NY Times: Climate Change Causes A “Climate Penalty”

By William Teach August 20, 2014 – 11:11 am

Strange that this happens in far left cities

Cities’ Air Problems Only Get Worse With Climate Change

The threats from climate change are many: extreme weather, shrinking snowpack, altered ecosystems and rising and more acidic seas, to name a few. Another lesser-known issue may hit especially close to home for city dwellers. In the world’s already smoggy metropolises, pollution is likely to grow worse, a phenomenon scientists have taken to calling the climate penalty.

Ozone is a key culprit. This lung-damaging compound, often formed from chemical reactions involving sunlight and automobile exhaust and other pollution, plagues major cities around the globe. As the climate heats up, it is projected that more ozone will form in polluted areas on sweltering days.

“You have a hot summer, you’re going to get a lot of ozone,” said Daniel Jacob, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering at Harvard.

Wait, it gets hot in the summer? When did that happen?

Anyhow, there is a simple solution for these polluted liberal bastions: give up your fossil fueled vehicles, replace your airports with solar and wind farms, stop using AC and refrigerators, turn parking lots into farms, and end manufacturing in your cities. And so much more.

But with the threat of a climate penalty looming, of course, added impetus is on the world’s nations to reduce their emissions of air pollutants from factories and motor vehicles.

See? I told you so.

Read: NY Times: Climate Change Causes A “Climate Penalty” »

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August 19 Is Now Earth Overshoot Day Or Something

By William Teach August 20, 2014 – 9:18 am

Have you heard about the new awareness day hardcore Warmists are pushing? It’s oh so cute. And nutty. Can’t forget nutty (via Climate Depot)

August 19 is Earth Overshoot Day 2014, marking the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We will be operating in overshoot.

Just as a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network measures humanity’s demand for and supply of natural resources and ecological services. And the data is sobering. Global Footprint Network estimates that approximately every eight months, we demand more renewable resources and C02 sequestration than what the planet can provide for an entire year.

Earth Overshoot Day is the annual marker of when we begin living beyond our means in a given year. While only a rough estimate of time and resource trends, Earth Overshoot Day is as close as science can be to measuring the gap between our demand for ecological resources and services, and how much the planet can provide.

They have press releases in multiple languages. The English one is here. It’s kinda hard to celebrate the day when they announce it on that day, wouldn’t you say?

Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to absorb our carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget. But in the mid-1970s, we crossed a critical threshold: Human consumption began outstripping what the planet could reproduce.

According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-century.

Oh, lord, Malthusian idiocy rears its ugly head.

As Global Footprint Network methodology changes, projections will continue to shift. But every scientific model used to account for human demand and nature’s supply shows a consistent trend: We are well over budget, and that debt is compounding. It is an ecological debt, and the interest we are paying on that mounting debt—food shortages, soil erosion, and the build-up of CO₂ in our atmosphere—comes with devastating human and monetary costs.

Calculate your own personal Ecological Footprint and learn what you can do to reduce it with our Footprint Calculator.

Interestingly, the calculator requires registration in order to proceed. A bit of data mining, eh?

Anyway, there you go, Warmists, you’re killing the planet. Time for you to cut back and Do Your Part to Save Gaia. No more fossil fueled vehicles, no more washing machines, no more ice makers, turn your AC up to 80, grow your own food. No more meat. Come on, do it for our overheating planet.

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Eric Holder Has A Message For The People Of Ferguson

By William Teach August 20, 2014 – 8:43 am

While Attorney General Eric Holder’s message in the St. Louis Dispatch is relatively good, there is something missing

Since the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, the nation and the world have witnessed the unrest that has gripped Ferguson, Mo. At the core of these demonstrations is a demand for answers about the circumstances of this young man’s death and a broader concern about the state of our criminal justice system.

At a time when so much may seem uncertain, the people of Ferguson can have confidence that the Justice Department intends to learn — in a fair and thorough manner — exactly what happened.

