Hooray! Obama Takes Long Fossil Fueled Flight To Announce $1 Billion Climate Slush Fund

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 4:34 pm

Yes, the man with the Largest Carbon Footprint In The World (41K metric tons) did actually do this

(Washington Post) FRESNO, Calif. — President Obama said here Friday that he will propose a $1 billion fund in his fiscal 2015 budget to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change and to fund research and technology to protect against its impact.

The president announced the “climate resilience fund” during a meeting with farmers and ranchers in Fresno, Calif., who have been severely affected by a drought in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Obama is expected to release his proposed 2015 budget in early March. The prospects for the climate fund are uncertain in a Republican-controlled House. But Obama, who made preparation for climate change one of the major themes of the climate action plan he released in June, will continue to press for the need to adapt, according to the White House.

Let’s take a step back from the argument regarding the causes of the changes in climate, namely, is it mostly or solely caused by Mankind, particularly fossil fuels usage, or is it mostly solely natural? The very fact is that changes in climate can cause real world issues within the environment and mankind. Of course, throughout time people and life have either adapted or died out. One of Darwin’s fundamental points. When the dust bowl occurred in the American mid-west, many people picked up and moved, particularly to California. There will always be changes. So, having plans in place to deal with these changes is not a bad idea.

Of course, how will this all work out, considering that hardcore Leftists are the ones pushing it?

(Reuters) Funds would be used to research how to better prepare for climate change-related effects like rising sea levels and extreme temperatures and encourage local initiatives. Other investments would include “breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure” such as building sea walls and more resilient electricity delivery systems to protect vulnerable cities and towns.

So they won’t actually be really doing much more than spreading money around to Warmist/Progressive friendly groups to do research, along with probably sending money to companies that will fail, much like with his “green energy” idiocy via The Stimulus.

The concept of the fund is based on a recommendation made in December 2012 by the think tank Center for American Progress.

Let’s not forget that the founder of CAP is John Podesta, now a senior adviser to Obama. CAP is an extremely left wing group, and you can bet the money would go to left leaning groups and companies, especially donors.

The problem is not so much any changes in weather, because weather always has, and always will, happen. The problem is more people living more modern lifestyles and dependent on infrastructure. The last thing we need is a guy who has a massive carbon footprint yammering on about the need to spend Other People’s Money on “climate change”, though.

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If All You See…

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is warm snow because Someone Else forgot to unplug all their appliances, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on exactly who has paid for Obamacare.

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CBS News: Hey, This Snow Thing Is Global Warming, Ya Know!

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 11:40 am

No one should be surprised that CBS News and the people they invite to participate are fully invested in anti-science

(Newsbusters) As a snow storm beared down on the east coast on Thursday, CBS This Morning sought to lay blame on global warming, with the headline on screen fretting: “Extreme Weather; Are These Kinds of Storms, Droughts Unprecedented?” Co-host Charlie Rose turned New York City College physics professor Michio Kaku and wondered: “What’s causing all this?”

Kaku proclaimed: “Well, the wacky weather could get even wackier. What we’re seeing is that the jet stream and the polar vortex are becoming unstable. Instability of historic proportions. We think it’s because of the gradual heating up of the North Pole. The North Pole is melting.” Rose interjected: “Global warming.”

Kaku continued: “That excess heat generated by all this warm water is destabilizing this gigantic bucket of cold air….So that’s the irony, that heating could cause gigantic storms of historic proportions.”

On CBS This Morning Thursday, co-host Gayle King theorized: “Does this explain why Niagra Falls is frozen and why it’s warm in Sochi? It’s all connected to the same thing, correct?” Kaku replied: “It’s connected. If you take a look at the jet stream, you see that England is flooding right now, Latin America is warm, while California has a drought. We’re talking about instabilities caused by the eratic nature of the jet stream.”

