Progressive Candidates: Hey, Don’t Call Us Progressives

By William Teach March 31, 2022 – 10:30 am

I wonder why they don’t want anyone to call them what they really are? I wonder why they won’t label themselves what they really are?

Progressive candidates seek distance from label

They’re pushing for environmental reforms, embracing single-payer health care and calling for more government assistance. But increasingly, many are reluctant to call themselves “progressives.”

Left-wing candidates from Pennsylvania to North Carolina to Missouri are shying away from the P-word on the campaign trail, in messaging and online fundraising, and even in media blitzes, signaling an attempt to rebrand their wing of the party as Democrats debate how to win the midterm elections.

On paper, many mesh with Capitol Hill’s top leftists. Some support easing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and restarting discussions around “Medicare for All.” Others want to accept more Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of their country. Most would like President Biden to use executive action to give Americans more aid across the board.

Their hesitation to be defined as such, however, is new.

The article attempts to portray Progressives as those that push for progress, moving forward. Which is a load of mule fritters. These people are Nice Fascists, meaning, again, not that they’re nice, but, that they are doing this For Your Own Good. Instituting lots and lots of government FYOG. Controlling you. Which is fine when mom and dad do it when you’re a child. Not so good when you’re an adult in a nation founded on Freedom.

While some high-profile contenders still use the moniker, others want to be thought of in different terms. Pennsylvania’s Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who’s seeking the party’s nomination for a coveted Senate seat, prefers a different word: populist.

Progressivism sounds great, right up till you consider the implications and how it negatively effects your life.

Former North Carolina state Sen. Erica Smith, who suspended her Senate bid in November to instead try to replace retiring Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D) in the House, is using the term “New Deal” to describe her place within the party.

She’s pretty much a far left wacko along the lines of AOC. But, really, Progressives are far, far right on the political scale. The further right you move the more governmental control there is. U.S. Conservatives are smackdab in the middle of the scale.

But unlike the quartet of senators from liberal bastions, these 2022 Democratic candidates aren’t situated in safe, deep-blue states and districts. Fetterman, Kunce and Smith are each competing in battlegrounds that could determine which party controls the Senate and House — Pennsylvania, Missouri and North Carolina — making their choice of rhetoric more consequential, some Democrats say.

Hence why they’re lying about who they really are. G.K. Butterfield represents NC’s 1st District, very rural, which comprises parts that are very much GOP and very much Democrat. It’s almost 45% black, and 43% white. But, it isn’t close. No Republican has been elected since 1883 to the House. The northeast section very much sways the vote. It has gone Democrat for president biggly every time. So, why would Smith eschew the term Progressive? Their internal polling must not be going well on the agenda.

They’ve been dinged not only as “socialists” by the GOP, but as too left to win general elections by some in their own party. For months, moderate Democrats have levied critiques against liberals with aspirations of defeating long-standing members. Even Biden has made it clear he believes a return to the center is necessary.

“It is a reaction to progressivism somehow being attached to socialism or communism,” said Bullard. “You have a lot of apprehension, regression, people who just are scared.”

Well, because it is like socialism and communism. Not the Political Theory 101 definition, but, the in practice one, which is actually far into the Authoritarian model. But, then they get elected and vote as Modern Socialist goons.

Read: Progressive Candidates: Hey, Don’t Call Us Progressives »

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Brandon’s ‘Climate Change’ Agenda Shockingly Polls Pretty Low

By William Teach March 31, 2022 – 7:15 am

When it comes to real world applications, ‘climate change’ almost always polls very low. It might be popular in theory, but, not when you put real issues with it

Poll: American Voters Reject Biden’s Climate Agenda – Want Reliable, Affordable Domestic Energy

American voters in strong majorities reject Joe Biden’s energy policies designed around so-called climate change and want reliable and affordable domestic energy.

“Just 13 respondents (1.3 percent) identified [climate change] as the most pressing issue facing the United States, and just 25 more (2.5 percent) identified it as the second most pressing issue facing the United States,” the announcement of the poll said.

“Voters don’t want the federal government telling them what kinds of cars they should buy and drive,” Stephen Moore said, co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Property. They don’t want taxes on carbon dioxide. “They don’t want the government to make energy more expensive.”

Voters are against a carbon tax and electric vehicle mandates.

  • Voters don’t want the government to make energy more expensive (by a margin of 68 points). They do not want a carbon dioxide tax (rejected by 40 points).
  • Voters reject electric vehicle mandates (63 points).  More than two-thirds (68 percent) said we don’t need government policies that force consumers to buy electric vehicles.

Oops! What do people care about? Economy, inflation, COVID, and, immigration. I’m kinda surprised Ukraine polls so low.

