Squishy Republican: We Totally Need New Taxes To Solve ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach July 19, 2016 – 10:14 am

Let’s never forget, when anthropogenic climate change is polled with other issues that Americans are concerned about, it typically comes in last or next to last. This even happens with international issues polls, as well. But, you know, according to some squishes who are aping Leftist talking points, if the GOP doesn’t jump on the bandwagon, they’re doomed

A constructive GOP platform on climate change

Donald Trump says he’s not certain about the validity of climate change. While he mulls that question, scores of Republicans are running for the House and Senate and need sensible guidance from their party.

Addressing the realities of climate change can be a plus for those candidates if they pursue a thoughtful, conservative platform. By grounding the platform in good science and economics, the GOP will appeal to environmentally minded swing voter groups including independents, young people, those who are college educated, Hispanics, and suburban women. Those same voters will be turned off if GOP candidates align with climate skeptics who deny basic findings of the National Academies of Science.

OK, so we’re just supposed to climb(ate) on the Warmist train for convenience, rather than for reality. Second, what are those thoughtful, conservative policies?

Adopt a tax on greenhouse gas emissions throughout the economy that would rise over time so businesses and consumers have time to convert to sustainable activities. The tax could replace numerous, intrusive regulations on personal and corporate behavior. It would be a “revenue neutral” tax on emissions but the revenue wouldn’t stay in the government or pay to enlarge it. Instead, the money would go back to U.S. citizens either as a tax break or, preferably, in a quarterly dividend check.

So, a new tax that would supposedly replace regulations? Good luck with that. Revenue neutral? It’ll never happen. This is strictly a Progressive idea, with nothing Republican about it, much less American Conservative.

Establish a tax at the border on products imported to the U.S. from countries with weak environmental standards. Trump advocates a 35% tariff on items from Mexico. His number may be too high but the thinking behind it is worth considering. There shouldn’t be a price advantage for imports from big-time polluters.

Climate change has nothing to do with the environment, and while well intentioned to go after real environmental polluters, this will simply vastly increase the cost of living to American consumers.

Reconsider intrusive regulations such as the Clean Power Rule, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program, the renewable energy mandates, and the California electric-car mandate. These are well-intentioned efforts to reduce climate change but they’re adding layers of costly regulation to business operations. Sometimes the regulations are outmoded and not even linked to environmental results. Those rules should be scrapped. Sometimes businesses have better solutions to environmental problems than a regulation permits. Toyota’s Prius remains a more cost-effective investment than a plug-in electric car. Those kinds of solutions should be approved by regulators, thereby giving increased flexibility for cost-effective innovations that protect for the environment.

They originally weren’t meant to deal with ‘climate change’, they were simply hijacked by Warmists. Interestingly, once we’ve supposedly gotten rid of them, we are right back to government regulators regulating.

Repeal subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuel development and renewable energy. Politicians love to hand out corporate welfare but, as the Solyndra debacle illustrated, the risk of corruption is high. The GOP can say they’re getting the federal government out of the energy business. The amount of money involved isn’t huge but the symbolism is significant.

Most of the tax breaks for fossil fuels and renewables are the same tax breaks that most other companies get. So, all companies should have those tax breaks taken away, otherwise it would be unconstitutional.

In sum, this platform should reassure swing voters that a conservative Republican environmental policy is appealing. All GOP candidates down the ballot can offer a coherent policy to address climate change, sustainability and over-regulation – all at the same time.

Why not just change the name of the party to the Democratic Party Lite party? Besides, when stacked with real issues, no one cares. When their wages are stuck, the economy is lackluster, jobs are poor, and Islamists are killing people, no one cares about a minuscule rise in temperature over 160+ years.

