NY Times Wants To Crack Down On Freedom Of The Press Over Noxious Language

By William Teach October 5, 2019 – 5:41 pm

Oh, wait, wait, no, sorry, they just want Other People punished for daring to use their Constitutional Republic protected Free Speech right

Free Speech Is Killing Us
Noxious language online is causing real-world violence. What can we do about it?

There has never been a bright line between word and deed. Yet for years, the founders of Facebook and Twitter and 4chan and Reddit — along with the consumers obsessed with these products, and the investors who stood to profit from them — tried to pretend that the noxious speech prevalent on those platforms wouldn’t metastasize into physical violence. In the early years of this decade, back when people associated social media with Barack Obama or the Arab Spring, Twitter executives referred to their company as “the free-speech wing of the free-speech party.” Sticks and stones and assault rifles could hurt us, but the internet was surely only a force for progress.

No one believes that anymore. Not after the social-media-fueled campaigns of Narendra Modi and Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump; not after the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Va.; not after the massacres in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a Walmart in a majority-Hispanic part of El Paso. The Christchurch gunman, like so many of his ilk, had spent years on social media trying to advance the cause of white power. But these posts, he eventually decided, were not enough; now it was “time to make a real life effort post.” He murdered 52 people.

Having spent the past few years embedding as a reporter with the trolls and bigots and propagandists who are experts at converting fanatical memes into national policy, I no longer have any doubt that the brutality that germinates on the internet can leap into the world of flesh and blood.

The question is where this leaves us. Noxious speech is causing tangible harm. Yet this fact implies a question so uncomfortable that many of us go to great lengths to avoid asking it. Namely, what should we — the government, private companies or individual citizens — be doing about it?

Funny, nothing about Antifa or other hardcore lefties. Or that the Walmart killer held some radical leftist views, as well.

Using “free speech” as a cop-out is just as intellectually dishonest and just as morally bankrupt. For one thing, the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private companies. Even the most creative reader of the Constitution will not find a provision guaranteeing Richard Spencer a Twitter account. But even if you see social media platforms as something more akin to a public utility, not all speech is protected under the First Amendment anyway. Libel, incitement of violence and child pornography are all forms of speech. Yet we censor all of them, and no one calls it the death knell of the Enlightenment.

Except, the way the 1st Amendment is written is explicitly designed to keep the Congress from passing laws that abridge the freedom of speech. That means on the citizens and private entities.

One has to wonder if the NY Times, and writer Andrew Marantz, would be cool if this was about Free Press killing us with their noxious language? The same case could be made. (neither should be limited)

The screed goes on and on and on, and you have to wonder if any editor at the Times sat back and said “you know, this is a Really Bad Idea.” Or do they just want troll material? Unhinged conversation material? Controversial material for the sake of ginning up controversy? As the First Street Journal notes

The author’s bias is apparent in so many ways. The speech he decries is all from the right side of the political spectrum. Not a word was published against the speech of Antifa, which has led to violence from the far left in this country. There was no criticism of speech by those supporting the socialist regime in Nicaragua or advocating the same socialism which led to totalitarianism and as many as 100 million deaths in the old Soviet Union, in Communist China, in Pol Pot’s Cambodia and North Korea. No, he was concerned that a social media campaign helped elect Donald Trump!

Mr Marantz, while exercising his First Amendment rights, clearly does not like the unregulated speech of others:

Read both articles.

Read: NY Times Wants To Crack Down On Freedom Of The Press Over Noxious Language »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Journalistic Malpractice | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 5, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is an overly bright day caused by the climate crisis, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on minimum wage increases causing businesses to close unexpectedly.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Say, Those Extinction Rebellion Folks Seem Pretty White, Eh?