Except, the melting in the Arctic was much less this year. Many Warmists had predicted the Arctic would be ice free. Heck, many proclaimed that snowfall would be a thing of the past. Now these crazy anti-science people think massive, and in some cases, record, snowfall is caused by heating.

As far as Sochi goes

(Daily Caller) Marc Morano pointed out that Sochi’s position in Russia — thousands of miles south of Moscow and not far from the Turkish maritime border — lends the resort town an almost tropical feel that doesn’t produce much snow. Meanwhile, vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere, including the storm-socked East Coast, remain buried under snow and ice.

“They’re waking up and seeing palm trees outside,” he said. “It’s the southernmost city in Russia. And had they held these Olympics in Michigan — upper Michigan was the coldest place on the entire planet in January — they should have held them in Michigan if they were looking for snow.”

“They should’ve held them in Iran,” Morano continued, “which and the most snow in 50 years, where 50 houses were crushed. They should’ve held them in Italy, where they’re having record snow. They should’ve held them anywhere in the United States, where we’ve broken over 4,000 snow records this past month.”

“The idea that they’d pick the most southern city with palm trees, and then use it as a springboard to call for a U.N. global warming treaty,” he said, “something’s just not adding up.”

He also points out that Sochi is considered the warmest city in Russia. Travel sites, like this one, consider it to be the warmest city in Russia. The Atlantic wondered last June whose bright idea it was to hold the Winter Olympics in the warmest part of Russia. The Washington Post notes “The Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympic Games…”. Obviously, many of the games are held in the mountains, an hour away from Sochi. But, it made no sense to pick the city.

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Team Obama Decides To Ignore Banking Laws Regarding Marijuana

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 8:30 am

Another day, another lawless pronouncement from the Obama administration

(AP) The Obama administration on Friday gave banks a road map for conducting transactions with legal marijuana sellers so these new businesses can stash away savings, make payroll and pay taxes like any other enterprise. It’s not clear banks will get on board.

Guidance issued by the Justice and Treasury departments is the latest step by the federal government toward enabling a legalized marijuana industry to operate in states that approve it. The intent is to make banks feel more comfortable working with marijuana businesses that are licensed and regulated.

Let’s be clear: it is against federal law to sell marijuana, which is a schedule 1 drug. There are numerous criminal and regulatory roadblocks to financial institutions doing business with drug dealers. A drug dealer is considered a criminal under federal law, and cannot open a bank account, cash checks, nor accept credit cards. And we were told, at least when it came to illegal immigration, that federal law trumps state law. Working with the marijuana sellers would open the banks to racketeering charges. Yet, here is the Justice Department (sic) relaxing the rules, and simply requiring banks to file reports that “satisfy regulatory obligations in this area”.

Once again, the Obama administration is simply doing whatever they want, federal law be damned.

Unsurprisingly, despite their violations of the law, Team Obama’s plan isn’t a particularly good one

But a leading financial services trade group immediately expressed misgivings and others, too, said the guidelines don’t go far enough in protecting banks.

“After a series of red lights, we expected this guidance to be a yellow one,” said Don Childears, president and CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association. “This isn’t close to that. At best, this amounts to ‘serve these customers at your own risk’ and it emphasizes all of the risks. This light is red.”

There are also huge regulatory and monitoring burdens place on the financial institutions. More red tape. Which means more work and costs.

But in response, the American Bankers Association said “guidance or regulation doesn’t alter the underlying challenge for banks. As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions.”

The group says banks will only be comfortable serving marijuana businesses if federal prohibitions on the drug are changed in law.

Oh, come on, guys, Team Obama is a law unto themselves!

In fact, several Congress Critters have submitted legislation, led by Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) and Denny Heck (WA – 10), designed to deal with the marijuana banking issue. Of course, marijuana would still be illegal under federal law, and would create a situation where there would be unequal treatment under the law.