Read: Brandon’s ‘Climate Change’ Agenda Shockingly Polls Pretty Low »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming, Joe Biden | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Atlanta Schools Implemented Cameras To Make Sure Kids Wearing Masks Correctly

By William Teach March 31, 2022 – 7:00 am

This is what the mask cultists were doing in the far left Fulton County. Big Brother is always watching

‘Really alarming’: the rise of smart cameras used to catch maskless students US schools

When students in suburban Atlanta returned to school for in-person classes amid the pandemic, they were required to mask up, like in many places across the US. Yet in this 95,000-student district, officials took mask compliance a step further than most.

Through a network of security cameras, officials harnessed artificial intelligence to identify students whose masks drooped below their noses.

“If they say a picture is worth a thousand words, if I send you a piece of video – it’s probably worth a million,” said Paul Hildreth, the district’s emergency operations coordinator. “You really can’t deny, ‘Oh yeah, that’s me, I took my mask off.’”

The school district in Fulton county had installed the surveillance network, by Motorola-owned Avigilon, years before the pandemic shuttered schools nationwide in 2020. Out of fear of mass school shootings, districts in recent years have increasingly deployed controversial surveillance networks like cameras with facial recognition and gun detection.

If the uber-leftist UK Guardian is calling this really alarming, be very concerned. The school system is mask optional now, so, what are the schools doing now?

But one of the most significant developments has been in AI-enabled cameras. Twenty years ago, security cameras were present in 19% of schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Today, that number exceeds 80%. Powering those cameras with artificial intelligence makes automated surveillance possible, enabling things like temperature checks and the collection of other biometric data.

Districts across the country have said they had bought AI-powered cameras to fight the pandemic. But as pandemic-era protocols like mask mandates end, experts said the technology will remain. Some educators have stated plans to leverage pandemic-era surveillance tech for student discipline while others hope AI cameras will help them identify youth carrying guns.

The cameras have faced sharp resistance from civil rights advocates who question their effectiveness and argue they trample students’ privacy rights.

You think? Many other schools systems implemented systems, which were used for COVID compliance in various ways, and are gathering massive amount of data on juveniles

Verkada offers a cautionary tale. Last year, the company suffered a massive data breach when a hack exposed the live feeds of 150,000 surveillance cameras, including those inside Tesla factories, jails and at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The Newtown district, which suffered a mass school shooting in 2012, said the breach didn’t expose compromising information about students. The vulnerability hasn’t deterred some educators from contracting with the California-based company.

Many of these systems are purchased from China owned vendors. Great way to put all this data on children in the hands of bad actors, right?

In a post-pandemic world, Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the non-profit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, worries the entire school security industry will take a similar approach.

“With the pandemic hopefully waning, we’ll see a lot of security vendors pivoting back to school shooting rhetoric as justification for the camera systems,” he said. Due to the potential for errors, Cahn called the embrace of AI surveillance in schools “really alarming”.

Where is the line between monitoring for safety and invading privacy?

Read: Atlanta Schools Implemented Cameras To Make Sure Kids Wearing Masks Correctly »

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Hotcold Take: Switching To EVs Could Save 100K Lives

By William Teach March 30, 2022 – 3:00 pm

If only Government would force citizens to switch to EVs

US transition to electric vehicles would save over 100,000 lives by 2050 – study

st greta carA speedy nationwide transition to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy would save more than 100,000 American lives and $1.2tn in public health costs over the next three decades, according to a new report.

Analysis by the American Lung Association highlights the public health damage caused by the world’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels, and provides a glimpse into a greener, healthier future – should political leaders decide to act.

According to the report, swapping gas vehicles for zero-emission new cars and trucks in the US would lead to 110,000 fewer deaths, 2.8m fewer asthma attacks and avoid 13.4m sick days by 2050.

Interestingly, they could be correct. But, this nothing to do with ‘climate change’, but, the environment. I’ll be happy to admit that combustion engines release air pollution. Of course, what of the pollution caused by all the mining of the precious metals to create the batteries, and we really do not know the environmental damage in full caused by EVs.

The shift would lead to a 92% fall in greenhouse gases by 2050, generating $1.7tn in climate benefits by protecting ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure from rising sea levels and catastrophic weather events including drought and floods.

Are they really saying that 92% of the greenhouse gases come from vehicles? Cult. It’s no surprise they’ve dragged in a scam to what is actually a real environmental issue.

Overall, communities of color and low-income neighborhoods would reap the biggest benefits from zero-emission technologies as they currently suffer disproportionately from air pollution and climate disasters, the study says.

Because they won’t be able to afford the vehicles?

The calculations are based on transitioning to 100% electric cars sales by 2035 and 100% electric trucks by 2040, as well as ditching dirty fossil fuels for 100% renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear by 2035.

