Army Looks To Mandate COVID Vaccines For All Service Members In September

By William Teach July 3, 2021 – 1:00 pm

The Army is expecting that at least one or more of the current COVID vaccines will be fully approved by the FDA by September. What they aren’t saying is what the penalty will be for non-compliance

Prepare for mandatory COVID vaccines in September, Army tells commands

The Army has directed commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as early as Sept. 1, pending full Food and Drug Administration licensure, Army Times has learned.

The directive came from an execute order sent to the force by Department of the Army Headquarters.

Army Times obtained a portion of a recent update to HQDA EXORD 225-21, COVID-19 Steady State Operations.

“Commanders will continue COVID-19 vaccination operations and prepare for a directive to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for service members [on or around] 01 September 2021, pending full FDA licensure,” the order said. “Commands will be prepared to provide a backbrief on servicemember vaccination status and way ahead for completion once the vaccine is mandated.”

The Army won’t comment on the validity of the leaked policy, but, come on, it rings true, especially with Sleepy Joe stooges in charge. So far, around 70% have been vaccinated. What happens to the other 30%?

The Veterans Affairs administration is currently weighing a plan to require all VA staffers to receive the vaccine, amid growing worry worldwide about the more severe Delta variant of the virus.

The Navy also recently told sailors to expect a mandatory vaccination program despite having the highest vaccine acceptance rate thus far.

The Navy is at 72%, with 80% having had at least one shot. The Air Force is at 61%, the Marines at 40%, and the VA has around 70% vaccinated. Will service members be given a discharge if they refuse to take it? Will it be honorable, less than honorable, or dishonorable? What about members who have been in for 10+ years, higher ranking officers and non-commissioned officers, who bring lots of value to Army and other branch operations?

Read: Army Looks To Mandate COVID Vaccines For All Service Members In September »

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Top French Court Tells French Government It Has 9 Months To Do Something About Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach July 3, 2021 – 7:50 am

Most courts have generally avoided telling the administrative and legislative branches what to do about ‘climate change’, saying that it is the responsibility of those branches, usually the legislative, rather than court imposed solutions. Because they aren’t there to make policy. But, this top French court is demanding that France Do Something

Top court gives French government nine months to act on climate change

France’s highest administrative council on Thursday told the government to act now against climate change to ensure it meets comments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or else it could face potential fines.

The Conseil d’Etat, which acts as a legal adviser to the executive and as the supreme court for administrative justice, last November, gave the government three months to show it was enacting climate policies that make attainable a target of reducing greenhouse gases by 40% of their 1990 levels by 2030.

Nearly eight months later, it said that target still looked unattainable unless new measures were taken swiftly.

“The Conseil d’État therefore instructs the government to take additional measures between now and March 31, 2022, to hit the target,” the council said.

A spokesperson for the council said it would assess the state’s actions after the deadline and could issue a fine if measures fell short of what was necessary.

So the government will fine the government if the government fails to take action? What actions does the court recommend?

The Conseil d’Etat’s stance has raised questions about credentials of President Emmanuel Macron as a champion of fighting climate change ad affirms the binding nature of greenhouse gas reduction targets contained in legislation.

It didn’t. It waded heavily into politics, though. No measures were suggested or recommended. One thing the government could do would be to remove the air conditioning and heat for the offices of the court. Disallow the use of fossil fuels for the court’s business and declare employees of the court can no longer own a fossil fueled vehicle and are not allowed to take fossil fueled flights. No meat on court property. Sounds fair, right?

Greenpeace France hailed what it called “a clear ultimatum issued in the face of the government’s inaction over climate change.”

Should a court be declaring an ultimatum that could significantly increase the cost of living while reducing their freedom, liberty, and choice, in a nation that has already implemented lots of measures that have already done the same?

