Hotcold Take: Astronomers Train Their Sights On ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach May 15, 2024 – 3:07 pm

Isn’t their job to kinda look out from the Earth? I mean, I guess if we’re saying “Astronomers study planets, stars, and other celestial bodies”, the Earth is a planet, but, Mirriam Webster states “the study of objects and matter outside the earth’s atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties.” That would preclude the Earth. But, this is an insidious cult which puts its tentacles into everything

Alarmed by Climate Change, Astronomers Train Their Sights on Earth

On the morning of Jan. 18, 2003, Penny Sackett, then director of the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory outside Canberra, received a concerning email from a student at the facility. Bush fires that had been on the horizon the day before were now rapidly approaching. The astronomers on site were considering evacuating, the student wrote. (snip)

All but one of Mount Stromlo’s eight telescopes were destroyed that day, along with millions of dollars in equipment that engineers had been building for observatories around the world. The fires also destroyed 500 homes across greater Canberra, and killed four people.

The incident was an early warning for astronomy: Wildfires, exacerbated by climate change, were becoming a problem for their field. Since then, several other observatories have been damaged or threatened by fires and other extreme weather, and changing atmospheric conditions have made ground-based astronomical research more challenging.

Apparently, lightning only happened after fossil fueled vehicles were invented. And could have been contained if they had gone after the fires more quickly.

Such incidents have drawn attention to Earth’s plight, and a growing number of astronomers are rallying to fight climate change. In 2019, professionals and students founded a global organization called Astronomers for Planet Earth. Astrobites, a journal run by graduate students in the field, held its third annual Earth Week in April. Also last month, a group of astronomers released “Climate Change for Astronomers: Causes, consequences and communication,” a collection of articles detailing the researchers’ personal experiences with the climate crisis, its impact on their work and how they might use their scientific authority to make a difference.

Sounds less like science and more like sociology

Other astronomers are raising awareness in the classroom, incorporating Earth’s climate into their research, or have left science altogether and become full-time activists.

Yup, a cult.

The modern scientific understanding of greenhouse gases is built in part on studies of Venus, a planet choked with heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas. At more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit, Venus is hot enough to melt lead — as well as the few probes that have managed to land on its surface.

Here we go again: what caused this on Venus, and why is that different from man-caused global warming?

Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, began his career searching for gravitational waves in the universe.

“I started feeling a lot of anxiety that I wasn’t committing my talents to doing something to stop global heating,” said Dr. Kalmus, who stressed that he spoke for only himself, not his employer. After a few years of research in astrophysics, he pivoted to studying the physics of clouds and, later, to using climate models to examine the risks of extreme heat. (Dr. Kalmus has also become an outspoken climate activist who has been arrested for his protest tactics.)

Cult. Anyhow, this is a very long piece describing the antithesis of science.

Read: Hotcold Take: Astronomers Train Their Sights On ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 15, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is warm weather bamboo which will soon grow in Siberia, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on reality intruding on CNN.

Read: If All You See… »

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NC Senate Advances Bill With Increased Penalties On Those Who Wear Masks While Committing Crime

By William Teach May 15, 2024 – 10:30 am

All those pro-Hamas demonstrations where lots were wearing masks caught the attention of the NC General Assembly

North Carolina Senate panel advances anti-mask bill

A COVID-era change that allowed people in North Carolina to wear a mask for health reasons moved a step closer to being removed from state law Tuesday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republican voted in a voice vote with Democrats objecting to advance a law to enhance penalties for people who wear masks while committing another crime or for those who block traffic. House Bill 237 now moves to another Senate committee.

But the bill also removes a provision that exempts people who wear masks for health and safety reasons that was added in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

And it was that part of the legislation that attracted the most opposition from Democrats on the panel and public speakers.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson County, said the bill is not intended to “prosecute granny for wearing a mask in the Walmart — unless she was sticking steaks in her bag.”

The bill comes after pro-Palestinian demonstrations and protests at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in previous weeks. Many of the protesters wore masks throughout the demonstrations.

It had been against the law for people to wear masks in public, except for times like Halloween or for approved parades and demonstrations. Also, for certain jobs where it’s necessary. Likewise, if it was freaking cold. This whole “immunocompromised” thing? How often did you really see someone wearing one in public before COVID? Those few who did were wearing ones that actually made a difference. It wasn’t performance art like now. It certainly wasn’t a bunch of Brave protesters hiding behind COVID so they could hide their faces against consequences of being pro-Hamas and showing their Jew hatred.