By William Teach October 5, 2019 – 11:23 am

Let’s face it, the Cult of Climastrology is pretty darned Caucasian overall. Most of the leaders are white. St. Greta Thunberg, the newest face of the CoC, is beyond white. And now even the climahysteric UK Guardian has noticed this with Extinction Rebellion, and it’s a doozy

In all fairness, there are two black gents sitting on the left. I would wonder about the caption for the above photo as it appears at the article, “Extinction Rebellion protesters perform a water ceremony, mixing water from across the UK before pouring it into the River Thames, outside the royal courts of justice in the Strand, central London”. Seems rather cultish

It was just a tweet, and whoever sent it probably didn’t think much about it. It was a sunny day in July and environmental activists had blocked the Strand with a big blue boat.

“Live from the royal courts of justice,” Extinction Rebellion London wrote. “It has been announced that all protesters arrested during the April rebellion will be prosecuted. We are asking the police and legal system to concentrate on issues such as knife crime, and not non-violent protesters who are trying to save our planet.”

For those with ears tuned to hear it, the dogwhistle sounded clear. Stop bothering us non-violent protesters; focus instead on those frightening inner-city neighbourhoods, where black children carry knives.

“It was feeding into a racist narrative,” says Guppi Bola, an activist with the Wretched of the Earth, an environmental group that focuses on black, brown and indigenous voices. “When those kinds of things come up, then of course you are not going to feel welcome.”

So, not only is ER rather white, but they’re raaaaacists. Seriously, this almost wants to make me defend them. There’s nothing wrong with their tweet in terms of race. Certain other people will always see everything as race, no matter how innocuous.

But from the start XR has faced questions over its ability to reach out to diverse communities. Some critics go further, suggesting its tactics, its framing of key issues and a series of communications missteps show a carelessness around issues of race – or even institutional racism.

As climate anxiety increases, XR says it has listened to the criticisms and is prepared to make changes in order to reach as many people as possible.

Of course, they can’t just say “um, why do you crazies see every minor thing as a racist mountain when there was nothing racial about it?” Not in CoC World, with all their Woke folks, snowflakes, and such.

XR’s lack of diversity is not unique to the wider environmental movement – a “white middle-class ghetto”, in the words of one NGO chief, with research in 2017 finding the “environment profession” – including workers at green NGOs – was the second least diverse of all sectors in the UK, after farming.

So when a small group of activists got together in a Stroud living room last year to found a radical environmental movement, it was no surprise that they were white, or that they have gone on to create a movement in their own image.

Well, let’s be real: Whites account for around 87% of those in the U.K. Some form of Asian, in which Middle Easterners are included, is about 6%. Blacks account for only around 3%. So, of course it will end up as mostly white. But, that said, overall, it does seem that it is mostly those middle class whites, along with some rich whites, who are mostly concerned with anthropogenic climate change.

But, XR is doomed to become social justice first group, rather than a climate change first group, now that this has been brought up (and the Guardian keeps beating them in the article). And will be beaten on their white privilege

Or, as another activist put it to the Guardian: “Instead of using your privilege to get arrested, how about using it to stop other people getting arrested?”

There are plenty more hot-take quotes in the article.

Read: Say, Those Extinction Rebellion Folks Seem Pretty White, Eh? »

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Cult Of Climastrology Wants To Build Tall Buildings Out Of Dead Trees Or Something

By William Teach October 5, 2019 – 7:36 am

See, using concrete and steel is apparently worse for Hotcoldwetdry than killing off trees

Tall buildings out of timber? In the face of climate change, Seattle encourages it.

The loggers who made Seattle a center of the national timber industry are long gone. Only a few wooden landmarks of the timber heyday, mostly churches, still exist on the low-slung skyline of the city’s Ballard neighborhood.

But as concerns over climate change give new life to wooden building design, that could change.

Ballard will soon be home to Seattle’s first tall building built almost entirely from wood. Rising eight stories atop a florist shop will be a hotel built principally from cross-laminated timber (CLT) — durable panels made from binding layers of wooden planks with adhesive.

Cross-laminated timber is touted as an environmentally sustainable alternative to concrete and steel, which generate large quantities of greenhouse gases in their production. Loggers and environmentalists alike say that building with cross-laminated timber needs to be part of the response to climate change.

See, it’s all about Doing It Right

For those who remember the fiery 1990s protests over logging in the spotted owl’s Olympic Peninsula habitat, building with wood seems counterintuitive.