Read: Top French Court Tells French Government It Has 9 Months To Do Something About Hotcoldwetdry »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Hot Take: AOC Blames Olympics Marijuana Ban On “Racism And Colonialism”

By William Teach July 3, 2021 – 7:37 am

Sha’Carri Richardson has taken full responsibility for her use of marijuana, knowing full well that it was against the international rules. It is actually a refreshing attitude these days, where people Blame Someone Else for their own actions. And, is it dumb for someone to be banned for use of marijuana? IMO, yes. She could have gotten blackout drunk constantly in the wake of her mother’s death, and alcohol is a way worse drug than pot. But, it is legal. And along comes AOC, who of course has to say something

AOC says Olympic ban on marijuana is ‘instrument’ of racism following Black track star’s suspension

New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed Friday the rule barring marijuana use during the Olympic races was an “instrument of racist and colonial policy.”

The congresswoman’s comments followed the announcement that U.S. champion Sha’Carri Richardson will not be running in the 100-meter race after she tested positive for THC, a chemical found in marijuana, at the Olympic trials – voiding her first-place results.

Richardson, a Black woman from Texas, was given a one-month suspension, which precludes her ability to race the 100 in Tokyo but means she could still be in the running for the women’s relay race, as the trial will not be held until after July 27.

The 21-year old runner’s suspension was reduced to one month from three because she agreed to participate in a counseling program.

“The criminalization and banning of cannabis is an instrument of racist and colonial policy,” Ocasio-Cortez said Friday. “The IOC [International Olympic Committee] should reconsider its suspension of Ms. Richardson and any athletes penalized for cannabis use.”

Plenty of others have been suspended for use of marijuana. Remember Michael Phelps? He wasn’t caught with it in his system, just a picture of him smoking, which he admitted to. Was that colonial? How is Richardson being suspended a colonial policy? Does this go back to the colonial days when the British implemented a ban on slaves using marijuana? Seriously, this lady is wackadoodle. She seemingly has just pulled words out of the air to yammer for the heck of it. Obviously, AOC will not expand on how, exactly, this ban, which has been enforced on plenty of other athletes, ones who knew the policy, is raaaaacist and colonial.

Is the suspension dumb in 2021? Yes. But, it’s the rules. Excitable Allahpundit notes that even Matt Gaetz thinks it’s dumb, and notes that marijuana in no was is a performance enhancing drug. And the rules may be rather thin on use of a drug, but, it is a drug. It is known that it is banned. Athletes know this. Even Allah, who was utterly Broken by the Trump era, gets silly

What is and isn’t banned seems arbitrary, in other words. And arbitrariness is a bad look when you’re depriving a 21-year-old of a chance to be the best in the world at what she does.

It has been banned for a long time. Call it arbitrary, it’s known. It’s not a bad look, it’s not racism, it’s not colonialism. It’s a known rule. If you get fired from your job for using it, well, you knew the rules.

Read: Hot Take: AOC Blames Olympics Marijuana Ban On “Racism And Colonialism” »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Democrats, Sports | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Time Magazine: AC Is Really Bad For ‘Climate Change’, Here’s How Government Can Take It Away

By William Teach July 2, 2021 – 3:00 pm

With it being summer and people using more air conditioning, Time Magazine is very upset. Not upset enough for them to give up their office AC, of course

A/C Feels Great, But It’s Terrible for the Planet. Here’s How to Fix That

For the past few days, a heatwave has glowered over the Pacific Northwest, forcing temperatures in the region to a record-breaking 118ºF. Few people in the region—neither Americans nor Canadians—have air-conditioning. Stores sold out of new AC units in hours as a panicked public sought a reasonable solution to the emergency. Unfortunately, air-conditioning is part of what’s causing the unusual heatwave in the first place.

We came close to destroying all life on Earth during the Cold War, with the threat of nuclear annihilation. But we may have come even closer during the cooling war, when the rising number of Americans with air conditioners—and a refrigerant industry that fought regulation—nearly obliterated the ozone layer. We avoided that environmental catastrophe, but the fundamental problem of air conditioning has never really been resolved.

