Who’s Up For More COVID Variants?

By William Teach August 16, 2021 – 10:30 am

Of course they’re always Much Worse than the current variants

The next dangerous COVID-19 variant might just be around the corner

The next coronavirus variant might be just around the corner, especially if the American population doesn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19, a former Trump administration official said.

Adm. Brett Giroir, the former coronavirus testing czar under former President Donald Trump, told CNN this week that variants are lingering out there.

“The next variant is just around the corner, if we do not all get vaccinated,” he said.

“I just beg the American people to understand that to defeat this virus, we have to get everybody’s level of immunity up, and that’s just the way it is,” he said.

But, um

Multiple experts told Newsweek that the delta variant is only the beginning when it comes to coronavirus variants spreading rapidly in an unvaccinated population. The health experts said there will likely be a more transmissible variant out there soon, and it’s possible a “doomsday” variant could come next, as I explained for the Deseret News.

It’s always worse

Two coronavirus variants have made headlines in recent days because they evade the COVID-19 vaccines.

  • The lambda variant, for example, can spread fast and potentially evade vaccines, according to a new study, which not been peer-reviewed,
  • The epsilon variant — also said to be highly transmissible — has some mutations that “give this coronavirus variant of concern a means to totally evade specific monoclonal antibodies used in clinics and reduces the effectiveness of antibodies from the plasma of vaccinated people,” according to the University of Washington study, which was published in the latest edition of Science.

So, getting the vaccine would be virtually useless? This should really make people ask some very tough questions regarding China, since normal viruses do not change this much this fast. Lab grown ones can.

Siding with Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Supreme Court temporarily halts mask orders in Dallas and Bexar counties

The Texas Supreme Court on Sunday temporarily blocked mask mandates in Dallas and Bexar counties, marking a pivotal moment in the showdown between state and local government as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge in Texas.

The ruling comes after several school districts and a handful of counties across the state defied Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that restricted local entities from instituting mask mandates. On Friday, the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio upheld a lower court ruling that permitted Bexar County to require mask-wearing in public schools. Shortly after, the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas upheld a more far-reaching order from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins that required masks in public schools, universities and businesses.

In a petition for a writ of mandamus to the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 gives the governor power to act as the “‘commander in chief’ of the state’s response to a disaster. Attorneys representing cities and counties that have sued Abbott over his executive order have argued that his orders should not supersede local orders.

The Constitution of Texas gives the State the power over municipalities. What if the local orders said people do not have to wear seat belts? Or pay taxes? If people want to wear masks, let them. The order doesn’t stop them from wearing them, for all the good (barely any) that they will do.

The Biden Admin Isn’t Here For Florida’s Mask Mandate Ban Nonsense

As if there wasn’t enough anxiety surrounding the beginning of the school year, families in Florida have to add heightened risk of COVID infection to their list. On July 30, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order blocking mask mandates in the state’s schools. Executive Order 21-175, or what DeSantis calls “Ensuring Parents’ Freedom to Choose — Masks in Schools,” bans schools from issuing masking mandates. Schools could still suggest wearing the masks, but ultimately, the order leaves the choice in the hands of parents.

His order blatantly defies CDC guidelines, claiming that “despite recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ‘guidance,’ forcing students to wear masks lacks a well-grounded scientific justification; indeed, a Brown University study analyzed COVID-19 data for schools in Florida and found no correlation with mask mandates.” Florida currently leads the nation with the most children hospitalized for COVID.

Yes, because the CDC has been so correct, right? Regardless, there’s nothing in the article about Biden, but, again, if people want to wear masks they can. As for Joe Hiden, well, he’s not around for much. Also, he has no Constitutional authority to do a damned thing about blocking mask mandates in a state.