Read: Squishy Republican: We Totally Need New Taxes To Solve ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in Global Warming, Idiot GOPer's | 23 Comments | Trackback URL

If You Don’t Support Massive Gun Control You Don’t Support The Police Or Something

By William Teach July 19, 2016 – 7:45 am

I’m surprised that it took this long for liberal Gun Grabbers to come up with this duckspeak. First, we have Gawker saying that police unions should support the massive disarming of people who have committed no crime, so, violate their 2nd and 4th Amendment rights. Then

If You Don’t Support Gun Control, Then You Don’t Support the Police

Beyond the headline, there’s very little content to support that notion. Paragraph after paragraph after paragraph is simply the typical gun grabber point of view. Blaming the NRA, trying to blow away the good guy with a gun idea (you should check This ain’t Hell, but I can see it from here most days, and see the Feel Good Stories, like Monday), all the typical talking points. We finally get to the end

What False Dichotomists fail to realize is that, true to their label, they have set up a false dichotomy between “bad guys” and guns. It doesn’t have to be one or the other; both can be – and are – part of the problem. The fact of the matter is that guns are designed to kill much more easily, rapidly, and efficiently than most other objects – including trucks. So it stands to reason – and the data in different states indicate – that certain gun-control measures are the most effective cure for this part of the problem. These measures include expanding background checks, requiring rigorous background checks for all online and gun-show purchases, requiring a license for gun ownership, renewing the federal ban on assault rifles (both automatic and semi-automatic), repealing these ridiculously permissive open-carry and concealed-carry laws, and raising taxes significantly on bullets (“bullet control”).

In other words, enact heavy restrictions on the 2nd Amendment in order to disarm law abiding citizens, leaving them at the mercy of people who don’t follow the law. This would also violate due process, since people are having their rights stripped without even being accused of a crime.

The NRA and their Republican supporters’ enthusiastic encouragement and passage of lax gun laws and policies over the past 30 years have sadly enabled hundreds of thousands of senseless, needless deaths and injuries. It’s high time, then, that they atone for their destructive influence by renouncing the same old unproductive, callous platitudes and canards and finally getting on board with a sensible multi-pronged approach that includes gun control. In the end, this is really the only way to honor the Baton Rouge and Dallas police officers who were viciously murdered – and to better protect all of the police officers who are still serving.

Got that? Massive Constitutional violations of law abiding citizen’s Rights is the only way to honor officers slain by criminals, many of whom have been emboldened by the very Black Lives Matter rhetoric emanating from the same gun grabbers.

Read: If You Don’t Support Massive Gun Control You Don’t Support The Police Or Something »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Liberal World | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Chris Matthews, Liberals Upset Over Mother Of SEAL Killed In Benghazi Speaking At RNC

By William Teach July 19, 2016 – 7:01 am

She apparently “ruined” Monday night for the GOP

(The Hill) Patricia Smith — the mother of Sean Smith, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 — delivered a raw, emotional and unapologetic speech at the Republican National Convention that centered on one person: Hillary Clinton.

“For all of this loss, for all of this grief, for all of the cynicism, the tragedy in Benghazi has wrought upon America, I blame Hillary Clinton,” Smith declared from the convention stage in Cleveland on Monday night. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son.”

Smith went on to call Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, a liar for her explanation of Smith’s death.

“In an email to her daughter shortly after the attack, Hillary Clinton blamed it on terrorism,” said Smith. “But when I saw Hillary Clinton at Sean’s coffin ceremony, just days later, she looked me squarely in the eye and told me a video was responsible. Since then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to explain to me the real reason why my son is dead. I’m still waiting.”

Then we get the hot take by Chris Matthews, which was pretty much the MSNBC hot take

“I don’t understand why the Republicans would choose to put this on prime-time television when they have such wonderful stories of American heroism to speak to the American people,” an emotional Matthews said. “I think it was wrong.

“I don’t care what that woman up there, the mother, has felt,” he continued. “Her emotions are her own. But for the country in choosing a leader, it’s wrong to have someone get up there and tell a lie about Hillary Clinton. It’s not true. It’s logically not true. I think it’s wrong that they ruined their evening with this.”

Sean Smith was a hero. He rushed to the aid of others in Benghazi when they were being assaulted by Islamic terrorists. He chose to put himself in deadly danger to help others. He expected help to come. It never did. And Hillary lied to his mother and the other parents. She lied to the country while telling the truth privately. She and Obama, along with others and aides, yammered on about the “video” in a meeting called 3 hours after the attack started, rather than dealing with getting help to the region immediately.

