If All You See…

…is a helmet needed due to carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on the human cost of illegal immigration.

Read: If All You See… »

Exxon Fights Back, Prepares To Sue California Cities

And big companies like Exxon usually have better and smarter lawyers on their payroll than most cities

(Forbes) Some government officials in California are hypocrites pushing a political agenda that involves using private lawyers to sue and demonize ExxonMobil, the company is now arguing in a Texas state court.

On Jan. 8, Exxon took the first step towards suing those who orchestrated climate change lawsuits in California by asking the Tarrant County District Court to allow it to question an assortment of government officials and a Hagens Berman lawyer. The company says those local officials are talking out of both sides of their mouths – blaming Exxon for an impending flooding disaster while not disclosing that alleged threat to possible investors in their bond offerings.

In 2017, the counties of Marin, Santa Cruz and San Mateo and the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Imperial Beach filed suit against dozens of energy companies, including Exxon and 17 other Texas-based businesses, over climate change. The company has previously been targeted by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New York.

“It is reasonable to infer that the municipalities brought these lawsuits not because of a bona fide belief in any tortious conduct by the defendants or actual damage to their jurisdictions, but instead to coerce ExxonMobil and others operating in the Texas energy sector to adopt policies aligned with those favored by local politicians in California,” attorneys for the company wrote.

I still think the better option would have been for Exxon and the other fossil fuels companies to say “OK, fine, have it your way, we’re pulling our operations out of these areas.” They could have helped gas station owners and such with building new facilities in surrounding cities, which would mean a massive loss in tax money as people travel outside the city to purchase. Realistically, there’s only so much they could build, since other cities would already have gas stations. Still, if cities want to sue, pull out. Let their citizens deal with having no place close to purchase gas.

And, more importantly, refuse to sell fuels to the city governments. Let’s see how well they operate police cars, garbage trucks, recycling trucks, inspectors, etc and so forth, without fossil fuels.

San Mateo County’s complaint says it is “particularly vulnerable to sea level rise” and that there is a 93% chance the county experiences a “devastating” flood before 2050. However, bond offerings in 2014 and 2016 noted that the county “is unable to predict whether sea-level rise or other impacts of climate change or flooding from a major storm will occur”;

What this really is all about is a virtue signaling shakedown of fossil fuels companies, something that most of these cities refuse to give up in the first place. Make sure to read the rest.

Read: Exxon Fights Back, Prepares To Sue California Cities »

‘Climate Change’ May Have Helped Spark Latest Iranian Protest Or Something

These frickin’ people, it really does act like a cult in that every single thing has to be caused by/linked to anthropogenic climate change

Climate Change May Have Helped Spark Iran’s Protests
One of Iran’s biggest economic challenges has been a cycle of extreme droughts that began in the 1990s

So they started in the 1990’s (in a place that tends to be hotter and dryer) and are just now helping cause the protests?

The impacts of climate change are among the environmental challenges facing Iran that helped spark protests in dozens of cities across the Islamic republic.

At least 20 people have died in the uprising, driven by the sudden collapse of financial institutions, low wages and mistrust of national leaders. Rising temperatures are seen by some experts as an underlying condition for the economic hardships that led to the unrest.

A severe drought, mismanaged water resources and dust storms diminished Iran’s economy in recent years, according to experts who study the region. While the protests are largely driven by resistance to the country’s hardline conservative government, such environmental factors might have contributed to the largest protests inside Iran in years.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad understood that climate change and water mismanagement was ravaging family farms, and his government provided subsidies to families who struggled to put food on the table, said Amir Handjani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. When the current president, Hassan Rouhani, signaled that he would reduce those benefits, enraged Iranians across the nation’s arid countryside joined the wave of protests.

Perhaps they should stop spending so much money funding terrorism and nuclear weapon programs, along with the associated long-range missile technology. And “news” writers shouldn’t be lauding a repressive, hardcore Islamist like Ahmadinejad.