Read: Who’s Up For More COVID Variants? »

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Tiny Homes Won’t Save Us From Climate Doom, But Taxes Will Or Something

By William Teach August 16, 2021 – 7:12 am

Tom Nelson likes to tweet a lot that “we can solve this with a tax.” The best type of sarcasm is that which is completely true

Elon Musk’s tiny home won’t help save the world. Paying more taxes would

Elon Musk has an enormous rocket and a tiny house. Last year the multibillionaire (who is the second-richest person in the world) announced that he was going to sell off most of his physical possessions, including multiple mansions, and “will own no house”. He appears to have made good on much of that pledge and is now living in a $50,000, 375-square-foot, prefab home in Texas that he rents from his company SpaceX. (snip)

I’ll give credit where it’s due, Musk’s carbon footprint is low by billionaire standards (which isn’t saying much). Bill Gates, for example, who is trying to turn himself into a thought-leader on the climate crisis, is responsible for far more emissions. Still, it’s more than a little nauseating to watch a billionaire – whose wealth rocketed during a global pandemic – being venerated for living modestly. It’s also bizarre to watch him boasting about not owning property during a housing crisis. Thanks to decades of trickle-up economics, nearly half of American workers don’t earn enough to afford a one-bedroom rental, let alone buy a house. Musk wants us to think he is using his immense, and unconscionable, wealth to save the world. But billionaires like him are a result of the same greed that is helping to accelerate the climate crisis. If Musk really wanted to help the planet perhaps he should think less about his living arrangements and more about his tax arrangements.

See, if rich folks (for Progressives, that means Everyone Else making a paycheck) would just pay more in taxes we could solve the climate crisis (scam). They never really say how, just that we could. Most Warmists refuse to do much of anything in their own lives to reduce their carbon footprints.

Read: Tiny Homes Won’t Save Us From Climate Doom, But Taxes Will Or Something »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming, Taxation | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Where In The World Is Joe Hiden?

By William Teach August 16, 2021 – 7:02 am

I’m actually kinda surprised that no one is running a headline with “Joe Hiden”, and there are only a handful of occurrences of #JoeHiden on Twitter. Rather a tailor-made name for it

Joe Biden Remains Hiding at Camp David After Afghanistan Collapses; May Address Nation in the ‘Next Few Days’

Where's Joe BidenPresident Joe Biden will remain hidden at his presidential retreat at Camp David through Monday, according to the White House, as the Taliban swiftly seized control of Afghanistan.

The president’s daily guidance for Monday indicated Biden would remain at Camp David for at least one more day, with no public events scheduled.

But a senior administration official indicated to reporters Sunday evening that Biden might address the country “in the next few days,” according to reports.

It remains unclear whether Biden will speak from Camp David or return to the White House to deliver his speech, the reports noted. He was previously scheduled to remain at Camp David until Wednesday.

Obama had “leading from behind.” What’s this “leading from the nap couch”?

(Fox News) White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is taking a break from her duties at the same time as controversy surrounds the silence of President Joe Biden, who is on vacation while the Taliban quickly seizes control of Afghanistan.

Fox News sent questions to Psaki’s White House email address Sunday morning and received an auto-reply. Hours later, on Sunday evening, Fox News attempted once again to reach the White House spokeswoman. The same auto-reply, stating that the voice of the White House would not be available for the next week, was sent.

“I will be out of the office from August 15th-August 22nd,” read the email returned to Fox News. Instead, Psaki’s reply directs the press to reach out to other press officers in her absence.

What, exactly, are they doing? I doubt we’ll see Joe till sometime Tuesday. Probably not live, and definitely not taking questions.

My bet is on the Joe Hiden admin attempting to create a narrative, rather than look to fix this issue, and a way to spin this to their Comrades in the media to gain protection. But, Joe is not Obama. The Credentialed Media protected Barack as the Middle East melted down, as Syria crossed the red lines, as his Libyan adventure when south and created Benghazi (which the media provided massive cover), and ISIS taking over large parts of the ME. Will they cover for Joe? There are plenty of pieces in the NY Times that are not helpful for Joe. Will that continue? The Daily Beast is blasting Joe. The Washington Post has several blasts. The Atlantic takes shots. Even CNN is blasting Joe Hiden.

Of course, many American outlets are playing it safe for the moment, seeing if they can get away with protecting the Democratic Party president, especially in the opinion and analyses sections. The straight news is going to take a decidedly Straight News view, just the facts, not editorializing, like when Bush and Trump were president. The LA Times has zero pieces in the opinion section about the worst American loss since the fall of Saigon.

