comply, right? The other extends the waiting period up to 10 days for the the FBI to have to return the background check, which could be problematic. Regardless of how tame these are, and they were passed mostly on party line, they are simply steps to the real gun grabbing they want. Rather than the One Big Bill, gun grabbing by a 1,000 papercuts, with them saying, in short order (providing they even make it through the Senate), that they didn’t work, so, Something Else needs to be done. But, how do we know when data is being blocked?

California attorney general cuts off researchers’ access to gun violence data

For decades, America’s gun violence researchers fought an uphill battle against the National Rifle Association to obtain the data and funding they need to study the effects of US gun laws. But researchers in California say they are now facing a different, unexpected hurdle: the state’s outgoing Democratic attorney general.

Under Xavier Becerra, who has been nominated to serve as Joe Biden’s health secretary, California’s department of justice started to deny researchers access to firearms data used to evaluate a wide range of gun laws and policies.

The new data restrictions have put key projects at California’s state-funded gun violence research center in limbo, and locked Becerra into a bitter, bizarre public standoff with one of America’s most respected gun violence researchers.

California, which has much stricter gun laws than most American states, also has more detailed government data available, including records of individual handgun purchasers going back decades and statewide records about the restraining orders filed to temporarily bar at-risk people from owning or buying guns.

That’s interesting. I wonder why it’s being blocked?

But it’s precisely this more detailed personal information, including about gun purchasers, and subjects of gun violence restraining orders, that Becerra’s justice department is telling some researchers that it will not provide. The department is also attempting to formalize some of these policies, including in a proposed rulemaking under discussion this week that would limit researcher’s access to personal information about the subjects of gun violence restraining orders across the state.

The justice department has cited privacy concerns as a justification for the data restrictions, and has said it believes current California law does not permit the agency to release certain kinds of data to researchers.

Could that be it? Because giving up people’s private files seems like a big invasion of privacy

But Garen Wintemute, a professor at the University of California, Davis, and the director of California’s firearms violence research center, said some of the data the justice department is now denying researchers had been previously shared with them for decades, and other data is specifically mandated to be shared with the gun violence research center under California law.

So, why block it now? What is being hidden? Some are wondering if it will show that Becerra’s policies have not been successful, or California’s, for that matter. We can all speculate (I think it would show a failure of California gun restrictions and just who is shooting whom the most), but, you may see hardcore lefty gun grabbing groups, such as Brady United Against Gun Violence, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, sue California and Becerra.

BTW

Read: Surprise: California AG won’t Share “Gun Violence” Data »

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Climahysteria Has Now Spread To TikTok Or Something

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 3:00 pm

TikTok used to be a place where idiots could go to be obsessed, outrage, freaking out, etc (I’m not going to search for examples, which I usually find on the front page of Yahoo, because then I’ll be here all day linking Crazy), along with posting their narcissism and dumb stuff. Apparently to amuse people in China who are harvesting people’s information. Now?

Meet the Climate Change Activists of TikTok

When Louis Levanti woke up one morning last September, climate change wasn’t on his mind. “I was never huge into researching climate change, but I was aware that it is real.” So when the 24-year-old TikTok creator, who lives with his parents on Long Island, opened his phone and saw something about a clock being unveiled, he wasn’t initially interested. “I rolled my eyes thinking it had something to do with the stock market.”

The Climate Clock, in Union Square in New York City, counts down how much time we have left to act before climate change is irreversible. Levanti, who normally posts videos with topics like “weird food that celebrities like to eat” or “annoying things people do at the gym,” was distressed, and he immediately decided to make a TikTok video about it. “It’s a problem that can’t be ignored,” he said. “Why not responsibly use my big platform to educate people and wake some people up the way I was?”

In the TikTok video, Levanti, superimposed over an image of Earth on fire, says, “Hey, stop scrolling. Our planet is fucking dying.” It’s gotten over 314,000 views and been shared nearly 14,000 times. There are over 5,000 comments, some of which are heartbreaking: “I am 13, does that mean my future children will suffer.” “It’s sad that younger people have to suffer because of this.”

Well, that’s interesting (nutbaggery), since other cultists claim that all this social media contributes to ‘climate change’.

