State AGs, Activist Collude To Attack Exxon

By William Teach April 19, 2016 – 12:43 pm

I’ve previously mentioned that a group of attorney generals (all Democrats) have joined together to go after Exxon, along with looking at ways to silence climate skeptics, such as the Virgin Islands AG going after a private group, Competitive Enterprise Institute. Now we get

(Fox News) State Democratic officials are facing mounting accusations they secretly coordinated with climate activists to investigate whether ExxonMobil hid the truth about global warming, as new documents show the collaboration went deeper than previously thought.

Emails obtained and released by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute show a number of state attorneys general and their staff received advice and guidance from environmental activists at a March 29 meeting in New York, on the same day as a major press conference.

The meeting included a presentation by Peter Frumhoff of the Union of Concerned Scientists on the “imperative of taking action now on climate change.” Matt Pawa, who litigated against Exxon in a global warming case, was also in attendance, giving a presentation regarding climate change litigation to the AGs and their staff.

There was quite a bit of secrecy and collusion in this, with too much information to properly excerpt.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a January meeting in Manhattan was a key moment in the plan to unleash a Big Tobacco-style government probe of oil companies. The meeting brought together several veteran environmental activists to discuss how to “establish in [the] public’s mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution that has pushed humanity (and all creation) toward climate chaos and grave harm.”

As more emails are released, Exxon is striking back.

“These revelations from the meeting in January, and now these emails, show that there is a lot of collaboration, collusion, conspiracy — pick a word — that shows these groups and trial lawyers working together to attack a company that has 75,000 employees and millions of shareholders,” Alan Jeffers, media relations manager for ExxonMobil told FoxNews.com. “That’s who these people are attacking, these employees and shareholders who benefit when the company does well.”

The one thing missing from this article, an opinion piece on it at Fox, and other articles is if this is illegal. It’s certainly unethical. How about this from Glenn Reynolds, in a piece publishes prior to the release of the emails

Federal law  makes it a felony “for two or more persons to agree together to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the Unites States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same).”

I wonder if U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker, or California Attorney General Kamala Harris, or New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have read this federal statute. Because what they’re doing looks like a concerted scheme to restrict the First Amendment free speech rights of people they don’t agree with. They should look up 18 U.S.C. Sec. 241, I am sure they each have it somewhere in their offices.

For all their lofty claims, these groups and AGs are simply attempting to shut down Free Speech and other Rights.

But all is not lost for CEI. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1985 provides a civil action for conspiracies to deprive individuals of civil rights. If I were CEI — or these attorneys general — I might give that law a read as well.

Discovery could be fun!

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Pearl Jam Cancels Raleigh Concert Over HB2: Who Does This Really Hurt?

By William Teach April 19, 2016 – 8:17 am

Another group taking a Brave Stance

(WNCN) The fallout from North Carolina’s passing of House Bill 2 continued Monday, with rock bands Pearl Jam and Boston dropping in North Carolina.

Pearl Jam was scheduled to play in Raleigh Wednesday night.

“The HB2 law that was recently passed is a despicable piece of legislation that encourages discrimination against an entire group of American citizens,” the band said in a statement. “The practical implications are expansive and its negative impact upon basic human rights is profound. We want America to be a place where no one can be turned away from a business because of who they love or fired from their job for who they are.”

Question for Pearl Jam: will the pledge to only play venues that have official written policies that allow the gender confused to use the bathroom of their “gender identity”? This goes for Boston, as well. Of course, no one can be fired for who they are, under existing state and federal law. Facts do not matter to any of these people. Perhaps Pearl Jam might cancel their Chicago concerts, over the way the police, as directed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel (Democrat), are treating Blacks. From Twitchy

https://twitter.com/g_f_morris17/status/722187409388085250

Plenty more at the link.

All this concern over state law which restricts state, local, and county governments in North Carolina from forcing the private sector to create accommodations for the gender confused, who, at most, represent just .3% of the population, while telling the gender confused they have to use the bathroom of their biological identity on state, local, and county property. But, there are no penalties included if they do, because the law isn’t about the gender confused: it’s about restricting over-bearing government.

