Obama Suggests Banning All Automatic And Semi-automatic Weapons

By William Teach June 11, 2014 – 8:40 am

Strangely, he doesn’t suggest that the huge number of people who protect him who carry automatic and sem-automatic weapons should be disarmed

(Daily Caller) President Barack Obama Tuesday suggested that the U.S. government should follow Australia’s example in dealing with shooting sprees, which involved strict gun bans on semiautomatic and automatic weapons.

“Australia had a mass shooting [in 1996] similar to Columbine and Newtown, and just said, ‘That’s it, we’re not seeing that again,’ and basically imposed very severe tough gun laws and they haven’t had a mass shooting since,” Obama said, after he was asked for his reaction to recent shooting episodes in California and Oregon. Those laws included the confiscation of nearly all handguns and rifles.

“We can have respect for the Second Amendment and responsible hunters and sportsmen can have possess weapons,” Obama told an audience of students during a broadcast on the Tumblr website.

But the country needs “commonsense rules in place that make a dent in what’s happening,” he said, after an emotional appeal to the students and young people who were watching the Tumblr broadcast, which was advertised as a question-and-answer session about student debt.

The Second Amendment was never meant for hunters and sportsman, but for Citizens to protect the nation from those who would attack it, and to protect themselves from a tyrannical government, a government that disregards the law, our Constitution, and our Rights. One that harms its citizens.

“My greatest frustration so far is that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people you know who can do just unbelievable damage,” he said.

And where is gun violence the greatest? In those liberal run areas which instituted draconian gun regulations. I do enjoy how he’s “frustrated” that people just won’t listen to him. He always seems to be disappointed and/or frustrated that citizens aren’t interested in so many of his hardcore Progressive, fascist policies.

“We’re the only developed country on Earth where this happens. … Our level of gun violence is off the charts. There’s no advanced developing country on Earth that would put up with this,” he said.

Says the guy surrounded by federal agents who carry weapons that are banned for private citizens. And, of course, he has to demonize the NRA

(SMH) “Most members of Congress — and I have to say to some degree this is bipartisan — are terrified of the NRA. The combination of, you know, the NRA and gun manufacturers are very well financed and have the capacity to move votes in local elections and congressional elections. And so if you’re running for office right now, that’s where you feel the heat,” he said.

The Australian also notes this, which wasn’t included in the other articles

“The country has to do some soul searching about this. This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me,” Mr Obama said.

Again, says the guy surrounded by agents armed with automatic weapons not allowed for private citizens, and who will have government supplied armed protection for 10 years once he leaves office. We’ve done some soul searching, and feel that his policies are Bad. Charles C.W. Cooke notes

In other words, the president of the United States just praised a government for forcefully removing all semi-automatic firearms (i.e. a remarkable number of the guns in America and the majority of those sold today) from its citizenry.

Let me be clear, as Obama likes to say: You simply cannot praise Australia’s gun-laws without praising the country’s mass confiscation program. That is Australia’s law. When the Left says that we should respond to shootings as Australia did, they don’t mean that we should institute background checks on private sales; they mean that they we should ban and confiscate guns. No amount of wooly words can change this. Again, one doesn’t bring up countries that have confiscated firearms as a shining example unless one wishes to push the conversation toward confiscation.

Liberals like Obama very much support confiscation of most guns from the citizens. Of course, none of them think restrictive and confiscatory laws should apply to themselves. Just Other People.

* Photo from MrConservative.

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Attorney General Holder Has Hissy Fit Towards Boy Scouts

By William Teach June 11, 2014 – 8:09 am

Apparently, Eric Holder has nothing else to do other than insult private citizens and their organization. You’d think he’d be too busy redacting all the documents House panels want. You’d also think that the Attorney General of the United States would understand that this kind of conduct violates the spirit of the First Amendment, that whole freedom of association thing, along with other provisions

(LA Times) Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that the Boy Scouts of America perpetuates “the worst stereotypes” by barring gay people from becoming Scout leaders.

“The continuation of a policy that discriminates against gay adult leaders – by an iconic American institution – only preserves and perpetuates the worst kind of stereotypes,” Holder said in a speech to the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal in Washington.

Holder did not announce any legal action against the Boy Scouts. A Supreme Court decision 14 years ago said the Scouts, as a private entity, had a right to discriminate against gays.

The very fact that the LA Times article, which comes from the wire services, even mentions that Holder “did not announce and legal action”, immediately makes one wonder if Holder is planning some sort of legal action against the BSA. It’s also in there to make Low Information Voters and Liberal Idiots think that the BSA are doing something legally wrong

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith issued a conciliatory statement in response to Holder’s speech.

