Mnuchin Tells Democrats To Pound Sand On Trump’s Taxes

By William Teach May 18, 2019 – 6:19 am

Democrats just won’t give up on their Quixotic adventure to obtain Trump’s taxes for partisan personal purposes, but, so far, this bit of moonbattery is going nowhere

Mnuchin rejects Democrats’ subpoena for Trump’s tax returns

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday rejected a subpoena from House Democrats demanding President Trump’s tax returns, setting the stage for a court battle over the documents.

Mnuchin said the House Ways and Means Committee’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” citing the legal advice of the Justice Department in denying the demand.

“We are unable to provide the requested information in response to the Committee’s subpoena,” Mnuchin wrote.

Last week, Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the committee, issued subpoenas that gave Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig until Friday at 5 p.m. to turn over Trump’s financial records. House Democrats have expressed confidence the law requires the IRS to permit them to access the tax returns, a position supported by numerous legal experts.

The relevant statute that authorizes Congress to see tax returns of U.S. citizens and businesses requires said “legitimate legislative purpose”, and wanting to see them because Democrats are mad Hillary lost and Trump won is not a legitimate reason. If it ever goes to court, Democrats will eventually lose (after finding a friendly judge at first), because they have no legitimate reason other than Orange Man Bad. This leads to another Washington Post article

No Mueller, no McGahn and stalled investigations leave House Democrats frustrated 

An increasing number of House Democrats are frustrated by their stalled investigations into President Trump, with an uncooperative chief executive, their own leader’s reluctance about impeachment and courts that could be slow to resolve the standoff.

Democrats have yet to hear from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who led the nearly two-year investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election and possible involvement with the Trump campaign. Even with negotiations, the earliest Mueller could testify would be next month.

And any hopes of former White house counsel Donald McGahn facing a congressional panel on Tuesday are slim, as the White House moves to block all current and former aides from cooperating with congressional inquiries.

Weighing all options, Democrats have raised the specter of imposing fines or jailing people who ignore subpoenas, extreme measures that have prompted some legal experts to wonder whether Democrats have a strategy for this constitutional conflict.

Mueller did speak: it was in a 400+ page report that most Democrats failed to read, because it didn’t give them what they want. And most of their investigations are simply of the butthurt variety from losing in 2016. Keep tilting at windmills, Dems, you’ll guarantee Trump’s re-election.

Read: Mnuchin Tells Democrats To Pound Sand On Trump’s Taxes »

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The Mental Health Community Is Bracing For Eco-Anxiety Or Something

By William Teach May 17, 2019 – 3:00 pm

So, let’s see: people start yammering about an issue, which may or may not be a concern. Then it is hijacked by elements of the far left, especially once the Soviet Union falls and all the supporters have to find something new to focus on to create Giant Centralized Government. The all run with stories of coming doom, they get the media to follow along, then the schools. Others continue to trot out Coming Doom, then they wonder why some people are losing their minds. BTW, this is from Rolling Stone. Remember when they used to be counter culture, rather than toeing the government line?

How the Mental Health Community Is Bracing for the Impact of Climate Change
“Eco-anxiety” and trauma from natural disasters will be on the rise along with sea levels

….

The mental health impact of climate change is a one-two punch: There will be increasing anxiety about the future, as well as an increasing number of people undergoing the trauma of climate catastrophes like flooding and hurricanes. As predictions become more dire — in October, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set a 12-year deadline for us to avoid warming the planet a disastrous 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and just last week the UN reported a million species are now at risk of extinction — more and more people are facing existential distress. In his new book The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells notes that climate anxiety has also been called “climate grief” and “climate depression.” “While it may seem intuitive that those contemplating the end of the world find themselves despairing, especially when their calls of alarm have gone almost entirely unheeded, it is also a harrowing forecast of what is in store for the rest of the world, as the devastation of climate change slowly reveals itself,” he writes.

Climate anxiety is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the concern is spreading. A Yale survey in December found nearly 70 percent of Americans are “worried” about climate change, 29 percent are “very worried” — up eight percentage points from just six months earlier — and 51 percent said they felt “helpless.” “Historians will say that groups of people have faced very difficult, tumultuous times,” says CPA’s Janet Lewis, who has a private practice near Ithaca, New York. “But human beings have never faced this before.”