Today, I will be in Ferguson to be briefed on the federal civil rights investigation that I have closely monitored since I launched it more than one week ago. I will meet personally with community leaders, FBI investigators and federal prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to receive detailed briefings on the status of this case.

What about meeting with the police? How about finding out their side of the story? Shouldn’t the police be included in all this?

The full resources of the Department of Justice have been committed to the investigation into Michael Brown’s death. This inquiry will take time to complete, but we have already taken significant steps. Approximately 40 FBI agents and some of the Civil Rights Division’s most experienced prosecutors have been deployed to lead this process, with the assistance of the United States Attorney in St. Louis. Hundreds of people have already been interviewed in connection with this matter. On Monday, at my direction, a team of federal medical examiners conducted an independent autopsy.

One has to wonder at the propriety, and seeming violation of state sovereignty, of the Department of Justice swooping in on what is, essentially, a local issue. Were they invited? Or did they simply decide to make it their business? Don’t misunderstand this as a only criticism of Holder, as this is not the first time the DOJ has jumped in over issues that should be handled at the State level or lower.

The Justice Department will defend the right of protesters to peacefully demonstrate and for the media to cover a story that must be told. But violence cannot be condoned. I urge the citizens of Ferguson who have been peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to join with law enforcement in condemning the actions of looters, vandals and others seeking to inflame tensions and sow discord.

Interesting. Where is AG Holder in defending the rights of Tea Party groups which were illegally targeted by the Internal Revenue Service? Does he have any investigations into criminal conduct of IRS officials? How about those who are being stonewalled as the IRS has destroyed multiple hard drives?

Anyhow, Holder does do a good job in calling for peace, and for the community and police to work together. Kudos for that.

Meanwhile, Gov Jay Nixon (D) has gone off the reservation

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon made his boldest statement in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on Tuesday, saying a “vigorous prosecution must now be pursued.”

In the statement, Nixon said,”The democratically elected St. Louis County prosecutor and the Attorney General of the United States, each have a job to do. Their obligation to achieve justice in the shooting death of Michael Brown must be carried out thoroughly, promptly, and correctly; and I call upon them to meet those expectations.”

This could potentially taint any investigation, grand jury proceeding, and, if it comes to it, criminal court trial.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Progressives Continue To Unintentionally Point Out Their Policies Are Bad

By William Teach August 19, 2014 – 4:06 pm

They aren’t just wrong, but Bad, with a capital B. Let’s note a quote that Smitty supplies

A hundred years ago, the first group of progressives concluded that this country needed to change in a big way. They argued explicitly for a refounding of the United States on the grounds that the only absolute in political life is that absolutes are material and economic rather than moral in nature.

I used a different emphasis than Smitty did, leading to this op-ed by Eugene Robinson, who’s never shy about stoking the flames of racism

Millions of African Americans took advantage of the opportunities created by the civil rights movement to climb into the middle class — and in some cases far beyond, as exemplified by President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Yet millions of other black Americans did not reach the middle class. This group, mired in poverty and dysfunction, finds the paths others took are blocked. They live in neighborhoods with failing schools that cannot prepare them for today’s economy. Secure, high-paying blue-collar jobs are a thing of the past. Racial bias in policing means African Americans are much more likely to be arrested and jailed for minor nonviolent offenses, such as drug possession, than whites who commit the same crimes.

Increasingly, these African Americans who were left behind are invisible. Their neighborhoods either get gentrified — which means they can no longer afford to stay there — or simply bypassed by development. What happens in poor black neighborhoods has less and less to do with the everyday lives of middle-class Americans, white or black.

Yet in Ferguson and other such pockets across the nation, millions of young black men and women grow up knowing that the deck is stacked against them.

