NYC Plans On Releasing It’s Own Green New Deal

By William Teach April 13, 2019 – 10:30 am

What could possibly go wrong?

NY is introducing its own Green New Deal

As Washington debates the controversial Green New Deal, New York City is forging ahead with its own measures in a bid to curb climate change.

The city council will announce Thursday a batch of proposed legislation, dubbed the Climate Mobilization Act, that aim to curb carbon emissions in the country’s largest metropolis and would force landlords to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030, according to HuffPost.

The most drastic measure would require landlords with buildings over 25,000 square feet to conduct retrofits like new windows and insulation that would make the building’s more energy efficient.

NYC has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world (this site ranks them #3). It is a city that depends on fossil fuels. Taxis, private vehicles, limos, buses, cop cars and fire trucks, ambulances, and all the trucks and ships which bring goods to and from the city. Think you can power all those skyscrapers with solar panels and wind turbines? Good luck.

And who will pay for all those retrofits? NYC is also one of the most expensive places to live: that will get worse. Who gets hurt the most? Certainly not the rich Warmists pushing this. And what happens with jobs? What happens when companies whose costs skyrocket leave, also taking their tax money with them?

Other measures in the act, which would be implemented by 2024, would require solar panels or plants to cover the roofs of some buildings, or install miniature wind turbines. A second batch of legislation, that is expected to be introduced in coming months, would require all school buses to be electric. [HuffPost]

Whelp, good luck with this, citizens of NYC. But, hey, you voted for this stuff. Now you can deal with the fallout.

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Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

We Have To Change Economics And Design To Survive ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

By William Teach April 13, 2019 – 7:24 am

Funny how an issue we’re told is all about science always involves changing our system away from capitalism and having the government dictate changes to our lives, eh?

Surviving climate change means transforming both economics and design

What could be more important than sustaining habitable living conditions on Earth? Climate change, biodiversity loss and other environmental problems demand changes on an order of magnitude well beyond the trajectory of business-as-usual. And yet, despite accumulative social and technological innovation, environmental problems are accelerating far more quickly than sustainable solutions.

If all Warmists gave up their own fossil fueled lives and went carbon neutral, we could solve this! (not really, because it is mostly natural, CO2 is not the control knob, but, it would be amusing watching Warmists live like it’s 1499)

The design industry is one of many industries mobilising to address environmental imperatives. While sustainability-oriented designers are working towards change from many angles, addressing and other  on this scale demands much more dramatic transformations in economic ideas, structures and systems that enable – or disable – .

Put simply, designers cannot design sustainable future ways of living on scale without a shift in economic priorities. Human impacts on planetary processes in the Anthropocene require new types of ecologically engaged design and economics if the necessary technological, social and political transitions are to take place.

Design is crucial to this debate because it is key to the creation of future ways of living. Designers make new ideas, products, services and spaces desirable to future users. With the shape of a font, a brand, the styling of a product, the look and feel of a service, the touch of a garment, the sensation of being in a particular building, designers serve the interests of customers (generally, those with disposal income). They do so according the logic and modes of governance generated by what is valued by economic structures. Design is the practice that makes capitalism so appealing.

Well, they just can’t have capitalism, now, can they?

Contemporary  reproduce this tradition by rewarding individuals and companies for using (and often exploiting) resources to generate profit, regardless of the ecological or social consequences. The extractive and exploitative dynamics of capitalist economics generate economies locked into accelerating climate change, species extinction and other severe environmental and social problems. This economic system continues to produce ever greater degrees of crises as planetary boundaries are breached in ever more extreme ways.

Holy cow, phys.org sounds more like something put out by the Communist Party USA.

But there are economic alternatives. Heterodox economic theory (such as ecological, feminist and Marxist economics) challenges the assumptions of mainstream economics. It has shown how neoclassical and neoliberal economics produce unsustainable economies that consistently devalue the natural world, women’s work and the labour of other groups historically denied equal access to capital.

For example, the Iceberg Model depicts a feminist economic framework where non-market activities, including the unpaid labour that buttresses capitalist economics, are made explicit.

The challenges of the Anthropocene demand that we overcome the exploitative and anti-ecological biases in neoclassical and neoliberal economics. One popular alternative is Kate Raworth’s Donut Economics. This would prioritise both social justice and environmental sustainability to create a safe operating space for humanity. Unlike conventional economics, heterodox economics takes the ecological context and planetary boundaries into account – while also addressing the interests of historically disadvantaged populations.

Funny thing is, most of the same people who call for replacing capitalism refuse to do it in their own lives, because they want money, just like Bernie Sanders.

