Hey, Here’s How To Talk About “Climate Change” At Thanksgiving

By William Teach November 26, 2014 – 8:06 am

Of course, when you, the Warmist, start yammering on about Hotcoldwetdry, I would hope you are not actually eating turkey, because turkey itself is bad for “climate change”. In fact, most food causes “climate change” through various means, including the veggies, so, you shouldn’t eat anything. Ever. Just being a human is bad for “climate change”

How to Talk About Climate Change at Thanksgiving: Recipes for Good Conversations

Or, just a good way to get uninvited next year.

I know many families ban political discussions around the dinner table. While that’s not how I grew up, I understand why people want to avoid raised voices and hurt feelings, especially while they’re digging into stuffing. Unfortunately, many people would consider a discussion about climate change political, too. That sentiment can create a spiral of silence, according to George Marshall, who wrote a masterful guide to how we talk about climate change.

So if you care about climate issues, should you march into Thanksgiving dinner with some graphs, charts, and talking points? I sure hope not. For one thing, those aren’t edible (except pie charts, which are delicious). But even if you’re not trying to talk about climate change, it can and does come up.

Of course, if you manage to get involved in a heated discussion, here are your talking points

Course one: serve up questions, not arguments

If someone tells you the Earth isn’t really warming, it’s an invitation to argue about temperature data and scientific authority. Further, some folks who don’t accept the science can raise a surprisingly large number of misleading points because there’s so much misinformation out there from which to draw.

Scientific authority equals consensus, which is not science. But, the author is right, there is a lot of misinformation out there, emanating from Believer scientists and policy wonks. Anyhow, temperature increases do not prove anthropogenic causation.

Course two: served by people who share someone’s values

In his forthcoming book from Stanford University Press, How Culture Shapes the Climate Debate, the University of Michigan’s Andrew Hoffman argues that we can easily get caught up in the culture war when we talk about climate change. “Certainly, Al Gore and Rush Limbaugh evoke visceral responses from individuals on either side of the political divide while also resonating strongly with those who agree with their ideology,” Hoffman writes. “But individuals with credibility on both sides of the debate can act as ‘climate brokers.’”

Hoffman recommends pointing to people who share an audience’s values when it comes to climate and energy issues.

For instance, some people are uncomfortable with climate change because it feels like it’s in conflict with their religious views. You can point them to researchers like Katharine Hayhoe and religious leaders like Richard Cizik.

Say what? Most won’t even know who they are, and those who do will understand that they are full of mule fritters.

Course three: clear the table and bring the solutions

After you’ve tried the steps above, a discussion might still devolve into an argument. The good news is, you can always talk about solutions.

Unsurprisingly, the article fails to mention what those solutions are, because the minute they are brought up for discussing it’s clearly understood that said solutions are all about pushing Progressive (nice fascist) policies, like redistribution and government control of citizen’s lives.

After this comes “pie”, whereby the Warmists should send emails and Facebook posts, annoying their friends and relatives. All while refusing to practice what they preach.

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Time Magazine Defends Rioting

By William Teach November 26, 2014 – 7:49 am

Is this article by Darlene Cuhna clickbait? Trolling? Or a serious piece which is enabling for the looter class?

Ferguson: In Defense of Rioting

The violent protests in Ferguson, Mo., are part of the American experience. Peaceful protesting is a luxury only available to those safely in mainstream culture

When a police officer shoots a young, unarmed black man in the streets, then does not face indictment, anger in the community is inevitable. It’s what we do with that anger that counts. In such a case, is rioting so wrong?

Well, here in Sanity World, in Lawful World, In 1st Amendment World (…protest peaceably), yes, rioting is wrong. Especially when said young, unarmed black man with stealing cigars and assaulting the business owner, then assaulted said police officer in his cruiser, attempting to take his gun (Brown’s DNA was on the inside of the car and Wilson’s pants), ran a bit away, then charged Officer Wilson. The only person responsible for Brown’s death is Michael brown.