Among the sparks of activism are corruption, nepotism, rippling effects of low oil prices and sour reactions to the Trump administration’s denunciations of Iran, said Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

She said the role of climate change on the protests is “massive” and underreported by the media. The protests have largely sprung from provincial cities that climate refugees now call home, instead of the capital, Tehran. Those areas have traditionally been more conservative and less willing to speak out against the ayatollahs, she said. (snip)

Environmental issues have brought some protesters into the streets, Ehsani said, in part because climate change is now seen as a contributor to inequity. Newscasts on the environment are potentially reinforcing Iranian views, since that topic is not generally censured by government officials. Environmental issues aren’t seen through the same political lens as they are in the United States, he said.

Believe me, the facepalm worthy stuff continues in the article. But, hey, maybe this would get Leftists to get off their butts and support the people protesting against the hardcore Islamist Iranian regime in wanting freedom.

Read: ‘Climate Change’ May Have Helped Spark Latest Iranian Protest Or Something »

NY Times: Other Border Measures Would Be Cut To Help Pay For Wall

Every once in a while, hardcore Progressive #Resist sites like the NY Times will commit random acts of journalism. Even if the main point is about attempting to slam President Trump, because that is first and foremost in every article, it seems, and really belongs in the opinion section. In this case, though, they’re actually saying things about border and interior security that I and many others, including Ann Coulter before she went gaga for Trump and the wall, have been saying for a long time

To Pay for Wall, Trump Would Cut Proven Border Security Measures

The Trump administration would cut or delay funding for border surveillance, radar technology, patrol boats and customs agents in its upcoming spending plan to curb illegal immigration — all proven security measures that officials and experts have said are more effective than building a wall along the Mexican border. (snip)

But security experts said the president’s focus on a border wall ignores the constantly evolving nature of terrorism, immigration and drug trafficking. (snip)

Homeland Security officials have long and frequently described border security as a holistic system, made up not just of walls and fencing but also patrol routes, lighting, cameras, sensors and personnel.

David Bier, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, said a border wall would do little to stop the drug trade. Most of the cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines smuggled into the United States come through legal ports of entry rather than areas that would be stopped by a wall, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Nor would a wall stop illegal immigration, other experts said. Data from the Department of Homeland Security and research groups like the New York-based Center for Migration Studies show that most undocumented immigrants now simply overstay legally obtained short-term visas — and did not sneak across the border.

A border wall certainly can’t hurt, and many have recommended putting long stretches in the middle of nowhere places, along with sensors and such, rather than along the entire border. What can’t be diminished, and needs to be expanded, is interior security, because the Times is correct on visa over-stays. The latest measure is that 45%+ of the illegals present in the U.S. are visa-overstays. We need more officers to deal with this, along with judges to quickly deport them. We need more personnel to inspect the shipments coming into the nation, something recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Nothing will deter people coming illegally/overstaying visas like quickly deporting them, as we’ve seen this past year where mostly words on cracking down, along with a more visible ICE presence, has drastically decreased those coming illegally.

There are many other things that can be done in conjunction, such as making businesses and colleges who host those on visas responsible for their upkeep, and requiring them to inform ICE when those visas are about to expire. Full implementation of E-Verify. Cracking down on those who shelter illegal aliens. And much more. Such as cracking down hard on companies that hire illegals, and hitting them with hard criminal penalties, not just civil ones.

An internal budget guidance document for the 2019 fiscal year shows that the White House Office of Management and Budget asked officials at the Homeland Security Department to reduce or delay funding requests for additional border security technology and equipment. Instead, the document instructed, Homeland Security should dramatically increase funding for a wall on the Mexico border.

So, the Times wasn’t quite kidding in the first paragraph of the article, but

Parts of the document were viewed by The New York Times; the rest of it was based on reports by the Democratic staff of the Senate Homeland Security Committee

So, take it all with a grain of salt, but yes, there does seem to be a reduction in expenditures in the White House recommendation to help fund the wall (which is already supposed to be built per previous law).

The internal document also suggested delaying a request to buy 15 new Coastal Interceptor boats to catch drug smugglers. The agency had sought nearly $15 million to replace its aging fleet to keep up with drug smugglers’ smaller, faster boats.

It also would cut nearly 200 of the 500 canine units that customs officials say play a key role in programs to prevent terrorism and drug smuggling. The dogs’ handlers would then be reassigned to ports on the southwest border to help with staffing shortages.