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Trump Doubles Down On Dropping Illegals Off In Sanctuary Jurisdictions

By William Teach April 13, 2019 – 7:08 am

Whether it was originally a serious proposal, a joke, or just throwing ideas against the wall, it matters nary because Democrat Open Borders advocates are twisting their own panties into massive knots in High Dudgeon. So, of course, Trump will further tweak their noses, because this is a hill Dems apparently want to die on

Trump says he is considering putting migrants in sanctuary cities

President Trump said Friday his administration is “giving strong considerations” to a controversial plan that would release migrants into so-called sanctuary cities, even though officials said the idea was never seriously considered.

In a pair of tweets, Trump accused Democrats of being “unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws” and suggested they should feel the consequences of what he has called the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1116742282286440448

Everything else says that the idea was discarded, being too expensive and too much of a pain to accomplish for ICE to implement. Transporting illegals a day or more away to sanctuary jurisdictions would suck up too many resources and time. But, Trump really does know how to troll Democrats and move them to Barking Moonbat level 10. Look at Senator Spartacus

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) hammered President Trump for reportedly telling the head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that he would pardon him if he were jailed for violating immigration law.

“That should shake every American. We basically have a president telling people to break the law and that he will pardon you,” Booker, one of more than a dozen Democrats running for president, told MSNBC host Joy Reid.

By all accounts, it was not serious, but, you do you, Spartacus. Because I reckon that the coming polls will show that a majority of Americans don’t care about this, and are against illegal immigration. Hey, perhaps they could just send illegals to Seattle to help clean up all the used drug syringes

Seattle isn’t afraid of immigrants, Mr. Trump

Here’s a message to President Trump: Seattle is not afraid of immigrants and refugees. In fact, we have always welcomed people who have faced tremendous hardships around the world. Immigrants and refugees are part of Seattle’s heritage, and they will continue to make us the city of the future. (snip)

On Friday, Trump took to Twitter to confirm a Post report that the White House wants to place detained immigrants in so-called sanctuary cities represented by Democrats.

In doing so, he trotted out his favorite playbook: He is demonizing immigrants and refugees to incite fear and to distract the American public from his own failures. Despite his party having control of the whole federal government for two years, Trump has utterly failed to fix our immigration system, to provide real opportunity for middle America or to improve the lives of the Americans in the places that supported him.

And, in writing this, Jenny A. Durkin, Mayor of Seattle, trotted out a favorite trope, namely, conflating legal immigrants and actual refugees with those who are unlawfully present in the nation. And she should worry more about the city’s rising crime rate, unemployment rate, filth in the streets, and homeless arriving in droves.

If Democrats want to keep making a Big Deal out of this, Trump will continue to troll them. It takes him all of a minute or two to do, and then he moves on with his day, while Open Borders advocates spend the day fuming and writing pieces. They just can’t help themselves.

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Posted in Barking Moonbats, Donald Trump, Illegal Immigration | 57 Comments | Trackback URL

Having Solved All Of Oregon’s Problems, Senate Passes Bill Limiting Straws

By William Teach April 12, 2019 – 2:44 pm

Plastic pollution is not a joke. Even with the notion that the majority these days comes from China and India, each of us can do our part. It doesn’t have to be about ‘climate change’, or even extreme enviroweenieism. Seriously, do you like driving around, going for a walk, riding a bike, going to beach or the mountains or the park and seeing garbage, much of which is plastic? But, should Government be dictating choice?

Oregon Senate passes bill limiting plastic straws

Oregon’s Senate passed a law Thursday to limit the use of plastic straws.

SB 90, approved by a 23-6 vote, would prohibit single-use plastic straws at restaurants unless a customer asks for one. Drive-thrus would still be able to hand out plastic straws.

In a press release, Oregon Democrats highlighted the environmental risks of plastic straws.

“We use a straw for less than an hour, but it continues to exist in nature for longer than our lifetime,” said state Sen. Michael Dembrow (D), who introduced the bill on the Senate floor.

“We can use a straw, throw it away and forget about it as an inconsequential part of our lives. But that straw can easily end up in the ocean or somewhere else in nature. There, a single straw can have significant and sometimes deadly impacts on animals. The viral video of a turtle having a straw painfully removed from its nostril provides clear evidence that our seemingly inconsequential acts have significant consequences for other creatures.”

