Central America Needs A Green New Deal Or Something

Exporting Socialist authoritarianism to replace other authoritarianism in Central America

All or Nothing: A Green New Deal for Central America

…..

The US, Canada, China and Europe are the world powers which have contributed to the fast deterioration of the quality of life of Central Americans through exploitation schemes and political pressure. From the destruction of local economies as a result of the signing of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), to the reinforcement of commercial policies which avoid compliance with human rights, and to the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America, which protects and consolidates the domination and control by large corporations of the energy matrix of Central American countries. (snip)

Would it be possible for the developed world to imagine a moratorium for the countries which are the most unequal, violent and vulnerable to climate change, allowing their people enough flexibility to exceptionally apply another economic model? Clean energy? Decent jobs? Native seeds?

Central America accounts for 7% of the world’s biodiversity despite its small size. It leads the ranking of the most unequal countries in the world and of the poorest countries in the Americas, and it is home to four of the fifty most violent cities in the world. If economic slowdown is added to extreme vulnerability to climate change, lack of active public inclusion policies for women and marked racism to indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, it is obvious that the number of people willing to migrate to the North, even risking everything, will only increase.

A Green New Deal for Central America would allow for the possibility of conducting pilot testing, giving concrete shape to and defending a different future – no longer as an idea, but as a proven reality. Replacing fragile and failed institutions with architecture that results from economic and ecological transformation, empowering indigenous and peasant communities, regaining control of the natural commons, reversing the fast disappearance of unique species, preserving the remaining oxygen reserves in the region, compensating Central American countries for the impact that 10% of the world inflicts on them, putting them on the map of the countries most at riskfrom the global climate crisis. These changes do not depend on the congresses of these countries. They depend on Washington, Brussels and the international financial institutions.

First, are you getting the idea that this so-called Green New Deal push has almost nothing to do with either the environment nor ‘climate change’? Second, it’s rather strange that 1st World nations get blamed for the problems in Central America, then the blamers want to ignore the lawmakers of those Central American nations to allow the 1st World nations to dictate policy.

This humanitarian crisis summarizes the failures of the system that the world inflicts on the poor, pushing them to cross seas and deserts, and to risk everything while seeking a better life. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for a radical change, for transcending discourses which promise palliative “sustainable futures” that nobody is willing to finance. It is an opportunity for raising international solidarity on the basis of a concrete plan – beyond words and paper.

If the Green New Deal does not work here and now, if it cannot surpass humanitarian camp reactions and massive exoduses and produce a positive agenda, tomorrow will be too late. If we seal a new social contract, we must include everyone, we must make sure that no one is left behind – starting with those to whom we owe the most.

Da, comrade. You will be forced to comply. Enforced poverty for all, with government in complete control of your life.

Read: Central America Needs A Green New Deal Or Something »

Gun Control Groups “Seizing Momentum” Should Consider What’s Happening In New Zealand

“Gun control” is all about punishing law abiding citizens for the actions of criminals by disarming the law abiding, while doing nothing to the criminals

‘People are fed up’: After El Paso and Dayton shootings, gun-control groups seize momentum

Nearly two weeks after back-to-back mass shootings killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, gun-control groups are pushing lawmakers to act on long-dormant gun policy measures.

And this time, activists say, momentum is on their side.

That’s thanks in large part to a burst of grass-roots organizing around the country. About 20,000 members of the Brady Campaign have called, emailed or collected signatures over the last two weeks asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to call the Senate back from recess to take emergency action on gun legislation.

This weekend, thousands of volunteers with Moms Demand Action, the grass-roots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, will hold rallies in all 50 states to urge senators to expand background-check laws and “red flag laws,” which would allow law enforcement or others to take a person’s firearms away if they are deemed a danger.

And therein lies the problem with those Red Flag laws unless they are crafted to be very specific by Congress, and punish those civilly and criminally who make frivolous claims. Cuomo make have melted down, but, should his guns be taken? Who knows, let’s take them and hold a hearing! Right? That’s the way many RF laws work already.

“The fact that Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are openly discussing universal background checks and other gun-safety measures that we support is a powerful signal about the pressure” they feel from gun-safety groups, said Peter Ambler, executive director of the advocacy group Giffords.

The thing is, we’d be open to certain common sense (not Common Sense, as they use) measures, but, we mostly aren’t willing to allow passage of anything because we know that these are just steps towards gun bans. To complete disarmament. How’s that working out in New Zealand?