However, given political polarization in the US and a lack of political urgency, it seems highly unlikely that oil and gas companies will stop drilling or that American car dealers will be selling only electric cars by 2035.

Joe Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) legislation, which includes historic funds for climate initiatives, has failed to move through the Senate due to stonewalling by the Republicans and the conservative Democrat Joe Manchin, the fossil-fuel friendly senator from West Virginia.

Unsurprising is the pimping of Government solutions.

Read: Hotcold Take: Switching To EVs Could Save 100K Lives »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach March 30, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is an area drying up due to carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Gates Of Vienna, with a post on the West’s goals in Ukraine.

Read: If All You See… »

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COVID Idiocy: Many Given Probation, Banned From Several Parks Over Organizing Big Hiking Group

By William Teach March 30, 2022 – 10:30 am

We’ve seen lots of stupid things from the time of the Chinese coronavirus. A guy arrested for paddleboarding in the ocean (which, don’t blame Crazy Gavin Newsome, his outside exercise orders allowed that). All the people getting thrown off planes for refusing to wear masks. British cops going nuts. This takes it to a new level, rather like in Fascist Australia where the cops showed up at people’s homes simply for attempting organize a protest

Man Banned from National Parks For Organizing 139-Person Grand Canyon Hike

A Washington State man faces probation and a multi-year ban from several United States national parks after he pled guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a 139-person group hike he organized in the Grand Canyon in defiance of park guidelines.

Joseph Don Mount, of Chehalis, Washington, pled guilty to violating park rules limiting group size to 11 people on the October 2020 hike. He will serve two years on probation and will be banned from entering national parks in northern Arizona including the Grand Canyon during that time.

The National Park Service first became aware of Mount’s plans in September 2020, when the Grand Canyon’s permit office received a tip that a large group of more than 100 people was planning to hike the canyon on October 24. The pseudonymous tipster sent a screenshot of a post by Mount in a private Facebook group noting that he had “112 COMMITTED HIKERS COMING FROM 12 DIFFERENT STATES!!!” and talking about the importance of taking precautions so that they wouldn’t draw attention to themselves. Grand Canyon National Park has limited sizes for under-the-rim groups to 30 since 2014, and further lowered the limit to 11 after the Covid-19 pandemic began. When Mount spoke to the park’s permit office, however, he said he was bringing a group of 12 people; when advised that his group was slightly over the limit, he asked about the possibility of splitting it up to comply with the park’s rules, and was informed that was not allowed.

Cutting to the chase, 139 people showed up to hike that day, and there were rangers waiting for them. They were all outside, and planned on hiking in smaller groups. Other than the government and unhinged COVID cultists, anyone of rational thought see a problem? They were outside in the fresh air getting exercise. Government did not like this, hence, he was actually prosecuted for this.

Ryan Stevens, Mount’s attorney, told the Associated Press that his client had only good intentions in organizing the event, and intended it to be a respite from the solitude imposed by the pandemic.

Things were opening up in October of 2020. Gyms were opening. Things were becoming freer. Last time I checked, there were no laws against hiking, even in big groups, as passed by the federal Congress and signed into law by the President. Just Executive Orders, and sometime simply orders from agency heads. Or park rangers. It’s insane. Too bad he plead guilty, but, fighting the feds is expensive.

Meanwhile

(NBC News) Twenty-one states on Tuesday sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies to end the country’s much-debated mask mandate on public transportation.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, argues that the federal mandate exceeds the CDC’s authority and interferes with state laws banning forced masking.

“Florida has led the nation in standing up to misguided federal government policies and fighting back against heavy-handed mandates that have no scientific backing,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press release announcing the action. “If politicians and celebrities can attend the Super Bowl unmasked, every U.S. citizen should have the right to fly unmasked. It is well past time to get rid of this unnecessary mandate and get back to normal life.”

We’ll see if this goes anywhere.

Read: COVID Idiocy: Many Given Probation, Banned From Several Parks Over Organizing Big Hiking Group »

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Senate Climahypocrites Announce 500 Day Energy Independence Plan

By William Teach March 30, 2022 – 7:15 am

I wonder what it could be? I wonder what could be missing?

Senate climate hawks announce 500-day energy independence plan

Senate Democrats who are part of the chamber’s Climate Change Task Force are calling for a multistep strategy to achieve energy independence by transitioning to renewable energy over the next 500 days.

At a meeting of the task force Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) outlined a series of reforms that he said would achieve the goal without increased reliance on fossil fuels.

The group has called for lawmakers to permanently codify President Biden’s ban on Russian oil imports through the Severing Putin’s Immense Gains from Oil Transfers Act, which Markey introduced at the beginning of the month.