This comes via Jazz Shaw, who writes

As I said, the article begins with the history of air conditioning and how it was originally invented for industrial purposes rather than personal cooling. It then steps through the various incarnations of cooling technology… at great length. Finally, at the very end, we get to the big reveal. What do we do about it? Here you go.

The troubled history of air-conditioning suggests not that we chuck it entirely but that we focus on public cooling, on public comfort, rather than individual cooling, on individual comfort. Ensuring that the most vulnerable among the planet’s human inhabitants can keep cool through better access to public cooling centers, shade-giving trees, safe green spaces, water infrastructure to cool, and smart design will not only enrich our cities overall, it will lower the temperature for everyone. It’s far more efficient this way.

To do so, we’ll have to re-orient ourselves to the meaning of air-conditioning. And to comfort. Privatized air-conditioning survived the ozone crisis, but its power to separate—by class, by race, by nation, by ability—has survived, too. Comfort for some comes at the expense of the life on this planet.

It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.

By we, they mean you. Not themselves at Time. And who will force people to re-orient themselves? Government, of course! You should no longer have privatized air condition. Just get used to discomfort, peons.

Anyway, a couple other things from the article below the fold

Read More »

Read: Time Magazine: AC Is Really Bad For ‘Climate Change’, Here’s How Government Can Take It Away »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Climahypocrites, Energy, Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 2, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is a hazy day from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Patterico’s Pontifications, with a post on “Entitled Progressive White Male Governor Bullies Minority Woman to Bend the Law on His Behalf”

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

CNN Seems Pretty Upset About SCOTUS Voting Decision

By William Teach July 2, 2021 – 10:30 am

I’m guessing the people in the airports got to see the report

Supreme Court deals blow to American democracy

crying democratEight years ago, the US Supreme Court gutted a major portion of the Voting Rights Act in its infamous Shelby County v. Holder decision, making it easier for states with a history of voter discrimination to enact new onerous voting rules. States like Georgia and Texas took notice, passing strict new voter ID laws, absentee ballot rules and a host of other provisions that make it harder for some people to vote.

Yeah, because it was pretty much unconstitutional at this point. The majority of Americans support voter ID and other measures which verify that the person voting is exactly that person and is eligible to vote.

Also, we aren’t a democracy. If Democrats, the party of slavery, Jim Crow, blocking blacks from voting, and so forth, really want to protect the system, let’s get rid of the 17th Amendment and go back to when Senators were appointed by state general assemblies.

The Court just doubled down on that attack on the right to vote.

The specific Arizona laws at issue in the Brnovich case, which the Court just decided by a 6-3 vote that fell on predictable ideological lines, are less momentous than the rule the Court laid down for future Voting Rights Act cases. Still, while upholding the Arizona laws, the Court made it much harder for voting rights advocates to protect against racial discrimination.

Yup, CNN’s Joshua A. Douglas went with the raaaaacism angle. Funny how Leftists don’t think blacks can vote like everyone else in 2021, that they need the Government to provide protection. That blacks can’t obtain proper identification.

Voting rights plaintiffs had filed suit against two Arizona laws: one says that a vote will not count if a voter goes to the wrong precinct and then, finding their name not in the poll books, fills out a provisional ballot. The other limits who can collect and return completed ballots, also known to opponents as ballot harvesting. The plaintiffs argued that the laws violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting rules that have the effect of making it harder for minority voters to cast a ballot that will count.

Wait, Douglas, and the rest of the Dems, are upset that the state is limiting who can pick up ballots, protecting the integrity of the ballots? Huh.