Mark Wishnie, director of global forestry at the Nature Conservancy, understands the whiplash that some feel about the environmental movement’s about-face on timber. One of the biggest challenges to increasing demand for CLT construction, he said, is the “scars in people’s memories” — the perception that logging equals deforestation. Cross-laminated timber makes sense, Wishnie said, only if the wood comes from a forest that’s managed responsibly.

So, enviroweenies, who are also usually Warmists, will have to make a decision: go after cutting down trees or support them over concrete

The huge environmental benefits of cross-laminated timber are its biggest draw: Construction on a cross-laminated timber high-rise emits roughly 25% less carbon dioxide than if the high-rise were concrete, according to a University of Washington study.

But, what of earthquakes? It’s not like Seattle is in a zone that could produce a devastating earthquake like seen in Indonesia in 2004

All three of the buildings proposed in Seattle are concrete-CLT hybrids, and it’s unlikely an entirely wood tower will come to Seattle any time soon. That’s because codes encourage that some of the building’s earthquake-proofing elements be made from concrete — even though in theory, cross-laminated timber should perform well in an earthquake, said Erica Spiritos, preconstruction manager for Swinerton Mass Timber in Portland.

Wood is considered as good as steel for flexibility during earthquakes, but, no one really knows if it will be that good went built more than a couple stories. Would you feel safe?

The cross-laminated timber panels will be prefabricated off-site, then lifted into place by a single crane in a matter of weeks, “like an Erector Set,” said architect Lauren Garkel, designer of two CLT projects. “The construction team is a handful of people with a drill.”

Hmm. So, it will be harvested by handsaw, travel to the prefabrication site by ox-cart, then to the construction site the same way, then raised by hand-winch? No fossil fuels involved, right?

Read: Cult Of Climastrology Wants To Build Tall Buildings Out Of Dead Trees Or Something »

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Unhinged Democrats Send Out Subpoenas For White House Documents Or Something

By William Teach October 5, 2019 – 7:20 am

Even though they’ve taken no vote to have a formal impeachment investigation, they think they can send subpoenas

House Democrats subpoena White House for Ukraine documents, escalating impeachment probe

House Democrats on Friday issued a subpoena to the White House for documents related to Ukraine, ratcheting up the Democratic impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The subpoena came after the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry separately sent a letter Friday seeking documents from Vice President Mike Pence as part of their investigation into Trump and his conversation with the President of Ukraine.

The subpoena from House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings to the White House includes a request for a host of documents and communications tied to the President’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the holding up of foreign aid to Ukraine and efforts by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates to push the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma, the company that hired Hunter Biden’s son Hunter Biden to be on its board, according to a memo Cummings sent on the subpoena earlier this week.

“We deeply regret that President Trump has put us — and the nation — in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena,” Cummings of Maryland, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of California and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel of New York wrote in a letter to the White House on Friday.

Interesting. What will they do if the White House decides to tell them to go pound sand, or simply slow walks things, just as the Obama administration did in most instances? Waiting for the Obama administration to cooperate was like watch a whale’s pregnancy: it just keeps going on and on and on. And, in many cases the Obama admin just refused to cooperate at all, releasing nothing, and the media did absolutely nothing. No haranguing opinion pieces, no editorials, not blasting pieces in the straight news section, no monologues on the TV news. They mostly supported it. Heck, we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of Operation Fast and Furious, and most news outlets have zero interest in finding out exactly what happened with Joe Biden and his son in relation to China and Ukraine.

The White House downplayed the subpoena.

“This subpoena changes nothing — just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the President did nothing wrong,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “The Do Nothing Democrats can continue with their kangaroo court while the President and his Administration will continue to work on behalf of the American people.” (snip)

The vice president’s spokesman said that the Democrats letter “does not appear to be a serious request.”