The world is facing a climate change problem, and climate change is facing a communication problem. The complexities and hypotheticals of climate science do not translate well to an audience who just wants to know whether the dress was blue or white. And yet, on TikTok, one of the world’s most active communication platforms, climate change is a rapidly growing topic. The hashtag #ForClimate has over 533 million views. A video showing a girl singing, “We’re killing the earth and that’s really fun, nobody believes us because we are young,” has over 6.4 million likes. Every day, thousands of mostly Gen Z content creators post videos about climate change and their personal relationship to it. In the span of five minutes, you can get tips on the zero waste movement, watch a teenager cry while looking at starving polar bears, learn about environmental racism, and see scientists working in Antarctica.

Of course, this is mostly being done in a “look at me” manner, attempting to become some sort of “influencer” and get free stuff. The question they should all be asked is “what are you doing in your life other than posting Doomy Scaremongering videos?”

But one of the challenges of having thousands of eager “knowledge brokers” telling their stories about climate change is exactly that: For the sake of good engagement and a good story, they say (and do) whatever they want. Discussion of global warming on TikTok is often simplified to “doom and gloom” commentary, or the misguided idea that at this point there’s nothing we can do to stop climate change, something that Cameron Brick, a professor of social psychology at the University of Amsterdam, says is actually dangerous. “If you paint it as a terrible tragedy, people either turn away from it or internalize it and feel despair and then disengage.” A study published in 2019 in the journal Frontiers in Communication revealed that dire climate change content can lead to fatalism and inaction.

Of course, doom and gloom is pretty much all the Cult of Climastrology has.

Another result of unvetted climate change information is a misguided focus on individual actions, such as using lower-wattage light bulbs or metal straws. “One of the dangers of this kind of unvetted information is that people can be led into low-impact behaviors that are not going to move the needle enough,” said Brick. Leah Thomas, the creator of Intersectional Environmentalist, disagrees. “There’s too much gatekeeping of activism and what it could look like. Let the kids pop lock and drop it for the planet on TikTok.” She says she’s seen firsthand the impact of bringing attention to climate change. “Awareness leads to empowerment and knowledge, which leads to real action.”

And, of course, the CoC is not happy when people take individual actions, that they practice what they preach, because this isn’t about science, but implementing authoritarian governmental control.

Read: Climahysteria Has Now Spread To TikTok Or Something »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on Cocaine Bear…wait, what?

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Many Grocery Store In Los Angeles Closing Over “Hero Pay”

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 10:30 am

There’s a price to pay when Government decides that Other People should spend their money in a manner than destroys businesses.  It’s very easy for Government to demand things, another for them to be put in play

Kroger will close 3 grocery stores following Los Angeles hazard pay mandate

unintended consequencesKroger announced it will close three Los Angeles grocery stores in May amid concerns about the city’s new hazard pay mandate, which requires large grocery and pharmacy stores to pay their employees an additional $5 per hour over a four-month span due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is at least the third time this year that Kroger has declared plans to shut down locations in select cities, following local government decisions that force stores to increase hourly wages.

The company said Wednesday that the closures of the Los Angeles stores — two of which are operating as Ralphs and one as Food 4 Less — was a decision accelerated by the new pay requirement.

“It’s never our desire to close a store, but when you factor in the increased costs of operating during Covid-19, consistent financial losses at these three locations, and an extra pay mandate that will cost nearly $20 million over the next 120 days, it becomes impossible to operate these three stores,” a Kroger spokesperson said.

The Los Angeles City Council voted in late February in favor of the new hourly mandate by a margin of 14-1, as part of a trend among other West Coast cities that are requiring grocers to compensate employees at a higher rate during the pandemic.

Despite what appears to be a huge increase in gross earnings by grocery stores, the actual net earnings were way down, as operating costs were way up. Earnings for grocery stores have always been tight. COVID didn’t erase that, even with the binge purchasing. Mandating an extra $5 an hour for all employees is a massive increase in operating costs. And some stores have a smaller margin than others, especially in areas where theft is high

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Marc Perrone called Kroger’s actions on Wednesday “a cruel attack on essential workers.”

“Essential workers in grocery stores are putting their health at risk every day to make sure families can put food on the table and city leaders are stepping up to ensure they have the hazard pay they have earned,” Perrone said in a statement Wednesday. “Hazard pay is not just about recognizing the health risks grocery workers face, it’s about making sure that these essential workers have the support they need to keep our grocery stores safe for customers and ensure all our families have the food we need as the pandemic continues.”