Newton said his message to people who need to wear masks for health reasons or concerns was to wear them. But Sen. Natasha Marcus, D-Mecklenburg, said lawmakers had a obligation to write clear laws.

“We make sure that the bill says what we mean for it to say,” she said. “And, to be clear, this bill, by crossing out Section 6, says it’s not legal to wear a mask if you’re doing it for the safety of yourself and others, and that is an outrageous change to make. It’s not appropriate. You say, well, this wasn’t a problem before COVID. The world is different now.”

Yeah yeah yeah. Performance art. It’s mostly only COVID wackos who wear them now, and, if you follow them around you’ll see them remove them when the performance is over. And, really, if someone is wearing one for real reasons, they mostly will not be out in public. The few who do will pretty much be left alone by police. They don’t have time for that. But, stores can tell people to remove them if they so choose.

The bill would also create a new crime specifically for protests that block roads — a tactic some recent Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestinian protests have engaged in during demonstrations in Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and across the nation.

Don’t forget the climate wackos.

Liz Barber, with the ACLU of North Carolina, called Tuesday’s anti-mask bill part of a “broader attack on democracy.” She said the provision was unconstitutional because it imposed different punishments based on the content of speech or protest.

Good grief. These people. So tiresome.

Read: NC Senate Advances Bill With Increased Penalties On Those Who Wear Masks While Committing Crime »

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Climate Kiddies Plan To Try And Sue In California Again

By William Teach May 15, 2024 – 7:15 am

A better idea would be for them to live the net zero life they demand for Everyone Else, and convince all their climate cult friends to do the same

Judge dismisses California kids’ climate lawsuit. They plan to try again

After a federal judge dismissed a landmark climate lawsuit filed by 18 California children against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the youth plaintiffs plan to amend and resubmit their allegations, their attorneys say.

The children — who have lost homes in wildfires, suffered health problems from breathing polluted air, missed weeks of education due to climate change-related school closures and been forced to ration tap water due to unprecedented droughts — sued the EPA for allegedly violating their constitutional rights by allowing pollution from burning fossil fuels to continue despite knowing the harm it poses to kids.

Except, the EPA is not a dictatorial federal agency, and doesn’t have the statutory authority to act as one. CO2 is not a pollutant.

Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California this month ruled the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the suit because they did not show how the remedies they sought — including a declaratory judgment that their constitutional rights have been violated — would mitigate those harms.

“Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate how a declaration regarding Plaintiffs’ rights under the Constitution and the legality of Defendants’ conduct, on its own, is likely to remedy these alleged injuries,” he wrote. The ruling granted the plaintiffs permission to amend their complaint by no later than May 20.

Too bad Judge Fitzgerald didn’t ask the kiddies if they were practicing what they preached, and if they were traveling around in fossil fueled vehicles.

The co-executive director of Our Children’s Trust, an Oregon-based nonprofit law firm that represents the plaintiffs and has filed similar suits in other states, called the order unjust and said attorneys would be filing an amended complaint.

“When presented with a constitutional violation, there is no reason for a federal judge to throw up his hands and say nothing can be done,” Mat dos Santos, general counsel of Our Children’s Trust, said in a statement. “In doing just that, this order tells children that judges have no power to hear their complaints. Courts do, in fact, have that power.”

They keep saying “constitutional”, but, they never actually point to the part of the constitution, other than a vague notion

The children who filed Genesis v. EPA are asking the federal court to hear and weigh their evidence, then ultimately issue a declaratory judgment that the EPA has violated their fundamental constitutional rights to equal protection of the law and their fundamental rights to life.

The filed suit doesn’t actually explain how this violates “equal protection of the law”. And there is no fundamental right to life (which is interesting, because the same people astroturfing these suits surely believe in abortion on demand). They further assert that they have a fundamental right to a life-sustaining climate. They seriously try to cite things like Article II, but, it gets pretty squishy and more along the lines of “The EPA must Do Something because we say so!”

Read: Climate Kiddies Plan To Try And Sue In California Again »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Hamas Has Been Using UN Vehicles, UNRWA Compound

By William Teach May 15, 2024 – 7:00 am

I mean, we already know UNRWA employees have been stealing aid bound for Gazans. And now

IDF reveals Hamas terrorists use UN vehicles, UNRWA compound as cover in Rafah – watch

The IDF revealed on Tuesday that during operational activity in eastern Rafah on Saturday, terrorists were identified in UNRWA’s central logistics compound alongside UN vehicles.

In the footage, several terrorists and gunfire can be seen near UN vehicles and in the area of UNRWA’s logistics warehouse compound in eastern Rafah, which is a central point for the distribution of aid on UNRWA’s behalf in the Gaza Strip.