Riots are a necessary part of the evolution of society. Unfortunately, we do not live in a universal utopia where people have the basic human rights they deserve simply for existing, and until we get there, the legitimate frustration, sorrow and pain of the marginalized voices will boil over, spilling out into our streets. As “normal” citizens watchthe events of Ferguson unfurl on their television screens and Twitter feeds, there is a lot of head shaking, finger pointing, and privileged explanation going on. We wish to seclude the incident and the people involved. To separate it from our history as a nation, to dehumanize the change agents because of their bad and sometimes violent decisions—because if we can separate the underlying racial tensions that clearly exist in our country from the looting and rioting of select individuals, we can continue to ignore the problem.

See? There you go. Blacks had it tough in the past, so they are allowed to loot, burn cars and buildings, and harm other people. But, hey, wait, Darlene is going to go somewhere interesting

However, even the Tea Party gets its name from a riot, The Boston Tea Party. For those who need a quick history brush-up, in 1773 American protesters dumped an entire shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor to protest The Tea Act, which colonists maintained violated their rights. In response to this costly protest and civil unrest, the British government enforced The Coercive Acts, ending local government in Massachusetts, which in turn led to the American Revolution and created our great country.

Wow, so much wrong there might not be time. The Boston Tea Party was a result of onerous government policy, including taxation without representation. Ferguson is due to an idiot thug getting himself killed. The only thing damaged during the Tea Party was the tea. Oh, and one padlock. None of the ships were damaged in the least. It did turn into a months long riot. In Ferguson, many business were looted, buildings were burned, cars were burned, people were hurt. This is happening in other cities, as well.

In Boston, the ships were cleaned up by those involved with dumping the tea. In Ferguson, people who saw their businesses destroyed were left to clean up. But, hey, this is all about racism or something

And the racism they are fighting, the racism we are all fighting, is still alive and well throughout our nation. The modern racism may not culminate in separate water fountains and separate seating in the backs of buses, but its insidious nature is perhaps even more dangerous to the individuals who have to live under the shroud of stereotypical lies society foists upon them.

Instead of tearing down other human beings who are acting upon decades of pent-up anger at a system decidedly against them, a system that has told them they are less than human for years, we ought to be reaching out to help them regain the humanity they lost, not when a few set fire to the buildings in Ferguson, but when they were born the wrong color in the post-racial America.

People like Darlene are enabling people to act like animals. We already know that Democrats think of Blacks as their property, and will destroy any who stray from the Democrat plantation. Here, they’re giving them license to riot, burn, and get violent. Despite this having nothing to do with racism, just really bad decisions by Michael Brown. Even if had not encountered Officer Darren Wilson that day, he would most likely be in jail for a stretch for theft and assault, rather than attending college.

Even the NY Times attempts to soft-sell the position that riots are OK

For the black community of Ferguson, the killing of Michael Brown was the last straw in a long train of abuses that they have suffered daily at the hands of the local police. News accounts have strongly suggested, for example, that the police in St. Louis County’s many municipalities systematically target poor and minority citizens for street and traffic stops — partly to generate fines — which has the effect of both bankrupting and criminalizing whole communities.

The case resonated across the country — in New York City, Chicago and Oakland — because the killing of young black men by police is a common feature of African-American life and a source of dread for black parents from coast to coast. This point was underscored last month in a grim report by ProPublica, showing that young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk — 21 times greater — of being shot dead by police than young white men. These statistics reflect the fact that many police officers see black men as expendable figures on the urban landscape, not quite human beings.

Interesting that this occurs in deep Democrat areas. Democrat policies sure are working out will for Blacks, wouldn’t you say?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Obama To Implement More Stringent Ozone Regulations

By William Teach November 25, 2014 – 9:31 pm

Amongst the 3415 new regulations Team Obama is quietly implementing, this is one that I actually rather agree with

(NY Times)  The Obama administration is expected to release on Wednesday a contentious and long-delayed environmental regulation to curb emissions of ozone, a smog-causing pollutant linked to asthma, heart disease and premature death.