“Given the scope, it does not appear to be a serious request but just another attempt by the Do Nothing Democrats to call attention to their partisan impeachment,” Pence spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement. “Despite their efforts to distract and obstruct our agenda, this Administration will stay focused on creating jobs, securing the border, rebuilding our military, negotiating better trade deals, and the issues most important to the American people.”

Fighting back is the best option. Refusing to play the Democrats game. Now, if only elected Republicans would hold strong, instead of being the usual squishes. Further, you may think Trump is playing fast and loose (but, what do you expect from a New Yorker? This is the attitude on display), but you know that Pence is an upstanding man, and wouldn’t be part of hijinx. Democrats might well regret getting documents and such from Pence.

Read: Unhinged Democrats Send Out Subpoenas For White House Documents Or Something »

Posted in Current Affairs, Democrats | 75 Comments | Trackback URL

Nutty Portland Mayor Candidate Has Ideas On Green New Deal

By William Teach October 4, 2019 – 7:12 pm

She has big transportation ideas,as she travels around Portland in a fossil fueled vehicle. Did you ever notice that the media doesn’t like to show these climate cultists arriving and leaving?

Big transportation ideas highlight Portland mayoral candidate’s ‘Green New Deal’ plan

Portland mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone is no stranger to bold ideas. She spent years working at Portland State University leading educational tours for visiting leaders that focused on our city’s legacy of transformative urban planning decisions.

Now, as Iannarone campaigns to unseat Mayor Ted Wheeler, she’s unveiled a “Climate Justice” policy plan that would be transformative in its own right. Iannarone’s “Green New Deal” plan (PDF) comes out just two weeks after a City of Portland report found that carbon emissions from the transportation sector are “increasing dramatically.”

Let’s take a look at a few

 The plan would align citywide policy goals with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.

It would measure progress not by miles of roads paved or hours of congestion reduced, but by “alternative measures” such as a “Happiness Index” that “reflect our values and goals as a community”.

Happiness Index. Wait, don’t a lot of people bike in Portland? Weren’t we told that would make them right wingers?

It would “shift power from city government and mainstream organizations to frontline communities” and convene an Intergenerational Climate Summit. Her plan would also “value local knowledge” by sending some funds directly to community organizations to create plans and projects.

So, wait, city government would lose power? And it would go to unelected special interest groups? How about the mayor’s office? Will it lose power? Not that I’m against reducing the power of government, but, this empowers people and groups that cannot be held accountable.

It would prohibit “all new fossil fuel infrastructure” including the I-5 Rose Quarter project.

So, no new roads? What about existing ones?

It’s all as nutty as you’d expect, as well as finding ways to control citizens.

Read: Nutty Portland Mayor Candidate Has Ideas On Green New Deal »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Democrats, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

No Coup Or Something: Rashida Tlaib Looks To Arrest Trump Cabinet Members

By William Teach October 4, 2019 – 2:30 pm

Remember, this is definitely not a coup based on Democrats being upset that they lost in 2016

Rashida Tlaib: Democrats Exploring Ways to Arrest Trump Cabinet Members

(Video at the Link) Far-left “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) told constituents on Tuesday that her Democrat colleagues are looking into how to arrest White House officials who refuse to comply with subpoenas as part of an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

Speaking to her constituents at a town hall in her hometown of Detriot, Tlaib said Democrats are puzzled about how to arrest Cabinet secretaries, telling voters in a video captured by America Rising PAC that they could be taken into custody if Congress votes to hold them in contempt.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had a situation like this,” said Tlaib. “So they’re trying to figure out, no joke, is it the D.C. police that goes and gets them? We don’t know. Where do we hold them?”

House Democrats are in “uncharted territory” and “trying to tread carefully,” the Michigan Democrat went on.

“I will tell them they can hold all those people right here in Detroit,” she quipped “We’ll take care of them and make sure they show up to the committee hearings.”

Interesting. At no time did Republicans consider arresting recalcitrant Obama officials such as Eric Holder, even when held in contempt. Team Obama was literally allowed to slow walk almost everything, and even refuse to show documents and hold back witnesses.

Authoritarians like Tlaib love using the State to enforce their will.