Following the event, representatives of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) conveyed the findings to senior officials in the international community and called on the UN to conduct an urgent investigation into the matter.

Please. The UN won’t care. They’re full of wackjobs and Israel/Jew haters, having been dhimmified by the Islamists.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz commented on the footage on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Hamas terrorists firing at civilians from within a UNRWA facility next to UN vehicles in Rafah. No lie from Antonio Guterres and Philippe Lazzarini will hide the truth: UNRWA is an arm of the terrorist organization Hamas.”

Yet, the UN will still blame Israel for the actions of Hamas, a UN designated terrorist organization.

Read: Surprise: Hamas Has Been Using UN Vehicles, UNRWA Compound »

Posted in Israel, RoP, UN | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Washington Post Wants You To Use Cold Water To Save The Planet

By William Teach May 14, 2024 – 3:00 pm

The interesting part is that “reporter” Allyson Chiu fails to mention whether she’s fully switched from not using hot water, nor is it mentioned whether the WP has turned off hot water at their office

Why you should embrace using cold water, almost all the time

You may not be giving a second thought to setting your washing machine on the hot cycle, cranking your showers to a steamy temperature or scrubbing your dirty dishes under a stream of scalding water.

No, I really don’t. I actually do most of the laundry in cold water, and use the appropriate detergent. Though, if I am doing a big load of whites I might do it in hot. I don’t mind saving some energy, and making sure I have hot water for other things. But, not to “reduce emissions.”

If you did, you’d find that you probably don’t need to use so much hot water — and that you could be saving energy and cutting your utility bills. Water heating is responsible for more than 10 percent of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the biggest share after air conditioning and heating, according to the Energy Department. An American household uses an average of 64 gallons of hot water a day — close to the amount needed to fill an average bathtub — by doing laundry, showering, washing the dishes and running kitchen and bathroom faucets. (snip)

By washing four out of five loads of laundry in cold water, you could cut 864 pounds of CO2 emissions in a year, an amount equivalent to planting 0.37 acres of U.S. forest, according to the American Cleaning Institute.

Piss off. Mind your own business.

Showering accounts for roughly 17 percent of the water Americans use in their homes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Your steamy showers also consume energy: Nearly half of a home’s hot water is used for bathing. A cold shower uses less energy than a hot one.

Why do these people feel the need to nag? Is Allyson doing this?

You should also rethink washing your hands with hot or warm water for the same reason, she added.

Washing up with cooler water could also have additional benefits for your skin, according to dermatologists.

Yet, doctors recommend you wash with hot water. Anyhow, this is the kind of “news” you get these days, with “reporters” who never leave the office (or their apartments), never cultivate leads, never ask tough questions of politicians and bureaucrats.

Read: Washington Post Wants You To Use Cold Water To Save The Planet »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming, Wonky Media | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 14, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible carbon pollution beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post on shrimp being Bad for ‘climate change’.

Read: If All You See… »

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Unhinged Democrats Want Biden To Find That Grocery Stores Are Price Fixing

By William Teach May 14, 2024 – 10:30 am

The idea here is to Blame grocery stores for artificially creating high prices so that they can say that food inflation is not the fault of Democrats and Joe Biden. They’ve decided that grocery stores are their new enemy of the state

Democrats Ask Biden to Investigate Grocery Store Price-Fixing

A group of Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Joe Biden to investigate grocery store chains for price manipulation, writing in a letter sent Monday morning that he should use executive authority to take additional enforcement action to address rising food prices without the help of Congress.

The letter, shared exclusively with TIME, comes after a report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that major grocery chains seemed to take advantage of supply chain disruptions during the pandemic to hike up prices to increase their profits. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who led the letter and is one of its signatories, has called for more competition and stronger enforcement of antitrust laws to bring down grocery prices for families—but her proposed legislation on the topic has been largely stalled in Congress.

She’s now hoping that Biden will leverage his executive authority to initiate a thorough investigation into the alleged price-fixing practices of major grocery store chains. “Big food companies want to keep these huge profits and they’re hiring plenty of lobbyists to keep Congress from acting,” Warren tells TIME in an interview. “Congress has stalled out on doing work that it could do to help families lower costs… and the President has the tools to fight back.”

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Martin Heinrich (D-N. Mex.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Peter Welch (I-Vt.) also signed on to the letter requesting Biden’s intervention, along with 35 House Democrats. The lawmakers outlined several proposals in their letter that the Biden Administration could take—from encouraging the FTC to issue guidance on potential violations of price discrimination laws, to creating a joint task force to investigate food price manipulation throughout the supply chain.

