NC Lt. Governor Champions College Free Speech Legislation

By William Teach March 9, 2016 – 5:57 pm

This is sure to send the Special Snowflakes into apoplexy, claiming this is a microagression and makes them feel unsafe. Sadly, there is zero sarcasm in that sentence. Ten years ago, perhaps. Now? None

(Carolina Journal) Students could face punishment, including the possibility of expulsion, for engaging in conscious acts stifling the First Amendment rights of others, and the UNC system would be required to implement free speech rules, under a plan Lt. Gov. Dan Forest hopes to turn into law.

“A bill designed to restore and protect free speech to the University of North Carolina System is very likely going to be introduced in the General Assembly next month,” Stanley Kurtz announced Saturday in Cary during the Civitas Institute’s annual Conservative Leadership Conference.

Kurtz, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, worked with Forest to draft the Campus Free Expression Act.

“To my knowledge it will be the most comprehensive, and ambitious effort ever undertaken to protect and defend free expression at any American college or university, public or private,” and could be a national model, Kurtz said.

Now, I’ll let you read the rest, which is well worth it. It is certainly a lofty goal, because college campuses have certainly become hotbeds of one sided speech, where various methods are used in order to shut down and silence voices people, meaning those on the political Left, do not agree with.

Here’s the big question: is it Constitutional, both at the State level and the federal level, to punish students for shouting down people engaged in free speech? Wouldn’t that interfere with the protester’s free speech? You’re entitled to your free speech, but, that doesn’t mean I can’t talk over you in expressing mine, right? That said, at what point do the protests stop being “peaceable”, which is another important part of the 1st Amendment? Is a large group shouting down speakers non-peaceable? Is make noise with things like drums and those annoying horns non-peaceable? How about blocking people from speaking, and blocking people from listening to speeches?

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 9, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a world turning to desert, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lid, with a post which is less than impressed on Team Obama’s response to Iran’s UN resolutions violations.

Caroline Monro, who has had a long career, with many horror movies, back to The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

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Warmists Bummed That There Are So Many “Deniers” In Congress

By William Teach March 9, 2016 – 11:14 am

The Daily Caller says they are “fuming”

Liberal anti-fossil fuel activists are really frustrated the majority of Americans keep electing Republicans to represent them who disagree with claims that human activities are causing catastrophic global warming.

New research by the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund claims that while 76 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening, 63 percent of the country is represented by “someone in Congress who denies the reality of climate change.”

“Following the second straight year that earned the title of hottest year on record, 59 percent of the Republican House caucus and 70 percent of Republicans in the Senate deny the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and humans are the main cause,” according to an article published on the blog ThinkProgress — the media wing of the CAP Action Fund.

“There are 182 climate deniers in the 114th Congress in 2016 — 144 in the House and 38 in the Senate,” reads the ThinkProgress article. “According to the U.S. Census, that means 202,803,591 people are represented by a climate denier in Congress.”

Of course, other than the zealots in the Cult of Climastrology, most Americans do not find ‘climate change’ to be an important issue in the least. It tends to rank last or next to last in every poll with a multitude of issues. And, warming doesn’t prove anthropogenic causation.

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Was The $500 Million Payment To The UN Climate Slush Fund Legal?

By William Teach March 9, 2016 – 7:17 am

Yesterday I highlighted a Reuters article on Team O giving $500 million to the UN Green Climate Fund, and the article mentioned this

But lawmakers did not block the funds in December after they wrapped up a sprawling budget deal to keep the U.S. government operating through next September.

But, is the payment authorized under law?

(CNS) Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday slammed the administration’s handover of $500 million to the U.N. Green Climate Fund, asking a State Department official how the “handout to foreign bureaucrats” could be justified at a time when there were “real problems” that need to be addressed at home.

Barrasso told Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom he viewed the payment to the “new international climate change slush fund” – the first installment of a $3 billion pledge – as both a misuse of taxpayer dollars and a violation of legislation that prohibits federal agencies from spending federal funds in advance or in excess of an appropriation.

Higginbottom responded

“We have reviewed our authorities and made a determination that we can make this payment to the Green Climate Fund,” she said. “We do not believe we are in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, and clearly our lawyers and others have looked at our authorities and our abilities to do this.”

To which Barrasso answered

“I firmly oppose what the president is doing here and this misuse, I believe, of taxpayer dollars, I think completely in violation of the law,” Barrasso told her.

Here’s the point that rebuts the Reuters article

Barrasso noted that Congress has not authorized or appropriated any funding for the GCF, and that the most recent fiscal year appropriations bill also “specifically prohibited the transfer of funds to create new programs.”