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NC DOT: Look In Your Own Mirror For Black Ice Accident Responsibility

By William Teach February 15, 2014 – 8:06 am

This story tickles me. It is rare that any Government agency opens up and directly blames a segment of the public. Usually, we’ll get all sorts of PoliticalSpeak, platitudes, calls to do better in the future, and patronization. But not this time.

There were lots and lots of wrecks and accidents and people just sliding off the roads in the Raleigh, NC area Friday morning. So much of the snow and ice and slush had melted through the day Thursday, but froze overnight going into Friday. The temps were still below freezing during the morning time. There were even crews called in from other areas which weren’t affected by the storm to help with salting and sanding. At one point, the crews were reduced from 50 to 5, because they needed rest. They’d been going non-stop since before the storm. Then we get to the meat

(WRAL) McCurry said officials felt they were prepared to handle black ice on area roads Friday morning, adding that drivers were warned of the dangers.

“They were advised by the governor as well as DOT to maintain their speed, watching where they’re going and what they’re doing, and from what I understand, several of them didn’t,” he said. “I think we did everything we could.”

Exactly. Stay off the roads. Ice is not your friend while driving. If you have to drive, be careful.

Transportation Secretary Tony Tata agreed, saying there’s only so much road crews can do to treat black ice.

“We warned about black ice, and we worked through the night in Wake County. Was there more we could do? Sure, you can always do more,” Tata said. “But when you have 100 counties stymied by an event like this, I’m proud of the teams that moved over to help out.”

He went on to point out that there is no possible way to get all the black ice spots. The DOT used 45,000 tons of salt and sand. And they warned people time and time again to stay off the road. It’s not that difficult a concept. If you drive, your are the responsible party. If you aren’t aware of what could happen when you have cold roads, freezing temperatures, and lots of melting snow and slush, well, then, you should probably turn in your driver’s license, because you are a danger to other people, much less yourself.

Again, no apologies, no squishy political speak, not patronizing, just an acknowledgement that people were responsible for their own actions. Good for the NC DOT. We may make fun of them when we see 10 guys standing around while 1 fills in a pothole, but when the winter weather hits the fan, they work extremely hard to make the roads usable, all while dealing with the danger themselves. They rarely get to enjoy the winter weather themselves. So give them a break.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Poll: Most Non-Liberal Americans Against Unilateral Presidential Decrees

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 3:00 pm

Unsurprisingly, Democrats/Liberals/Progressives really love how Obama simply makes the law as he sees fit

(Fox News) According to a just-released Fox News national poll, most voters don’t think the country’s system of government was designed for the president to act unilaterally, and a majority disapproves of Obama bypassing Congress. (poll results here)

The new poll finds that 74 percent think the president using executive orders to get around Congress is not how things are supposed to work in our country.  That includes 54 percent of Democrats.

Large majorities of independents (80 percent) and Republicans (93 percent) believe it goes against our system for the president to act independently to advance his policies.

The writing is kind of unclear. The question was “Barack Obama said he will take action to advance his policy goals with or without Congress, and that he’ll use executive orders to get around Congress. Do you think this is the way our government is supposed to work, or not?” It is a yes or no answer. 40% of Dems think this is the way government is supposed to work

Even when asked to set aside their views on how the government is supposed to work, by a wide 60-37 percent margin voters still disapprove of Obama going around Congress.

Almost all Republicans disapprove of Obama acting without lawmakers (90 percent), as do two-thirds of independents (66 percent).

Democrats approve by a 66-31 percent margin.

So, when we set aside that Constitution thingy, 66% of Dems approve. They should remember that they will not always control the Executive Branch.

BTW, other findings include 58% thinking the worst is still to come regarding the economy. 60% think Los Federales policies have increased income inequality. 65% of Independents disapprove of Obama’s job performance.

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If All You See…

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is lots of warmth created snow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Legal Insurrection, with a post on Occupy styled fashion.

