TDS Hot Take: Trump’s Iran Move Is Totally Like The Lead Up To Iraq War

By William Teach May 11, 2018 – 6:54 am

Remember how the media said the same thing about Obama while he slapped sanctions on Syria and made all sorts of threats himself and had his people do the same at the U.M.? Oh, wait. Here’s NY Times editorial cartoonist with his hot take

President Trump’s decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal and his Iran policy reminded some current and former U.S. officials of the buildup to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Sigh. That link leads to a NY Times article that manages to show Trump Derangement Syndrome and the typical Iraq war derangement

Trump’s Iran Move Reminds Some of Run-Up to Iraq War

Fifteen years after invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda that both proved non-existent, the United States is again steering toward a possible confrontation with a Middle East power for suspected work on nuclear weapons and support for terrorism.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Iran policy sounds hauntingly familiar to some current and former U.S. officials who witnessed the buildup to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, where sectarian and ethnic fractures and some 5,000 U.S. troops still remain.

More than 4,400 U.S. troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died in the conflict, which many analysts have called one of the major U.S. foreign policy debacles of modern times.

“There are disturbing and eerie similarities” in the misuse of intelligence then and now, said Paul Pillar, who was the top U.S. intelligence analyst for the Middle East from 2001 to 2005.

I’m not going to bother relitigating the reasons for the Iraq War, despite the Times getting it wrong. Been there, done that.

And the other people who said it reminded them of the runup to Iraq are…..wait, that’s it. Mr. Pillar and the NY Times writers are it. And the rest of the screed is why Iran is not like Iraq, while still being TDS.

Read: TDS Hot Take: Trump’s Iran Move Is Totally Like The Lead Up To Iraq War »

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Global Warming Is Totally Melting Antarctica From Below Or Something

By William Teach May 10, 2018 – 4:15 pm

They’re just making it up in contradiction to reality at this point

Global warming is melting Antarctic ice from below

We all know intuitively that in a warmer world there will be less ice. And, since the North and South Pole regions contain lots of ice, anyone who wants to see evidence of climate change can look there. (snip)

With global warming, both of the poles are warming quite quickly, and this warming is causing ice to melt in both regions. When we think of ice melting, we may think of it melting from above, as the ice is heated from the air, from sunlight, or from infrared energy from the atmosphere. But in truth, a lot of the melting comes from below. For instance, in the Antarctic, the ice shelves extend from the land out over the water. The bottom of the ice shelf is exposed to the ocean. If the ocean warms up, it can melt the underside of the shelf and cause it to thin or break off into the ocean.

A new study, recently published in Science Advances, looked at these issues. One of the goals of this study was to better understand whether and how the waters underneath the shelf are changing. They had to deal with the buoyancy of the waters. We know that the saltier and colder water is, the denser it is.

This was the same UK Guardian August of last year

Scientists discover 91 volcanoes below Antarctic ice sheet
This is in addition to 47 already known about and eruption would melt more ice in region affected by climate change

Of course, they still had to throw in ‘climate change’ scam garbage.

Volcano ‘as powerful as Yellowstone’ MELTS ice beneath Antarctica
A GIGANTIC volcano which could be as powerful as the dreaded Yellowstone is melting Antarctic ice from beneath the surface, Nasa scientists have revealed.

I could keep throwing these links out, but, Warmists wouldn’t care. They’re stuck in their little cult world. One last one from 2014

Surprise, West Antarctic volcano melts ice

Who would have thought? Antarctic volcanoes are hot after all.  Having a volcano under an icesheet makes a difference, and some of the sea level rise blamed on CO2 is more likely to be because 1,000 °C lava is not far from sub-zero ice. Right now, according to scientist Dustin Schroeder and co,  it is as if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctic is sitting on a “stovetop burner”.[1]

Only last week I wondered if West Antarctic volcanoes had something to do with the Antarctic warming and pointed out this strange coincidence below where almost all the warming seems to occur over the volcanic area which is part of the hot “Pacific rim of fire”. I also wondered why some parts of the media don’t seem to mention the volcanoes. Wait and see if this story gets picked up. So far, Fox, and Business Insider have it.

One day this scam will be over.

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 10, 2018 – 2:41 pm

…is sea that will soon, totally soon!, rise up and cover the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post wondering if it’s time to embrace the whole cultural appropriation thing.