Rather than continuing with the long, whiny screed, which fails to once again note that we do not have a Democracy and that the Constitution deems that States have the power to enact most of their own voting rules, let’s go to National Review (yes, full of Never Trumpers, but, they tend to be correct and not losing their minds when Trump isn’t involved)

A Good Day for Free Speech and Free Elections

Legal constitutionalists and political conservatives have had reason to be disappointed at times with the Roberts Court, but today is not one of those days. The Court concluded its 2020-21 term with a pair of 6-3 rulings written by George W. Bush’s appointees (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito) and joined by all six Republican appointees to the Court. Both reached the right conclusions. Both will advance the progress of the law toward a vibrant space for democracy, by protecting free speech and free and fair elections. (I’m skipping past the part related to California)

Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee upheld two Arizona laws that are common across many states: a ban on counting provisional ballots if they are cast in person in the wrong precinct, and a ban on “ballot harvesting,” preventing activist groups from collecting and handling another person’s completed mail-in ballot. Both types of rules are regularly decried as “voter suppression” by hysterical Democrats. The Court properly found that Arizona had a legitimate interest both in assigning voters to precincts and in protecting the sanctity of the secret ballot from the threat of voter intimidation or fraud presented by third parties handling ballots. (snip)

The Court’s renewed focus on the language of the law passed by Congress, and its guidance in how to apply it in practice, is welcome. The doors of the federal courthouse should always remain open to protect all Americans — and black Americans in particular, given the nation’s painful history — from laws that result in real discrimination in who is able to vote. But federal law was never intended to put every state in the Union in a permanent straitjacket to the point where even temporary emergency voting rules adopted to manage a once-in-a-century pandemic can never be revisited. Brnovich is bad news for junk lawsuits such as the Justice Department’s suit against Georgia. But it is good news for letting the people’s representatives protect free, fair, open, and orderly elections. Trust in democracy requires nothing less.

Even NRO drops “democracy”. It’s an easy term in this case, meant to denote being able to vote. Anyhow, SCOTUS noted that there is nothing in the Voting Rights Act that precludes states from putting mild inconveniences on voters in order to protect the sanctity of the vote.

Read: CNN Seems Pretty Upset About SCOTUS Voting Decision »

Posted in Constitution, Current Affairs, Democrats | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Washington Post: Climate Apocalypse Could Cost Condo Boards Billions

By William Teach July 2, 2021 – 8:01 am

I just got done deleting a bunch of articles about climate cultists Blaming the collapse of the Surfside building on anthropogenic climate change (and, yes, a quick peak sees moron cultists on Twitter still climablaming), and then I run across this insane bit of climate crazy while looking for climate change articles, which takes it to a new level

Climate change could cost condo boards billions. They aren’t ready for it.

The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Fla., is a terrible tragedy. Besides the stories of the victims and their grieving loved ones, early attention has focused on the causes of the collapse, such as how the building was constructed, the effects of saltwater on reinforced concrete and whether the condominium association was properly maintaining the high-rise.

Those are important matters, but the disaster exemplifies a bigger problem, one that will still loom once we have answers about what went wrong in Surfside: The untrained, unpaid and unsupervised volunteer directors of the nation’s more than 350,000 condo and homeowners’ associations, armed with limited financial resources, are expected to deal with the unprecedented infrastructure challenges that climate change poses to their communities. And there is no reason to believe that they are up to that task.

Well, I’m glad that Evan McKenzie, who teaches in the political science department and the law school at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is here to tell us that Doom is coming. Remember when we were only supposed to listen to actual climate scientists? Regardless, what you have here is the Cult of Climastrology doing what they do best: taking one incident, blaming it on their cult belief of ‘climate change’ doom, then expanding this one incident to say that there is going to be much wider Doom soon.

As condos and HOAs blossomed across the country in the last 50 years, little or no thought was given to the eventual effects of climate change, in terms of location or construction quality. The common-interest housing sector emerged in the 1960s as a way to put more people on less land, increasing developer profits and local property tax revenue. The model spread rapidly, and condos and HOAs are now the default options for new construction in many states, not just across the Sun Belt where they originated but in older metro areas as well.