(USA Today) New Zealand banned most automatic and semi-automatic weapons and components that modify existing weapons in the immediate wake of the shooting that left 51 people dead and scores injured at two mosques in March.

The country also established a buy-back program to allow gun owners to be compensated for turning in their weapons.

Since the voluntary program began in July, 10,242 firearms have been handed into police, and another 1,269 firearms have been handed in under an amnesty program, which allows people to turn in their guns without any questions about how or when they obtained them.

Hooray, gun grabbing! Wait, hooray?

(Reason) Once again, responding to a horrendous crime by inflicting knee-jerk, authoritarian restrictions on innocent people proves to be an ineffective means of convincing people to obey. Specifically, New Zealand’s government—which also stepped up censorship and domestic surveillance after bloody attacks on two Christchurch mosques earlier this year—is running into stiff resistance to new gun rules from firearms owners who are slow to surrender now-prohibited weapons and will probably never turn them in.

Officials should have seen it coming.

“Police are anticipating a number of people with banned firearms in their possession won’t surrender them,” Stuff reported at the end of May, based on internal government documents.

As of last week, only around 700 weapons had been turned over. There are an estimated 1.5 million guns—with an unknown number subject to the new prohibitionon semiautomatic firearms—in the country overall.

Because of New Zealands previously low key regulations, there was no registration, so the government mostly doesn’t know who has what. Many Democrats yammer about the “Australian solution”, as they did during the 2016 campaign

“In Australia it is estimated that only about 20% of all banned self-loading rifles have been given up to the authorities,” wrote Franz Csaszar, professor of criminology at the University of Vienna, after Australia’s 1996 compensated confiscation of firearms following a mass murder in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Csaszar put the number of illegally retained arms in Australia at between two and five million.

Think we’ll turn them in?

Read: Gun Control Groups “Seizing Momentum” Should Consider What’s Happening In New Zealand »

HotCold Take: We Refuse To Ruin Our Lives Fighting ‘Climate Change’ Because Our Democracy Is Broken

Warmists would prefer an authoritarian government, I suspect. Seriously, have you ever noticed that all these Modern Socialists say our democracy is broken when they can’t get their way over the will of the People?

The US Can’t Fight Climate Change Until It Fixes Its Broken Democracy

… (a couple paragraphs on warming, which doesn’t prove anthropogenic causation)

As a society, we must act decisively to avoid the coming climate crisis by weaning ourselves off our dependence on fossil fuels and shifting to a carbon-free economy by mid-century. But despite growing public support for government intervention, the U.S. Congress has been unable to pass legislation that meaningfully addresses this issue. That’s for one reason: our system of governance is fundamentally flawed, and genuine change cannot happen as long as industry money lines pockets in Washington.

In other words, we cannot save our planet until we fix our broken democracy.

In 2009, ambitious climate legislation almost passed Congress with bipartisan support. South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsay Graham was even a co-sponsor. Yet, today, the most basic regulations to limit carbon emissions are politically dead-on-arrival. Indeed, the Republican Party now holds climate denialism as doctrine. Since 2010, no legislation to regulate carbon dioxide has gotten a single Republican co-sponsor in the Senate.

What has changed since Senator Graham acknowledged climate change? The leaders of a multibillion-dollar industry recognized that their livelihood was under threat, and they responded.

See, it’s those darned companies, comprised of people, which are the problem! How dare they petition the government, protest peaceably, and engage in Free Speech! We’re supposed to only listen to the climate cult companies which dump enormous amounts of money into campaigns!

The fossil fuel industry’s outsized influence is undemocratic. And it should trouble all Americans that profit-driven corporations have established an influence that works in direct opposition to the wellbeing of voters – both present and future – and their preferences.

Despite the circulation of special interest talking points, the vast majority of Americans support climate action, including Republican voters.

Do I have to mention that most climate cultists refuse to give up their own fossil fueled vehicles and travel? Or that most citizens refuse to pay more than $10 a month for ‘climate change’?

This inaction is fundamentally unfair to my generation.

The only way to prevent this injustice is to democratize campaign financing. As long as established industries hold overwhelming sway throughout Washington, our democracy will be compromised, and voters demanding climate action will be ignored.

Naomi Truax doesn’t explain what she means, but, diving into previous reading of mine, this means that the government funds all campaigns. There would be no donations to campaigns allowed. Some have even suggested that no outside money may be spent on politics. No ads or such in support or deterrence of policies or politicians. What could go wrong?