Then let the city council pay for it. Perhaps they can use all that extra money they’re getting from Biden’s 100% partisan $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill. Perhaps UFCW International could reduce their union dues. Oh, they don’t want to do that? Huh. The LA Times notes

Kroger said pay bumps for workers will add an additional $20 million in operating costs over that period, making it “financially unsustainable” to keep underperforming stores in operation.

That’s rather a lot of extra costs during a short period of time, eh?

Denise Francis Woods, who ran for City Council to represent her South L.A. district last year, said closing the store on Slauson would cost locals their jobs and deprive the area of a needed grocery store.

Well, perhaps she shouldn’t have voted for the rule, because now, instead of making more money, the employees will make no money. She calls the area a food desert, there’s a Food 4 Less (that is staying open) several blocks away.

Read: Many Grocery Store In Los Angeles Closing Over “Hero Pay” »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Democrats, Economy | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

United Nations: Say, You Countries Aren’t Spending Enough Recovery Money On ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 8:07 am

Heck, too little of the current $1.9 trillion recovery bill actually goes to helping U.S. citizens. We don’t need more worthless money for ‘climate change’. But, hey, tell you what: I’m good with shifting the hundreds of billions earmarked with rescuing Democrat cities and states (which do not really need it), along with all the money for schools (which still have billions left from previous COVID bills), especially since so much of it is for 2022 and future years, and shifting it into R&D for better renewable power sources, including nuclear. And none of it should go to the moochers at the U.N.

UN: Too little of recovery spending fights climate change

Nations are spending unprecedented amounts of money to bounce back from the pandemic and the economic shock it triggered, but less than one dollar out of five spent so far will help fight global warming and heal nature, a new United Nations report says.

The top economies have laid out more than $14.6 trillion to date to rebound from last year’s crisis, with nearly $2 trillion of that aimed at long-term recovery. But only $341 billion — about 18% — of that COVID-19 economic recovery money is going to green spending and “building back better,” according to Wednesday’s report by the United Nations Environment Programme and Oxford University.

Build back better is part of The Great Reset, which is a push for Progressivism (nice Fascism) and corporatism control.

“It seems like the world is trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose, while a perfectly good hydrant is available just next door,” said report lead author Brian O’Callaghan of the Oxford University’s Economic Recovery Project. He said the report highlights missed opportunities, singling out Australia where only 2% of $130 billion in recovery spending is green-oriented.

The report focuses on long-term spending, such as on roads, buildings and energy projects, as opposed to quick relief, such as unemployment checks and other emergency relief to keep people and businesses afloat.

It’s very easy to spend Other People’s Money and yammer about saying “screw relief to people who are suffering”, eh?

Countries in a hurry often choose familiar economic methods instead of investing in “a sustainable inclusive future” which involves shifting the way society acts, said German environment minister Svenja Schulze.

Using a global pandemic, with all the accompanying misery and death, for government to take more power to control people.

If the world concentrates on clean energy spending it can come out of this crisis “definitely more able to deal with the abrupt shock that climate change demonstrably is imposing on our societies,” said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. She said the world needs to “create more jobs and better economic opportunities by investing money in the right way, not the wrong way.”

So, then private companies can do so with their own money.

With 82% of the recovery spending not being green, it supports the status quo which is heading in the wrong direction in terms of the environment and income inequality, O’Callaghan said, adding that about 2% to 3% of the spending is actually “dirty,” boosting use of climate-damaging fossil fuel.

Is it O’Callaghan’s money? No? He, along with the rest of the Warmists, are welcome to invest their own money into so-called green projects. Heck, I triple do dare all the U.S. climate cultists to take their $1,400 stimulus checks and put them into something green. Buy a nice bike and ride it everywhere instead of taking a fossil fueled trip. Or something. Till then, shut up, you do nothing in your own lives, and take the UN with you, since they couldn’t survive without the money of nations who take it from people who work.

Read: United Nations: Say, You Countries Aren’t Spending Enough Recovery Money On ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming, UN | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

CNN: Too Few Are Vaccinated, Another COVID Surge Just Weeks Away

By William Teach March 11, 2021 – 7:30 am

You know, no Americans would be vaccinated if President Trump hadn’t initiated Operation Warp Speed. No Democrat said it could happen so quick, that it would be years before we had any sort of vaccine. First, though

This guy is not OK. He also has his mask, well, masks, since he sometimes wears two despite getting both shots of the vaccine (mine is scheduled for this afternoon), off. The Credentialed Media calls this a “stutter”, which was missing during his 8 years with Obama. And then Kamala went and spoke with reporters after passage of the $1.9 trillion so-called COVID relief bill (which spreads money overseas and has spend dates in the US for 2022, 2023, and beyond). Why is the VP speaking to the press, not Joe? Anyhow

A year after the pandemic was declared, still too few Americans are vaccinated to suppress the viral spread and experts say another surge could be weeks away

Biden Brain SlugMore than 29 million cases have been reported in the US since the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic one year ago.