Now, McKenzie does seem to have a pretty good knowledge about HOAs and condos, having written several books on the subject, but, has he asked why so many grand high poobahs in the Cult of Climastrology, like Barack Obama, have purchased homes so close to the ocean. And, no, no one cared 50 years ago, and seeing how so many companies continue to put up buildings near the ocean, no one cares now. You don’t have to throw in the climate emergency when discussing putting up tall building near the ocean in areas that do not have a lot of bedrock, aren’t that far above sea level, and areas that are prone to violent storms. After a long lead up about the pitfalls of privately run HOAs, we get

In effect, condo and HOA developments are a huge experiment in privatization of local government functions, and sometimes the offloading of government responsibilities goes too far. We can expect a condo or HOA board to handle garbage collection, get the leaves and snow removed from private streets, and broadly live up to its responsibilities to residents. But when private communities took off in the 1960s, we didn’t even know what climate change was. We cannot realistically expect condo boards to prevent damage from sea level rise, more-frequent severe storms, extreme heat and drought, and other major changes in the environment — especially not in buildings that weren’t built to withstand such conditions. If the proliferation of condos and HOAs is to continue in the time of climate change, federal, state and local governments must play a more supportive, directive and protective role. Otherwise, millions of owners and their volunteer community leaders will be swamped by forces beyond their control.

In other words, the Government should take over running of condos and HOAs. Who is surprised that a climate cultist wants to go this route? It seems that Government control is part and parcel of the climate cult doctrine.

Oh, and as for climate apocalypse

How to cope with the climate apocalypse

The Financial Times screed is behind a true paywall, but, the point here is that it is really one of the first instances I’ve seen of a major news outlet using that phrase, climate apocalypse, for real, after those of us on the Skeptic side have used it to make fun of the climate cult.

BTW, there are some who are already linking the D.C. building collapse Thursday to ‘climate change’.

Read: Washington Post: Climate Apocalypse Could Cost Condo Boards Billions »

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

D.C. AG Subpoenas Facebook Study On Bat Soup Virus “Misinformation”

By William Teach July 2, 2021 – 7:38 am

Could someone direct Karl Racine to the First Amendment part about Free Speech? If Facebook, as a private entity, wants to crack down on people giving out what they consider misinformation, they can do that. That the AG of D.C. should want all this information for some reason is a good reason to do away with the position, which did not exist prior to 2014, with Racine being the first one voted into the office

D.C. AG subpoenas Facebook in escalating probe of Covid-19 misinformation

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine has subpoenaed Facebook for records related to the platform’s handling of coronavirus misinformation as part of a previously undisclosed investigation into whether the tech giant is violating consumer protection laws.

What he is demanding: Racine, a Democrat, is calling on Facebook to release by the end of next week an internal study it conducted looking into vaccine hesitancy among its users, as first revealed by news reports in March.

The subpoena, filed June 21, also calls on Facebook to provide records identifying all groups, pages and accounts that have violated its policies against Covid-19 misinformation and documents detailing how many resources the tech giant has devoted to the cause.

“Facebook has said it’s taking action to address the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on its site,” Abbie McDonough, director of communications for Racine, told POLITICO. “But then when pressed to show its work, Facebook refused. AG Racine’s investigation aims to make sure Facebook is truly taking all steps possible to minimize vaccine misinformation on its site and support public health.”

What is Racine investigating? That people had their own opinions, some of which were very wrong and some which were deep into conspiracy theory land? What will he do with this study? Especially when you can expect that the vast amount of data came from people who do not live in the District of Columbia, especially considering that D.C. operates 100% under the federal Constitution and the attacked Bill Of Rights.

In response to the subpoena, Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement that the company has “removed more than 18 million pieces of content on Facebook and Instagram that violate our COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation policies, and labeled more than 167 million pieces of COVID-19 content rated false by our network of fact checking partners.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have skewered Facebook for over-policing claims about the origin of the virus. The company recently announced it would no longer take down posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made, as first reported by POLITICO, a move that came amid surging speculation that the virus may have accidentally leaked from a lab in China.