The sweeping regulation, which would aim at smog from power plants and factories across the country, particularly in the Midwest, would be the latest in a series of Environmental Protection Agency controls on air pollution that wafts from smokestacks and tailpipes. Such regulations, released under the authority of the Clean Air Act, have become a hallmark of President Obama’s administration.

Environmentalists and public health advocates have praised the E.P.A. rules as a powerful environmental legacy. Republicans, manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry have sharply criticized them as an example of costly government overreach.

The proposed regulation would lower the current threshold for ozone pollution from 75 parts per billion to a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion, according to people familiar with the plan. That range is less stringent than the standard of 60 parts per billion sought by environmental groups, but the E.P.A. proposal would also seek public comment on a 60 parts-per-billion plan, keeping open the possibility that the final rule could be stricter.

Yes, this can put a burden on industry and business, but, unlike “climate change” regulations, ozone can be a dangerous pollutant and have a negative effect on health. Many fossil fuels and other businesses are complaining, and certainly those costs can be passed on. But, this is something that is what the Environmental Protection Act is about, and the lowering of the ozone ppm over the years has become barely known.

That said, we’ll have to see how this shakes out, and what products it effects and at what cost.

Of course, Obama has been sitting on this since prior to the 2012 general election

The E.P.A. had planned to release the new ozone rule in August of 2011, but as Republicans and powerful industry groups prepared to go on attack against the plan, Mr. Obama decided to delay its release, fearing that opposition to the regulation would hurt his re-election chances in 2012.

At the time, Mr. Obama said the regulation would impose too severe a burden on industry and local governments at a time of economic distress.

Interesting: he put his re-election above the health of citizens.

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 25, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is the horrible potential for a massive carbon footprint on Thanksgiving, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Not A Lot Of People Know That, with a post on Obama killing the African dream.

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10 Ways To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint On Thanksgiving, Ruining It For All

By William Teach November 25, 2014 – 11:35 am

Why? Because it’s time for reflection, says HuffPo’s Lori Popkewitz Alper

10 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint This Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for many. It’s a time to eat, indulge and spend uninterrupted time with family.

It’s also a time for reflection. A time to think about what we’re thankful for and a time to think about how the choices we make impact our families and the planet.

Although every day provides an opportunity for reflection and change, Thanksgiving stands out as the perfect day to kick off a few new habits that will effect the longevity of our planet. If each of us revamped our consumption and waste habits by slightly adjusting what’s already in place, the overall impact could be huge.

Here are a few tips for the Thanksgiving holiday that will reduce our carbon footprint and help keep the planet healthy for generations to come.

See? Reflection. Not on family, friends, loved ones. Nope. Hotcoldwetdry. I’ll leave it to you to read all 10, if you so choose. It’s the standard boilerplate ideas, such as buy local (never a bad idea if you can get better and fresher), turning the heat down (so everyone can shiver and complain), purchasing carbon offsets (rather like paying a ticket for speeding rather than not speeding in the first place). Here’s my favorite

8. Green Your Turkey

A Cornell study shows it takes 14 units of fossil fuel to produce a serving of turkey. If you’re planning to have turkey, try to make it a little greener by purchasing it from a local market or farm. If the turkey is traveling a long distance to get to your table, that’s adding to your carbon footprint. Best option — skip the turkey!

There’s your marching orders, Warmist! No turkey for you!

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With Thanksgiving A Few Days Away, You Should Really Give #ClimateThanks Or Something

By William Teach November 25, 2014 – 7:58 am

No, really, Soros funded Joe Romm really wants this, because climatologists spend lots of time changing data to conform to their preconceptions

Here’s How To Show Gratitude To Climate Heroes Big And Small This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving season, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication once again wants you to tweet out some gratitude via the hashtag#ClimateThanks.