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King County, Washington, Joins In On Attempting To Shakedown Oil Companies

By William Teach May 10, 2018 – 2:38 pm

Strangely, King County hasn’t announced that it will no longer use fossil fuels for county operations

(Seattle Curbed) King County filed a lawsuit in county superior court today against five major oil companies, seeking to put BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch, and Conoco Phillips on the hook for the county’s response to climate change.

The suit, developed by the county along with Seattle law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, seeks to create an abatement fund to address necessary changes to infrastructure, like stormwater management, bridge maintenance, salmon recovery, and public health. It’s similar to a lawsuit filed against the same oil companies by Oakland and San Francisco last year,

“[King County] does not seek to impose liability on Defendants for their direct emissions of greenhouse gases and does not seek to restrain Defendants from engaging in their business operations,” reads the lawsuit.

“This case is, fundamentally, about shifting the costs of abatement back onto the companies,” it continues. “After all, it is Defendants who have profited and will continue to profit by knowingly contributing to global warming, thereby doing all they can to help create and maintain a profound public nuisance.”

In other words, nothing has actually happened from Hotcoldwetdry yet, but, King County wants these oil companies to pay for it, and wants the oil companies to, get this, continue operating so they can continue paying for the Climate Doom that they are supposedly going to cause.

According to county attorneys, the abatement fund “could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Shakedown. Of course, the oil companies have better lawyers kept on retainer or directly employed by the companies, who will, if wise, argue that the county is complaining about a product that it used and continues to use and has no plans to stop using, despite complaining it is causing Bad Weather and stuff.

Said announcement is here. Perhaps you should contact Alex Fryer, Executive Office, 206-477-7966, ask him if King County plans to stop using fossil fuels.

Already, areas of King County that were once above the mean high tide line now experience regular flooding. Sea level is projected to continue rising through the 21st century, increasing by as much as 56 inches in the Puget Sound region from 2000 to 2100. This would have significant consequences for King County and the region.

The actual tide gauge for Seattle shows a minimal 2.05mm per year, equivalent to .67 feet per hundred years. That’s a long way off from 4.667 feet, eh? Most Washington gauges show even less, and one even shows negative sea rise. Facts are a bitch for the Cult of Climastrology.

Read: King County, Washington, Joins In On Attempting To Shakedown Oil Companies »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Gun Control Isn’t Quite The Issue In Florida Gun Grabbers Hoped It Would Be

By William Teach May 10, 2018 – 8:38 am

All the gun grabbers in the U.S., mostly Democratic Party voters, have been pushing hard for gun grabbing policies, being fired up and enthused because of the shooting at the school in Florida, backed by all the astro-turfed groups with their deep-pocketed gun grabbers like Michael Bloomberg (who have armed security). Never let a good crisis go to waste, right? So, shot

Giffords gun-control group targets NRA-friendly Florida congressman with ad

Yeah, let’s go after Congressman responding to a group engaged in their 1st Amendment Rights of free speech, protesting peaceably, and petitioning for redress of grievance. Democrats love taking away citizen’s rights because of Wrongthink.

Anyhow, chaser from same paper one day later

Gun control might not be top issue in 2018 elections, Florida poll finds

Gun-control policy has received enormous attention in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre — but a poll of state voters suggests it may not be as potent as some newly minted activists are hoping.

In the survey, the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative asked 1,000 registered voters to identify “the most important issue in the upcoming elections.”

Gun-control policy was picked by 12 percent — far behind immigration, cited by 23 percent, and health care, cited by 20 percent. The gun issue was statistically tied with the economy, picked by 13 percent.

Whoops!

Gun-control policy was cited as the most important issue by 16 percent of Democrats, 14 percent of independents and 5 percent of Republicans.

Immigration was cited as most important by 33 percent of Republicans, 18 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of independents.

Unfortunately, there is no direct link to the poll, but it seems to be looking at this one, if you want to dig into the details. Regardless, it seems that gun control is not particularly important, except for the kids 18-34. One wonders how this would carry in other states. Probably not well.

BTW, only 5 percent cite Russia Russia Russia as important.

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Idiot House Republicans Look To Force Vote On DACA

By William Teach May 10, 2018 – 7:54 am

Why do we vote for these guys when they tend to do exactly what we do not want them to do?