It would also drastically cut funding for hiring officers for new customs positions, which are key in stopping people from coming illegally as well as drugs, illegal weapons, and other banned things. But, it does call for 5,000 more Border Patrol agents and 10,000 ICE agents.

The wall is OK, but, there needs to be a focus on many other things.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: NY Times: Other Border Measures Would Be Cut To Help Pay For Wall »

Good News: Trump To Finally Visit California

Lots of Democrats have had a sad that Trump hasn’t visited their People’s Republik since he took office, because that would make the crazy #resist nutter moonbats go apeshit with his visit, and we know how they like to be Outraged.

Well, good news! Ask and ye shall receive

Troll Level Expert.

Read: Good News: Trump To Finally Visit California »

If All You See…

…are horrible carbon pollution clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is JoNova, with a post on the Sydney “hottest ever” mistake.

Read: If All You See… »

Frigid Temperatures Totally Confirm ‘Climate Change’, Ya Know

It’ll be interesting to see what the Cult of Climastrology is saying by the end of the week and through the following week, as much of the country thaws out and could even see above average temperatures (see, this is how you end up with an average. Some days above, some days below). Will they switch to “see, this warmth is exactly what we expect in the winter from ‘climate change’?

Yes, Frigid Temperatures Are Part of Climate Change

Baby, it’s cold outside — and those sub-freezing temperatures don’t disprove the existence of climate change. If anything, this extreme weather adds to the growing body of evidence that something is going very wrong on everyone’s favorite blue marble, Earth.

If this conversation feels like deja vu, it should. Remember 2014′s polar vortex, pictured above? It was another period of severe cold filled with dramatic photos and headlines. And then, as now, it marked a good time to talk about climate change, as well as the importance of distinguishing between climate and weather — something the current president of the United States appears to have some difficulty with.

Essentially, if they can fit it into their talking points, it’s anthropogenic climate change. If it’s not their talking points, it’s weather.

Okay, but what does this have to do with climate change, exactly? Well, for starters, the cold weather illustrates why people are shifting towards “climate change” as a descriptive term for what’s happening on Earth, versus “global warming,” which is only an element of a changing climate. When people hear “global warming,” they tend to assume it means everything across the Earth is getting hot uniformly, so rain, extreme cold and other weird weather conditions are proof that nothing’s wrong.

In fact, these things are all tied together.

Read: Frigid Temperatures Totally Confirm ‘Climate Change’, Ya Know »

Senator Cotton: Democrats Should Be Willing To Compromise On DACA

The other day, the NY Times was whining that it was Trump who was imperiling the bipartisan talks on DACA and border security by offering up his requirements. It included this from Senator Dick Durbin

“President Trump has said he may need a good government shutdown to get his wall,” a furious Mr. Durbin said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon. “With this demand, he seems to be heading in that direction.”

The senator went on: “It’s outrageous that the White House would undercut months of bipartisan efforts by again trying to put its entire wish-list of hard-line anti-immigrant bills — plus an additional $18 billion in wall funding — on the backs of these young people.”

There’s a line I use quite a bit in my business when people are demanding my “best price”: this is a negotiation. You give some, I give some, we get to an agreement. Of course, there are times when there is no agreement, because the customer’s demands are unattainable and they won’t move off them. And what Democrats are demanding is a clean DACA bill, which includes absolutely no immigration enforcement, allows legalization of the very parents who committed the “sin” of bringing the kids illegally. Senator Tom Cotton discussed

(Newsmax) Democrats are opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda from an “unreasonable negotiating position,” specifically where it relates to Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and funding for the border wall, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.

“I hope the Democrats will come off their unreasonable negotiating position and be willing to compromise,” Sen. Cotton told ABC’s “This Week” about the early January agenda items of the budget, spending and immigration.

Cotton pointed to the existing U.S. law in defending Trump’s actions and immigration policies, which have been fought endlessly by his opposition – often with no legal standing.

“The president has said all along that while President Obama acted unlawfully by giving them legal status without an act of Congress, that he wants to solve this problem with a compromise piece of legislation,” Cotton told host George Stephanopoulos. “We’ve been working on it now for four months.

