If All You See…

By William Teach March 24, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful field that should be replaced with wind turbines, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is DaTechGuy, with a post by Fausta about Obama’s speech in Cuba.

Read: If All You See… »

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Man With Largest Carbon Footprint In World Says ISIS Not A Big Threat, But Climate Change Is

By William Teach March 24, 2016 – 10:30 am

This comes from a guy who just took a long fossil fueled flight to Cuba, with all the extra planes, then all the fossil fueled vehicles, followed by one to Argentina

(CNS News) “Groups like ISIL can’t destroy us, they can’t defeat us,” President Obama told reporters in Argentina on Wednesday. “They’re not an existential threat to us,” he said.

But a few sentences later, he described climate change as a “major” problem.

On a day when morgues and hospitals in Brussels were still trying to identify the dead and the grievously injured, Americans among them, Obama described the terrorists as “vicious killers and murderers who have perverted one of the world’s great religions, and their primary power, in addition to killing lives, is to strike fear in our societies, to disrupt our societies.”

He went on to say that we should “not respond with fear.” This from a guy whose voter base feels “unsafe” from things like speakers who have different viewpoints, chalk drawings, mean words, and certain flags, among others. They freak out about people clapping. And they’re uber-afraid of a tiny 1.4 degree F increase in global temperatures over a period of 160 years.

The president told people to remember that terrorists “do no have power over us” because they “offer nothing except death.”

In the next sentence, he mentioned climate change:

“And so it’s important for the U.S. president and the U.S. government to be able to work with people who are building and who are creating things and creating jobs and trying to solve major problems like climate change…”

Strange, coming from a man surrounded by tons of security, who also uses lots and lots of fossil fueled travel.

Perhaps people wouldn’t be so concerned if we had any confidence that the President gave a damn about stopping Islamic radicals, rather than telling us we need to accommodate them while also attempting to disarm the citizens of this country.

Read: Man With Largest Carbon Footprint In World Says ISIS Not A Big Threat, But Climate Change Is »

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North Carolina Bans Cities From Pulling “Transgender” Bathroom Shenanigans

By William Teach March 24, 2016 – 8:32 am

There aren’t any opinion pieces thundering in Outrage from the major national news sources yet, but, it has given the NY Times and others a sad

North Carolina legislators, in a whirlwind special session on Wednesday, passed a wide-ranging bill barring transgender people from bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates.

Republicans unanimously supported the bill, while in the Senate, Democrats walked out in protest. “This is a direct affront to equality, civil rights and local autonomy,” the Senate Democratic leader, Dan Blue, said in a statement.

North Carolina’s governor, Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed the bill late Wednesday night.

The session, which was abruptly convened by Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, came in response to an antidiscrimination ordinance approved by the state’s largest city, Charlotte, last month. That ordinance provided protections based on sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity, including letting transgender people use the public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, not gender at birth.

Parents all over Charlotte were livid that someone who is of a different biological sex than their child would be able to enter the bathroom with their child. The bill puts an end to this idiocy.

Republicans stressed that the bill was passed not just to protect women and children from unwanted and potentially dangerous intrusions by biological males, but also to clarify legislative authority. On the House floor, Representative Dan Bishop, a Republican who sponsored the bill, described Charlotte’s decision to enact an antidiscrimination measure as an “egregious overreach.” With the state bill, he said, “What we are doing is preserving a sense of privacy people have long expected.”

The state does have primacy of law. For instance, I remember back to my college days in Greenville, NC, where the city stated there couldn’t be more than 3 unrelated people living in a domicile. State law said 5. This rarely came up, because it was mostly ignored, as many rented homes and apartments would have 4 people, but, some people we sorta knew from having good parties got busted, and the city was telling them “no more than 3.” State law takes precedence. Isn’t this similar to what liberals were saying in regards to Arizona’s illegal immigrants law, as well with a few other states? Yes, yes it is.

Some large firms in the state, many having policies that allow transgender access to bathrooms by identity, opposed the new bill. Dow Chemical, a major employer in the state, called the bill an “attempt to undermine equality.”

Those companies are welcome to have their own policies which they can force on their employees who can get a different job. This law says that it cannot be forced on citizens by Government.

Let’s switch to WRAL, a major Raleigh news organization

A proposal that codifies a statewide nondiscrimination policy in employment and public accommodations and prohibits North Carolina cities or towns from enacting stricter guidelines was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory late Wednesday after clearing the General Assembly in less than nine hours.