(The Hill) House Republican leaders are scrambling to stop an effort by rank-and-file members to force votes on immigration, with lawmakers openly defying their calls to stand down.

Centrist Reps. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Jeff Denham (Calif.) and Will Hurd (Texas), all Republicans facing tough reelection races, introduced a discharge petition on Wednesday morning to trigger a series of immigration votes. Discharge petitions are traditionally seen as a serious affront to leadership, making members reluctant to sign on.

Yet the effort quickly caught fire, gaining new supporters throughout the day. By press time, at least 17 GOP lawmakers had endorsed the petition, just eight short of the 25 Republican votes that would be needed if every Democrat also backed it.

In case these “centrist” Republicans missed it, Dreamers cannot vote for them. And this kind of thing would give Democrats a win. House leadership would prefer the Goodlatte/McCaul bill, which would give legal status in exchange for tough enforcement measures, but, there enough Republican sponsors.

There are whole bunch of arcane rules to discharge petitions, which end with what’s called Queen Of The Hill rule, meaning the House would vote on a series of legislative proposals, including one of Paul Ryan’s choice

The Queen of the Hill rule that the GOP lawmakers have been pursuing would have the House choose between the hard-line proposal from Goodlatte; the DREAM Act, a proposal that would give a path to citizenship to 1.8 million Dreamers; the USA Act, a measure that would pair the Dream Act with $25 billion in border security funding; and Ryan’s proposal.

You can bet Democrats would vote in full block for the DREAM Act, and oppose the others. The USA Act is simply a GOP version that would give amnesty in exchange for a promise of Doing Something. Either one would be a win for Democrats who love to codify illegal activity as being just fine. How about just enforcing existing law? So many of these so-called Dreamers could have gone through regular legal avenues to apply for citizenship or permanent legal status.

It’s long past time for some Republicans to stop cozying up to Democratic Party beliefs.

And we have this old fart

John McCain warns that Republicans are on wrong side of immigration debate

We’re on the wrong side of enforcing federal law? There’s also a story that McCain states that he gave Comey the Steele dossier and is urging the Senate to reject Haspel for CIA. These are the kinds of things that kept millions of Republicans home in 2008, because they didn’t trust this old fart. He seems to be going scorched earth in his final days.

Read: Idiot House Republicans Look To Force Vote On DACA »

Posted in Idiot GOPer's, Illegal Immigration | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Hotcoldwetdry Could Maybe Possibly Be Worse Than We Think Or Something

By William Teach May 9, 2018 – 5:40 pm

It’s always doom with these people over a tiny 1.4F increase in global temperatures since 1850

Harvard Scientist: Climate Change May Be Worse Than We Think

Daniel Schrag’s professional credentials are impressive: He’s the director of the Center for the Environment at Harvard University where he’s a professor of environmental science and engineering. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Schrag is co-director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program. Throughout President Barack Obama’s eight years in office, Schrag served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, contributing to many reports. He has a long list of published papers ranging from the impact of corals on seawater chemistry 250 million years ago to solar geoengineering.

But nowhere in his extensive résumé will you find “prophet of doom.” Yet he very much sounds like one when speaking about the rapid rise of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. “While climate change may not yet have had its huge impact on biodiversity,” says Schrag, “just wait. What’s coming is really extraordinary.”

They all seem to be prophets of doom

In a presentation called “Our Planetary Experiment” to be unveiled at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium on Wednesday, Schrag uses his research into Earth’s geologic record as well as new data from planets beyond our solar system to determine the future of our planet as carbon dioxide emissions continue to build and heat up our atmosphere. As it stands now, Schrag concludes the “experiment” is not going well. He says that “over the next few decades, Earth’s atmosphere will return to a state not seen for millions of years.”

Total doom.

Schrag says public policy energy choices made “over the next decade or two will have profound effects on the Earth’s system, on every living thing on the planet.” Schrag says determined and sustained energy choices that reduce CO2 emissions are urgently needed to prevent his doomsday prophecies from becoming realities of biblical proportions.

But Government can fix this. All based on a “may.”

Read: Hotcoldwetdry Could Maybe Possibly Be Worse Than We Think Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 9, 2018 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful low carbon bike, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Political Clown Parade, with a post on the Obama/Kerry legacy.

