Berkeley To Replace Police For Traffic Stops

By William Teach July 16, 2020 – 3:00 pm

The devil is in the details, and I can’t see how this works well when some car tries to pull you over that’s not a law enforcement officer

Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops

After hours of emotional public testimony and a middle-of-the-night vote by Berkeley leaders, the progressive California city is moving forward with a novel proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in a bid to curtail racial profiling.

The City Council early Wednesday approved a police reform proposal that calls for a public committee to hash out details of a new Berkeley Police Department that would not respond to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness. The committee also would pursue creating a separate department to handle transportation planning and enforcing parking and traffic laws.

The council voted for the committee to find ways to eventually cut the Police Department’s budget by half and approved an analysis of police calls and spending.

It could take months, even years, to create a new department, but police and other law enforcement experts rebuked the idea as dangerous, not only for traffic safety but for the people tasked with pulling over drivers, who they say can be dangerous.

Can’t wait to see the final plan, as Berkeley deploys a whole lot of Karens in Prius’, thinking that people will stop and accept a ticket from someone without a uniform, badge, or weapon. It would be great if police officers were not needed for minor things, right? But, they are, because once in a while they go pear shaped. Lots of summer parking enforcement officers are now armed with at least tasers, some with firearms, because some people get nuts when the meter runs out and they get a ticket.

Cronin, a former traffic officer, said cities can’t rely on unattended traffic signals or camera lights to catch bad drivers and that people are needed to educate motorists on safe driving. But those people also need backup and the authority to arrest should they encounter a driver who is intoxicated, armed and fleeing a crime, or wanted on other charges.

“Traffic stops are one of the most unpredictable and therefore dangerous duties of law enforcement. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop and to perform them effectively and safely takes months of police training in and outside of an academy,” said Frank Merenda, a former New York City Police Department captain who is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Marist College.

Traffic stops are one of the duties of officers that has the biggest unknown. You never know how the person pulled over will act.

But, hey, let’s cheer Berkeley on. We need experimental groups to go through the tough stuff, right?

Read: Berkeley To Replace Police For Traffic Stops »

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 16, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…are horrible carbon pollution created extreme weather rain clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Victory Girls Blog, with a post on the Smithsonian going all anti-white.

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Black Guns Matter Group Argues That Safety Means Armed Self Defense

By William Teach July 16, 2020 – 10:30 am

They say that gun laws are racist. Not sure if I agree with that sentiment, but, it is interesting that the areas with the most restrictive gun laws are also areas where blacks have a tough time getting permits to own a gun to protect themselves and their families. Good for them

A group called ‘Black Guns Matter’ is teaching Black Americans how to use firearms

Grief and rage swept the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in late May. His death renewed debate about racialized police violence and the disproportionate killing of Black Americans, who are up to four times likelier than white Americans to be killed by police.

That debate has typically centered on policing itself. But Maj Toure, the founder of Black Guns Matter, has taken another tack: Advocating for Black Americans to take up arms for self-defense.

While many argue that the way to prevent violence is to have fewer guns, he says the opposite.

“I believe that more Black people would be alive if they were armed,” Toure told Business Insider Weekly.

“So when I hear ‘unarmed Black man,’ I’m sad,” he added, “because there should be no such thing.”

When protests erupted in late May, Toure bought a flight to Minneapolis, where he began teaching crowds about self-defense and Black Guns Matter just a few blocks from Floyd’s memorial.

“If you would like a free basic firearm safety class, you can get it right here,” he told a group of passers-by, setting up a table with replica handguns. “The police, as we see, will leave. They will not come to save you. They will not save our businesses. So if you want that, I’ll do that here. Anyone can come. It is completely free.”

At his class, he demonstrated for crowds proper firearm technique, ran through attacker scenarios, and occasionally challenged the views of spectators who disagreed with his approach.

Teaching proper use of firearms, how to carry, when you can pull it, when you can fire it, and so forth is rather important.

Historians say the links between gun control and racial discrimination go back to slavery and, later, Black Code laws that forbade African Americans from owning guns.

“Gun control in America was initially created to stop melanated beings from having arms,” Toure said.

That link doesn’t really make the case, but, you can certainly understand how Democrats didn’t want their former slaves being legally armed, eh? Regardless, all Americans are entitled to their 2nd Amendment Rights, and blacks should remember which political Party is trying to take them away while keeping blacks down on the liberal plantation.