Is it necessary to mention that this would cause more problems for Democrats, who rely on all that money flowing from outside of states, from places like Hollywood, for state and federal elections? Without it, there would be no Alexandrai Ocasio-Cortez, who received the vast majority of monetary support from outside not only here district, but NY state. Stacy Abrams wouldn’t have even been close. Beto would have seen his senate campaign die early.

Read: HotCold Take: We Refuse To Ruin Our Lives Fighting ‘Climate Change’ Because Our Democracy Is Broken »

If All You See…

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

The blog of the day is Weasel Zippers, with a post on CNN’s Chris Cuomo melting down.

Read: If All You See… »

Surprise: California Mayor Announces Gun Control That Only Punishes Law Abiding Citizens

Question: why do these gun grabbers never announce anything that will cause problems for the criminals who use guns illegally? It always seems to make it more difficult for the law abiding

California mayor announces ‘first-of-its-kind’ proposal to combat gun violence

Two weeks after the deadly Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has proposed a comprehensive plan to combat gun violence and reduce its cost on the public.

Liccardo’s proposed city ordinance, announced Monday, would require all firearm owners in San Jose to carry liability insurance for their weapons. If approved, city officials say it would be the first such requirement in the nation. Gun owners who are unable to purchase liability insurance could pay an annual fee to the city to compensate taxpayers for the public costs of firearm violence in the city.

“A mayor doesn’t have the luxury of just offering thoughts and prayers…we have to solve problems,” said Liccardo in a statement provided to ABC7 News. “While this is far from a complete solution, it is something we can do to reduce the harms of firearms, without waiting for Congress to take action.”

In addition to an insurance-or-fee mandate, Liccardo proposed imposing gun and ammunition sales taxes to help fund gun safety classes, gun violence prevention programs, and additional victim assistance services for survivors of gun violence. The city could also look into creating a program to offer cash rewards to anyone who reports someone who possesses unlawfully-obtained guns or weapons.

Liccardo says he based his design of penalties for noncompliance on California Vehicle Code Section 16209, which provides fines and other penalties for the misdemeanor of operating a vehicle without insurance.

Again, motor vehicles are not a right enshrined in the Constitution. The devil is in the details though

Law experts say the proposal is all but certain to face a legal challenge but is it constitutional?

“I think the answer to that will depend on whether it in fact keeps guns out of people’s hands or whether it’s a reasonable tax,” said Prof. Deep Gulasekaram with the Santa Clara University School of Law. “Lots of state and local regulations of firearms have been upheld because they are reasonable.”

How much will the liability insurance cost? That’s one of the big questions. Will it be so exorbitant that it restricts the ability of citizens to engage in their 2nd Amendment right? How about the taxes on guns and ammo? Of course, none of this affects the criminals. None of this would have stopped the Garlic festival shooter.

Read: Surprise: California Mayor Announces Gun Control That Only Punishes Law Abiding Citizens »

Seattle Passes Green New Deal, Arrests Climate Kid For Vandalism

People were totally terrified of the climate crisis (scam), and willing to pay a lot more in taxes and fees and lose their choice

Seattle City Council passes Green New Deal resolution

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday in support of a resolution for a Green New Deal.

Many people testified in favor of the city acting quickly to address the climate crisis, and the crowd was standing room only.

Emma Nixon brought her two young children to the council meeting.

“We are terrified that they will die an early and terribly tragic death because of the impact we humans have on our environment,” she told the council.

The Green New Deal would remake the economy with clean energy, to act on warnings from scientists that climate change will be irreversible unless drastic action is taken by 2030.

“If we need to be climate pollution free by 2030, what we’re talking about is no more fossil fuels in our city,” said Councilman Mike O’Brien, who led the effort on the council.

Who wants to be that O’Brien, and the vast majority of attendees, took fossil fueled trips to city hall?

The resolution does not make specific policy but does envision a fund to raise and spend money on green projects.

Mayor Jenny Durkan has already proposed a tax on home heating oil to help pay for transitioning the 18,000 city homes that still use it.

So, wait, they’re going to tax people heating their home, using an abundant and cheap method, to help pay for forcing these same people to move to a more expensive method? I don’t want to hear any complaining from you Seattle climate cultists about this.

(Crosscut) The resolution states that while the city has made some steps towards the goals listed within it, “that progress is insufficient to make the necessary changes to shift Seattle’s economy to be more equitable and ecologically sustainable.” The resolution suggests that financing of these actions be taken with “progressive revenue sources” and public funds.