As Secretary of State, Hillary was responsible for the safety of the diplomatic mission. She failed. Then, she and the Obama administration spun a web of lies in order to make sure the Obama narrative held up through the election.

I wonder how Matthews and other liberals will react when Democrats trot up all sorts of human shields who slur Trump and Republicans? It’s funny, Liberals tell us we’re always supposed to believe the victim, no matter if they have zero proof, and, on college campuses, if a guy is accused of rape, there is no proof required, the guy is simply run out of school on a rail and has his life ruined. Yet, according to these same liberals, we shouldn’t listen to Patricia Smith, whose son was killed due to Hillary incompetence and then had to endure lies to compound it.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Chris Matthews, Liberals Upset Over Mother Of SEAL Killed In Benghazi Speaking At RNC »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Hillary Clinton | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

The GOP Would Support Hitler Against Trump Or Something

By William Teach July 18, 2016 – 5:12 pm

You know me, I’m more than willing to calling moonbattery, unhinged idiocy from lefties. Well, I’m also will to call out this kind of stuff

Yes, the GOP Would Support Hitler Against Hillary

There are sensitive sorts who will immediate decry me for comparing Trump to Hitler. I am actually not doing that at all in this piece. But you cannot read this Jon Ward piece and come away with any other conclusion.

The GOP, if Hitler made it through the primaries with 33% of the vote, would swap the elephant for the swastika.

To review, Donald Trump got 33% of the GOP vote. Only after every single person dropped out was Trump able to get to 44%. (snip)

Trump is not Hitler and I have repeatedly defended him on television and radio against others who have compared him to Hitler. But the overriding point remains. The GOP is so invested in their hatred of Hillary Clinton and their fear of a minority of their own voters that if the voters chose Hitler himself, the GOP would stand behind him against Hillary Clinton.

If you think otherwise, you are not paying attention to this campaign season.

This is Erik Erickson who attempts to quibble a bit with this, but, seriously, come on. This is silly. Trump is a buffoon, a fool, and really a Democrat pretending to be a Republican on most issues, but, 99.9% of Republicans know the difference between him and Hitler, and this type of loose yammering serves no purpose.

Besides, Hitler had way more in common with the Progressives who run the Democratic Party than the GOP.

Read: The GOP Would Support Hitler Against Trump Or Something »

Posted in Unhinged Tools | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 18, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is an angry sea caused by America’s big carbon footprint, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on Congressional staffers not wanting gun free zone signs.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | Comments Off on If All You See… | Trackback URL

Warmist Sheldon Whitehouse Seems Unclear On This Whole 1st Amendment Thingy

By William Teach July 18, 2016 – 10:30 am

Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, has long used vast amounts of fossil fuels to rail against climate change, and has long attempted to use his power as an elected federal official to go after those who fail to share his Cult of Climastrology viewpoints. Well, he’s still doing it

(Washington Times) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wants newspapers to stop publishing “extreme” and “phony” op-eds written by climate-change skeptics, blasting such articles as “industry propaganda.”

The Rhode Island Democrat said he was stunned by the “extraordinary barrage of opinion pieces” that followed his May 2015 op-ed recommending that Attorney General Loretta Lynch investigate fossil-fuel companies and their supporters for possible civil violations of federal racketeering laws.

He blamed the flood of what he described as “error-plagued criticism” on “the climate denial apparatus” and urged newspapers to reject such opinion pieces in the future.

“The breadth of the op-ed assault suggests that a new level of critical scrutiny will be needed at honorable editorial boards to make responsible choices between legitimate and honest opinion and clever, made-to-order, industrial-scale dissemination of industry propaganda,”said Mr. Whitehouse in a Tuesday op-ed in the Columbia Journalism Review.

Here’s a sitting U.S. Senator calling for censorship by the news media of people he doesn’t agree with. Regardless of the notion that most journalists and their parent companies are left leaning, they should be appalled at Whitehouse attempting to tell them how to do their job, and telling them what they should and shouldn’t print.