The Good Grief Network, a nonprofit for collective mourning, in 2016 launched a 10-step programfocused on eco-anxiety and climate grief. In March, a group of “birthstrikers” in the UK announced they wouldn’t have children out of concern for the livability of the planet where they’d be raising them. Cooper’s patients are fearing for the safety of children they’ve already had. “One person wanted to flee and go somewhere, but the reality is, there really is no place that’s a respite from what is happening,” she says.

Organizations like CPA are also focused on stopping the threat at the source. The group recently led the APA to divest completely from fossil fuels, and they’d like to see the rest of the country follow. “This is a health issue, and whether or not it’s been politicized we have a responsibility to advocate for the health of our patients and the population, and certainly not collude with the denial of science,” Lewis says, talking about her willingness to discuss global warming in her practice. She believes humanity’s better traits will lead us, in the end. “We care about other people, we care about our surroundings, our future and our family’s future,” she says. “Everybody, except for the extreme minority of people who are actual psychopaths, cares.”

Good news: if you aren’t a raging idiot who believes in future doom from ‘climate change’, you’re a psychopath.

Read: The Mental Health Community Is Bracing For Eco-Anxiety Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 17, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…are glaciers that will totally melt away because Other People refuse to move to cities and ride buses, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post noting that the death penalty is a just punishment for some.

Read: If All You See… »

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TDS: Grumpy Cat Has Passed

By William Teach May 17, 2019 – 10:20 am

Sad News

From NBC News

Grumpy Cat — real name Tardar Sauce — shot to fame as a figurehead of online culture thanks to her permanent frown apparently signaling displeasure at anything and everything.

The official Grumpy Cat Twitter account announced that she died on Tuesday due to complications from a recent urinary tract infection.

“Grumpy Cat has helped millions of people smile around the world — even when times were tough,” the statement said.

https://twitter.com/CantersDylan/status/1129351218315386882

But, wait, what’s this?

Read More »

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The Green New Deal Doesn’t Go Far Enough Or Something

By William Teach May 17, 2019 – 7:06 am

Peter Fiekowsky, Founder and President of Healthy Climate Alliance, has Ideas, and provides a really big goal post shift

The Green New Deal Doesn’t Go Far Enough. Here’s Why (Op-Ed)

In early February, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Green New Deal (GND), a sweeping resolution that addresses the dual challenges of income inequality and climate change, and the first government policy document aimed at curbing climate change as one of its goals.

This is significant. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in October 2018 stated that there will have to be some removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere — the first and most vital step in restoring the climate — in order to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change (including massive die-offs of coral reefs, flooding, hurricanes, wildfires and widespread droughts).

Climate restoration is the principle of removing CO2 to get back to pre-Industrial Revolution levels, specifically below 300 parts per million (ppm), and restoring the world’s ecosystems, such as increasing ice in the Arctic. In spite of the IPCC warning, governments and mainstream nongovernmental organizations have not targeted climate restoration in any meaningful way to date.

Up till this point, the Cult of Climastrology positioned 350ppm as the save threshold. Hence we have a group named 350.org, one of the biggest of the CoC groups out there, if not the biggest. You have to go all the way back to around 1900 for CO2 to be around 300ppm. Is everyone willing to give up their modern lives to make this happen?

Anyhow, the point of the piece is

In line with the IPCC report, the GND set several 10-year targets that include keeping global temperatures less than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels, meeting 100% of the country’s energy needs through renewable and zero-emissions energy sources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. But the proposal also exceeds those goals by specifically calling for the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and restoring natural ecosystems.

It’s promising that the GND includes the removal of some atmospheric CO2, but the resolution stopped short of setting a specific target. That’s a mistake. In order to restore a healthy climate, society should set a goal of reducing CO2 to levels less than 300 ppm by 2050. That means removing roughly a trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere (depending on how quickly emissions of the gas are reduced); a feasible goal, but one that will only be met if governments, scientists and private enterprise join forces.

So, it doesn’t go far enough in setting goals to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and destroy the economy. Has he considered that AOC refuses to demand a vote on the GND, got upset when they voted on it in the Senate, and has even said that it’s more of a roadmap and not meant to be voted on?