Have fun with all the higher taxes and fees, which will skyrocket your cost of living, while also making it harder and more expensive to power your domicile. No whining, Progressive Seattlites, since this is what you wanted.

The police are always standing down in the face of the violent leftists, but, a little girl performing vandalism? That’s easy. The story is a hoot, though

The Seattle Police Department drew criticism after officers arrested a crying 13-year-old girl who had accidentally used spray paint, instead of washable chalk paint, to write on a wall at Seattle City Hall during a climate-change protest Friday afternoon.

According to videos and conversation posted on Twitter, one of the adults supporting the children’s protest brought a case of the wrong kind of paint.

A 25-year-old man was arrested along with the seventh-grader, according to a Seattle police blotter post that said officers were responding to a report of vandalism and that building security said they saw people damaging the building facade. Reports on Twitter said the adults who brought the paint were also questioned.

There’s a pretty big difference between spray paint and chalk, and, regardless, it is vandalism. And, perhaps these climate kids, who’ve been brainwashed and dragged to these events, should learn that there are consequences to their actions.

Former mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver weighed in on Friday evening, saying the officers could have instead turned the incident into a teachable moment.

“Imagine if instead of arresting this little girl the cops had helped her clean it up. Imagine if they had thanked her for her service for protecting the planet,” Oliver wrote. “That kind of public service would have actually been transformative and accountable.”

Not their job. That just entices more Bad Behavior.

Read: Seattle Passes Green New Deal, Arrests Climate Kid For Vandalism »

Trump Admin Reinstitutes Clinton Immigration Law, Open Borders Advocates Melt Down

So, Trump did this

Democrats then worked very hard to ignore the Bill Clinton part

Trump admin announces rule that could limit legal immigration

The Trump administration released a regulation Monday that could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications.

Paired with last week’s enforcement raids on food processing plants in Mississippi, Monday’s announcement amounts to a concerted effort by the administration to limit legal immigration and crack down on illegal immigration.

The rule means many green card and visa applicants could be turned down if they have low incomes or little education, and have used benefits such as most forms of Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers, because they’d be deemed more likely to need government assistance in the future.

It will encourage “self-reliance and self-sufficiency for those seeking to come to or stay in the United States,” said acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli, appearing in the White House briefing room. In doing so, though, it’ll likely make it harder for low-income immigrants to come to the US.

When asked about whether the rule is unfairly targeting low-income immigrants, Cuccinelli said: “We certainly expect people of any income to be able to stand on their own two feet, so if people are not able to be self-sufficient, than this negative factor is going to bear very heavily against them in a decision about whether they’ll be able to become a legal permanent resident. “

For most people, this makes total sense. Why would we allow people to immigrate to the U.S. when they are just going to become wards of the state? In fact, this really isn’t any sort of change. To become a citizen, you have to be able to pay for yourself, so, this really isn’t much of a change. It is cute how they include the targeted enforcement operation against illegal aliens.

And, of course, you get things like this

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday evening that she plans to sue to block the rule.

“President Trump’s new public charge rule is yet one more example of his Administration turning its back on people fighting to make a better life for them and their families,” James said in a statement. “Under this rule, children will go hungry; families will go without medical care. I am committed to defending all of New York’s communities, which is why I intend to sue the Trump Administration over this egregious rule.”

But

Under current regulations put in place in 1996, the term “public charge” is defined as someone who is “primarily dependent” on government assistance, meaning it supplies more than half their income. But it only counted cash benefits, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income from Social Security.

Who was president in 1996? Nowhere is the word “Clinton” mentioned. He isn’t mentioned by furry Beto O’Rouke, whose tweet is quoted. Nor the other Open Borders advocates.

This is something that most 1st World nations do. Want to immigrate? You have to take care of yourself and your family without government assistance. Heck, Mexico does this. Nations do not want to be letting in wards of the state and people who cannot contribute.

Read: Trump Admin Reinstitutes Clinton Immigration Law, Open Borders Advocates Melt Down »

Greenland Residents Traumatized With Climate Grief Or Something

This climate trauma thing is great. You have people yammering about other people having mental health issues from a tiny increase in the Earth’s average temperature, something that has happened many many times during the Holocene, which causes other people to think they’re mentally ill

‘Ecological grief’: Greenland residents traumatised by climate emergency

The climate crisis is causing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety to people in Greenland who are struggling to reconcile the traumatic impact of global heating with their traditional way of life.