Then we have this from Ta-Neshi Coates at The Atlantic, another writer willing to fan the flames of racism, with the pithy title Reparations for Ferguson

Among the many relevant facts for any African-American negotiating their relationship with the police the following stands out: The police departments of America are endowed by the state with dominion over your body. This summer in Ferguson and Staten Island we have seen that dominion employed to the maximum ends—destruction of the body. This is neither new nor extraordinary. It does not matter if the destruction of your body was an overreaction. It does not matter if the destruction of your body resulted from a misunderstanding. It does not matter if the destruction of your body springs from foolish policy. Sell cigarettes without proper authority and your body can be destroyed. Resent the people trying to entrap your body and it can be be destroyed. Protect the home of your mother and your body can be destroyed. Visit the home of your young daughter and your body will be destroyed. The destroyers of your body will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions.

It will not do to point out the rarity of the destruction of your body by the people whom you pay to protect it. As Gene Demby has noted, destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. All of this is old for black people. No one is held accountable. The body of Michael Brown was left in the middle of the street for four hours. It can not be expected that anyone will be held accountable.

Both of these opinion pieces have different central themes, and both of them inadvertently highlight the failure of Progressive doctrine. Both highlight the failure of Progressive government. Who controls the urbanized areas? Democrats. In Robinson’s case, we see that Black’s are left behind in terrible economic and social conditions created by Progressive policies, all while Progressives fan the flames of racism. In Coates’ case, we see that Big Government, stoked and pushed by Progressives, which increasingly has more and more control of “your body”, is damned dangerous.

Progressive policies have failed Blacks. When will Progressives finally note the how bad their policies are?

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 19, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is coffee that will have to totally move to a different location to be produced, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Blogmocracy, with a post on Generation Narcissus.

Read: If All You See… »

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Bummer: Climate Change Provides A Lesson Of Civilization Collapse

By William Teach August 19, 2014 – 11:36 am

Total doom, y’all!

Lessons From The Last Time Civilization Collapsed

Consider this, if you would: a network of far-flung, powerful, high tech civilizations closely tied by trade and diplomatic embassies; an accelerating threat of climate change and its pressure on food production; a rising wave of displaced populations ready to sweep across and overwhelm developed nations.

Sound familiar?

While that laundry list of impending doom could be aimed at our era, it’s actually a description of the world 3,000 years ago. It is humanity’s first “global” dark age as described by archeologist and George Washington University professor Eric H. Cline in his recent book 1177 B C: The Year Civilization Collapsed.

1177 B.C. is, for Cline, a milepost. A thousand years before Rome or Christ or Buddha, there existed a powerful array of civilizations in the Near and Middle East that had risen to the height of their glory. Then, fairly suddenly, the great web of interconnected civilizations imploded and disappeared.

What they are talking about is the Bronze Age, particularly the late Bronze Age. This period started around 3,000 B.C., so, around 5,000 years ago. Let’s continue

It was the transport of copper and tin for bronze that helped establish complex trade networks. Grain and manufactured goods also became part of that transportation web. Alliances between city-states followed. In this way, the Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, Cypriots, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Assyrians and Babylonians became the economic powerhouses of the ancient world — what Cline calls the ” Together they built the first version of a “global” culture using long-distance economic and military partnerships that required advanced — for its day — technologies.

So what took all these cultures down at the same time? The story begins, but does not end, with climate change.

The evidence that a prolonged shift in climate was a factor in bringing down the Mediterranean Bronze Age comes from a number of studies, including one published in 2013, showing that cooling sea surface temperatures led to lower rainfall over inland farming areas. from sea sediments also indicates a fairly rapid transition to a dryer climate in during this period that includes the Late Bronze Age collapse.

That is the one and only mention of cooling within the article. I have not read the book, so I do not know if the author, Eric H. Cline, stokes the flames of runaway global warming today, or spends lots of time discussing what happened with the climate of the time, namely, cooling.

We can see that, 5, 000 years ago, the Earth was experiencing a warm period, followed by a small cool period, some warming, then a deep cool period, one which would coincide with the end of the Bronze Age. But, the narrative from NPR seems to be doom from “climate change” for today based on the civilization collapse from then, without mentioning the cause, nor that the civilizations seemed to thrive during that warm period, which was warmer than today.