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Sea Rise And Ocean Temperatures

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 11:19 am

Two papers of note, both via The Hockey Schtick

New paper finds NE Atlantic Ocean was warmer during the Medieval Warm Period

A 1000-year sea surface temperature history of the NE Atlantic and Nordic Seas

Using ten proxy sea surface temperature (SST) records – six from the Norwegian Margin, three from the North Icelandic Shelf and one from the Scottish Margin – Cunningham et al. prepared a 1,000-year SST record spanning the period from AD 1000 to 2000, which revealed, in their words, “the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’ warming was most pronounced before AD 1200, with a long-term cooling trend apparent after AD 1250.” And what did the new record reveal about the uniqueness – or not! – of the region’s late-20th-century Current Warm Period? The twenty researchers report “in recent decades temperatures have been similar to those inferred for the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’.” However, their graphical representations (three versions of them) of the one-thousand-year period clearly indicate the peak warmth of the Current Warm Period has actually been a couple tenths of a degree C less than the earlier Medieval Warm Period.

As has been found to be the case in so many land-based assessments of the relative warmth of the Medieval and Current Warm Periods, there is nothing unusual, unnatural, or unprecedented about Earth’s current level of warmth … although it could be thought to be somewhat unusual in that, even with the 120-ppm increase in the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration that occurred over the last 1000 years, it is still not as hot now as it was back in the Medieval Warm Period.

Well, that’s strange, isn’t it? It almost seems like some other forces other than fossil fuels are in play, especially since 95% of the Warmist models have failed.

New paper finds 20th century sea level rise was only 4.3 inches in S Hemisphere, 7.9 inches N Hemisphere

A paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters “challenges the widely accepted value of global sea level rise for the 20th century” and finds sea levels rose in the southern hemisphere at only about half the rate of the northern hemisphere. According to the authors, sea levels rose [relative to land] only 7.9 inches in the northern hemisphere and 4.3 inches over the entire 20th century.

Essentially, that would mean that sea rise in the Southern Hemisphere is well below the average for the last 7,000 years, which is the time period generally used for reference due to the massive rise from the end of the last glacial age leveling off. The average is 6-8 inches per century. Which means the rise for the Northern Hemisphere is well within the average. But, that average encompasses the warm and cool periods during the Holocene. During a warm period one would expect higher numbers, and low to negative numbers during cool periods. That’s how one derives an average.

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NY Mayor DeBlasio Learns The Price Of Keeping Schools Open During School

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 8:19 am

Perhaps keeping the schools open in Wisconsin during a massive snow storm would be OK (well, not really, not in today’s litigious and uber-safety conscious society. Perhaps 20-30 years ago), but NYC? Not so much. Hey, you voted for this hard-core Leftists, New Yorkers, so this is on you

(USA Today) As New Yorkers struggled to make their way around slushy streets, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to keep New York City’s schools open Thursday drew criticism and praise. Some said the conditions made it difficult for kids to travel while others backed his stance saying kids needed to be in be school.

“I think it’s kind of crazy,” said David Martino, 28, who was visiting New York from Oakland, Calif. “For those who have to find their own way to school, it’s really dangerous. You could walk to school today and show up from your waist down soaked. And then, you’re stuck in school for the rest of the day drenched. That’s uncomfortable and it’s not sanitary.”

De Blasio countered complaints during a news conference.

“So many families depend on their schools as a place for their kids to be during the day, a safe place — a place where they are not only are taught, they get nutrition and they are safe from the elements,” he said.

“So many families have to go to work, the members of these families have to go to work, they do not have a choice, and they need a safe option for their kids. So as long as we know our kids can get to school safely, and we know we can operate our schools effectively, we make that decision.”

Some note that the schools are not baby-sitter services. Most schools seemed to have low attendance, and there was very little in the way of reading, writing, test taking, nor education occurring.

Over at the NY Times, an interesting point is made

With six snowstorms in six weeks, Mr. de Blasio has been drawing short straws in an unforgiving city, and he pointed out on Thursday that city schools have been closed for snow only 11 times in nearly 40 years.