So, it might not specifically block the funds, but it does block them generally. Nor was it appropriated. What was done, apparently, was to redirect funds from other federal agencies, and Ms. Higginbottom seemed to be unable to answer the question regarding which departments the money came from. Which might well violate funding of Executive Office agencies laws. Furthermore, since the money for the GCF was never authorized by Congress, it violates the law about spending money in advance, since Obama has put the funding request in for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, but they were never approved.

Not that Obama cares. Not that the GOP has done anything to stop him.

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Keith Olbermann Has A Sad, And Will Move From His Cushy Trump Building Casa

By William Teach March 9, 2016 – 6:37 am

Or, so he says in an op-ed at the Washington Post

Keith Olbermann: I can’t stand to live in a Trump building anymore

Okay, Donnie, you win.

I’m moving out.

Not moving out of the country — not yet anyway. I’m merely moving out of one of New York’s many buildings slathered in equal portions with gratuitous gold and the name “Trump.” Nine largely happy years with an excellent staff and an excellent reputation (until recently, anyway) — but I’m out of here.

So, the place is fantastic, there are no problems other than a juvenile hissy fit over the name.

I’m getting out because of the degree to which the very name “Trump” has degraded the public discourse and the nation itself. I can’t hear, or see, or say that name any longer without spitting. Frankly, I’m running out of Trump spit.

Some people take their politics a little to personally, and revert to elementary school personas. Keith was like this when George W. Bush was president, too.

And, yes, I’m fully aware that I’m blaming a guy with the historically unique fashion combination of a cheap baseball cap and Oompa Loompa makeup for coarsening politics even though, out of the two of us, I’m the one who has promulgated a “Worst Persons in the World” list for most of the past decade. That’s how vulgar this has all become. It’s worse even than Worst Persons.

This is the campaign of a PG-rated cartoon character running for president, interrupting a string of insults the rest of us abandoned in the seventh grade only long enough to resume a concurrent string of half-crazed boasts: We’re gonna start winning again! We’re gonna build an eleventy-billion-foot-high wall! We’re not gonna pay a lot for this muffler!

So, he’s complaining about Trump degrading public discourse, then goes down the same sleazy road with juvenile insults. Go figure.

But, he does have a point about Trump. But, Trump has a point about winning, with a couple more primary wins Tuesday, taking 3 of 4. Left leaning Cannonfire has this to say

Born to wealth, he offers no alternative to plutocracy. He has no programs. No policies. He never offer specifics — on anything.

His message is simple: The government is run by “morons.” Them dumb: Me smart. And that’s it. Those four words are all that Donald Trump has to offer.

But even his followers are starting to wonder: If this guy is so smart, why doesn’t he know how to behave in public?

Good points. Then there’s this point

Republicans would overwhelmingly be satisfied with Cruz (+32), Rubio (+28), or Kasich (+23) at the top of the ticket. Trump? He’s barely above water (+3), with one-third of the party faithful reporting that they’d be “very dissatisfied,” if he’s the nominee,more than double anyone else’s negative tally on that point. This is a deeply polarizing and controversial figure within his own (current) party. Among voters broadly, he’s a five-alarm dumpster fire:

On the question of being trustworthy and honest, 69% said no. 73% say he does not have the experience to be president. 72% say he has the wrong personality and temperament. How does that translate into a general election win?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Thank Goodness, You Can Now DoSomething About Gun Violence With A Selfie

By William Teach March 8, 2016 – 4:08 pm

No, DoSomething is not missing a space in the headline

You Can Now Protest Gun Violence by Taking a Selfie

….

Still, most states leave campus gun policy up to administrators. There are only 19 states that prohibit carrying a concealed firearm on campus, so gun control policies are largely up to university officials to decide. While 95% of college presidents don’t want guns on their campuses, fewer than 10% have taken a public stance against them, and that’s a huge problem.

That’s why DoSomething.org is doing something about these troubling statistics. In a Medium essay published today, the company’s CEO Aria Finger explains that following the Charleston massacre, the site asked its members how they felt about the tragedy, and “were bombarded with over 26,000 messages from young Americans who described themselves as ‘disgusted,’ ‘heartbroken,’ and ‘ashamed.’”

Along with The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the social change organization is launching #GunsOut, a social media campaign that enables students to engage directly with their own school officials and ask them to publicly ban guns from their campus. To participate, tweet a photo of yourself flexing your bicep and tag your school’s administrators so you can tell them “the only guns you want on campus are ones you can flex.” In doing so, you’ll join the ranks of stars like Tyler Oakley, Olivia Wilde, Monique Coleman, and Taran Killam as they take a stand against gun violence.