But, hey, this is all fine, because companies and groups and such are currently making Brave Stances, but it’ll all blow over in short order, and it’ll be back to business as usual.

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/722185927980937216

None of the upcoming venues have official policies about the gender confused using the bathroom of their choice.

Interestingly, none of these folks complaining about HB2 are particularly concerned about the way the LBGT community is treated by radical Islam and in Islamic countries. It’s almost like this is just a wedge issue and something to be used politically without any real deep caring.

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Jerusalem Hit With Terrorist Attack, Biden Attacks And Mostly Blames Israel

By William Teach April 19, 2016 – 7:41 am

This article from Haaretz was posted at 11:53pm Israel time. Israel is 7 hours ahead of East Coast time

At least 20 people were injured, two seriously, when a bomb exploded on a bus in Jerusalem on Monday. The Shin Bet security service confirmed that the incident was a terror attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “reach the perpetrators and those who support them, and ensure those who stand behind it are held accountable.” He also sent wishes “for a speedy recovery to all those who were wounded.”

The blast occurred at about 5:50 P.M. on Moshe Baram Street, near Hebron Road, in southwest Jerusalem. It is the first bombing attack in Jerusalem since the second intifada ended in 2005.

They know it’s a terror attack, one which we can certainly blame Islamists, most likely Palestinians, 100%. On to one of the Upper Class Twits

(Fox) Vice President Joe Biden said Monday night that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was leading the country “in the wrong direction” hours after a bus bombing in Jerusalem wounded at least 21 people.

In a speech to the Israel advocacy group J Street, Biden did single out Palestinian leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, for declining to condemn specific acts of terrorism carried out against Israelis. The vice president said he didn’t know whether Monday’s explosion was a terrorist attack, but added that the U.S. condemns “misguided cowards” who resort to violence.

However, the bulk of the Biden’s criticism was reserved for Netanyahu, reflecting diminishing patience within the White House as President Barack Obama’s term nears an end, compounded by deep disagreements over Iran and a strained relationship between the two leaders.

This is the equivalent of blaming and shaming a woman for being raped for wearing a short skirt, a woman who was sober and attending a fancy shindig, rather than a sleazy bar. This all simply highlights the Israeli Derangement Syndrome present within the Obama administration and the Democrats as a whole.

Furthermore, the Village Idiot didn’t know if it was a terrorist attack. The attack would have occurred at 10:50am Washington, D.C. time. The Haaretz article went up at 4:53pm D.C. time. Other Israeli news services had their articles up between the time of the attack and late afternoon. Biden’s speech was scheduled for 8:45pm, so he had plenty of time to learn the facts. It was known that an explosive device was found in the back of the bus. It is known that Hamas is once again gearing up, including building tunnels into Israel again, though this doesn’t mean Hamas was involved with the bombing.

And here comes Biden, attacking the attacked, blaming and shaming, further enabling the anti-Israeli forces to continue their attacks, both verbal and physical.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Someone Really Doesn’t Want To Leave The park

By William Teach April 18, 2016 – 9:49 pm

Reminds me of trying to get some people out of bed.

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Ted Cruz On Gay Marriage: Leave It To The States

By William Teach April 18, 2016 – 3:17 pm

This is one of the things I love about Ted Cruz: he understands the point of American Conservatism, that one of the major foundations is based on federalism and the importance of the 10th Amendment

(ABC News) Sen. Ted Cruz today invoked the protections included in the Constitution when a gay man asked the Republican presidential candidate about his work protecting the rights of gay voters.

Responding to a question from Todd Calogne, a married gay man who is a registered Republican and owner of a pizza parlor in New York City, Cruz said the Constitution protects the rights of all citizens equally. (Snip)

When asked further about the Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriagenationally and what would happen to gay people who are already married, Cruz said marriage laws should be settled on the state level rather than the federal level.

On this he is correct, this should be left to the states to decide for themselves, until and unless those in favor want to have a Constitutional Convention to make it the law of the land, rather than, as he put it, 5 unelected justices deciding to create this so-called right.