Even if they did raise prices beyond what was reasonable, so what? That’s 100% illegal. They can charge what they want. But, really, a lot of the report is along the lines of “suggests”, as in, “we think they really did this, but, we aren’t quite sure, because business happens, big stores have more leverage, and the world was disrupted from the Chinese coronavirus and Democrats shutting businesses down.”

Wages are up. Utility costs up. Insurance costs up. Property taxes up. Maintenance costs up. Input costs up. Cost of borrowed money up. Transportation costs up. This not only applies to grocers but to the growers and processors of food products. How do you think prices can stay where they were when there is cost increases every step of the way from production to retail? And with fuel way up, that will effect almost every part of getting food to the stores and in your basket.

But, also, does the Biden admin actually have the statutory authority to do this investigation? The story really doesn’t say. Obviously, Democrats want to blame grocery stores, not China for releasing COVID and Democrats for shutting things down, but, what else is in play?

The letter underscores what many progressive Democrats and liberal economic minds see as an urgent need for regulatory intervention to level the playing field in the food and grocery sector, ensuring fair competition and affordable prices for consumers nationwide. Studies have found that corporate profits account for more than 50% of current inflation as many American families are being hit with higher costs for groceries. In the food industry alone, four retailers—Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Albertsons—account for over a third of national grocery sales, potentially allowing dominant retailers to extract more favorable prices and terms from suppliers.

Hmm, having Government take massive control of the food sector? What could possibly go wrong?

Read: Unhinged Democrats Want Biden To Find That Grocery Stores Are Price Fixing »

Posted in Democrats, Food and Drink | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Doom Today: Coral Reefs Could Totally Disappear

By William Teach May 14, 2024 – 7:00 am

These would be the same coral reefs which have survived higher temperatures and higher sea levels since the end of the last ice age, but, see, not it’s totally different

Coral reefs could vanish if temperatures continue to rise

A recent study published by Oxford University Press highlights a disturbing trend in the health of coral reefs globally, underscoring the severe implications of climate change on ocean temperatures and circulation patterns.

Over the past year, these vital ecosystems have experienced unprecedented levels of bleaching and mortality, particularly around the Caribbean, the coasts of Mexico and Central America, and several Pacific islands including Kiribati and Fiji.

The data reveals a grim future, suggesting that coral reefs might soon vanish if current trends persist.

Sherman Potter Bull Cookies

It’s always some sort of doom with these people. It’s what they know. Perhaps instead they should just practice what they preach and get their climate cult comrades to do the same.

Read: Doom Today: Coral Reefs Could Totally Disappear »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

LOL: UNC Chapel Hill Kills It’s DEI Program, Shifts Money To Campus Police

By William Teach May 14, 2024 – 6:45 am

Such a shame

UNC board votes to shift $2.3 million in DEI funds to public safety

As North Carolina’s public university system considers a vote on changing its diversity policy, the UNC-Chapel Hill university board voted Monday to cut funding for diversity programs in next year’s budget.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees unanimously approved a change that would divert $2.3 million of diversity spending — known as DEI for diversity, equity and inclusion — from state funds to go toward public safety and policing at a special meeting to address the university’s budget.

One board member told CBS 17 that he believes the DEI programs only divide campuses.

“The DEI efforts seemed counterproductive to that effort to treat people based on who they are as a human, not based on any kind of characteristic they might have,” Board of Trustees budget chair Dave Boliek said.

Well, that’s exactly what it is about: treating people unequally. Giving priority to people based on race, sex, and all sorts of leftist values at the expense of others.

The board’s vote would only impact UNC-Chapel Hill’s diversity funding, which could result in the loss of its diversity office.

UNC will join the ranks of other notable public universities that have stripped diversity spending, such as the University of Florida in Gainesville, which announced in a March memo it was reallocating funds to faculty recruitment.

The vote to shift more funding to public safety comes as continued pro-Palestinian protests on UNC’s campus have resulted in several arrests in recent weeks. The budget committee vice-chair Marty Kotis said law enforcement has already been forced to react to protests, but they need more funding to keep the university “safe from a larger threat.”

“It’s important to consider the needs of all 30,000 students, not just the 100 or so that may want to disrupt the university’s operations,” Kotis said. “It takes away resources for others.”

It really is a hoist on their own petard situation: if the wackjob Hamas supporters/Jew haters hadn’t caused so many problems with their protests this might not have happened. That whole taking down the American flag and replacing it with a Palestinian one was probably the last straw.

Read: LOL: UNC Chapel Hill Kills It’s DEI Program, Shifts Money To Campus Police »

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