“In addition to having some funding for the border wall and border security, we are also going to have to take steps to stop unskilled and low skilled immigration coming into this country, like ending chain migration and ending the diversity lottery,” he said.

All that low skilled, and often illegal, labor does is deflate wages. Regardless, if Democrats want legalization for upwards of 800,000 Dreamers, they are going to have to give back quite a bit.

“Sen. [Dick] Durbin’s, D-Ill., DREAM Act would cost $26 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. So, Sen. Durbin should reconsider who is making unreasonable, costly demands if he’s criticizing the president for requesting $18 billion to secure our southern border that creates such a huge magnet for illegal immigration and crime and drugs.”

Let’s also not forget that the border wall was passed into law long ago. Illegal aliens are not. They’re here in contradiction of long standing federal law. Democrats are standing up for things that are in violation of federal law. And the Dreamers themselves really have no right to demand anything.

Read: Senator Cotton: Democrats Should Be Willing To Compromise On DACA »

Responsible Journalism: Trump’s Physical Won’t Tell Us About His Mental Fitness Or Something

The Russian collusion thing hasn’t actually gone anywhere further than talking points, and, after over a year of yammering, hasn’t actually proven any collusion. None of the other things have worked, either, so Democrats are going back to one of their standards for when there is a Republican president: that he has mental issues. This is what passes for “news” and “journalism” at CNN

Trump physical unlikely to shed light on mental fitness

President Donald Trump’s staunch defense of his own mental acuity this weekend all but ensured the questions mounting about his fitness will increase in the coming week, which is set to culminate Friday with his first known medical exam since taking office.

Of course, that “staunch defense” came after accusations which appeared in media outlets, who ran with them without any sort of, you know, proof. And, really, go back to accusations when he started running.

Coming amid a previously-unheard-of debate over the mental capacity of the country’s oldest president at the time of his first election, the yearly presidential physical has attracted renewed attention from a capital now consumed with Trump’s mental health. But there is little to indicate the checkup will provide much clarity about the state of Trump’s mind.

Anyone remember how the media worried about Obama’s mental health, considering all the drugs he admitted to doing when younger?

On Friday, Trump is due at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for a medical exam conducted by the White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, who performed President Barack Obama’s last several physicals while he was in office. The White House has said it will provide a readout of the exam once it’s complete.

But any hopes that the publicly released information will shed light on Trump’s mental state appear largely misplaced. A review of the past five presidents’ physical exams show only brief mentions of mental health, and none provide a readout of mental health tests.

So, this isn’t taking place for 5 days? Oh, right, this gives CNN five days to continue a Narrative.

Democrats should just get over it. Trump won fair and square. The rules of presidential elections were known. Laid out. Right there. Stop being petulant children who didn’t get a cookie and need their diapers changed.

BTW, remember how this same media circled the wagons around Hillary’s health, with things like not being able to walk up stairs without help, unusual pauses during appearances, and fainting?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Responsible Journalism: Trump’s Physical Won’t Tell Us About His Mental Fitness Or Something »

It’s Time To Get Serious About Cold Weather Climate Change Or Something

Listen, and understand! That Warmists are out there! They can’t be bargained with. They can’t be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead paying taxes!

It’s time to get serious about climate change

When former Vice President Al Gore released his documentary in 2006 entitled An Inconvenient Truth, somehow the public was lectured with the consequences of global warming. Some may have missed it or did not pay attention. But truth of the matter-climate change is real.

That’s when he was blaming pleasant, warm weather on Other People taking fossil fueled flights.

Climate change has showed its severe impact in large scale destruction in mankind and the environment we are living in. The unrolling cold weather that continues to blanket the eastern U.S. can be an example of the biggest changes that we have to expect entering this new year.

Many experts are also blaming this cold season on climate change-at least it is part of the problem.

If Warmists want to get serious, why don’t they practice what they preach? Why do so many of them seem to have higher carbon footprints than non-Warmists?

Notice that the link is from a Chicago outlet. In the same Chicago Tribune, they just tied an 80+ year old for number of days below freezing. Raleigh, and many others, have done the same. On one hand, they’ll say “this is just weather.” In the next “it’s climate change!!!!!!”

Read: It’s Time To Get Serious About Cold Weather Climate Change Or Something »

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