Yes, let’s stop using Russian oil and get our own…oh, right, they don’t want us to have our own

It also is pushing for passage of another Markey-sponsored bill, the Strategic Reserve, Appliance, Vehicle and Energy Efficiency for Consumers Act, which is co-sponsored by task force member Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). The bill would offer short-term consumer relief by releasing the equivalent of 500 days of Russian oil imports from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and authorize the president to set emergency energy efficiency targets.

The “SAVE Act” would drastically increase the required energy efficiency of everything, giving the Executive office the power to pretty much set standards to whatever the hell they want. What consumers save in energy will be a heck of a lot less that in the cost increases for vehicles, appliances, AC and heating systems, you name it.

The task force is further calling for the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps, one of the major environmental prongs in the sweeping Build Back Better Act. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) seemingly torpedoed the bill in December when he said he would not vote for it, but he has said the act’s climate provisions are among the aspects he supports and could back in a smaller package.

A bunch of government funded nags, Green Shirts, if you will.

The bill would let Executive Office agencies set standards for energy efficiency, and even mandate reductions in the use of energy and gasoline by American citizens (section 3). It’s only 7 pages, mentions “clean energy”, but fails to mention production of oil and natural gas on American property. Nothing about nuclear energy. The main point is giving Biden more power over Citizens and their energy use and gas use. I can’t stress that enough.

And it has a chance to pass. Joe Manchin may well support it, and they may get a few super squishy Republicans to vote for it in the Senate. Don’t be fooled by it being a short 7 pages. It is dangerous investing that much free power in the Executive Office.

If elected Republicans had any brains, they’d trot out their own bill which would require reduced energy use by the federal government, starting with the White House and elected members of Congress and their staffs, put them on the spot.

Read: Senate Climahypocrites Announce 500 Day Energy Independence Plan »

Posted in Democrats, Energy, Global Warming | 36 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden’s Bungling Reshapes European Spending Priorities

By William Teach March 30, 2022 – 7:00 am

Now, maybe Putin would have gone into Ukraine regardless. Maybe not. Biden sure didn’t help stop the invasion in the least, and hasn’t helped since, so

The War Is Reshaping How Europe Spends

Joe Biden Ice Cream AfghanistanNicolae Ciuca spent a lifetime on the battlefield before being voted in as prime minister of Romania four months ago. Yet even he did not imagine the need to spend millions of dollars for emergency production of iodine pills to help block radiation poisoning in case of a nuclear blast, or to raise military spending 25% in a single year.

“We never thought we’d need to go back to the Cold War and consider potassium iodine again,” Ciuca, a retired general, said through a translator at Victoria Palace, the government’s headquarters in Bucharest. “We never expected this kind of war in the 21st century.”

Across the European Union and Britain, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is reshaping spending priorities and forcing governments to prepare for threats thought to have been long buried — from a flood of European refugees to the possible use of chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons by a Russian leader who may feel backed into a corner.

That whole off the cuff regime change think sure helped, right?

The result is a sudden reshuffling of budgets as military spending, essentials like agriculture and energy, and humanitarian assistance are shoved to the front of the line, with other pressing needs like education and social services likely to be downgraded.

The most significant shift is in military spending. Germany’s turnabout is the most dramatic, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s promise to raise spending above 2% of the country’s economic output, a level not reached in more than three decades. The pledge included an immediate injection of 100 billion euros ($113 billion) into the country’s notoriously threadbare armed forces. As Scholz put it in his speech last month, “We need planes that fly, ships that sail and soldiers who are optimally equipped.”

It’s a pretty long NY Times piece, showing the problems going on in Europe. Refugees, high energy prices, food stocks, you name it, spending priorities are all change.

The pledge includes countries that have fallen below NATO’s goal to spend a minimum of 2% of national output as well as countries that have exceeded the threshold. (The 27 members of the EU and the 30 NATO members overlap but are not identical.)

Hey, I remember when all the Democrats and pundits, including Europeans, give someone a lot of guff over demanding European NATO members pay more for their own defense. Who was that again?

Read: Biden’s Bungling Reshapes European Spending Priorities »

Posted in Current Affairs, Europe, Joe Biden | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Who Had Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Being A Race Thing?

By William Teach March 29, 2022 – 6:32 pm

There’s been some serious hot takes, some dragging Trump in, because Trump Derangement Syndrome, and, now, apparently, whites and blacks are discussing this differently. If the only thing you can think of is how race plays a part in some issue, you, yes you, are the racist.

Read: Who Had Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Being A Race Thing? »

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 29, 2022 – 3:00 pm

…is a wonderful low carbon bike used to help reduce the rise of the seas, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Diogenes’ Middle Finger, with a post on Joe taking pre-submitted questions

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 13 Comments | Trackback URL
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