The virus plunged America into grief and crisis. Several rounds of violent surges in infections prompted local and state leaders from coast to coast to order safety restrictions — in some cases, curfews — hoping to curb this invisible enemy’s spread. Waves of Covid-19 patients crippled healthcare systems. Spikes in deaths drove some communities to call in mobile units to support their morgues.

The US has lost more than 529,000 people to the virus, Johns Hopkins University data shows. It’s more than the number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined. And the death toll is rising by the thousands each week.

Now, the country is at a pivotal point.

Case numbers, after plateauing at high levels, may be beginning to decline again, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing on Wednesday. Average hospital admissions and Covid-19 deaths were also down over the past week, she added.

So far, almost one in 10 Americans have been fully vaccinated — a number that is still too low to suppress the spread of the virus. And some experts have warned another possible surge could be weeks away, fueled by a highly contagious variant spreading across the country.

Thank you for the vaccines, President Trump. The NY Times looks to have given Trump credit along with Biden. Biden deserves none. He didn’t do anything. This all started under Trump’s leadership and guidance.

What will help now, while the country works to boost its vaccination numbers, are the precautions that have been touted by officials for months: face masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds, washing hands.

And it’s especially crucial, according to experts, that Americans heed this guidance, even as more governors announce it’s time to begin loosening Covid-19 restrictions and paving the way for a return to normal. Experts have highlighted we’re not there just yet.

In other words, the “officials” want people kept locked down, because it’s a lot easier to condition citizens to bow to authority when they aren’t trying to express freedom. How long will the keep the “doom is just around the corner” going?

Read: CNN: Too Few Are Vaccinated, Another COVID Surge Just Weeks Away »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Joe Biden | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Scam Today: Bill Gates Sounds Alarm On Bitcoin, Allergy Season Maybe Possibly They Think Longer, Youngsters Suing

By William Teach March 10, 2021 – 3:00 pm

Let’s start with Excitable Bill, who’s developments use massive amounts of energy all around the world

Bill Gates Sounds Alarm On Bitcoin’s Energy Consumption–Here’s Why Crypto Is Bad For Climate Change

As bitcoin pushes toward new highs, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is sounding an alarm on the cryptocurrency’s strikingly high carbon footprint–which is only bound to worsen as mainstream adoption of the world’s largest cryptocurrency soars as expected.

“Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,” Gates told the New York Times in a recent interview, calling himself a “bitcoin skeptic,” and adding that “it’s not a great climate thing.”

Now tell us about the carbon footprint of all the computers using Microsoft Windows. Oh, and Bill’s CF for his mega mansion, private jets, and so forth

Is Climate Change Making Allergy Season Worse? These Scientists Think So

During allergy season, some unfortunate souls spend a disproportionate part of their time experiencing some or all of the above. In the US alone, more than 50 million people are allergy sufferers.

Now scientists say climate change could be causing allergy season to start earlier and last longer.

A team of researchers from institutions across the US has reviewed data relating to pollen trends from 1990 to 2018. The conclusions they came to were that pollen is present in the air 20 days sooner than it used to be and at significantly higher concentrations – as much as 21% up.

OK, compare this, if we’re doing science, to not only the rest of the Modern Warm Period, but previous Holocene warm and cool periods. Heck, how about during the slight cooling from the mid 40’s to the late 70’s. Seriously, there’s nothing unusual at all about a Holocene warm period having trees bloom earlier. Now, though, we have climahysteria

Young people seeking to change federal policy on climate change try new tactic

(a couple paragraphs of the kiddies losing their climacase)

Evidence in the case shows that federal officials’ “actions (or inaction), such as coal leasing, oil development, fossil fuel industry subsidies, and the setting of fuel efficiency standards for vehicles” are violating the youths’ rights, their lawyers said in a federal court filing in Oregon. The youths “merely seek justice for the injuries they are suffering at the hands of their government,” and a judicial declaration of illegality would be a major step forward, the filing said.