“I have signed legislation passed by a bipartisan majority to stop this breach of basic privacy and etiquette which was to go into effect April 1,” McCrory said in a statement. “Although other items included in this bill should have waited until regular session, this bill does not change existing rights under state or federal law.

“It is now time for the city of Charlotte elected officials and state elected officials to get back to working on the issues most important to our citizens.”

I like how McCrory pulled out the “do some real work” card.

The bill excludes gays and lesbians from discrimination protections, however, prompting an outcry from LGBT advocates, some corporations and Attorney General Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for governor.

No, it doesn’t, it provides for protections for all citizens, regardless of sex, make believe sex, religion, creed, or color. It treats all the same, as the law should. No one should be placed on a higher pedestal than another citizen.

The biggest part of the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act is about making sure that local governments, agencies, and school boards do not allow people of a different biological sex to use a bathroom and/or changing facility that is not of their biological sex. They can make a single person bathroom/changing room as multi-sex to accommodate. If liberals want to pull these types of shenanigans, perhaps they should go back to their northern towns and states which they’ve ruined with their leftist policies, and stop bringing their insanity down here.

Read: North Carolina Bans Cities From Pulling “Transgender” Bathroom Shenanigans »

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NY Times: Brussels Survived Terrorism, But May Not Survive Climate Change Or Something

By William Teach March 24, 2016 – 8:09 am

For anyone who follows the issue of anthropogenic climate change, ie, Hotcoldwetdry because Someone Else refuses to allow government to force them to change their behavior as well as tax them into a much higher cost of living, you just knew that someone would link Brussels and climate change at some point. It was inevitable. The winner of Climate Derangement Syndrome is the NY Times’ Nicholas Kristoff, which features a tag line on the main opinion page listing “Brussels survived this week’s terror attacks, but it may not survive climate change.”

Terrorists, Bathtubs, and Snakes

(Kristoff starts out by noting that more Americans have died from falling in bathtubs, how America spends a ton on counter-terrorism, and how the human brain misjudges risk)

On the same day as the attacks, a paper by James E. Hansen and other climate experts was released arguing that carbon emissions are transforming our world far more quickly than expected, in ways that may inundate coastal cities and cause storms more horrendous than any in modern history. The response? A yawn.

Hansen is an eminent former NASA scientist, but he’s also an outlier in his timing forecasts, and I’m not qualified to judge whether he’s correct. Yet whatever the disagreement about the timeline, there is scientific consensus that emissions on our watch are transforming our globe for 10,000 years to come. As an important analysis in Nature Climate Change put it, “The next few decades offer a brief window of opportunity to minimize large-scale and potentially catastrophic climate change that will extend longer than the entire history of human civilization thus far.”

To put it another way, this year’s election choices may shape coastlines 10,000 years from now. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both mocked the idea of human-caused climate change, with Trump suggesting that it is a hoax invented by China to harm the American economy (he now says that last point was a joke).

The upshot is that Brussels survived this week’s terrorist attacks, but it may not survive climate change (much of the city is less than 100 feet above sea level).

The minimum height above sea level is around 43 feet. The average is 91 feet. Is Kristof seriously suggesting that the sea will rise this much within a few decades, as Hansen’s paper is about doom in a few decades? This is the worst kind of alarmism.

Oh, and not all survived this week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels. There were at least 34 killed, and the death toll my rise, not too mention all those who lost limbs. Rather uncaring of Nicholas, but, then, that’s leftism, prioritizing Things That Matter.

Doesn’t it seem prudent to invest in efforts to avert not only shoe bombers but also the drowning of the world’s low-lying countries?

Humanity should have stopped the great floodwater melt starting 20,000 years ago, which raised sea levels well over 400 feet over thousands of years. And actual sea level data suggests that the sea rise is exactly average for the Holocene, meaning it is much less than should be happening during this warm period, regardless of causation.

Unfortunately, our brains are not well adapted to most of the biggest threats we actually face in the 21st century. Warn us that climate change is destroying our planet, and only a small part of our prefrontal cortex (which worries about the future) will glimmer; then we’ll go back to worrying about snakes or their modern equivalent — terrorists.

Tiny increases in average global temperatures, regardless of causation, will not destroy the planet. It’s done fine at higher temperatures, such as during the Medieval Warm Period and the Roman Warm Period. This opinion piece has devolved into true Cult of Climastrology derangement.