I’m not going to disagree with Dembrow’s assessment. This doesn’t have to be a political issue in terms of reducing plastic pollution. But, again, should government be passing laws like this? For one thing, there really is no enforcement mechanism. Does anyone think a cop will go in to get a burger and give a ticket when they are given a straw? Heck, most places do not hand you a straw, they have a big container with them. Something like this would be better as a resolution which asks places with straws to limit their use and replace them mostly with recyclables, paper straws, and recycle containers for plastic straws, many of which are stirrers for coffee.

Because, really, Oregon has a few more important issues, such as the quick rising homeless problem, used syringes all over the streets in cities like Portland, and rising crime. We do learn, though, from the overview

Prohibits restaurant from providing single-use plastic straw to consumer unless consumer requests straw.] Provides that State Department of Agriculture shall enforce prohibition in course of inspecting food establishments. Provides that after second instance of violation, department may impose fine of not more than $25 for each day in which restaurant remains in violation of prohibition. Caps total fines at $300 per restaurant during each calendar year.] Specifies exemptions from prohibition. Permits enforcement officer to enforce prohibition in course of conducting inspection of food and beverage provider or convenience store. Provides that violation of prohibition is subject to notice in first and second instance and to fine of $25 for each subsequent instance. Caps allowable fines at $300 during calendar year. Preempts local regulation after effective date of Act. Becomes operative on January 1, 2020. Declares emergency, effective on passage.

Sigh.

Read: Having Solved All Of Oregon’s Problems, Senate Passes Bill Limiting Straws »

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If All You See…

By William Teach April 12, 2019 – 1:00 pm

…is a terrible tiny plate of food, because carbon pollution will harm food production and we’ll all starve, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post noting that the phrase “ugly duckling” is now considered raaaaacist.

Read: If All You See… »

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NC General Assembly Takes Aim At Spam Callers

By William Teach April 12, 2019 – 10:52 am

Have you ever had someone call you with the same prefix as your phone, and you think it’s legit? It happens a lot in my area. So you block the number. Then the same company/person calls you from a different number. Well, the NC GA wants to do something more about it

Lawmakers take aim at camouflaged robocalls

How many spam calls do you get a day on your cell phone?

Many of them look like local numbers, but they’re really sales calls.

State lawmakers filed a bill Thursday to try to crack down on phone scammers.

The scammers mask their real phone number so that the call shows up on your caller ID as a local number, or from a family member or even from yourself.

It’s called neighbor spoofing – using an alias number or name to hide the caller’s actual identity. Making it look like a local call or a call from someone you know increases the likelihood that you’ll answer it.

The practice is already illegal under federal law, but robocallers are using it anyway. And it seems to be getting worse all the time.

The proposed “Truth in Caller ID Act” would ban telemarketers from using fake numbers or names at the state level. Callers would have to use their own information or the information of the business they’re representing.

You might be saying “well, it’s already illegal under federal law (and, hey, what the hell’s with the do not call list?), so, what’s the point?” If the call is originating within the state, authorities would have the power to levy fines and even criminal penalties against the companies/people in violation. Otherwise, state officials have no power to go after those breaking federal law. This empowers them. If the calls are originating from outside NC, nothing can be done. A goodly chunk do originate locally, though.

Can we all get behind this going nationwide in a bipartisan fashion?

BTW, a great app to use is Mr. Number. Though, they want to charge you now after letting you use it with all the features free for years. However, if you get version 5.2.3-6703 for Android, and make sure you turn off auto-update. This will give you full functionality, spam blocking, show you the name if it is in the system. I had been using their other app, Hiya, since back when it was called White Pages, but, I don’t know the version that would let it be free. Not sure if you can do something like this with Apple. I one time fee would be one thing. They want a monthly payment.

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Posted in Web/Tech | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Sunrise Movement Is Fighting To Bring The #GreenNewDeal To All Of America Or Something

By William Teach April 12, 2019 – 6:51 am

The Sunrise Movement is “building an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.” They say that “The political establishment is scrambling to keep up with thousands of people across the country who are eager to take action and bring the promise of the Green New Deal into reality.” And (via Twitchy)

You really have to watch the video in the tweet. It is hilarious.

On their webpage we learn “Sunrise joined Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Markey to launch the Green New Deal resolution with 64 co-sponsors (watch video here). There are now 103 congresspeople and counting co-sponsoring the resolution.) Which is all very interesting. Sunrise is going to demonstrate in a whole 8 cities with 100 townhalls, yet, um, if memory serves the Senate voted on the resolution as submitted by co-author Ed Markey and it was shot down 0-57, with 43 Democrats voting “present”, refusing to debate and vote on the record.

Further, the House, which is run be Democrats, is refusing to vote on the resolution, and there are zero reports of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanding a vote on it, nor does she say anything on her Twitter page about demanding a vote.