Every criminal intent on DoingBadThings thanks these Special Little Snowflakes for attempting to make their violence easier.

 

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 8, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a pond that will alternately flood and dry up from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post explaining who Trump is.

That is Evelyn Ankers, who has appeared in movies such as The Wolfman (1941), Hold That Ghost (an Abbott and Costello favorite of mine), and Son Of Dracula.

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Latest SJW Whine: Lack Of Diversity In Books

By William Teach March 8, 2016 – 10:16 am

For people who say they are forward looking, upbeat, and positive, they sure seem to be miserable and major league whiners

(AFP) As the film and music industries grapple with the fallout from the race rows that dogged the Oscars and the Brit Awards, English author Bali Rai warns publishing too has a serious diversity issue.

The award-winning writer, who has Indian heritage but was born and grew up in Leicester, echoes critics of Hollywood and the Academy Awards when he suggests gatekeepers are only recognising a narrow band of talent and ideas, which does not properly reflect society.

He explains: “Publishing in the UK is a white, middle and upper class monolith. Britain is 14 percent non-white, yet how many authors reflect that? If it’s more than 0.5 percent, I’d be shocked,” Rai tells AFP, in an interview ahead of his appearance at the Hong Kong Young Readers Festival.

So, he doesn’t really know how many reflect publishing, he’s just guessing. And whining.

“It is a sad fact that non-white people, the LGBT community and many more do not see themselves in UK fiction from childhood. So many — including me to begin with — grow up thinking that books are about middle and upper class white people,” he adds. (snip)

He says: “It’s about more than racism in society — although that exists — it’s about publishers being unwilling to think outside of their narrow ivory-tower worlds and break with tradition.

Well, there’s an answer to that. We’ll get to that in a minute

“Imagine if Harry Potter had been called Harish Patel or Hamza Pathan, for example? Would those books have been published, never mind become the mega-successes that they became? Right now, in the UK, the answer is no.”

But, they weren’t. The answer is not “force publishing houses to publish more from minorities, Blacks, LGBT, etc”. The answer is “write a good book that people will read.” Rai does recommend more reading programs in schools, which I heartily endorse. But, some people are not going to read, and certainly not read as voraciously as I do. My parents instilled the love of reading in me at a young age, as did my elementary school. Reading wasn’t just fundamental, it was fun. What was better at a young age than the book fair? Going to the library was a treat. As I tell people, if you see me looking at my smartphone, there’s a 50/50 chance I’m reading a book. Kindle Unlimited is the best $10 a month I spend.

And, in this day of e-books, people can easily self publish. There are categories at Amazon for African American literature, urban, LGBT, women’s, and, yes, men’s. You can pretty much find what you want (what I want is less romance intermixed with my Scifi and horror genres, but, that’s a different complaint). And, people can self publish. Many authors I read started out self publishing, and many still do. Some go through small publishing houses. Many will never have a book in a brick and mortar book store.

If there’s a dearth of minority writers, well, that’s not on the publishing houses: that’s on the minority writers. Want to get picked up by a big publishing house? Write a book that will make money.

Of course, SJWs won’t see it that way: they would want to force publishing houses to publish books. And, if Rai has a problem, perhaps he can start his own publishing house.

Read: Latest SJW Whine: Lack Of Diversity In Books »

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Team Obama Dumps $500 Million Into UN Climate Slush Fund

By William Teach March 8, 2016 – 7:40 am

Thank goodness, the UN Green Climate Fund was almost out of cash. Seriously, what would dictators do without it? Fortunately, there’s almost no transparency in the way the funds are used

(Reuters) The United States has paid $500 million into the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund, the first tranche of the $3 billion it pledged as part of the commitments it made in the December Paris Climate Agreement, the State Department confirmed Monday.

“This grant is the first step toward meeting the president’s commitment of $3 billion to the GCF, and shows that the United States stands squarely behind our international climate commitments,” a State Department spokesman said.

I’d like to say this is Obama’s commitment, so, he should use his own money or raise it from soliciting donations from all the uber-rich Warmists in the U.S. But, they don’t like to use their own money, they like Other People’s money, and the idiot Republicans in Congress authorized this money in the latest sprawling budget deal.