This is Joe Biden’s Jimmy Carter moment

The utterly nauseating and unnecessary abandonment of Afghanistan to its fate recalls a similar humiliation at the hands of Islamist radicals in the Jimmy Carter administration.

President Biden’s profligate spending policies are unleashing inflation that is sparking voter distrust so noticeable that even NPR is sounding the alarm.

He is begging OPEC to come up with more oil while interfering with US production. He announced barely a month ago, with great confidence, “The Taliban is not the South — the North Vietnamese army. They’re not — they’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability.

“There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”

This could be way worse than Carter’s Iran moment. Way, way worse, what with all the military equipment that has been left behind.

*Hiden Biden from Longview News-Journal.

Read: Where In The World Is Joe Hiden? »

Posted in Joe Biden, War On Terrorism | 33 Comments | Trackback URL

The Fishtank Seems To Be Back To Normal

By William Teach August 15, 2021 – 7:01 pm

After months and months of water changes, cleaning the gravel, testing testing testing, the tank looks to have recovered from old tank syndrome. The PH is good (I’m using water through a water filter which has a little bit of backing soda to keep it near 7.0), ammonia is zero, every other measure is in the good zone, except nitrate, which is still a bit too high, but, that should be no problem. The big fish you see, two golden gouramis and 2 Australian rainbowfish, have been there through it all. I had lost one rainbow. I got rid of the really big plant, was taking up too much space and leaving lots of dead debris. Replaced it with smaller live plants (left side near center.) Made sure the bubbler is working well. Getting a bit of algae buildup, including on the live plants, but, better some algae than none).

I added 3 small tiger barbs (can just see one in the bottom right, one is hiding behind red plant and the other is behind a rock in the back) and one pleco (up on wall). When I tried putting in fish previously they died within an hour. So far so good.

Read: The Fishtank Seems To Be Back To Normal »

Posted in Pirates Cove | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 15, 2021 – 1:06 pm

…is a wonderful low carbon bike slowing the rise of the seas, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Powerline, with a post on the Slow Joe parodies.

It’s biking week.

Read: If All You See… »

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach August 15, 2021 – 9:54 am

Edward D'Ancon Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once and Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the fish tank seems to be back to normal. This pinup is by Edward D’ancon, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Climate Depot notes that the temps are not the highest ever for July
  2. Neon Nettle highlights West Point teaching Marxism to cadets
  3. Washington Standard features a woman arrested for walking her dogs improperly in crime ridden NYC
  4. Free North Carolina shows what DHS thinks is a threat
  5. hogewash has the Keyhole Nebula
  6. Jihad Watch covers Biden blaming Trump for Afghanistan
  7. Legal Insurrection highlights the media missing information as they try to Get DeSantis for teacher’s COVID deaths
  8. Moonbattery discusses American Express calling capitalism raaaaacist
  9. neo-neocon covers evidence being hidden for those arrested for protesting on Jan 6th
  10. Pacific Pundit notes Jewish holidays in DHS’s threat warning time
  11. Patterico’s Pontifications covers Republicans introducing a COVID passport and voter ID act
  12. White House Dossier notes the DHS head privately admitting the problems at the border
  13. The Last Refuge discusses the Biden admin discussing vaccine mandates for interstate travel
  14. The Other McCain highlights a mostly peaceful stabbing with Antifa
  15. And last, but not least, The People’s Cube covers the liberation of Afghanistan

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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Taliban Have Almost Completed Their Takeover Of Afghanistan, Media Avoid Blaming Biden

By William Teach August 15, 2021 – 8:28 am

On any other day, the big Haiti earthquake, a 7.2 which has seen at least 300 dead (thanking, not the hundreds of thousands like the 2010 earthquake) would be top news. Instead, we have Biden’s “plan” to leave Afghanistan in utter tatters, as you’ve surely seen. And most media are avoiding casting blame. Can you imagine if Trump was president and we were seeing this occur? Especially one photo which is reminiscent of Vietnam? Here’s the AP

Taliban enter Kabul, await ‘peaceful transfer’ of power

Biden Failure AfghanistanTaliban fighters entered Kabul on Sunday and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government, officials said, as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

The beleaguered central government, meanwhile, hoped for an interim administration, but increasingly had few cards to play. Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.