“We recognize there are many opinions on these matters,” he said. “The Boy Scouts of America believes that to disagree does not mean to disrespect; we remain focused on delivering the nation’s foremost youth development program.”

So the BSA is going to be more adult than the AG of the USA. It’s entirely unsurprising that Holder would choose to be nasty and disrespectful. The BSA should probably expect an investigation and an IRS audit shortly.

(Holder) said the Scouts’ policy is “a relic of an age of prejudice and insufficient understanding.”

I think they understand sufficiently that while most gay adult males are good people, with no danger, there will be enough that will join because they are pedophiles. How many stories have we heard about teachers being child predators? It’s surely a small percentage, but these crop up every few weeks. The Boy Scouts would prefer to avoid that.

“Today, courageous lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals routinely put their lives on the line as members of America’s armed services. They inspire us, they protect us, and they defend us. And if these men and women are fit for military service, then surely they are fit to mentor, to teach and to serve as role models for the leaders of future generations.”

Many surely are. And many surely aren’t. The Boy Scouts have decided that they will avoid the drama. Unfortunately, Holder has decided to be a jerkwad. Maybe he should be more concerned with his department running assault weapons into Mexico, the IRS illegally targeting Conservative groups, the IRS illegally sharing taxpayer information with Holder’s FBI, with potential criminal misconduct in the Veteran’s Affairs department, illegal use of marijuana in Colorado, among other states, and a raft of other issues.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Surprise! Study Finds Western Antarctica Melting Mostly Due To Geothermal Processes

By William Teach June 10, 2014 – 2:32 pm

Jo Nova wondered when the original DOOOOOM story about Western Antarctica melt was released whether it could be due to volcanic activity. Surprise? Today she writes

Only last week I wondered if West Antarctic volcanoes had something to do with the Antarctic warming and pointed out this strange coincidence below where almost all the warming seems to occur over the volcanic area which is part of the hot “Pacific rim of fire”. I also wondered why some parts of the media don’t seem to mention the volcanoes. Wait and see if this story gets picked up. So far, Fox, and Business Insider have it.

On to the press release from the University Of Texas at Austin

Thwaites Glacier, the large, rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is not only being eroded by the ocean, it’s being melted from below by geothermal heat, researchers at the Institute for Geophysics at The University of Texas at Austin (UTIG) report in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings significantly change the understanding of conditions beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet where accurate information has previously been unobtainable.

The Thwaites Glacier has been the focus of considerable attention in recent weeks as other groups of researchers found the glacier is on the way to collapse, but more data and computer modeling are needed to determine when the collapse will begin in earnest and at what rate the sea level will increase as it proceeds. The new observations by UTIG will greatly inform these ice sheet modeling efforts.

Using radar techniques to map how water flows under ice sheets, UTIG researchers were able to estimate ice melting rates and thus identify significant sources of geothermal heat under Thwaites Glacier. They found these sources are distributed over a wider area and are much hotter than previously assumed.

The geothermal heat contributed significantly to melting of the underside of the glacier, and it might be a key factor in allowing the ice sheet to slide, affecting the ice sheet’s stability and its contribution to future sea level rise.

The cause of the variable distribution of heat beneath the glacier is thought to be the movement of magma and associated volcanic activity arising from the rifting of the Earth’s crust beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Knowledge of the heat distribution beneath Thwaites Glacier is crucial information that enables ice sheet modelers to more accurately predict the response of the glacier to the presence of a warming ocean.

 

Well, that’s strange.   Watts Up With That?

Well, never mind. From the University of Texas at Austin  and the “you can stop your wailing now” department, comes this really, really, inconvenient truth.

Lest Warmists think this is all some Skeptic conspiracy, even Discovery notices this as serious science. Of course, this is nothing exactly new: NBC News noticed volcanic activity under Antarctica as recently as November 2013. So did many other news outlets, ones which are decidedly leftist.

Might there be some warming causation helping? Of course. Is it anthropogenic? Probably not. Otherwise, Warmists would get off their duffs and stop using fossil fuels. Their very inaction gives rise to the thought that they don’t believe what they say.

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Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 20 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 10, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…are lovely wind turbines which should be erected far away from where you live, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Science, with a post on how 2014 is shaping up, temperature wise.

