Scottish Government Looks To Make COVID Emergency Powers Permanent

By William Teach August 17, 2021 – 10:57 am

See, this totally has everything to do with science, right? Right?

From the link (photo via ZendoDeb)

The Scottish Government wants its emergency coronavirus powers to become permanent – including the ability to order schools to close, impose lockdowns and operate virtual courts.

Ministers are considering changing the law to permanently allow them to release prisoners early or permit a wider range of healthcare professionals to give vaccinations.

They are seeking the public’s views on removing the planned expiry date for many of the temporary measures, with Deputy First Minister John Swinney arguing that some of the changes have had a “demonstrable benefit to the people of Scotland”.

The majority of the government’s current powers introduced during the pandemic are due to elapse in March 2022 although they can be extended by six months with Holyrood’s backing.

But the consultation published by the government wants to make many permanently available, claiming it would ensure “ministers can respond effectively and rapidly to any future threats to public health in Scotland”.

What will the Scottish people say? If they disagree and are against this plan, will the government go ahead with giving themselves authoritarian powers permanently?

In addition to being able to impose future lockdowns and restrict gatherings, ministers would also be able to order school closures “during the remainder of the pandemic” or for any future outbreak of an infectious disease, so long as they believe it is “necessary and proportionate”, and the chief medical officer has been consulted.

And how soon till those orders are extended for other things? What if they declare ‘climate change’ a medical emergency, for instance, and apply these rules? If you think that’s just crazy talk, you haven’t been paying attention.

Meanwhile, in one of the nations lauded as the best in COVID response

One Virus Case Puts New Zealand Into Nationwide Lockdown

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern put the nation into a three-day lockdown after the discovery of the first community case of Covid-19 since February.

The snap lockdown will begin at midnight tonight as authorities rush to identify the source of a single infection in largest city Auckland, Ardern said at a news conference Tuesday in Wellington. While genome sequencing has yet to be completed, the case is assumed to be the highly infectious delta variant, she said.

Totally about the science, right?

Read: Scottish Government Looks To Make COVID Emergency Powers Permanent »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Government | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Cult Wants Other People To Cool Their Consumerism

By William Teach August 17, 2021 – 8:41 am

These are letters to the UK Guardian, and we see climate cultists pushing for government to restrict consumerism. Because you don’t see them voluntarily giving up their own

Cooling consumerism could save the climate

In Adam Tooze’s article (By pushing for more oil production, the US is killing its climate pledges, 13 August), he surmised that economic activity and fossil fuel consumption are hardwired together. It may be more that economic activity and energy consumption are hardwired together – and thus the need to move to renewables or low-carbon energy sources. That must be part of the strategy, along with as yet unavailable technical solutions such as carbon capture.

However, we seem to tiptoe around the consumption part of any strategy. Lower consumption results in lower carbon emissions. The government has managed to exert strong influence over personal actions during the Covid pandemic using a myriad of three-word slogans. We need a similar push linked to consumption and climate change.

Not all of the loss of consumerism was caused by government restricting activities since COVID began, but, a good chunk of it is, including restriction to mine for the precious metals that are used in electronics. Warmists have a choice in restricting their own, but, they won’t. They’ll keep buying until Government says “no.” They’re very much climahypocrites and want government Authoritarianism.

Larry Elliott writes that China is responsible for 28% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with Britain, France and Italy each accounting for about 1% (Fairness will be key to successfully tackling the climate crisis, Journal, 12 August). A quick consideration of consumables in my home reveals the astounding number branded “Made in China”, from toothbrush and toothpaste via my morning radio to the fridge from which I take my breakfast yoghurt. This suggests to me a rather different allocation of responsibility; it is time to engage in the urgent political review of just how we in the west must change our addiction to cheap mass consumption and take action to assist China and India in reducing emissions.

And how do you assist them? Long ago when I started my first post-college job my boss said, in regards to offering ideas and plans, “if you’re complaining and not offering solutions you’re whining.” That’s what Warmists do: whine.

Larry Elliott correctly identifies the need for a different sort of political economy based around redistribution. He is also right that voters may be reluctant to accept personal restrictions if they are perceived to be unfair, and politicians wary of proposing them if they think they will be unpopular. Yet Labour have spent the last decade worrying about saying anything that might be unpopular and this has simply bred distrust in them (compared with the Tories, whom the electorate can be sure will lie to them).

Now is the time for politicians to be straight with the public, to act from moral conviction and empathy, not expediency, and to persuade us that we will all gain more than we will lose by flying less, eating less meat and requiring those who have more than they need to relinquish the surplus to those who have least.

By persuade, this letter means “force.” You don’t hear many Warmists say they’ve voluntarily done much of anything in their own lives. Kinda hard to redistribute what is not being produced in a Modern Socialist economy.

Read: Climate Cult Wants Other People To Cool Their Consumerism »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Afghanistan Fallout: China Tells Taiwan There’s A Lesson In The Fiasco

By William Teach August 17, 2021 – 8:28 am

Well, it didn’t take long for Joe Hiden’s Afghanistan disaster to bear rotten fruit

Chinese State Media Says Afghanistan a Lesson for Taiwan on How U.S. Abandons Allies

Biden Brain SlugThe Global Times, a tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, warned Taiwan on Monday it could face the same fate as Afghanistan if it continued relying on the United States as an ally.