And this is a disgraceful piece, blowing off the deaths of fellow human beings as being inconsequential in light of Hotcoldwetdry.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: NY Times: Brussels Survived Terrorism, But May Not Survive Climate Change Or Something »

Posted in Global Warming, Unhinged Tools | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Questions: Is The Site Running Better Than It Was? Anyone See Any Issues?

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 7:08 pm

The Virtual Private Server I use has been having problems for awhile now, but, it has gotten much worse over the last few months. You may have noticed some downtimes, for which I will either notice and reset the server, or it will automatically reset. But, one big problem was that the CPU usage would go and spike at 100% and not come down, while the RAM would barely be used. That’s a big deal, because RAM is unlimited, while the CPU causes problems for others.

Last week, there was a big spike, and it was causing major problems, so Dreamhost shut the site down by changing the folder name (they also sent me the wrong email, which made some threats about cutting me off permanently, which, as you can imagine, sent me into apoplexy). I got everything working again, and then went to check into a few things.

I cleaned out a whole bunch of deactivated plugins that I will never use again. I cleaned out the backup folder. Apparently, the plugin was saving all the backups in the server folder, when it was supposed to email them to me. At least 1GB going back to 2013. I have a new plugin to replace it, just have to set it up.

Bigger, I found a few possible issues. One is the Shareaholic plugin, which has some really negative reviews as of late. Turning it off seemed to seriously reduce the CPU load. Deleting it totally did even more. Notice that the sharing buttons at the end of posts are different. I’m using the Jetpack included ones (Jetpack is something that comes with WordPress).

I also whacked W3 Total Cache, which had been giving me some issues for a bit, namely that it wouldn’t ever let me clear the cache, and went back to WP Super Cache. It is very powerful, but, sometimes it will make it seem as if nothing has changed.

So, does the site seem more stable, load at a decent speed? Anything weird you’ve noticed?

Read: Questions: Is The Site Running Better Than It Was? Anyone See Any Issues? »

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Catching And Using Rainwater In Colorado Is A Criminal Offense

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 3:59 pm

It’s rare that I will an article at Joe Romm’s George Soros funded Climate Progress that makes me bob my head in agreement, but, they usually avoid discussing real environmentalism, not too mention silly government laws

In a state where recreational marijuana was legalized two years ago and extreme weather has caused serious concerns, one mundane drought-fighting tool remains illegal: using rain barrels to catch rainwater from roofs for use in gardens.

Despite the fact that the American West is facing serious water shortages — Lake Mead, for example, is at its lowest recorded levels since the 1930s — recent proposals to legalize rain barrels in Colorado have been stalled or defeated.

But this could soon change. A bill to legalize rain barrels is making its way through the Colorado state legislature, which would allow homeowners to possess two 55-gallon rain barrels to be used to collect and store rainwater for use in gardens and yards. The bill overwhelmingly passed the Colorado state House two weeks ago on a 61-3 vote, but faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate later this week.

It’s a silly law, and Republicans would be fools to stand against in the Colorado Senate, and some plan to block it, along with some ranchers and others, because, what should be a very simple issue, namely, rain falls on your property and you catch it for later usage, has become all sorts of complicated when Government gets involved. Quite frankly, limiting people to two barrels is silly. Most people do not need that many. My neighbors have one, for their nice little garden.

And this, water advocates believe, is key to making real, lasting change when it comes to water conservation measures: make environmentally-friendly policies available for consumers to choose to use them.

I’ll agree with that, rather than implementing top down, Big Government, domineering rules and laws.

Read: Catching And Using Rainwater In Colorado Is A Criminal Offense »

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a sea that is rising to make tens of millions refugees, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Michelle Malkin, with a post (written by Doug Powers) about safe spacers at Emory University.

Read: If All You See… »

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Climate “Scientists” Who Make Their Living Forecasting Doom Forecast Sooner Doom

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 10:26 am

But not too soon, because then people would shortly realize they are all doom mongers, snake oil salesmen, and charlatans

Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries

The nations of the world agreed years ago to try to limit global warming to a level they hoped would prove somewhat tolerable. But leading climate scientists warned on Tuesday that permitting a warming of that magnitude would actually be quite dangerous.

The likely consequences would include killer storms stronger than any in modern times, the disintegration of large parts of the polar ice sheets and a rise of the sea sufficient to begin drowning the world’s coastal cities before the end of this century, the scientists declared.