Read: If All You See… »

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

Some Dems See “Climate Change” As A Winning Issue

By William Teach June 10, 2014 – 11:00 am

Well, it’s certainly not as dangerous as campaigning on support of Ocare

(NY Times) He is a Democrat in a marquee Senate race, pressed by a strong Republican in a state with a challenging political environment. So when a new proposal to limit power plant emissions was seen as posing a threat to allies of the Obama administration, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado acted quickly: He embraced the plan.

“Coloradans have seen firsthand the harmful effects of climate change, including severe drought, record wildfires and reduced snowpack,” Mr. Udall said in a statement shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency plan was made public last week. “The E.P.A.’s draft rule is a good start, and I will fight to ensure it complements the work we have already done in Colorado and provides states the flexibility they need to make it successful.”

He is a Democrat in a marquee Senate race, pressed by a strong Republican in a state with a challenging political environment. So when a new proposal to limit power plant emissions was seen as posing a threat to allies of the Obama administration, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado acted quickly: He embraced the plan.

“Coloradans have seen firsthand the harmful effects of climate change, including severe drought, record wildfires and reduced snowpack,” Mr. Udall said in a statement shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency plan was made public last week. “The E.P.A.’s draft rule is a good start, and I will fight to ensure it complements the work we have already done in Colorado and provides states the flexibility they need to make it successful.”

Some other Dems are also picking up the mantle. I’d tell them to be careful else they end up losing as badly as Labor did in Australia through multiple elections, but, then, I want Democrats to lose that badly.

In Iowa, Representative Bruce Braley, the Democratic Senate nominee, has adopted the same approach as Mr. Udall. “Reducing our carbon output is not only necessary for the health of the planet, it’s an opportunity to continue to improve the health of the Iowa economy — which is and will remain my No. 1 priority,” Mr. Braley said.

Say, I wonder if these Democrats, and the others pimping Hotcoldwetdry, will stop using fossil fuels during their own campaigns? Eh, silly question. Of course they won’t.

In other states with competitive Senate races, such as Michigan, Democrats say growing public support for action to curb climate change — coupled with pronouncements by Republican candidates that human activity is not contributing to it, or their denials that the world is growing warmer — could help Democrats this year. They say it will definitely make the party stronger heading into the 2016 presidential election.

Hmm, growing public support

Virtually every single poll has “climate change” at the bottom of the list of concerns, typically last or next to last. Really, what this is about is whipping their base up to get the vote out, changing the subject away from Ocare and the Dems shoddy, lackluster economic policies, and trying to find new ways to tax Americans.

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People Heading To The ER In Droves Under Obamacare

By William Teach June 10, 2014 – 9:00 am

Who woulda thunk it?

(Courier Journal) It wasn’t supposed to work this way, but since the Affordable Care Act took effect in January, Norton Hospital has seen its packed emergency room become even more crowded, with about 100 more patients a month.

That 12 percent spike in the number of patients — many of whom aren’t actually facing true emergencies — is spurring the hospital to convert a waiting room into more exam rooms.

That’s just the opposite of what many people expected under Obamacare, particularly because one of the goals of health reform was to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by expanding Medicaid and giving poor people better access to primary care.

Instead, many hospitals in Kentucky and across the nation are seeing a surge of those newly insured Medicaid patients walking into emergency rooms.

As Ed Morrissey points out, this isn’t the first report like this, but it does “show that the increase in emergency-room usage is not just a one-time spike.” He highlights a video report from Bloomberg from a few weeks ago. He also notes

The issue isn’t merely a burst of enthusiasm from newly-covered users, although that’s part of the problem. New coverage has created more demand, as was easily predicted, but did nothing to address supply.

And a doctor hits the nail on the head with the perfect description

“It’s a perfect storm here,” said Dr. Ryan Stanton of Lexington, president of the Kentucky chapter of the ER physician group.”We’ve given people an ATM card in a town with no ATMs.”

It may or may not be true that Ocare incentivizes users to head to the ER for every issue, but it surely provides no means to brake the issue. A little story: back when I was with AT&T, they switched all management in the wireless division (I’m not sure if this happened in the wired department at the time) to a Health Savings Account. One of things HSAs do is make people think about the cost of their own care. Per the Carolina’s top HR rep, those thoughts of personal cost causes an immediate decrease in the use of ERs for minor issues, which was a big driver in reducing overall costs. The regular plans saw the company paying $8-12K per year per employee. HSAs dropped that to $6-8k per year. Certainly, employees would pay more out of pocket yearly if they hit their deductibles. I would have spent about $450 more per year if I made it to my $1,100 deductible. Yet, I never did hit that level, and saved money every year but one (I came very close to breaking my elbow. Long and stupid story that did not include the words “hey, y’all, watch this). Users no longer immediately jumped to the ER, and instead went to the doctor, an emergency clinic, or simply the drug store.