The first ever national survey examining the human impact of the climate emergency, revealed in the Guardian on Monday, shows that more than 90% of islanders interviewed fully accept that the climate crisis is happening, with a further 76% claiming to have personally experienced global heating in their daily lives, from coping with dangerous sea ice journeys to having sled dogs euthanised for economic reasons tied to shorter winters.

None of this proves anthropogenic causation. Oh, and it’s not like that “if the Greenland ice sheet goes on melting at this extraordinary rate, then within 12,500 years HALF of it will be gone.” Darned science

Scattered across 17 small towns and approximately 60 villages, all situated on a narrow coastal strip, Greenland’s residents have often been overlooked by data science. The island faces some of the most acute social issues in the world with high levels of alcoholism and historically disproportionate rates of suicide.

According to its lead author, Kelton Minor, the survey finally gives Greenland’s most remote and inaccessible communities a voice on the climate crisis.

Did they just try and link those issues to a tiny increase in “carbon pollution”?

For mental health professionals who specialise in the polar region, the latest survey findings from Greenland will present another red flag for the Arctic’s vulnerable Inuit communities. According to Courtney Howard, the board president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, who lives and works in the Arctic, the intersection between the climate emergency and mental and physical health will become one of the world’s major issues.

Howard said: “Temperature change is magnified in circumpolar regions. There is no question Arctic people are now showing symptoms of anxiety, ‘ecological grief’ and even post-traumatic stress related to the effects of climate change.

“We are challenging the medical profession to acknowledge the world we are inheriting. Schools and universities aren’t considering how climate change will affect people, from a medical or a psychological perspective, so we are not training a new generation of medical professionals to help people in a fast-changing planet and this is intolerable. We are moving too slowly on this.”

We can solve this with a tax, though.

Read: Greenland Residents Traumatized With Climate Grief Or Something »

If All You See…

…is an area dried out from Other People’s carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on Los Angeles with no gas stations.

Read: If All You See… »

Government Regulation Of Social Media Would Kill The Internet

A very interesting piece by Daniel Ortner, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is a conservative/libertarian organization

Government regulation of social media would kill the internet — and free speech

Social media companies have been criticized for disproportionately restricting content that offends political progressives. For example, a Pinterest insider recently leaked documents showing that the platform censors pro-life speech as “pornography.” Popular “classical liberal” YouTuber Dave Rubin has complained that his videos are flagged and discriminated against because of alleged “right-wing” content. And Twitter got into hot water last week for suspending the campaign account of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for posting a video of angry protestors assembling outside the senator’s home.

In response, conservative politicians have advocated for greater government regulation and oversight of social media. Last week, reports surfaced that the White House is developing an executive order directed at tech companies such as Facebook and Google, demanding that these sites eliminate “anti-conservative bias.” The exact contours of the executive order are not yet known, but if it in any way resembles recent proposals, anyone who values the free exchange of ideas should run far away from this latest effort to place government oversight on social media and curtail freedom of speech in the name of “fairness.”

Why shouldn’t the government require these companies to allow access to everyone? Because social media companies are private companies, not government actors, and these companies have their own First Amendment right to exclude anyone from their platforms for any reason at all. The government cannot force these companies to open up their sites and associate with viewpoints that their owners and shareholders find objectionable, any more than it can force you to display government-approved speech on your private property.

It is a good point: these are private companies. Should government actually be regulating how they operate and allow content on their sites?

But anyone with even a modicum of skepticism of government bureaucrats should see that this is a truly awful and unconstitutional idea. It would mean that social media companies would be required to cozy up with these regulators to secure a permit. And control of the board fluctuates based on who controls Congress or the White House, so the continued viability of social media players would be up for reexamination every time the political winds change. Aggrieved members of the public would be allowed to submit complaints and the burden would be on social media companies to refute their claims — placing the companies in the impossible position of having to prove their innocence of every charge.

Even worse, we would be trusting these unelected commissioners to determine whether a particular policy has a disproportionate impact on a “political viewpoint.” Maybe you like the idea of President Trump’s appointees deciding what must or must not be posted on social media — but how will you feel if it’s President Sanders, President Warren, or President Biden?

And there’s the rub. Democrats are super excited about Net Neutrality. Would they like that, among all the other problems, it would be controlled by whomever is in power? Daniel might be over-doing it in his piece, because, let’s face it, these tech companies are acting in bad faith, and often seem to violate their own terms of service, as well as applying them arbitrarily, however, once you start down the Government road, it’s almost impossible to get off. And that road is constantly getting bigger.

Read: Government Regulation Of Social Media Would Kill The Internet »

Pirate's Cove