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If All You See…

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

…is evil leather from evil moo cows which will cause the earth’s atmosphere to boil, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Other McCain, with a post on the trashification of America.

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Climate Change Is Like Cancer In Our Veins Or Something

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

But, hey, don’t worry, this whole thing is completely rational and grounded in science

The Climate Change in Our Veins – Scott Poynton

My father was diagnosed with cancer at the end of the year 2000 and his doctors gave him just 12 months to live. They put him on chemotherapy in a bid to extend his life but in February 2002, he succumbed in something of a flurry, at home, in my arms.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” had been a big hit in Australia and it made a big impression on me; Tom Hanks’ star performance in the movie, Philadelphia, too. When my dad was battling his cancer, I’d listen to the song over and over, striving to make sense of it, grappling to understand what it must be like to hear your blood in your veins, knowing that it was at once giving you life while simultaneously carrying the disease that would kill you. I imagined a terrible, desperate despair.

I’m starting to feel again like I did during my father’s illness. I’m listening again to Springsteen’s song. This time I’m hearing the blood in my own veins and it’s tainted not by a privately borne disease but by climate change, the terrible malady affecting all humanity, all life on earth.

photo 52197-Picard-facepalm-gif-ubif_zpsz5zxfmue.gif

Oh, wait, it gets better

We lost Tom Hanks’ character in Philadelphia, dying in the arms of his beloved. Today, we cradle our own lives in our arms, not in any movie but in real, raw life. As long as blood still runs in our veins we have hope, but that blood carries indifference, the disease that could ultimately kill us. We’re fast running out of time to treat it and my despair is that we don’t appear to have the inclination.

photo laughing_zps3b740454.gif

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RNC To Hillary: Will You Pay The Extra Taxes You Want To Force On Other Americans?

By William Teach April 18, 2016 – 7:06 am

This would mean that Hillary should write a check for over $4.6 million dollars to the IRS

(Breitbart) Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus will, on Monday, send a letter to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal tax attorney Rorrie Gregorio, asking her if Clinton has paid the tax rates she expects billionaires and millionaires to pay — or if she’s not leading by example.

Under Hillary Clinton’s own tax plan, those making more than $5 million a year would be required to pay a surcharge to the treasury. In doing the math, since 2001, the Clintons would need to pay nearly $5 million more in taxes to comply with their own proposal. Clinton’s campaign tells Breitbart News she’ll pay that much just as soon as the RNC agrees to the rest of her policy agenda.

“As Hillary and Bill Clinton’s financial and estate planner, as well as their personal accountant, I am writing to you on this annual tax day to inquire as to whether Hillary Clinton has chosen to put her money where her mouth is, and pay the additional taxes she is hypocritically proposing that other Americans of similar income pay, but not said she is willing to voluntarily pay herself,” Priebus writes in the letter to Gregorio, a copy of which was provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release.

Priebus goes on

This 4-percent “surcharge” would effectively create an entirely new tax bracket for people at the top 0.01 percent, such has herself. Since leaving the White House in early 2001, at a time when she claimed to be “dead broke,” the Clintons have earned at least $186,674,757 in taxable income. In 2014, the last year in which the Clintons have publicly released their tax returns, they earned $22,787,248, their highest single year of taxable income since being “dead broke.” With the Clintons’ tremendous income, I am calling upon them to fully embrace her new tax by applying the “surcharge” to her family’s previous income since 2001 when her family income has been in excess of $10 million on average annually.

Going back to 2001, this 4% surcharge would mean a tax bill of $4,687,898.56, and the Clintons would owe $711,489.92 for 2014. Of course, as we see in the 2nd paragraph of the excerpt, Clinton won’t practice what she preaches until everyone else is forced to do the same, much like with the way Warmists refuse to walk the talk in reducing their own carbon footprints (something that neither Hillary nor Bernie will do). Priebus ends his letter thusly

Whether it was the improper use of interest deductions on their Whitewater real estate loans, or their current use of real estate loopholes to avoid fully paying the estate tax, another tax she seeks to raise, the Clintons can no longer hide their hypocritical penchant for gaming the tax system. The American people are tired of the Clintons playing by their own set of rules. I urge Hillary Clinton to put aside her family’s tax hypocrisy, put her money where her mouth is, and pay the IRS the costs of her own tax hiking agenda.