The paper’s editorial began by describing how the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan caused the Taliban’s forces to quickly seize control in what it deemed “a heavy blow to the credibility and reliability of the U.S.”

The Times then cited what it called similar situations, such as the fall of Saigon during the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 when the U.S. evacuated its citizens from the city. The tabloid also wrote of how the U.S. “abandoned their allies, the Kurds,” when it withdrew troops from northern Syria in 2019.

Taiwan is similar to Afghanistan in that it has sought support from the U.S., the Global Times claimed, adding “Taiwan is the region that relies on the protection of the U.S. the most in Asia, and the island’s Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] authorities have made Taiwan go further and further down this abnormal path.”

The situation in Afghanistan spiraled quickly out of control “after the country was abandoned by the U.S.” The paper asked, “Is this some kind of omen of Taiwan’s future fate?”

Well, that’s not threatening at all. Especially days after Biden abandoned Afghanistan in the manner he did. And, yes, this is all on Biden, despite trying to blame everyone, including Trump, but himself. He can say this was “Trump’s plan”, but, first, Biden is president. If the plan was a bad one, why follow it? If it was a good one, he botched it. If it’s 4th and 5, down 6, 10 seconds left in the Super Bowl and the plan is to run the ball out to the corner and the o-line goes to pass-block at the snap and the receivers go into crossing routes, well, the execution of the plan failed. There is no second. He’s the president. He ran for the office. He had the ultimate responsibility for the plan.

The article concluded by giving some advice to Taiwan’s leaders: “They need to change their course of bonding themselves to the anti-Chinese mainland chariot of the U.S.”

China doesn’t make threats lightly. And it is a threat. Much stronger than usual.

China holds assault drills near Taiwan after ‘provocations’

China carried out assault drills near Taiwan on Tuesday, with warships and fighter jets exercising off the southwest and southeast of the island in what the country’s armed forces said was a response to “external interference” and “provocations”.

Taiwan, which Beijing claims as Chinese territory, has complained of repeated People’s Liberation Army (PLA) drills in its vicinity in the past two years or so, part of a pressure campaign to force the island to accept China’s sovereignty.

A senior official familiar with Taiwan’s security planning told Reuters that China’s air force had carried out a “capturing air supremacy” drill, using their advanced J-16 fighters.

Rather interesting timing, eh? Sure, China has been doing this stuff for a while, this takes it up a notch as a threat to abandon their sovereignty and become part of China. We see how well that’s working in Hong Kong.

Biden gave the green light for this operation, and you can bet other U.S. allies are looking at the way he abandoned Afghanistan with concern. And you can bet Iran and Russia are looking on with glee, along with Islamist terrorist groups.

Read: Afghanistan Fallout: China Tells Taiwan There’s A Lesson In The Fiasco »

Posted in Current Affairs, Joe Biden, War On Terrorism | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

China Cranks Up World Killing Carbon Pollution Or Something

By William Teach August 16, 2021 – 3:00 pm

Hey, remember how so many have lauded China for saying they would Do Something about ‘climate change’? Heck, some even thought the U.S. should emulate China’s authoritarian system to make stuff happen here. High flying climate envoy John Kerry has, admittedly, taken a few shots at China, but, he also won’t let their human rights problems get in the way. But, world leaders and Warmist groups have been on China’s side, thrilled that they say they are doing something. How’s that working?

China cranks up carbon-intensive projects as climate crisis grows, research shows

China announced scores of new carbon-intensive coal and steel projects in the first half of 2021, research showed on Friday just days after a key U.N. report urged immediate global action to curb use of fossil fuels and prevent runaway climate change.

The push comes as climate experts exhort governments around the world to take drastic action amid increasingly widespread extreme weather events, like deadly wildfires, drought and even central China’s highest rainfall in 1,000 years – events that experts say are directly linked to human impact on the environment via carbon emissions.

“The rest of the world is getting the message that it’s time to move away from coal, but coal interests in China are dragging their feet, and the central government is not reining them in,” said Christine Shearer, coal programme director at Global Energy Monitor (GEM), the U.S. think-tank that jointly authored the report on China’s first-half carbon projects with the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

During the first half, China, the world’s biggest coal consumer and source of climate-warming greenhouse gases, announced plans to build 18 new coal-fired blast furnaces, more than in the whole of last year, according to the CREA-GEM research. Another 43 coal-fired power plant units were also proposed, the research showed.

I’m guessing China is like most Warmists: a lot of noise about Doing Something in theory, but, in practice, nah, we’re good. Does anyone think China cares what the world thinks, when so much of the world’s debt is held by China and they provide so many products?

China has promised to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2060, but faces growing calls to set more ambitious targets and act faster.

Read: China Cranks Up World Killing Carbon Pollution Or Something »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 16, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an elevated bridge needed for when the seas rise hundreds of feet, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on silly, deluded people wanting freedom.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

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? »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus | 35 Comments | Trackback URL

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… »

Posted in If All You See | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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