Helicopters buzzed overhead as part of an evacuation of personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Several other Western missions were also preparing to get staff out.

In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by the U.S. and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.

On Sunday, the insurgents entered the outskirts of Kabul but apparently remained outside of the city’s downtown. Sporadic gunfire echoed at times though the streets were largely quiet.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera English satellite news channel that the insurgents are “awaiting a peaceful transfer of Kabul city.” He declined to offer specifics on any possible negotiations between his forces and the government.

But when pressed on what kind of agreement the Taliban wanted, Shaheen acknowledged that they were seeking an unconditional surrender by the central government.

And, yes, Biden’s America fleeing from Afghanistan is already being compared to the fall of Saigon. Where’s Joe? He’s off for the weekend to Camp David. In fairness, he can do most things there that he can at the White House, but, the optics of him being mostly MIA are pretty bad, or, they would be if it was a Republican in office. Biden’s name appears exactly zero times in the AP article.

The NY Times fails to blame Biden for this debacle. The Washington Post offers a subtle piece

Biden administration scrambled as its Afghan withdrawal plan unraveled

Now, imagine Trump was in office, it would be something like “Trump scrambled as his Afghan withdrawal plan left in tatters, looking more like the fall of Saigon”. And, yes, that helicopter above is being used to shuttle Americans from our embassy.

Joe is going to supposedly send over 5,000 troops, in a too little too late move, as the Taliban has taken tons of military hardware, including Blackhawk helicopters, super expensive drones, Hummers, MRAPs, heavy weapons (which are the only things these savages will know how to use), and more. And will surely sell them to China to reverse engineer.

And Joe? He’s still at Camp David, with no plans to return to Washington. BTW, the Biden admin isn’t really doing much at all for Haiti, beyond authorizing support and putting Samantha Power in charge. Zero details, just a basic statement.

BTW

Sen. Mitt Romney ‘cannot understand’ hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan

“I understand but disagree with those who felt we should leave Afghanistan,” the Utah Republican tweeted Saturday evening. “I cannot understand why it has been done with such tragic human cost; without an effective strategy to defend our partners; and with inestimable shock to our nation’s credibility, reliability, and honor.”

That’s from the Fox News above.

And

Read More »

Read: Taliban Have Almost Completed Their Takeover Of Afghanistan, Media Avoid Blaming Biden »

Posted in Joe Biden, War On Terrorism, Wonky Media | 71 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Few US Cities Met Their Climate Scam Goals

By William Teach August 14, 2021 – 3:00 pm

Doing Something about anthropogenic climate change is popular in theory. In practice? Not so much. Even in the leftist cities that came out with plans most were not interested in actually following through

Hundreds of U.S. cities adopted climate plans. Few have met the goals, but it’s not too late.

…..

Over the past three decades, more than 600 local governments across the United States adopted their own climate action plans setting greenhouse gas reduction targets. These pledges were in addition to America’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international treaty signed by nearly 200 nations to limit the impact of climate change.

But experts now say that many of those cities’ individual plans were aspirational at best. Now they must work harder if they’re going to curb the warming trend. (snip)

The USA TODAY Network’s findings are consistent with a study last year by the nonprofit Brookings Institution. It found just 45 of the 100 largest U.S. cities had adopted a serious climate pledge, and two-thirds of those with plans have fallen short of their targets. More than a dozen appeared to have no emissions tracking at all. (snip)

A small window of opportunity remains for local governments to get serious about curbing climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. But, to achieve any kind of major corrective action, emissions must be slashed by the end of the decade.

So the ones with all these plans that mostly did not work are supposed to be the ones to get serious? Now tell the citizens this will include lots of taxes and fees, a higher cost of living, and their movement, choice, and liberty will be drastically reduced. See how that goes. It’s all fun and games right up to the point where you actually have to jump.

So far, what’s happening in Indianapolis and the Midwest isn’t “nearly enough,” said Gabe Filippelli, executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University. Cities need to make sure they’re not only carbon neutral by 2050 but carbon negative.