She won’t. She likes her coffers full

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Trump Really Hopes Convention Doesn’t Involve Violence Or Something

By William Teach April 18, 2016 – 6:48 am

One problem: he never really discourages violence

(Washington Post) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he hopes a contested Republican convention in July “doesn’t involve violence” if he is denied the nomination during second-ballot voting.

“I hope it doesn’t involve violence. I hope it doesn’t. I’m not suggesting that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday here in Staten Island. “I hope it doesn’t involve violence, and I don’t think it will. But I will say this, it’s a rigged system, it’s a crooked system. It’s 100 percent corrupt.”

Regardless, it is the system that’s been in place for a long, long time, and if Trump is unable to navigate the process, how can he tell us he’d be able to perform the job of president? Trump’s ground game has been non-existent in many states, which meant he was unable to woo delegates

“Nobody has better toys than I do. I can put them on the best planes and bring them to the best resorts anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “You’re basically saying, ‘Delegate, listen, we’re going to send you to Mar-a-Lago on a Boeing 757, you’re going to use the spa, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that, we want your vote. That’s a corrupt system.”

Except, all that’s really necessary is to show up in states and talk to them, lay out your vision and policy platforms. It’s really that simple.

As Ann Althouse notes

Does he sound like he’s encouraging violence even when he’s saying he hopes there won’t be violence? If so, it’s because he doesn’t say “I don’t want violence” or “I urge my supporters to refrain from violence.” There’s something oddly passive about “I hope it doesn’t involve violence” — as if he holds no sway with his supporters, as if he’s suggesting it’s up to the other side to resist doing the things that will necessitate violence from my people. So I hear a vague, deniable threat.

It does rather sound like an “if you don’t do what I want, well, things might get ugly” threat. Leon Wolfe

Make no mistake: “reform its system” is code for “let me win even though I did not get 50% of the delegates as the rules specifically require.” All this is from Trump is more not-very-subtle threats of violence and chaos if he doesn’t win, even though he’s not entitled to win under the rules.

And this could have all been avoided if Trump had hired even marginally competent people. Trump has enough supporters that he could very easily have done what Cruz has done in terms of getting delegates for other candidates who are loyal to him, and he wouldn’t have this problem. But contrary to his own bluster, he hires crappy, incompetent people instead of good ones, and so we have what we have.

If Trump manages to get the required number of delegates to be the GOP nominee, or wins the balloting at a contested convention, you can utterly guarantee 100% that the media will be slobbering to destroy Trump, and this kind of talk in the general election will be quickly spun to position him in the worst possible light.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Obama To Score Big Win On Paris Hotcoldwetdry Accord On Earth Day Or Something

By William Teach April 17, 2016 – 3:42 pm

Remember Earth Day? It was established to provide a day for everyone to think about being environmentally friendly, a laudable goal. Like most real environmental initiatives, it has been co-opted by the Cult of Climastrology, and Obama plans to use it

(Washington Examiner)  More than 130 nations have pledged to sign the Paris climate change accord on Earth Day when the signing ceremony begins at United Nations headquarters in New York, the U.N. announced Friday.

The number of signatures would secure ratification of the global deal in one day, achieving a key objective of President Obama’s final year in office.

Nations have one year to sign the accord, and it takes 55 signatures to ensure it goes into effect.

Of course, this is an accord that was deliberately set up so as it need not be ratified by those pesky elected officials, elected by the citizens of the districts and states. Because, overall, it is bad for the citizens. It will be interesting if we see Obama golfing or taking a big fossil fueled trip Friday, April 22nd, using vast amounts of fossil fuels.

Since it will not be ratified by the Legislative branch, it really will have no force of law beyond the day Obama leaves office. There’s another great reason to make sure that a Republican wins in November

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