Oh, and say good by to sodas and other carbonated drinks

Companies tackling this challenge have developed technologies that can take CO2 directly from the air, and they’re improving in efficiency every year. In order to finance the removal of CO2, they usually convert it into commercial products, although, with one exception, they don’t have markets large enough to finance the removal of significant amounts of CO2. Moreover, when these companies insert captured CO2 into products such as fizzy drinks, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and green fuels, the CO2 is released back into the atmosphere. To make a real impact on the climate, we must permanently sequester the carbon.

Anyhow, as the piece continues to the end, he’s not particularly happy with capitalism and wants more private money used, which would only come from massive taxation schemes, because Warmists sure don’t want to spend their own money, right?

Read: The Green New Deal Doesn’t Go Far Enough Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Ilhan Omar Whines About Being Silenced, Complains About Trump “Droning” Jihadis

By William Teach May 17, 2019 – 6:48 am

See, folks, point out the anti-Israel and anit-Jew sentiments of her and Rashida Tlaib, including the direct quoting of their own words, is “silencing”, for which she has her SJW Victim Card phrases down perfectly

Ilhan Omar Says Attacks On Her And Rashida Tlaib Are ‘Designed To Silence’ Muslim Voices

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said President Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians and pundits’ attacks on her and fellow Muslim congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) are meant to “silence” Muslims.

“I tell my sister Rashida Tlaib that her and I have the strength to endure any of the mischaracterization or efforts to distort and vilify and mischaracterize our message,” Omar said Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

She added that such attacks were “designed to silence, sideline and almost eliminate [the] voice of Muslims from the public discourse.” (snip)

“When someone like the President tweets something like that, it’s not an attack only on myself, but an attack on all Muslims… women of color… on immigrants and refugees,” Omar said Tuesday of Trump’s misleading tweets about her 9/11 comments. “That message was being used to vilify anyone who shared an identity with me… to say you don’t belong.”  (big snip)

“We must be united in our diversity,” Omar said Tuesday about her joint op-ed with Schakowsky. “We can’t allow people to [pit] us against one another.”

While she plays the Victim Card, perhaps Ilhan can point out which Muslim country allows diversity? And those who don’t criminalize being LGBTQ? And don’t criminalize blasphemy and apostasy?

Regardless, no one wants to silence her, because, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she keeps coming up with the crazy

(Breitbart) Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), during a House panel hearing on Thursday, complained that U.S. President Donald Trump has dramatically intensified American airstrikes in her native Somalia that have killed hundreds of members of the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab.

Describing herself as “an African on this committee,” she suggested that the Trump administration should “reassess” the way it deals with al-Shabaab and other jihadis in Somalia.

Her comments came during a hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar told the Trump administration witnesses invited to testify:

I just wanted to really get into this horrific reign of terror and its spread in Africa, and we oftentimes are really dealing with this issue, and it seems that we are attempting to drone it to death. … In Somalia, particularly in dealing with al-Shabaab, since President Trump has gotten elected, the number of drones have increased, but the number of attacks al-Shabaab has been able to carry out has also tripled. We also know the same to be true for Boko Haram.

On the African continent, the United States military only carries out direct airstrikes in Libya and Somalia. The U.S. does not directly target the Nigeria-based Boko Haram group, but it does support local efforts against the jihadis.

Where were her complaints when Mr. Obama was droning jihadis? Why does it seem she’s more upset about Islamist jihadis being killed than anything else? Really, the only people who are trying to silence her would be Democrat leadership, such as Nancy Pelosi, because Queen Nancy knows that when Ilhan speaks it tends to be bad.

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Trump Cancels Almost $1 Billion For California’s Train To Nowhere

By William Teach May 16, 2019 – 7:11 pm

Yeah, this would be that high speed rail boondoggle that is way, way, way overbudget, which almost no one will take (via Twitchy)

At the link, we can see someone stomping their foot

California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately pledged to take the administration to court.

“The Trump Administration’s action is illegal and a direct assault on California,” he said in an emailed statement. “This is California’s money, appropriated by Congress, and we will vigorously defend it in court.”

Yeah, no, it’s the money of the citizens of the United States. Let Gavin use California’s money for this project.