Read: If All You See… »

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Most Environmentally Friendly State In Nation Rolls Back Solar Subsidies

By William Teach May 9, 2018 – 10:48 am

Because electricity costs are going up

(Daily Caller) Following a growing number of states, Vermont has chosen to reduce compensation given to solar panel owners and allow a more fair rate for all electricity customers in the state.

Vermont is scaling back the amount of money given to customers participating in the state’s net metering program. Changes need to be made to net metering in order to balance growth of the program while maintaining affordable electric rates, the Vermont Public Utility Commission determined, in a statement issued on May 1.

Rated in 2018 as the most environmentally friendly state in the country, Vermont certainly encourages growth of its renewable energy industry. Net metering offers an incentive for solar panel usage by paying customers an oversized amount of money for the electricity they send back into the grid. However — even in the progress enclave of Vermont — the state’s public utility commission has grown concerned about the effect expensive net metering prices are having on all electricity consumers.

“These financial incentives also make net-metering the most expensive of Vermont’s renewable energy programs because the utility is essentially ‘buying’ the net-metered output at substantially more than market rates for comparable renewable energy,” the commission explained in its statement. “[A] number of Vermont utilities expressed concern about the effect on rates of continued high net-metering prices.”

And the net metering costs are passed on to consumers, who end up paying more for a nebulous idea of energy created in homes when people generally do not need it. If you want to give tax rebates, cool. Subsidizing economic sectors? Not cool. And impractical.

One would think, though, if the people of Vermont were so uber-enviro/Warmist, they all put solar panels on their homes and disconnect from the grid.

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Red Flag Laws Popping Up All Over: Should There Be A Concern?

By William Teach May 9, 2018 – 8:23 am

Suddenly, at least where guns are concerned, Liberals are Very Concerned that people may use a firearm to take their own life. These are the same people who push for assisted suicide and yammer about “my body my choice.” But, let’s be realistic: there is a concern that some people who own a firearm could become a threat to themselves, and, more importantly, other people. So we get things like this

Most gun deaths are suicides. A bill now before Mass. Legislature could help prevent them

When we talk about gun violence these days, we picture madmen on rampages and gangs doing drive-bys. We conjure images of home invasions and random robberies gone wrong.

We talk about fear.

But most who die by gun violence are not killed by a mass murderer or a violent gang, and fear plays little part. Most gun deaths are suicides, and the person pulling the trigger is the victim. These shootings aren’t random or unpredictable or terrifying; quite the opposite. To those of us who have loved someone who has died by suicide, the loss feels frustratingly, painfully preventable.

That’s the familiar story that motivates Reed Shafer-Ray, a 22-year-old Harvard senior from Oklahoma who lost a close family friend to suicide in 2016. Shafer-Ray is one of the key advocates behind a bill, now making its way through the Legislature, that would give families a better chance to save the lives of their loved ones.

These “red flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protective Orders, create a legal avenue by which families and law enforcement can take guns out of the hands of people who a court deems are dangerous to others or — more often — themselves.

Seems common sense, right? Not that they can’t kill themselves and others in some other fashion

In Massachusetts, police chiefs already have discretion over who can legally own a firearm. But depression can strike at any time, including affecting people who already own guns. At that point, depression can immediately turn deadly, and getting the gun away from someone in crisis can be lifesaving. The bill also provides for a quick decision from a judge and avenues for appeal.

“One of the reasons it’s so important is that it provides a channel for families,” said Jack Torres, a 16-year-old sophomore at Somerville High School. Torres is one of the founders of Students Against Gun Violence, which organized a phone campaign that recently inundated the State House — including the office of House Speaker Robert A, DeLeo. Last week, DeLeo announced his support, which should go a long way toward turning this bill into law.

The problem here is that the system is ripe for abuse, depending on how vague the laws end up being. Right now, there’s a lawsuit against the U of Michigan regarding their “bias” rules, in which we read “Under the University of Michigan’s rules, “the most sensitive student on campus effectively dictates the terms under which others may speak,” Speech First says” because “The existence of an offended party can be sufficient to prove “bias.”” Yes, a judge is supposed to be involved in these red flag cases, but, how strong are the safeguards for those being accused?

And, given the Democrats hatred of guns (for Other People), should we be concerned that they’ll use the red flag laws to restrict ownership rights for law abiding citizens over minor things? Democrats have already stated that they’ll use laws to do so, and have done so. And that each law passed is a small step towards overall bans.

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