Imagine this was a Republican telling the media what they shouldn’t print: can we easily imagine the collective apoplexy form the media? And from Democrats? That Republican would be smeared as a fascist, against democracy, and against the 1st Amendment. They would go ballistic. But, they’re good when their folks do the same. Even when the threats are against themselves.

Read: Warmist Sheldon Whitehouse Seems Unclear On This Whole 1st Amendment Thingy »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Warmists Seem Very Confused That Skeptics Would Embrace “Renewables”

By William Teach July 18, 2016 – 8:00 am

Apparently, all Republicans/Climate Skeptics are only allowed to push for coal and oil usage

For Republicans, clean energy boom, shifting ties test climate change stance

Texas Congressman Lamar Smith has made a name for himself as one of the country’s leading climate change deniers, issuing subpoenas to state attorneys general investigating oil companies and questioning the scientific chops of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But earlier this month, the San Antonio Republican was back in his seat as chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology arguing to expand government spending on solar and energy storage technologies. Avoiding terms like fossil fuels or climate change, Smith stuck to statements like, “breakthroughs in energy storage are one of the next frontiers, without costly subsidies or mandates.”

The seeming contradiction of endorsing government research into clean technology while arguing against one of its fundamental reasons for being – climate change – is not uncommon in Washington these days. As Republicans maintain their party’s long-standing blockade against action to reduce carbon emissions, they also are embracing a renewable energy industry that is driving investment and jobs in GOP strongholds like Texas.

That part I put in bold is exactly the problem with Leftists/Warmists: they think that the only reason for “clean technology” – which is often anything but, so let’s refer to this as renewables, which isn’t perfect either – is to solve ‘climate change.’

However, from our point of view, we support all of the above.

  • We support wind, we just do not want it slapped up in these big wind farms that fail to capture the energy they say it will, kill lots of birds, chopping them to pieces, blighting the landscape, and leaving messes when they collapse on their giant concrete pads
  • We support solar, we just don’t like these giant farms that provide a lot less energy than they said it would, leaves a toxic mess from production, and sucks up vast amounts of taxpayer money for failed projects.
  • We support hydrothermal. Dams and such.
  • We would prefer that the private sector do this, but, if government is going to use our money, it should be for research and development first, to create viable technology that has a smaller footprint and actually provides the energy it claims it provides. And the loans need to be paid back.
  • Many of us are not big fans of coal and oil, not due to greenhouse gases, but because they are dirty. We also understand, though, that they work for the lowest price, and the best way to bring people out of poverty is reliable, inexpensive energy.
  • We aren’t the ones running around the world clamoring about doom from a tiny increase in CO2 while using vast amounts of fossil fuels.

Democrats prefer projects that are simply payback to Democratic Party donors using taxpayer money. Whether the project works is not even a consideration, especially since hardcore environmental groups will protest the projects, and try and shut them down.

There is no cognitive dissonance for our stance. We believe in an all of the above strategy. But let’s do it wisely. And our version of “clean” is about protecting the environment, not stopping a tiny increase in CO2 that has virtually nothing to do with the current Holocene warm period.

Read: Warmists Seem Very Confused That Skeptics Would Embrace “Renewables” »

Posted in Energy, Environment, Global Warming, GOP | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Man Who Continuously Smears Other People Wants Other People To Cool Their Rhetoric

By William Teach July 18, 2016 – 7:33 am

By now, you have obviously heard of the murder of three Baton Rouge police officers, with other wounded, by Gavin Eugene Long, a Black man who had previously been a member of the Nation of Islam and has railed against “crackers”, as well as Indians and Orientals. As NBC News notes, he had a long digital footprint, and some of that was anti-white/Black supremacist. Was this a targeted attack? We don’t know yet. But, Obama wants us to calm our Blamestorming and rhetoric

(ABC News) Confronting another killing of police officers, President Barack Obama on Sunday urged Americans to tamp down inflammatory words and actions as a violent summer collides with the nation’s heated presidential campaign.

Obama said the motive behind Sunday’s killing of three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was still unknown. It was the latest in a string of deadly incidents involving law enforcement, including the police shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge and the killing of five officers in Dallas.