How much of the posts have been taken down that were correct, especially in terms of saying that Bat Soup Virus was manmade? And why does Racine need this? If he finds D.C. residents had their posts removed, what does Racine plan to do with it? Perhaps Racine should focus more on the rising crime rate, the rising murders rather than worry about people engaged in Freedom Of Speech, protesting peaceably, Freedom of Religion, and petitioning for redress of grievance.

Read: D.C. AG Subpoenas Facebook Study On Bat Soup Virus “Misinformation” »

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Mayor Pete: The Time For Arguing On Climate Crisis (scam) Is Over

By William Teach July 1, 2021 – 3:00 pm

I wonder if there’s taxes and fees involved

Buttigieg: ‘There’s no time to argue’ over climate change

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the debate over whether climate change exists needs to stop, saying “there’s no time to argue about whether it’s real — it’s happening, and it’s incredibly dangerous.”

Buttigieg was asked during an interview on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday how his department is addressing climate change amid record-setting heat in the Pacific Northwest.

“We’ve got to do two things. One, we’ve got to make our infrastructure more resilient, because this is going to keep happening. So, we’ve got to make sure that our roads and our bridges are designed for rising sea levels and more heat waves,” Buttigieg said.

“But the second thing we got to do — we’ve got to stop it from getting any worse. That’s why it’s important to make sure that we help Americans afford and drive electric vehicles. It’s why we have to make sure we have alternatives like transit and make sure it’s easier for people to get around without having to bring a vehicle sometimes, depending on where you’re going,” he added.

So, Pete will force you out of your affordable fossil fueled and, if you’re rich, you can get an electric vehicle. If you you can’t afford an EV, which is most people, then you can ride a bike (if you’re Pete, you can can climatevirtue signal while being followed by a fossil fueled SUV), walk, or take the train or bus. All while Big Shots like Pete take long, fossil fueled plane trips and ride in luxury limos.

But, no, no, don’t argue, the time for that is over, right? Despite 30+ years of being wrong, providing little in the way of actual scientific proof of anthropogenic global causation, all the Doomsaying, don’t argue. Just let Pete take your freedom, liberty, choice, and money. Because, how do we pay for this?

Carbon fees are part of the solution to climate change

…

Pricing carbon is the best first step to address climate change. It works fast to reduce carbon pollution. We’ll start seeing reduced carbon emissions in as little as nine months. Thirty-four countries have a price on carbon, including a border adjustment. The U.S. is one of two developed economies that don’t have that. As a result, we pay those nations a fee for exports, which we wouldn’t be paying if we had a carbon fee.

And the cost of living skyrockets, energy is much more expensive, and Government tells you how to live your life

Insurance costs: Should California homeowners pay for climate change?

In hard-hit Napa Valley, which has burned multiple times this last decade, successful winemakers and longtime residents are weighing their options to rebuild or move out entirely simply by looking at their property insurance policies.

“They just can’t get insurance,” said Democratic state Sen. Bill Dodd, whose district spans the region’s celebrated vineyards. “Or the insurance is so expensive that there is no way they could ever afford that kind of coverage.”

Yes, they’re blaming this on ‘climate change’, not the policies that created the dangerous conditions for things like wildfires, not California just being insane to start with. But, yes, I think Californian’s should pay, because this is what they have voted for. Let them deal with the consequences. And, no, don’t leave. Live with the policies you advocated for. Every experiment needs an experimental group, right?

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/1410598463385919500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1410598463385919500%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fgregp-3534%2F2021%2F07%2F01%2Fdear-new-yorkers-you-voted-for-the-power-cuts-right-now-so-why-complain%2F

Suck it up, New Yorkers, you wanted this stuff with your cultish beliefs in ‘climate change.’

Read: Mayor Pete: The Time For Arguing On Climate Crisis (scam) Is Over »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Energy, Global Warming | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 1, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an area turning to desert from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on LGBT militants beating up an elderly hot dog vendor.

Read: If All You See… »

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