If Ocare users think it’s all “free”, they will use it willy nilly without thought of cost. If only people had warned against this before Ocare was passed.

Read: People Heading To The ER In Droves Under Obamacare »

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White House: Some Soldiers Can Be Left Behind

By William Teach June 10, 2014 – 8:33 am

In relation to Bowe Bergdahl, Obama has said many times since the swap “We don’t leave men and women in uniform behind”, or something to that tune. He even doubled down by adding “We don’t condition that.” Of course, the issue isn’t Bergdahl, but a failure to notify Congress and, #1, trading 5 high ranking Taliban members for him. But, what of another man in uniform?

(The Hill) The White House rejected comparisons Monday between Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, freed earlier this month by the Taliban, and a U.S. Marine currently being held by the authorities in Mexico.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he thought it was necessary to “draw a distinction” between Bergdahl, who went missing years ago in Afghanistan, and Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who accidentally crossed into Mexico on March 31 while in possession of loaded firearms.

“Sergeant Bergdahl was being held by the Taliban, who is engaged in an armed conflict with the United States and coalition forces,” Earnest said. “And so what was conducted to free Sergeant Bergdahl was a prisoner exchange. And this is something that has been part of winding down armed conflicts for centuries.”

Republicans have criticized Obama for working to engineer the release of Bergdahl while Tahmooressi remains imprisoned.

“It’s ironic that we can deal with the Taliban and get an American soldier released, but we can’t get a Marine across the border released,” Rep. Ted Poe. (R-Texas) told 1080-KRLD in Dallas.

And, of course, we get

Earnest said Obama was “certainly concerned” about Tahmooressi’s fate, but referred questions about diplomatic efforts to free him — and the administration’s confidence in the Mexican judicial system — to the Defense and State departments.

The Typical Obama Administration Deflection, “check with That Department”. But, hey, Obama was “certainly concerned”. Of course, Team Obama apparently doesn’t think they can use Tahmooressi for political gain. The fact that this could earn Team Obama some nice brownie points has missed their minds.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Posted in Barry Obama, Current Affairs, Democrats | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Met Office Wants To Combat “Climate Change” With Poetry

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 2:23 pm

Well, I guess that’s considerably more easy than actually making their own lives carbon neutral

(UK Independent) …scientists are being told to use art and poetry to win public support in the battle to curb climate change.

Dame Julia Slingo, the chief scientist at the Met Office, has called for a radical overhaul of the way climate scientists go about their business, arguing that they need to make their reports less turgid and more engaging.

“We have to look increasingly at what society requires of us… We increasingly recognise that to reach the general public we have to use all sorts of different channels of communication,” Dame Julia told a recent gathering of leading climate change scientists at the University of Exeter.

“And it’s not through tables and graphs. Sometimes it is through art, through music, through poetry, and storytelling and that is increasingly something we have to think about – how we communicate in a more humanist way.

“Scientists have to stay engaged in the communication message. We will have to work at this. We will have to get the message out that this is a profound, deeply serious problem. It is urgent that we, as a science community, work together to advance the science and also to communicate it as effectively as we can so that we get the action that is so badly needed,” she said.

Well, yeah, I guess so, since their actual science is a mess and their models are failures. This is partially a recognition that their scare tactics are no longer working.

Dame Julia also called on the public to step up their action to publicise climate change, for example by recording the way it is affecting their immediate environment.

Personally, I’d tell the Warmists to practice what they preach. Silly me.

“Climate change is a massive opportunity for citizen science,” she said. “For everybody who experiences the natural world, we can use all the social media tools that we have to document what we see happening to the world around us.”

Unless you don’t buy into their little cult, and then the message to Skeptics is “shut up”.

Of course, we’ve seen lots of Warmist “art”, such as

All murdery. And

Insane. And

Creepy. Here’s mine

Not particularly doomy, eh?

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Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is floody drought world, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Yid With Lid, with a post on the top 7 climate change lies told by Warmists.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Comment Spam Part 2

By William Teach June 9, 2014 – 10:36 am

I installed and activated a new spam blocking plugin. Interestingly, there is not one spam comment in the WordPress spam folder. However, is this stopping people from commenting? Send me an email or tweet me at @WilliamTeach.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments | Trackback URL
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