“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies attacks on law enforcement,” Obama said in remarks from the White House briefing room.

Obama said that going into the political conventions, elected officials and interest groups should focus their words and actions on uniting the country, rather than dividing it.

“We don’t need inflammatory rhetoric. We don’t need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or to advance an agenda. We need to temper our words and open our hearts … all of us,” Obama said.

This is a man who has made a career out of using inflammatory rhetoric, always casting blame. Where was he in calling for the reduction of inflammatory rhetoric when Black Lives Matter was chanting multiple different sayings about dead cops many, many times?

The president also seemed intent on demonstrating again his support for law enforcement. Some organizations have cast doubt on that support. The National Association of Police Organizations said after the Dallas shooting that America was in the midst of a war on law enforcement officers. The group said the administration needed to show political leadership by “supporting them and giving them the resources they need to protect themselves and their communities.”

“Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible,” Obama emphasized Sunday.

Where was he well over a year ago in his support for the police? Heck, during the Dallas memorial he continuously took shots at police officers while defending Black Lives Matter. Obama loves to pick sides, rather than standing for all people, including those who didn’t vote for him. As Powerline points out, Obama has spent seven years stirring up racial animosity. Calling for cooling the rhetoric now is a little late. Especially when he surely won’t cool his own.

Victor David Hansen offers three ideas for Obama

No longer invite into the White House any leaders [e.g., DeRay McKesson] whose affiliated members have marched chanting their desire to kill police officers (e.g., “What do we want? Dead cops” / “Pigs in a blanket; fry ’em like bacon”).

Do not consult with any self-appointed leader in the White House whose past has included overt and implicit calls to shoot police officers (e.g., Al Sharpton: “I believe in offing the pigs. Well, they got pigs out here. You ain’t offed one of them. What I believe in, I do. Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit you’ve lost your courage and your guts to stand up”).

Do not invite into the White House any artists whose work has glorified the killing of officers of the criminal-justice system (e.g., Lamar Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly album, one of whose songs was dubbed by Obama as his favorite of 2015), whose cover depicts a group of African-American youth celebrating with champagne and cash on the White House lawn over the corpse of a white judge with his eyes X-ed out).

He won’t. Which is probably a good reason why Cleveland Police Association head Detective Steve Loomis said that Obama has blood on his hands. I’d add that so does Hillary and a good chunk of the elected Democratic Party class.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Man Who Continuously Smears Other People Wants Other People To Cool Their Rhetoric »

Posted in Barry Obama, Current Affairs | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 17, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible carbon pollution creating dog, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Legal Insurrection, with a post wondering if the the public option Obama’s now pushing was the goal all along (me-yes, yes it was.)

It’s girls playing at the beach week!

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach July 17, 2016 – 8:56 am

Happy Sunday! A gorgeous, but kinda wet (at least in the Raleigh area), day here in America. The sun is shining, the squirrels are scampering, the geese are quiet. This pinup is by Gil Elvgren, with a wee bit of help.

What’s happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Powerline is not impressed by Hillary’s call against Citizens United
  2. No Tricks Zone notes the wind power mafia killing off rare storks
  3. Allen B. West covers a jaw dropping statement by Obama on Sharia law
  4. Blazing Cat Fur notes all the urban violence in France on Bastille Day
  5. Chicks On The Right explains what the NY Times is blaming for the Nice attack
  6. Creeping Sharia covers a month of Islam in Sweden
  7. Fire Andrea Mitchell notes what Obama was doing Saturday as the world burned
  8. Gay Patriot wonders how much you’d be willing to submit to Islam for peace
  9. Happy 50th Bday to MK Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes
  10. Jihad Watch covers France suppressing the massacre information on Bataclan
  11. Legal Insurrection has the Internet response to the new Trump/Pence logo
  12. Newsbusters notes that the Trump/Pence logo is now raaaaacist
  13. Raised On Hoecakes wonders where the call to ban trucks is
  14. Reaganite Republican discusses the demographics that could doom Trump
  15. And last, but not least, Virtual Mirage discusses civilizational suicide

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove