SJWs: Having A Loving Family Is Apparently An Unfair Advantage

By William Teach May 8, 2015 – 7:12 am

Which can lead to all sorts of Bad Things, like your kids doing well in school and life, but, some other kid may not do so well

Reading to children at bedtime: ABC questions value of time-honoured practice

“Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?” asks a story on the ABC’s website. (WT note: that’s the actual headline)

“Should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?”

The story was followed by a broadcast on the ABC’s Radio National that also tackled the apparently divisive issue of bedtime reading.

“Evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t — the difference in their life chances — is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t,” British academic Adam Swift told ABC presenter Joe Gelonesi.

Gelonesi responded online: “This devilish twist of evidence surely leads to a further conclusion that perhaps — in the interests of levelling the playing field — bedtime stories should also be restricted.”

Sadly, this is a real thing. This does not come from The Onion or some other satire site. From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) article

So many disputes in our liberal democratic society hinge on the tension between inequality and fairness: between groups, between sexes, between individuals, and increasingly between families.

The power of the family to tilt equality hasn’t gone unnoticed, and academics and public commentators have been blowing the whistle for some time. Now, philosophers Adam Swift and Harry Brighouse have felt compelled to conduct a cool reassessment.

Swift in particular has been conflicted for some time over the curious situation that arises when a parent wants to do the best for her child but in the process makes the playing field for others even more lopsided.

Got that? It’s a Bad Thing for a parent to do what is best for his/her child.

So, what to do?

According to Swift, from a purely instrumental position the answer is straightforward.

‘One way philosophers might think about solving the social justice problem would be by simply abolishing the family. If the family is this source of unfairness in society then it looks plausible to think that if we abolished the family there would be a more level playing field.’

Swift, though, has reservations about going full Plato in wanting The State to raise the children. But doesn’t really offer another solution.

‘What we realised we needed was a way of thinking about what it was we wanted to allow parents to do for their children, and what it was that we didn’t need to allow parents to do for their children, if allowing those activities would create unfairnesses for other people’s children’.

“…allow parents to do for their children..” That should give everyone chills.

What about giving kids nutritious food? Is that an unfair advantage?

Perhaps, instead of talking about restricting successful parents and families, we should be looking for ways to make the dysfunctional families more successful.

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Good News: Secret Service Installing More Spikes On White House Fence

By William Teach May 8, 2015 – 6:49 am

Gotta keep the peasants away from the aristocracy, ya know

(Fox News) The Secret Service is adding a second layer of steel spikes to the top of the White House fence to keep would-be intruders at bay, according to a proposal submitted to the National Capitol Planning Commission.

The steel “pencil point” spikes will be snapped into place at the top of the fence and protrude outward, according to a diagram included in the proposal submitted for the Secret Service by that National Park Service. The commission approved the proposal at a hearing Thursday afternoon.

The spikes will be added to the fence along the north and south sides of the White House grounds starting Friday, the Secret Service and National Park Service said in a statement Thursday.

And not just spikes

The Secret Service will also start work Friday on changes to vehicle checkpoints at the White House complex. The agency said the work will include work to officer booths. Security changes at the checkpoints are expected to be completed in early July.

Interesting. There is an apparent need to deter the occasional fence jumper with spikes that could skewer the body when it comes to the White House, yet, the guy who is in charge of the White House (along with Democrats and some Republicans) is against securing our southern border against an invasion of illegal aliens with a full fence. He’d rather just have some roving patrols which can catch a few border jumpers now and then. But, is apparently very upset when a few folks jump the WH fence.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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The Winners Of Today’s “Climate Change And Tornadoes” Nuttbaggery Are…

By William Teach May 7, 2015 – 8:03 pm

You just had to know that the Cult Of Climastrology would be out in force after yesterdays tornadoes. Not one measure of sympathy, but, plenty of bat guano insanity

We couldn’t have nuttbaggery without a 350.org member (more below the fold)

Read More »

Read: The Winners Of Today’s “Climate Change And Tornadoes” Nuttbaggery Are… »

Posted in Global Warming, Unhinged Tools | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 7, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a world that is rapidly being turned into a desert, you may just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on IRS employees who are tax cheaters and get promotions.

Read: If All You See… »

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Baltimore Mayor Calls On DOJ To Probe The Police Department She’s In Charge Of

By William Teach May 7, 2015 – 11:09 am

I never got around to this one Wednesday, but it is hilarious

Baltimore mayor asks DOJ for civil rights probe into city police department

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake requested Wednesday that the Department of Justice order a “pattern or practice” civil rights investigation into the city’s police department, similar to the probe conducted in Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting death of Michael Brown last summer.

The mayor said such a probe was necessary to achieve the kind of “sustainable and significant reform” of the department that she and the citizens of Baltimore want to see.

“The DOJ has employed these investigations in communities across our nation to reform serious patterns and practices of force, biased policing and other unconstitutional practices by law enforcement,” she told reporters at her weekly press conference. “I’m asking the Department of Justice to investigate if our police department has engaged in a pattern or practice of stops, searches or arrests that violate the fourth amendment.”

Really?

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/595958479841525760

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/595958661471698944

Last time I checked, she’s been mayor of Baltimore since 2/4/2010.

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/595975060864823297

Let’s also remember that the last Republican who served as Baltimore mayor, Theodore R. McKeldin, left office in 1967. All Democrats since. And Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has a Black police captain, Black police commissioner, and the force is roughly 43% Black. Will she take responsibility?

Read: Baltimore Mayor Calls On DOJ To Probe The Police Department She’s In Charge Of »

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March Sees CO2 At Over 400ppm For Month, World Doesn’t End

By William Teach May 7, 2015 – 7:24 am

NOAA breathlessly reports

Greenhouse gas benchmark reached
Global carbon dioxide concentrations surpass 400 parts per million for the first month since measurements began

For the first time since we began tracking carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere, the monthly global average concentration of this greenhouse gas surpassed 400 parts per million in March 2015, according to NOAA’s latest results.

“It was only a matter of time that we would average 400 parts per million globally,” said Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “We first reported 400 ppm when all of our Arctic sites reached that value in the spring of 2012. In 2013 the record at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory first crossed the 400 ppm threshold. Reaching 400 parts per million as a global average is a significant milestone.

“This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times,” added Tans. “Half of that rise has occurred since 1980.”

Huh. Well, that’s interesting.

(UK Guardian) Dr Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading told the Guardian: “This event is a milestone on a road to unprecedented climate change for the human race. The last time the Earth had this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was more than a million years ago, when modern humans hadn’t even evolved yet.

“Reaching 400ppm doesn’t mean much in itself, but the steady increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases should serve as a stark reminder of the task facing politicians as they sit down in Paris later this year.”

So, it’s happened before, and, oh, BTW, it really is meaningless other than as a political talking point. Of course, Warmists are hyperventilating, but, hey, what about this?

Global temperature update: no warming for 18 years 5 months

By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

Since December 1996 there has been no global warming at all (Fig. 1). This month’s RSS temperature – still unaffected by the most persistent el Niño conditions of the current weak cycle – shows a new record length for the Pause: 18 years 5 months.

The result, as always, comes with a warning that the temperature increase that usually accompanies an el Niño may come through after a lag of four or five months. If, on the other hand, la Niña conditions begin to cool the oceans in time, there could be a lengthening of the Pause just in time for the Paris world-government summit in December 2015.

I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again: the pause in no way invalidates that the Earth is currently in a Holocene warm period, and doesn’t mean that warming will not restart. This pattern has happened multiple times during the Modern Warm Period, and, if we had actual measured data from the previous Holocene warm periods, would most likely have similar patterns. What it does show is that the political talking points about doom from CO2 are overblown, especially when we consider that 95% of the computer models have failed, in terms of them predicting that temperatures would continue to go up up up, and they haven’t.

There’s no doubt that Mankind has an effect on the climate, but, it is small. If CO2 was that dangerous, Cult Of Climastrology members would be putting their beliefs into practice in their own lives, wouldn’t you think? Especially not taking thousands of fossil fueled flights, particularly with so many private jets, to the lovely vacation spot of Paris, France, right?

Read: March Sees CO2 At Over 400ppm For Month, World Doesn’t End »

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Students Take Picture With Confederate Battle Flag, People Freak And Want Something Done

By William Teach May 7, 2015 – 7:05 am

Offended. I see that Memeorandum has a big pull from ABC11 here in the Triangle. entitled “CONFEDERATE FLAG PHOTO UPSETS CHAPEL HILL STUDENTS” (love the all caps), but, I like the WRAL article better

Chapel Hill man says daughter’s controversial photo taken ‘out of context’

The father of a student at East Chapel Hill High School said Wednesday that his daughter did not mean to offend anyone in late April when she posted a photo to social media of two Confederate flags with the caption “South will rise.”

(Photo from the ABC11 article)

A contentious scene unfolded outside the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools offices Wednesday morning when Ronald Creatore arrived to defend his daughter and ask questions of concerned students, parents and community members who were holding a news conference to call for punishment in the incident. Creatore said the meaning of his daughter’s post was taken out of context.

Remember that in bold for a few minutes

The picture was taken during a school trip to the Gettysburg National Battlefield, and it was uploaded to the photo-sharing mobile app Instagram.

A comment on the photo reading “Already bought my first slave” also drew criticism from many students and parents at the school, including Creatore, who said it was unacceptable.

The daughter wrote an apology

“I’m sorry that my picture offended people and especially since my initial caption (that I changed once I realized people took it seriously), but I’m currently on the Civil War trip learning about the history of our country and this just so happens to be a pretty (expletive) important part of it. We were reenacting Pickett’s charge in which the South lost 85% of their soldiers. These aren’t the Confederate flags in fact, they’re the North Carolina regimental flags. I’m proud to be a part of my state and I’m sorry my photo was so offensive but I find it appropriate in that I’m honoring heroes that fought to protect their home and families. Thanks though.”

We can debate the meaning of the flag, which, really, I understand has negative connotations to Blacks, but, to most whites, especially in the South, it simply stands for Southern pride and freedom from a powerful Central government, and has nothing to do with hatred of Blacks. Not all Confederates were pro-slavery, nor were all Union soldiers anti-slavery. Most Confederates had nothing to do with slavery, and couldn’t have cared less. Different mindsets from different races. But, certainly, the comment about “buying first slave” is beyond the pale, but wasn’t written by the students in the picture. At least no article has made that claim.

Many who were offended are trying to turn this into a racism issue, and that is their right. Even though these are young kids who are young kids (and, strangely, have been stuck in an uber-liberal education system).

What we do have, though, is calls for punishment because people are Offended, despite no law being broken, unless we want to consider Thought Crime laws. This is law by mob rule. This is Rule Of Men, rather than Rule Of Law. People should be very concerned by this trend, where the Law is arbitrary. Because those calling for punishment could be the next recipient if they Offend someone.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Tom Forcella told WRAL that the students are not likely to be punished because it does not fall under the system’s definition of cyberbullying.

In fact, the person who seems to be the recipient of bullying, both cyber and real world, is the daughter. There are some seriously nasty comments written about her at Talking Points Memo and Raw Story, among others. Parents screaming at the girls about “white privilege” is abusive and bullying. Calling for the girl to be arbitrarily punished for Offending is bullying and abusive.

You have a right to be offended. You don’t have a right to criminalize being offended.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Salon Totally Tells Us How To School Climate Deniers

By William Teach May 6, 2015 – 7:42 pm

We’re like, so burned, ya know, per Salon’s Lindsay Abrams

Here’s how you school climate deniers: The anti-science movement’s biggest fallacies, debunked

If you want to defeat climate deniers, the first thing you need to know, without a shadow of a doubt, is that global warming is, in fact, happening.

I already know that — I’d like to think we all do, deep down — but there are people who continue to insist that the data is wrong. That’s why, after a week spent learning why climate deniers insist that human activity isn’t responsible for the rise in global temperatures, the second week of online class at Denial101x was dedicated to understanding how we know what we know: that temperatures are increasing, sea level is rising and glaciers are melting.

And yes, those basic facts remain true even when it’s snowing outside.

OK, you’re welcome to read the rest, but, let’s debunk a Warmist fallacy: Skeptics aren’t saying that there hasn’t been any warming, nor that there won’t be more during the Modern Warm Period. What we are saying is that Mankind is not mostly/solely responsible for the warming, particularly as it applies to the entire globe. If CO2 was the primary driver, then we would have continued to see a rising global temperature in accord with all the models, instead of 95% of the models being wrong. We wouldn’t hear about the oceans eating the warming. There wouldn’t be 66+ excuses.

Oh, and if there was such a concern, Warmists would actually take measures in their own lives to reduce their own carbon footprints, even going carbon neutral or negative, instead of demanding that Other People be forced to Do Something at the barrel of Government rules, regs, and laws.

BTW, these people seriously take 2 week classes as written in the excerpt? Good grief. 1st World Problems.

Read: Salon Totally Tells Us How To School Climate Deniers »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Bummer: Climate Change Implicated In Tibet Collapse 4000 Years Ago

By William Teach May 6, 2015 – 4:16 pm

Doooooooom!

(Science 2.0) Climate change may have been be responsible for the abrupt collapse of civilization on the fringes of the Tibetan Plateau around 2,000 B.C. – but it wasn’t the modern political connotation of climate change, with man-made carbon dioxide causing warming, it was global cooling.

At the end of the Holocene Climatic Optimum, a 4,000 year period of warm weather, it was no longer possible for ancient people on the Tibetan Plateau to cultivate millet, their primary food source, and after productivity declined most left. Not forever, a few hundred years later they were growing wheat and barley. That’s because wheat and barley have higher frost tolerance and a lower heat requirement than millet, making them better suited for the high altitudes and suddenly colder weather of eastern Tibet. In a new paper in PNAS, a team argues that the change in climate led to the change in culture still evident today. 

Damn that climate change….wait, what? An article actually mentioned that it was cooling that caused this problem? That’s weird. They usually just mention “climate change” without mentioning which type. I actually just deleted a few articles out of Pocket that were doing just that in regards to the end of the Mayans.

Intriguing speculation is that if the climate heats up the way leading computer models say it will, millet may be en vogue again.

So, what they’re saying is that it was much, much warmer previously? Huh.

Read: Bummer: Climate Change Implicated In Tibet Collapse 4000 Years Ago »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 6, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a rising sea cutting across the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Laughing Conservative, with a post on ER visits increasing under Ocare.

Yes, it’s still sunglasses week.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 4 Comments | Trackback URL
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