“We’re in danger of handing young people a situation that’s out of their control,” said James E. Hansen, the retired NASA climate scientist who led the new research. The findings were released Tuesday morning by a European science journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. (snip)

The basic claim of the paper is that by burning fossil fuels at a prodigious pace and pouring heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, humanity is about to provoke an abrupt climate shift.

Specifically, the authors believe that fresh water pouring into the oceans from melting land ice will set off a feedback loop that will cause parts of the great ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to disintegrate rapidly.

So, the typical doom from members of the Cult of Climastrology. But, only to the point of being a page A11 article in the NY Times. I guess doom sooner isn’t that big of a deal anymore. Anyhow, it’s a good thing Mr. Hansen isn’t taking fossil fueled flights all over the world to protest ‘climate change’ and demand that Other People Do Something…..oh, wait, right. He does.

This next part is interesting, though

“Some of the claims in this paper are indeed extraordinary,” said Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. “They conflict with the mainstream understanding of climate change to the point where the standard of proof is quite high.”

Goodness. If it is too extreme for Michael “Hockey Schtick” Mann, kinda tells you something about how un-scientific this has all become.

Read: Climate “Scientists” Who Make Their Living Forecasting Doom Forecast Sooner Doom »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 19 Comments | Trackback URL

Piers Morgan: Say, Shouldn’t We Listen To Donald Trump On Muslim Terrorism?

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 8:38 am

Well, this was unexpected, as Piers Morgan publishs an opinion piece in the UK Daily Mail

When it comes to terror, isn’t it time we started listening seriously to Trump?

How many more?

That’s all I could think this morning as news broke of yet another ISIS terror attack, this time in Brussels.

How many more innocent men, women and children are going to be blown to pieces by these murderous bastards?

How many more airports, train stations, sports stadiums, restaurants or concert halls will be obliterated in a hail of suicide bombs and bullets?

How many more world leaders will wring their hands on national television afterwards and spout pointless platitudes about the ‘poor brave victims’ and ‘heroic emergency services’?

How many taunting, gleeful claims of responsibility will the despicable perpetrators of these evil crimes be able to issue?

I’m sick of this, aren’t you?

Sick of feeling sick about such endless, senseless barbarism.

And the worst thing about it is that I see no end.

He’s entirely correct. I wonder if Piers Morgan realizes that a great solution to this is to stop attempting to take away guns from citizens, guns which can be used to protect themselves from the murderous Islamist bastards. Piers Morgan has been, of course, a big proponent of gun control and confiscation.

Morgan goes on to slam Obama, German leader Angela Merkel, Belgium, and others for their lax policies, uncaring positions, and inability to stand against all the Islamists coming into Europe via the “refugees”. Morgan notes that he actually had a long ago scheduled interview set up with Donald Trump for yesterday, and goes on to write

Here is one man who definitely has a plan to deal with ISIS terrorism. Several plans in fact.

The problem is that people don’t like them. Well, a lot of people don’t anyway.

Trump, current front-runner for the Republican nomination, wants to hit ISIS ‘so hard they never recover’.

(As he told me: ‘You’ve got to take them out and you’ve got to take them out harshly and you’ve got to take them out fast.’)

He also wants a short-term ban on Muslims entering the U.S. until, as he puts it, ‘we figure out what the hell is going on?’

And he wants to torture suspects like Abdeslam with techniques like water-boarding to try and extract information about future attacks.

Oh, and he wants to build a giant wall to stop illegal immigrants pouring over the Mexican border into America.

You’ll have to hit the link to read the rest, in terms of Morgan’s agreement with Trump. There’s only so much excerpting that is really “fair use”, but, Morgan notes on so many issues surrounding illegal immigration and Islamic terrorism “Is he wrong?”, in regards to Trump. No, Trump is not wrong. What’s made many upset with Trump is that he is not couching his comments in political correctness nor Political Speak. This plain speaking from Trump is one of the reasons so many are following and voting for Trump. Why they are passionate (sometimes entirely too passionate). The Islamists are in a war with the non-Islamist world, especially the West.