Read: No Coup Or Something: Rashida Tlaib Looks To Arrest Trump Cabinet Members »

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If All You See…

By William Teach October 4, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible climate killing baby which needs to be eaten, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Diogenes’ Middle Finger, with a post on Dems needing a bigger can of turd polish.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Hot New Gun Control Push: Require Companies To Disclose Relations With Firearms Companies

By William Teach October 4, 2019 – 7:36 am

Rep Gregory Meeks (5th NY) thinks he’s on to something with this op-ed

Op-Ed: We must act now to end gun violence

New York has strong gun control laws, this is true. But there is little stopping someone from going to state with more gun stores and fewer laws, driving up or down the “Iron Pipeline” of I-95, and using that weapon here in New York. You may recall the death of NYPD office Brian Moore who was shot by a gun acquired in Perry, Ga.

Said weapon was not acquired legally. The perp, Demetrius Blackwell, stole the .38 caliber revolver from a gun store. So, it’s not like he bought it somewhere that didn’t do a background check. Which all gun stores do.

One crucial way we can reduce gun violence in our community is my instituting federal laws that set at least a floor of necessary gun safety measures, like universal background checks and closing the gun show loophole. The House passed a package of gun safety reforms last winter, H.R. 8, as one of its first major priorities after Democrats resumed leadership.

None of that would have stopped Blackwell. Further, Meeks can only offer this one example, which occurred in 2015.

After all, despite these bills being strong measures to help keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them, they are the floor of what Congress can do, not the ceiling. There are more measures that can help drastically reduce damage that can be inflicted by a singular mass shooter. Those measures include banning Assault style weapons like the AR-15 so commonly used in mass shootings, banning extended magazines which allow shooters to shoot longer without reloading.

Blackwell used none of those. Again, it was a .38 Taurus revolver. Here’s where his big idea comes in

I’ll soon be reintroducing my legislation from last Congress, the Investor Choice Against Gun Proliferation Act, which would require listed companies to annually disclose their financial relationships with the gun industry, allowing consumers and investors to make informed decision that aligns with their morals.

Let’s find a bit more about this from Meeks’ webpage

Yesterday, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05) reintroduced the Investor Choice Against Gun Proliferation Act. In recent years, mass shootings have prompted many companies to sever ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA). This bill would require public companies to disclose their financial relationships with manufacturers, dealers and other entities in the gun industry, to increase transparency and help investors make informed decisions.

“While common sense gun reform has languished in the partisan halls of Congress, American consumers and investors have taken action into their own hands by boycotting or divesting from companies tied to the gun industry. My Investor Choice Against Gun Proliferation Act would increase transparency in order to equip investors with information so they can create a portfolio that is consistent with their morals. Tens of thousands of lives are lost every year to gun violence, and Americans have a right to know whether their financial investments are inadvertently having a negative human impact,” said Congressman Gregory W. Meeks.

It’s essentially a tattletale act, designed to make sure companies can be abused by unhinged leftists, and it pretty much violates equal protection under the law. It’s a way to force private companies to not provide any support in any way to firearms companies, driving them out of business.

BTW, if the gun companies go out of business, who makes arms for government, including police, military, and the protection for members of Congress?

Read: Hot New Gun Control Push: Require Companies To Disclose Relations With Firearms Companies »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Democrats | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

AOC’s Town Hall: Save The Planet, Eat The Children

By William Teach October 4, 2019 – 7:15 am

In a normal world, you wonder if this was some sort of plant to make the Cult of Climastrology look crazy. But, this is Cult of Climastrology World, where people are yammering about eco/climate anxiety, superglueing themselves to doors and streets and stuff, and you know the rest (via Twitchy)

And, yes, there is video. Worth the watch

Would that be considered vegan? And people wonder why I mostly stopped bothering with science years and years ago when it came to ‘climate change’? Because this is not science based. Well, political science and social science. And now we’re getting mental health issues.

Read: AOC’s Town Hall: Save The Planet, Eat The Children »

Posted in Global Warming, Unhinged Tools | 36 Comments | Trackback URL
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