BTW, what caused that warm period? Sure wasn’t fossil fueled vehicles. What caused the Roman Warm Period? The Roman Empire’s collapse, interestingly, coincided with another cool period, known as The Dark Ages. In context with the data, we see that human civilization does much better in warm periods than cool ones.

This is why it’s virtually impossible to have a real conversation with Warmists: they are completely dishonest.

Read: Bummer: Climate Change Provides A Lesson Of Civilization Collapse »

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Salon: Say, Those Obamacare Court Rulings Could Be Dangerous To Ocare

By William Teach August 19, 2014 – 8:45 am

Salon’s Jonathan Siegel is in a frenzy

Obamacare’s grave danger: Here’s how a future GOP president could kill it

Remember those conflicting court rulings about the ACA? Even the favorable one allows a president to interpret it

In passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”), Congress made a minor mistake — a drafting error that threatens the entire act. Two federal courts of appeals have issued conflicting rulings about how to interpret Congress’ poorly chosen words. And while the more favorable ruling seems likely to prevail, the act is still in grave danger. That’s because even the more favorable one leaves it up to the executive to decide which interpretation of the Act is correct. That means that while Obamacare might seem safe for now, a future president could interpret the act in a way that would destroy it.

This, of course, goes to the subsidies, and whether they are allowed to be applied to those who obtain Ocare insurance through a Federally run exchange, where the text of the law states that subsidies are only available to those who obtain insurance through exchanges established by States. Hey, we told you to read the bill, didn’t we? Nancy Pelosi famously said that “we have to pass the law to find out what’s in it.” We found out that they made a mistake. Or did we? In fact, it was not a mistake, but a means to push States to establish their own exchanges. That’s a story for another time.

This sunny forecast, however, overlooks one critical point.

Assuming the 4th Circuit’s decision ultimately prevails, that decision only allows, and does not compel, the IRS to interpret the Affordable Care Act to provide subsidies for people who buy health insurance on HealthCare.gov. The 4th Circuit did not hold that the act clearly provides for such subsidies; it held that the act was ambiguous. If that’s correct, then it’s up to the IRS to decide whether the act provides for such subsidies or not.

The IRS is an executive agency. It’s part of the Treasury, and the Affordable Care Act technically vests the secretary of the Treasury with the power to promulgate the regulations interpreting the act’s subsidy provision. Of course under President Obama’s Treasury secretary, the regulations allow Obamacare to work. But what about the next president? Whom would President Ted Cruz, or President Rand Paul, or even President Jeb Bush appoint as Treasury secretary, and what would that secretary do?

It’s entirely possible, under the 4th Circuit’s ruling, that the next administration could promulgate new rules denying subsidies to people who purchase insurance on HealthCare.gov. If the statute is ambiguous, a court would have to uphold such an interpretation of the statute unless it were unreasonable. And while there would be a good argument that such an interpretation would be unreasonable (since without the subsidies, the statutory scheme could collapse), it’s rare for a court to find that a statute is ambiguous, and yet to strike down an agency’s interpretation of the statute as unreasonable.

If a future GOP president takes the subsidies away from those who are in states with a federally run exchange (doubtful that it would happen, BTW), he/she would be well within their authority per the conflicting court rulings. Liberals would have no room to complain. Though they still would. That’s what they do.

This is similar to what I discussed prior to the 2012 election, that there is lots of ambiguity within Ocare. Lots of “the Director of HHS shalls and mays”. Same for other agencies. It leaves quite a bit of the actual operational directives up to the Executive Branch. Consider the “contraceptive mandate”: it appears nowhere within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It was wholly a creation of Team Obama. A GOP President could shut down the contraceptive mandate with a few words. Same with huge parts of the way Ocare operates.