Think what we could do with $500 million. Work programs for US citizens. Fixing the issue in Flint, Michigan. Fixing the problems with the Veteran’s Administration. Heck, it could be used to save much of Obamacare’s failing co-ops and exchanges. Liberals would like that, right? Help send US citizens to college. At the end of the day, this is just a redistribution of wealth scheme, which enriches the United Nations and dictators. The United State will receive no benefit from this. Like much of the aid money the US gives to the UN, we’ll not be given any kudos when it is distributed.

Héla Cheikhrouhou, the fund’s executive director, told Reuters earlier this month she will ask the board to approve an increase of between 80 and 120 new staff to meet the spending target.

So, instead of being spent on ‘climate change’ initiatives, a goodly chunk will simply go towards paying for administration. Will the UN provide all the details on how the money is spent? Doubtful.

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Five Reasons Trump May Be A Better President Than You Think

By William Teach March 8, 2016 – 7:22 am

This comes to us via Breitbart’s Brian McClanahan, who wonders if a President Trump would be that bad, noting that the Establishment thinks so, and offers 5 reasons why Trump would be better than you think. Let’s dive into four of them, before hitting up the one that really stood out to me.

First is that Trump supposedly has some good advisors, such as Senator Jeff Sessions, and will “look into things”, rather than simply acting with executive orders. Not sure if I’m buying the executive orders thing.

Second, Trump won’t start WWIII, because he was totes against the Iraq War (McClanahan forgets to mention that Trump was for Operation Iraqi Freedom before he was against it, and flipped at the same time Democrats decided to take a stand against President Bush for political purposes) and would place American interests over those of other nations. I can see Trump being rather isolationist for international affairs, and protectionist regarding economic affairs.

Third is that we may get Judge Andrew Napolitano (yeah, the Fox News guy) on the Supreme Court. Seriously. I’m not sure how putting a guy who is a 9/11 Truther on the Supreme Court is a good idea.

Fifth is that Trump would clean up corruption, starting with prosecuting Hillary Clinton, and writes “It would not be hard to image a similar great purge of establishment corruption from D.C. should Trump be elected. It would be like shining lights on cockroaches.” A case could be made for and against Trump cleaning up corruption.

Here’s the 4th

Trump brings back the Reagan coalition: It wasn’t that long ago that people used to salivate over the 1980s Reagan coalition of blue-collar Democrats and white-collar Republicans. Trump has that kind of appeal. This is why his message resonates across the political spectrum and why many Americans are supporting him. If the Republican Party is serious about a “big tent” philosophy, Trump is their guy. Most conservatives vote Republican because they lack real alternatives. It is better, they think, to hold their nose and pull the lever for Mitt Romney than vote for Barack Obama. This hasn’t worked, and American knows it. Trump represents real America, what Glenn Beck recently derided as the “bubba effect,” and real America is ready to kick the establishment to the curb. They want jobs, security, and someone who isn’t afraid to stand up to the cultural Marxism of the establishment, both Left and Right. Reagan would agree. He nailed the “bubba” vote as well. That worked out ok.

Trump very much is bringing together many constituents. He’s even captured some Conservatives and Tea Party folks. I’ve talked to a lot of folks, and it seems that many who are squishy Republicans, squishy Democrats, Blue Dog Democrats, and those who hate both parties are going for Trump. Interestingly, though, Trump has brought together the Establishment Republicans and Conservatives/Tea Party members in their #NeverTrump calls. Their reasons vary. But, they are most certainly against Trump. Because, while he does hold some Conservative positions, he also holds many that are Liberal, and he’s flipped and flopped, so, we do not really know his deeply held convictions.

All that said, here’s something to consider: many are holding on to their Principles in saying #NeverTrump. I understand that feeling. But, this is politics, so, let’s add another P word: pragmatism. Is it better to have a guy who claims to be a Republican in office than someone like Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders? Is it better to get some of what you want rather than all of what you don’t want? Yes, we’ve been disappointed time and time again by Republicans. How’s it working out with President Obama? Are you enjoying this period of time? You may despise John McCain and Mitt Romney, but, would they have been better?

Furthermore, those against Trump have to consider that the GOP needs to retain the House and Senate. I doubt there’s any chance of losing the House, but, the Senate could be lost. We need to be fired up even if Trump is the nominee, and make sure we get out and vote. And get others to vote. This goes for the States that have state elections in November, as well.

Politics is about Power, a fourth P. You need to be in the majority to have wield power. Do you want Obamacare replaced? Vote Trump if he’s the candidate. Hold your nose. Think pragmatism. But, hope that it is Cruz who wins the nomination.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Five Reasons Trump May Be A Better President Than You Think »

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