Let’s start by requiring all the Believers in the cities to stop using fossil fuels, no meat, live in tiny homes, 2 minute showers, can only flush twice a day. No streaming. No Internet. No ice makers. That all sounds great, right? Right?

Read: Surprise: Few US Cities Met Their Climate Scam Goals »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 14, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an area flood thanks to Other People driving fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Sultan Knish, with a post on a myth named Afghanistan.

Read: If All You See… »

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NY Times Explains Why Only 28% Of Blacks Are Vaccinated In NYC

By William Teach August 14, 2021 – 10:30 am

All these darned black MAGAs in the Glorious City of Progressivism

Why Only 28 Percent of Young Black New Yorkers Are Vaccinated

A construction site safety manager in Queens said that as a Black man, he was more worried about the prospect of being stopped by the police than he was about getting Covid-19.

A graduate student in the Bronx who had not gotten vaccinated said her worst fears seemed confirmed when a vaccine that the government was directing to Black and poorer neighborhoods was briefly suspended over a small number of dangerous blood clots.

And a civil rights activist in the Bronx said he grew suspicious when he heard last year that politicians were prioritizing minority neighborhoods for coronavirus vaccinations.

“Since when does America give anything good to Black people first?” said the activist, Hawk Newsome, a 44-year-old Black Lives Matter leader who is unvaccinated.

All three situations reflect a trend that has become a major concern to public health experts: Young Black New Yorkers are especially reluctant to get vaccinated, even as the Delta variant is rapidly spreading among their ranks. City data shows that only 28 percent of Black New Yorkers ages 18 to 44 years are fully vaccinated, compared with 48 percent of Latino residents and 52 percent of white residents in that age group.

So, they’re concerned about getting the vaccine due to white Democratic racism? Huh.

This vaccination gap is emerging as the latest stark racial disparity in an epidemic full of them. Epidemiologists say they expect this third wave will hit Black New Yorkers especially hard.

And there you have it: because blacks are seriously reticent on getting the vaccine it must be racism. Instead of simply being a choice. Notice that the NY Times fails to blast them for their vaccine hesitancy like they do with Southern Republicans, for instance.

In interviews, Black men and women said that much of their distrust of the coronavirus vaccine was shaped by their own experiences with discrimination or their identity as Black Americans.

“I’m supposed to worry about getting sick when I go outside, versus getting killed by a cop or something like that?” said Jayson Clemons, 41, the construction site safety manager from Queens. After years of trying to be careful not to give the police a reason to stop him — avoiding cars with window tint or rims, and making sure when commuting that his attire clearly marked him as a construction worker — he said he refused to be preoccupied by Covid-19.

He said he would rather put his trust in masks and hand sanitizer — which he credits with keeping him healthy as he worked at construction sites throughout the pandemic — than a new vaccine that the government is pushing people to take. “They came out with one so fast for Covid, and now they want to pay you to take it,” he said. “It seems fishy.”

If a Republican was saying something similar the Times would be blasting them for being conspiracy theorists, right? It’s OK with the Times if blacks are trotting out their own theories, and the Times is really wondering just what did white people do to cause this. That would be white liberals, since NYC is not run by Republicans. But, you know what? If they don’t want to get vaccinated, that’s on them. They can do them and I’ll do me. It’s not my place to force them.

Meanwhile

Wearing Visible Proof Of Covid Vaccination Status Might Be Coming Soon To Film & TV Productions

Some cast and crew members on films and TV shows soon might be required to wear identification that “clearly and visibly” verifies their Covid vaccination status while working on set. “Various things have been discussed, from wristbands to credential badges,” a union source tells Deadline.

“I have not seen what this is to look like yet,” another union source said. “My understanding is this would be either a sticker affixed to your current ID or a separate identification card that would have to be on the same lanyard as your working ID.”

This isn’t so much Yellow Stars but Democrats crowing about taking the vaccine…I wonder what would happen if we reinforced that these, the vaccines, were what Trump pushed for and authorized?

Read: NY Times Explains Why Only 28% Of Blacks Are Vaccinated In NYC »

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