It’s not just the violence, as I’ve explained in the past. It’s the non-violent ones, as well. Those, as guided by the tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood, who use our laws, our Constitutions and founding documents, our courts, our social mores, our beliefs, against us. They take the Leftist belies about tolerance, diversity, and multiculturalism and turn them around, deeming that any condemnation of the Islamists, whether the violent or non-violent ones, is Islamophobia and WrongThink. They slowly push Sharia law, treating women as 2nd class citizens, banning certain speech, heck, even banning pork in governmental buildings, and so much more, all designed to push Western nations towards their Islamist ways. They infiltrate and change Western nations. Their playbook is similar to the hardcore Leftist playbook, and are in direct competition with Leftists, yet, Leftists foolishly defend the Islamists, who stand against everything the Islamists are for.

On Islamists and illegals, Trump is correct. I still do not want him as president, but, we should listen to him.

Read: Piers Morgan: Say, Shouldn’t We Listen To Donald Trump On Muslim Terrorism? »

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Uncaring President Gives Vapid Excuse For Attending Baseball Game In Cuba After Terrorist Attack

By William Teach March 23, 2016 – 8:13 am

Brussels, as you know, was on the receiving end of a deadly terrorist attack, which also wounded hundreds. Many of those wounded were the recipients of  procedure known as “amputation”, due to all the nails, glass, and other things in the bombs. One of the bombs was detonated in front of the American Airlines terminal. Does anyone not think that was intentional? And, then there’s this

At least nine Americans — including three Mormon missionaries, as well as a U.S. Air Force and his family — are among the 250 or more injured in today’s Brussels attack, according to military and church officials. A French national Mormon was hospitalized as well, church officials said.

In the wake of this, Obama came out with a tepid 51 second response

Before I begin, please indulge me — I want to comment on the terrorist attacks that have taken place in Brussels. The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the people of Belgium, and we stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous attacks against innocent people. We will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally Belgium, in bringing to justice those who are responsible. And this is yet another reminder that the world must unite. We must be together, regardless of nationality, or race, or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism. We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all round the world.

As Ed Morrissey notes, give O credit for mentioning that this was terrorism. On the flip side, it was entirely too brief, then O jumped into his rousing speech to the big wigs and tyrants of Cuba. Furthermore, note his use of “we”, of all the United States. From any other president, this would mean a lot. However, Obama is a guy who tends to say “I” a lot. Think of all the mass shootings comments he’s made, and how often he uses me and I, such as with the Umpqua shooting. The use of I’s showed he was engaged, and cared. He uses a lot of we’s and and such when he doesn’t seem to care much. Yes, Obama takes a load of criticism for all the I’s, but, that is when you can tell he cares about a subject. He spent a lot of time speaking about Umpqua, and others, calling for gun control, of course. He could not work himself up for the Brussels attack, which harmed 9 Americans.

And then he went to a baseball game. With the tyrant who runs the nation. And had a blast. He even did the wave! I wonder if the people who are part of the Columbian terrorist group FARC, also in attendance at the game, did the wave with O?

So, how did Obama defend himself in his period of YOLO?

President Obama explained his decision to attend a Major League Baseball exhibition game in Cuba today between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Team, following this morning’s terrorist attacks in Belgium.

“It’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage. You want to be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation, but the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives.” (note: I’ve included the entire quote, as he explained it to ESPN)

Doing the wave while attending a baseball game with a tyrant and terrorists in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack which harmed Americans is respectful? Let me ask: if George Bush did this, would he be roundly criticized by the media? Yes, and he would deserve it. But, really, let’s face it, Obama only does caring and appropriateness on issues he cares deeply about. Otherwise, it’s bugger off and let do my thing.

The president added that one of his “proudest moments as president” was when Boston united in the wake of the attack on the city’s marathon, complimenting Red Sox David Ortiz’s in particular for declaring that Boston would not be intimidated.

“When Ortiz went out and said probably the only time that America didn’t have a problem with somebody, a person on live TV, was when he talked about Boston, how strong it was and that it was not going to be intimidated,” Obama said.

The American Spectator’s Aaron Goldsein rips that one apart. No, we shouldn’t be intimidated. Yes, Obama is POTUS, for good or bad (mostly bad), and it’s his job to at least pretend he cares. It’d be poor optics if he did this while visiting, say, Japan or England. Doing this in a communist country with a repressive regime run by a tyrant, which protects murders on the run from the United States, arrested dissidents as Obama was arriving in Cuba, and has terrorists sitting in the same stadium watching a baseball game? Pitiful.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Uncaring President Gives Vapid Excuse For Attending Baseball Game In Cuba After Terrorist Attack »

Posted in Barry Obama, War On Terrorism | 8 Comments | Trackback URL
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