In 2013, this effort to thank the many heroes — sung and unsung — who are fighting to preserve a livable climate for billions of people, was wildly successful:

Last Thanksgiving 2,500 people and organizations thanked each other through #ClimateThanks. When we originally put out the call last year we had no idea how people would respond, and were astounded by the wave of gratitude that swept through Twitter. In the end the climate community sent nearly 8,000 #ClimateThanks messages and reached 6.87 million people, becoming one of the largest Twitter storms on climate change ever.

I remain very thankful for climate scientists, who toil away for long hours away from their family, sometimes in the most inhospitable parts of the world, for not much money (sorry disinformers) — and do so thanklessly. Indeed they do so in the face of anti-science cyber-bullying and legal harassment and general hostility from climate disinformers — all because they have devoted their lives to averting the gravest of human tragedies. They are like the hero of Henrik Ibsen’s classic An Enemy of the People — which someone should modernize into a climate science parable.

So, wait, they’re taking lots of fossil fueled vehicles to travel far from their families to inhospitable parts of the world to tell us that fossil fuels are bad? Huh.

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/537227087975682048

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/537227389827579905

I also give thanks to the idiots who provide me with all sorts of blogging material, such as

Even Thanksgiving Is Connected to Climate Change

It’s nearly Thanksgiving, and while we all will — and should — count our many blessings, you’re forgiven if your thoughts eventually turn to the mouth-watering traditions of the holiday feast.

So when my friend John Mandyck, global chief sustainability officer of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, said he had some food-related thoughts he wanted to share, since we’re both from Central New York, I was anticipating some long-forgotten recipe for corn pudding, or oyster stuffing, or some equally seasonally and locally appropriate contribution to the holiday table.

Instead, he sent me a blog he recently had penned for Greenbiz. It’s about the connection of food spoilage to climate change, and I think the thoughts he captured are worth sharing. His premise is thought provoking, and, given the season, something to keep in mind especially as you finalize the menu for your upcoming family gathering.

You know, there is a problem with food waste, particularly in the 1st World. But, instead of dealing with the actual problem, these wankers have to shove it under the banner of “climate change”, when it should stand on its own.

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Grand Jury Looks At Evidence, Refuses To Indict Darren Wilson

By William Teach November 25, 2014 – 7:33 am

This, of course, has made liberals and the media (but, I repeat myself) very upset, so they’re attempting to spin this away

Ferguson police officer won’t be charged in fatal shooting

A grand jury on Monday declined to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, resolving a secretive, months-long legal saga and reigniting powerful frustrations about America’s policing of African Americans.

Said unarmed black teenager would be alive if

  • he hadn’t stolen cigars in a strong-arm robbery
  • been walking in the middle of the street after performing a strong-arm robbery, which was guaranteed to get a police officer to notice him
  • hadn’t attacked an officer of the law through the window of his patrol car, showing his propensity for violence
  • tried to take the officer’s weapon during the vehicle altercation
  • hadn’t charged the officer of the law after running away post vehicle attack

In case the Washington Post missed it, Grand Juries are supposed to be secretive.

The decision means that Wilson, 28, will face no state charges for the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. It also set off a show of fury on streets near where Brown was shot, a reflection of emotions that register in this riven city as either out of control or justifiable.

At least two police cars and a half-dozen buildings were set aflame. Not far from Christmas lights in downtown Ferguson that read “Seasons Greetings,” police fired tear-gas canisters to contain the crowds. People looted liquor and convenience stores, a response that ran counter to the peace that Missouri authorities, President Obama and Brown’s family had requested.

As St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced the decision, National Guard troops fanned out across the city. There was calm and silence in the streets of Ferguson for a half-beat after the announcement, but anger erupted shortly thereafter, and just after midnight county police reported hearing automatic-weapon fire. Protestors also blocked Interstate 44, causing a miles-long back-up of traffic.

In a sign of the way that the events from Ferguson have both compelled and startled a nation, protesters also gathered in front of the White House as well as in major cities from coast to coast, with sporadic reports of police cars being attacked.