Oh, and how will they be traveling around?

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Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 24 Comments | Trackback URL

White House Floated Plan To Release Illegal Aliens In Sanctuary Cities At Least Twice

By William Teach April 12, 2019 – 6:34 am

This has made Democrats and the Washington Post Very Upset, but, you can bet every Trump voter, and a whole lot of others who aren’t for Open Borders, is saying “that would be great!”

White House wanted detainees released to ‘sanctuary cities’ to target Trump’s foes

White House officials have tried to pressure U.S. immigration authorities to release detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities” to retaliate against President Trump’s political adversaries, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and email messages reviewed by The Washington Post.

Trump administration officials have proposed transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities at least twice in the past six months — once in November, as a migrant caravan approached the U.S. southern border, and again in February, amid a standoff with Democrats over funding for Trump’s border wall.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was among those the White House wanted to target, according to DHS officials. The administration also considered releasing detainees in other Democratic strongholds.

White House officials first broached the plan in a Nov. 16 email, asking officials at several agencies whether members of the caravan could be arrested at the border and then bused “to small- and mid-sized sanctuary cities,” places where local authorities have refused to hand over illegal immigrants for deportation.

The White House told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the plan was intended to alleviate a shortage of detention space but also served to send a message to Democrats. The attempt at political retribution raised alarm within ICE, with a top official responding that it was rife with budgetary and liability concerns, and noting that “there are PR risks as well.”

After the White House pressed again in February, ICE’s legal department rejected the idea as inappropriate and rebuffed the administration.

It’s a long front page article that kinda repeats the same information in a different way multiple times, and, despite it being pretty much almost all anonymous sources, it is entirely believable. They even call the people who brought it up “whistleblowers”, rather than leakers. But, at the end of the day, we do learn that this was pretty much a idea thrown against the wall, rather than any sort of actual policy proposal.

And why did DHS have a problem? Way down in the article we learn (Matthew Albence is ICE’s acting deputy director)

Albence replied that such a plan “would create an unnecessary operational burden” on an already strained organization and raised concerns about its appropriateness, writing: “Not sure how paying to transport aliens to another location to release them — when they can be released on the spot — is a justified expenditure. Not to mention the liability should there be an accident along the way.”

So, it was pretty much about the money and time to move the illegals from the border to places like San Francisco. Heck, it’s 500 miles from San Diego to San Francisco, and, on California highways, that will surely take way more than 8 hours. And these aren’t just border detainees, but the ones caught in the interior by ICE. Anyhow, perhaps if Democrats weren’t such Open Borders advocates political plans like this wouldn’t be floated.

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Tilting At Windmills: House Democrats Pass Bill Reinstating Obama’s Net Neutrality

By William Teach April 11, 2019 – 2:58 pm

Democrats just won’t give up on Net Neutrality, as it is a great way to put a massive government control on something that everyone depends on, and, quite frankly, are hooked on

House Democrats Pass Bill Reinstating Obama-Era Net Neutrality Rules

House Democrats passed H.R. 1644, the Save the Internet Act, 232-190, featuring unanimous Democrat support and nearly unanimous Republican opposition to the bill–only one Republican, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), supported the bill.

Even though the bill passed through Congress’ lower chamber, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the bill was “dead on arrival” on Tuesday.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed the “Restoring Internet Freedom Order” in December 2017, which repealed the Obama-era net neutrality rules. The Obama-era rules prevented Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing content on their networks; the Internet Freedom Order requires ISPs to disclose their policies on blocking, throttling, and unfair prioritization, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could then litigate unfair and deceptive practices.

Since the FCC’s repeal of the 2015 net neutrality rules, Internet speeds have skyrocketed. Internet speed-test company Ookla released a study one year after net neutrality’s repeal and found that Internet speed increased by 35.8 percent, while upload speeds have increased by 22 percent compared to 2017.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) released a statement Wednesday slamming the Democrats’ bill, contending that it would put more government control over the Internet.

“When Democrats voted for their so-called ‘Save the Internet Act,’ they didn’t vote to encourage innovation or improve internet access. Instead, they offered their favorite – and indeed their only – policy solution: more government control,” McCarthy said.

Why are Democrats so obsessed with this version of Net Neutrality? It doesn’t help, it turns the Internet into a 1940’s era public utility, like the phone companies. Again, it’s about government controlling everything. All the little worker bee Democrats who love their Internet service should think really, really hard about the consequences in their own lives if NN in this form was actually implemented.

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If All You See…

By William Teach April 11, 2019 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on a the human tree having a new branch.

Read: If All You See… »

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