Then again, the city received 9.5 inches of snow in Central Park, which might not be heavy for North Dakota, but is for NYC. The forecast was exactly correct for the snow, sleet, and freezing rain. And schools across New York state, New Jersey, and Connecticut were, in fact, closed.

Why would DeBlasio do this? Many of his allies and supporters said the policy was “misguided”. We could probably guess. As a hardcore Leftist, he does see the school system as a babysitter service, one which can conveniently indoctrinate kids. We can also assume that he’s an idiot for going with this policy, which probably didn’t sit too well with teachers who would have loved a snow day themselves.

BTW, in the latter part of the NY Times article we learn

In his State of the City address, Mr. de Blasio announced a plan for municipal identification cards that was greeted warmly by (illegal) immigrant residents and their advocates, who thanked the mayor for bringing New York in line with other major cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, that use similar systems.

So, wait, I thought identification cards were Bad, at least when it comes to requiring ID to perform the Constitutionally sacred ideal of voting?

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Uber-Liberal 9th Circuit Affirms Right To Carry

By William Teach February 14, 2014 – 7:54 am

A win for the good guys, the folks who could end up using their gun to defend themselves and others

(Reuters) A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a requirement by San Diego County that residents show “good cause” to carry a concealed firearm, a ruling that could force local governments across California to revisit the way they license handguns.

A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, acting on a 2009 lawsuit, ruled in a 2-1 decision that San Diego County’s restrictions amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on citizens’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Coupled with a California state law that largely bans the open carrying of firearms in public, San Diego County’s “good cause” rules on concealed weapons effectively bar residents from carrying a gun altogether, the panel said.

“In California, the only way that the typical, responsible, law-abiding citizen can carry a weapon in public for the lawful purpose of self-defense is with a concealed carry permit. And, in San Diego County, that option has been taken off the table,” Justice Thomas O’Scannlain wrote in the 77-page opinion for the majority.

To carry, one had to complete a training course (a good idea), show that they had good moral fiber, and show that they had “good cause” to carry. Those last two, especially the “good cause”, made it difficult to impossible for people to obtain the permit in California. San Diego County refused to accept self defense or personal safety as valid reasons. Which, of course, are the main two reasons. They had to demonstrate special need (like they were a big donor to Democrats) or special risk (like they’re a Hollywood actor) to obtain the permit. No more, thanks to the ruling.

“The 9th Circuit confirmed that the government no longer gets to pick and choose which law-abiding citizens may exercise their constitutional right to carry a firearm for self-defense,” said attorney Chuck Michel, who represented the plaintiffs challenging San Diego’s restrictions in the case.

“This is a landmark ruling for the state of California. No longer will criminals have the security of knowing that their victims are defenseless in public,” Michel said.

Eugene Volokh digs deep into the decisions, and notes that this also affects open-carry. Essentially, the California law banned both, especially the heavier restrictions in San Diego County.

I think the Ninth Circuit majority’s analysis is correct on this, and the dissent’s is mistaken. The dissent keeps stressing that the case should be about whether the California ban on concealed carry is constitutional, and that Heller says that the concealed carry ban is indeed constitutional. But the California ban on concealed carry is part of a general scheme that bans the great bulk of all carrying in public for self-defense (unless one has a permit that the police may choose not to grant). It is this general scheme that violates the Second Amendment, even if a ban on concealed carry that left people free to carry openly would not do so.

Make sure to read the whole thing.

Elsewhere, we learn that an aide to NY Governor Cuomo, whose state restricts people from bringing guns to work, a law Cuomo pushed for and signed, was caught carrying a gun at work (and waiving it around irresponsibly), and *surprise!* received a waiver.

And in Connecticut, citizens are refusing to register their guns per the draconian law. Some estimates put registration as low as 15%.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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