The lawyers also urged the Biden administration to abandon the “scorched-earth tactics” of President Donald Trump’s administration, which fought the suit for four years, and to negotiate a settlement “based on technically and economically feasible solutions to the climate crisis.”

I have an idea

Read: Climate Scam Today: Bill Gates Sounds Alarm On Bitcoin, Allergy Season Maybe Possibly They Think Longer, Youngsters Suing »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach March 10, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fence keeping people from migrating during climate doom, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Blazing Cat Fur, with a post wondering if we even have a republic anymore.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Biden Aid Says Pandemic Was Best Thing To Happen To Democrats

By William Teach March 10, 2021 – 10:30 am

Hey, China Joe aid Anita Dunn was just saying what we all knew: Democrats were taking advantage of a worldwide pandemic and all the death and misery associated with it, making it worse for people in order to blame Trump

Biden Aide: Coronavirus Pandemic ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened’ for Democrats

A top aide to President Joe Biden described the coronavirus as “the best thing that ever happened to him,” according to a recently released book.

The book, Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency, details how Biden adviser Anita Dunn made the remark in private to a campaign “associate.”

The book’s authors, Jonathan Allen of NBC News and Amie Parnes of the Hill, said Dunn’s comments were what “campaign officials believed but would never say in public.”

Dunn’s comments were first reported by the Guardian after the paper obtained an early release copy of the book.

An experienced Democrat campaign operative, Dunn also worked as a public relations guru for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Dunn joined the Biden administration as a senior adviser after playing a similar role on his 2020 campaign.

We all know that one of the reasons for Democratic Party elected officials in cities, counties, and states ramped up the authoritarian COVID rules was to make people miserable so they could Blamestorm Trump and get Biden elected. In fairness, it worked (maybe, sure seemed like lots of election issues). The other being because they’re authoritarians. They didn’t care about the pain and suffering of Americans. How often did we see them breaking their own rules? How often do we see Biden breaking his own rules right now?

Read: Biden Aid Says Pandemic Was Best Thing To Happen To Democrats »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Democrats | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

After Taking Long Fossil Fueled Flight, John Kerry Urges Top Polluters To Genuflect To Climate Cult

By William Teach March 10, 2021 – 8:06 am

Unsurprisingly, no media members took photos of John Kerry landing his private jet nor disembarking. That would be bad optics, but, how did he get to England? He surely didn’t use a sailing ship, and hyper climate cult outlet the BBC won’t mention it

Climate change: Kerry urges top polluters to cut emissions now

US climate change envoy John Kerry has urged the world’s top 20 polluters which create 81% of emissions between them to reduce CO2 immediately.

He was speaking after meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior UK figures in London to plan two upcoming international climate summits.

He praised the UK for phasing out coal, and for its “ambitious” climate goals.

But he told BBC Newsnight that the UK – along with other major nations – must deliver their proposed emissions cuts.

“China, the US, Russia, India, the EU, Korea, Japan and others all have to be part of this effort,” he said. “Twenty countries. Eighty one percent of the emissions.”

Brits have been burning peat moss and wood to supplement the loss of power from doing away with coal (I’ll note again, I’m not a fan of coal) and having to rely on unreliable solar and wind, particularly when it is cold. UK power costs have skyrocketed over the past 15 years as the nation, or at least the nations leaders, joined the climate cult.

Asked during the interview whether the UK should be planning a controversial new coal mine in Cumbria, he replied: “The marketplace has made a decision that coal is not the future.

In this case the marketplace he refers to is The Government.

On Tuesday, climate diplomacy sees him in Paris and Brussels for talks with European leaders, who have been praised for their recent target to cut emissions 55% on 1990 levels.

Did he take a pure electric vehicle, a bus, or a train to Paris and Brussels? Or hop back in the fossil fueled private jet for quick trips to those two cities?

Leaders are wrestling with gloomy news from China, whose recent five-year plan takes tiny steps to decarbonisation.

But they will be heartened by President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package agreed by the Senate, which will support “green” economic growth.

Wait, I thought the $1.9 trillion was about COVID relief? No?

Yes, climate hypocrisy matters, especially when it’s a major league bigwig telling people they will be forced to comply.

Read: After Taking Long Fossil Fueled Flight, John Kerry Urges Top Polluters To Genuflect To Climate Cult »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming, Kerry | 1 Comment | Trackback URL
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