Furthermore, based on the way Obama has willfully changed the law in violation of the law, a GOP president could do things like continuously suspend the individual and business mandates. And the full time work hour requirement could be changed from 30 to whatever they want.

Siegel calls the court rulings a “grave danger” to Ocare, and well he should. He notes how important the 2016 election for President is vis a vis Ocare. I’d agree.

Read: Salon: Say, Those Obamacare Court Rulings Could Be Dangerous To Ocare »

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Over A Dozen Witnesses Back Ferguson Police Officer’s Account

By William Teach August 19, 2014 – 8:20 am

We’re obviously still at the “he said she said” point of the investigation, yet, this information seems that it would be important enough that it would be featured in more news outlets other than The Daily Caller. Mind you, this is just a preliminary report

According to a preliminary report from a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, police say that more than a dozen witnesses back Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson’s version of the events that led to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Post-Dispatch reporter Christine Byers sent a tweet late Monday teasing her findings.

Wilson’s claims match a woman who called herself “Josie” who called into Dana Loesch’s radio show on Friday. CNN confirmed with police officials that Josie’s and Wilson’s versions match.

According to Josie, Wilson, a six-year police veteran, claims Brown assaulted and then “bum rushed” him during their encounter on August 9.

The assault followed after Wilson drove upon Brown and a friend walking in the street. Wilson told the two to move to the sidewalk. After driving forward, Wilson reportedly received a dispatch call about a strong-arm robbery at a convenience store.

Brown allegedly stole cigars from the store and shoved a store clerk. According to Josie, Wilson says he saw the cigars and then confronted Brown and his friend.

Wilson reversed his car back towards Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson.

Josie said that Wilson tried to exit his cruiser but that Brown pushed the door back on him and came after him. She said that after Brown assaulted Wilson, Brown bolted, and, as “protocol” dictates, the officer pursued and ordered Brown to “freeze.”

At that point, Brown turned around and rushed Officer Wilson, who fired his service weapon, striking Brown 6 times, killing him. This stands in stark contrast to the 4 witnesses who provide a different story, including Brown’s friend and partner in crime (theft from the convenience store), Dorian Johnson.

What’s the real story? Hopefully we will find out shortly. Or, really, hopefully Ferguson will find out in short order, in order to de-escalate the violence in Ferguson, which exploded yet again Monday

(KMOV) Police said 31 people were arrested, two people were shot, and four officers were injured during the protests in Ferguson Monday night.

A flurry of gunshots was heard late Monday night coming from Canfield Dr. Police said one person was shot in the hand and they did not disclose the injuries of the other person. Both shooting victims are expected to survive.

Criminals rampaged through the city. Police had bottles and rocks thrown at them, and were struck by some. Firefighters battled several fires. Molotov cocktails were reportedly thrown yet again. Business were broken in to yet again.The local schools are now going to be closed till at least next week. Business have been boarding up knowing theirs could be the beneficiaries of looting.

Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson has recommended that legitimate peaceful protesters protest during the day, so that the criminal elements cannot hide within the protests.

What happens today and tonight? Will the National Guard be out in force?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Beware The Climate Dragon Or Something

By William Teach August 18, 2014 – 4:25 pm

Is this going to be some sort of Warmists meme? Ten days ago we learned that we are f*cked by the climate dragon. Now we get

Beware the dragon of runaway climate change

In news footage of recent tsunamis there are moments when the astonishment of gaping beachgoers and onlookers turns to terror as they finally realise they will be engulfed and are about to die.

I’m going to skip all the hyperventilating, over the top, doom and gloom bloviation, regarding the methane blowholes in Russia, and skip to the end

Meanwhile, every tonne of coal and gas we dig up and export or burn helps to unleash the dragon’s breath. Stoking the risk of runaway climate change is, in reality, now Australia’s official national policy.

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 18, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is coffee that is being harmed by too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Jammie Wearing Fools, with a post on global warming snow in Scotland.

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