Remember when these Democrat voters said all they wanted was a Grand Jury? Of course, now the race-baiting violence enablers are decrying the decision of the Grand Jury, saying that things were done wrong, and this should have gone to a trial. Here’s the ACLU of Missouri, which decided that due process only applies to certain people

“The grand jury’s decision does not negate the fact that Michael Brown’s tragic death is part of an alarming national trend of officers using excessive force against people of color, often during routine encounters. Yet in most cases, the officers and police departments are not held accountable,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. “While many officers carry out their jobs with respect for the communities they serve, we must confront the profound disconnect and disrespect that many communities of color experience with their local law enforcement.

It might be more productive if the ACLU stopped blaming the police for the criminality with certain “people of color” communities. Black on Black criminality is rampant in communities like Ferguson. As we can see from the post-decision violence and criminality.

“The ACLU will continue to fight for racial justice. We must end the prevailing policing paradigm where police departments are more like occupying forces, imposing their will to control communities. This ‘us’ versus ‘them’ policing antagonizes communities by casting a blanket of suspicion over entire neighborhoods, often under the guise of preventing crime.

“To build trust, we need a democratic system of policing where our communities have an equal say in the way their neighborhoods are policed. Collaboration, transparency and communication between police and communities around the shared goals of equality, fairness and public safety is the path forward.”

So, the ACLU wants to what? Disarm the police? Give the criminals and criminal enablers a say in how law enforcement polices the communities full of criminals?

The prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, even called out the media and social media for their factless media narrative during his statement, and, as Ben Shapiro points out

But never mind: the media had somehow turned the true story of Michael Brown – the story of a 6’5”, 289-lb. 18-year-old strong-arm-robbing a convenience store, confronting a police officer and attempting to take his gun, running away, turning back to charge that officer, and being shot multiple times – into the story of Emmett Till. Never mind that there was not a single shred of evidence suggesting that Wilson targeted Brown based on race; never mind that Brown matched the description of the robbery suspect because he was the robbery suspect; never mind that Brown attacked an officer twice. No, this was a pre-ordained narrative for the media: white racist police officer strikes down young black unarmed man. The result of that overwrought and outright false media-generated controversy: extended riots in Ferguson.

Instead of yammering on about heavy handed police, perhaps these communities and the media should look at the criminality within communities like Ferguson, and the spread and love of thug culture within those “community of colors”. Anyhow, that won’t happen. Instead, media enablers are crying and looking for spin. As the opinion pieces and editorials pop out whining in all sorts of manners, Rashad Robinson leads the way at the NY Daily News, who links this to the Rodney King decision (which, IMO, was an actual miscarriage of justice, unlike the Ferguson one)

DARREN WILSON NOT INDICTED: Justice system has failed us once again

…..

Today, I sit with a similar feeling of frustration. Despite a groundswell of outrage and months of protests from multitudes of black folks and their allies, Officer Darren Wilson will not be punished for the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

What Mr. Robinson is proposing is justice by mob rule, and damn the evidence. They want their pound of flesh.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 24, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…are wonderful, wonderful trees sucking up carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Public Secrets, with a post on yet another Obama diplomatic screwup.

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Black Friday Creep Is Totally Like Climate Change

By William Teach November 24, 2014 – 12:32 pm

Climate Tourettes

Editorial: Black Friday’s creep into Thanksgiving rips at heart of American family holiday

The commercial creep is a bit like the evidence of climate change. Incremental and hardly noticeable, then all of a sudden unmistakable with Christmas merchandise lapping ever closer to the back-to school sales.

The rest of the editorial is actually pretty good, discussing the problem of Black Friday creeping, particularly into stores being open for sales on Thanksgiving itself.

But, making a comparison to “climate change”? Please. That’s ridiculous.

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Unbelievable Catch By Odell Beckham

By William Teach November 24, 2014 – 9:51 am

This is sick

Catch of the year? Yes! Best catch ever? Not sure. The one by David Tyree, catching it on his helmet, might beat it out.

More at Twitchy.

BTW, the Giants are pretty much out of the Playoffs picture.

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