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 16, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible heat snow caused by Someone Else taking a long fossil fueled trip, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lid, with a post on a bill allowing illegal aliens to work in Congress being passed in committee.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 44 Comments | Trackback URL

Washington Post Is Super Excited That Even Companies Are Calling For Action On Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach May 16, 2019 – 10:54 am

And they want Republicans to take note. But, right off the bat, can anyone think of a reason why companies would pimp ‘climate change’? This is from the Editorial Board, which still refuses to demand that the WP stop using fossil fuels to conduct their business

Wake up, Republicans. Even corporations are calling for action on climate change.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY’S global-warming denial is becoming the fringe view it always deserved to be. It is not just environmentalists who want to move on climate change. Big corporations — even oil companies — are increasingly calling for action, too.

Declaring that “climate change is a major threat to the U.S. economy,” a group of chief executives on Wednesday teamed up with several prominent environmental groups to call on President Trump and Congress to “put in place a long-term federal policy as soon as possible to protect against the worst impacts.” The group, called the CEO Climate Dialogue, endorsed cutting the country’s planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent or more by 2050. That goal is too modest; the United Nations warns that world governments must get to net-zero emissions by mid-century. But just reaching the 80 percent goal would require a huge transformation in the U.S. economy — and also on the part of some of the big companies calling for it. These include BP, Royal Dutch Shell, DuPont, Dominion Energy and Ford. (snip)

This trend is explainable in part because the science — and therefore the need to act — is increasingly undeniable. But it is also in the long-term interest of major corporations to plan for the inevitable transition to come. Addressing global warming can be an orderly, careful process, or it can be an expensive emergency effort thrown together once the consequences start getting really dire — when time will be short and options few. “Business needs and supports predictable and effective climate policies including an economy-wide price on carbon,” the group said. That is the right policy. These companies can prove their sincerity by throwing their lobbying power behind it — not just issuing statements.

Pretending to be believers in ‘climate change’ and calling for action is all about …… $$$$$. Why would Ford really care? They’re doing away with almost all of their sedan lines, focusing almost exclusively on SUVs and pickup trucks, not exactly known for great gas mileage. Dominion Energy sees a way to get some good press and to make some extra money, especially if they can get some sweet, sweet taxpayer funds from government. Fossil fuels companies are just looking for ways to diversify their portfolios, along with some good will from idiots like on the WP Editorial Board, while continuing to do exactly what they’ve always done.

Seriously, every once in a while I slap a ‘climate change’ theme up on Cafe Press and pimp it, making some extra cash. Why wouldn’t companies, whose job is to make money, patronize Warmists to do just that?

Read: Washington Post Is Super Excited That Even Companies Are Calling For Action On Hotcoldwetdry »

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

Bummer: Yet Another Report Shows California Wildfires Were Not Due To ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach May 16, 2019 – 10:53 am

Hey, remember when the Cult of Climastrology was blaming carbon pollution for the wildfires in California (a state that has long been subjected to wildfires because of the geography, natural climate, and idiotic environmental policies)? Most recently the Camp Fire? Well now

Pacific Gas & Electric power lines caused California’s ‘deadliest and most destructive wildfire’: officials

California authorities said Wednesday that power lines owned and operated by the Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) caused the state’s most destructive wildfire ever – it killed 85 and nearly destroyed an entire city.

Lines owned by the San Francisco-based utility sparked the deadly, fast-moving Camp Fire on Nov. 8 in the Pulga area of Butte County, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said in a news release. In total, the blaze burned 153,336 acres and destroyed in excess of 18,000 structures.

“The tinder dry vegetation and Red Flag conditions consisting of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures promoted this fire and caused extreme rates of spread, rapidly burning into Pulga to the east and west into Concow, Paradise, Magalia and the outskirts of east Chico,” the agency said.

The city of Paradise – population 27,000 — was nearly wiped out as residents evacuated and their homes and vehicles were engulfed in flames. Investigators also found a second nearby ignition site involving power lines owned by PG&E and vegetation that sparked another fire.

“This fire was consumed by the original fire which started earlier near Pulga,” Cal Fire said.

Much of California is very dry at that time of the year, and you get high winds. This is normal. Add in powerlines coming down, and now you have a big fire. There’s no need to drag carbon pollution into the mix.

Read: Bummer: Yet Another Report Shows California Wildfires Were Not Due To ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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