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Surprise: “Green” Technologies Are Far From Being Ready For Primetime

By William Teach July 16, 2020 – 7:56 am

Many skeptics, including myself, have said for a long time that there needs to be more research and development rather than just slapping up projects, along with demand that Things Get Done. Most of us may not believe that ‘climate change’ is mostly/solely caused by Mankind, and particularly CO2, but, we do agree with clean energy and such. Clean energy is nowhere close

Many technologies needed to solve the climate crisis are nowhere near ready

Global warming can often feel overwhelming, given its political, social, and economic complexities. From a purely engineering perspective, though, it is surprisingly simple. There is a clear goal and a bounded set of technological tools to achieve it — just the kind of problem engineers like to solve.

The clear goal is net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a target around which much of the world is coalescing. (snip)

Net zero is the clear goal. The tools available for achieving it are clean energy technologies. Given the time it takes for new technologies to scale up to mass-market significance, the 2050 target will almost certainly be met (if at all) with clean energy technologies that currently exist. Some of them may still be in the early stages of development, but they’re already out there somewhere. It’s a large set of tools, but a bounded set.

From an engineering perspective, the central question is whether the tools available are up to the task required of them.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently set out to answer that question, under the rubric of its Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) program, which this month issued its latest Clean Energy Innovation report.

The (comprehensive and fascinating) report surveys the field of clean energy technology and determines where various technologies are on the development curve and where they must get to achieve net zero by 2050. It reveals a problem that is at once politically daunting and, from an engineering perspective, eminently solvable — even, or perhaps especially, in the Covid-19 era.

Being that this is Vox, it’s the typical long, long, long article, which has all sorts of charts showing that most technologies aren’t ready. Interestingly, one of the ones that is ready, nuclear, is opposed by most climate cultists. Same with hydrothermal. Things like solar and wind are considered “early adoption”, despite being around for 50+ years.

Altogether, “around 35% of the cumulative CO2 emissions reductions needed to shift to a sustainable path come from technologies currently at the prototype or demonstration phase,” the report says. “A further 40% of the reductions rely on technologies not yet commercially deployed on a mass-market scale.”

So, climate cultists keep releasing plans for net zero which rely on technologies that aren’t ready for morning cartoons, much less prime time? Huh.

Interestingly, and not quite unexpected, these technologies at all stages are designed to be implemented by government force, which will impact your life. Because that’s the only way this happens. Surprise?

Read: Surprise: “Green” Technologies Are Far From Being Ready For Primetime »

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Who Had “Sleep Is Now Racist” On Their Bingo Card?

By William Teach July 16, 2020 – 7:34 am

Brought to you by the Barking Moonbats at Teen Vogue, a magazine meant to be about “Fashion, Beauty, Entertainment News For Teens.” No, really, search for Teen Vogue, see what the link title looks like. And there are some silly celeb stuff, till we get to things like ending landlords, because housing should be a human right and being time to end white politics (who wants to bet that the majority of readers are white teens?). Oh, and underwear for those who don’t like doing laundry (for teens, doesn’t mom do the laundry? Most teens aren’t living off on their own)

From the insanity

Fannie Sosa and Navild Acosta were tired, but it wasn’t just any old fatigue. Yes, they experienced a lack of sleep, but they were specifically experiencing a generational fatigue familiar to Black people and people of color. From this sleeplessness, the two created Black Power Naps.

“It came from understanding that the American dream is a sleepless one,” Sosa said. “ We inherited this exhaustion.”

Black Power Naps is an artistic initiative with components including physical installations, zines, an opera, and more. But it’s also a recognition of the hundreds of years of sleep deprivation that Black people and people of color have experienced as a result of systemic racism, a way to pushback against the false stereotype that Black people are lazy, and an investigation of the inequitable distribution of rest. That lack of sleep has serious consequences. (snip)

Studies have shown that, for a host of reasons, Black people get less sleep, and less deep sleep, than white people. Sleep loss can cause higher levels of cortisol, as Acosta noted, and can lead to many health problems including early death. But there’s something deeper going on — Acosta explained that sleep deprivation was used as a means of control over enslaved people, meaning Black people haven’t been getting the sleep they need for generations.

“We’re dealing with an inheritance of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was a…deliberate tactic of slave owners to basically make the mind feeble,” he said. “That same tactic has only evolved.”

One of the reason is (supposedly) due to crappy conditions in Democratic Party run inner cities where Democrats send Blacks to in the form of “public housing”, which has lots of noise and cigarette smoke and crime. Though they forget to mention the Democrats. Regardless, doesn’t matter, this is your fault for sleeping just a little bit longer because you’re white.

“We’re dealing with an inheritance of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was a…deliberate tactic of slave owners to basically make the mind feeble,” he said. “That same tactic has only evolved.”

Who’s depriving them now? They never say.

To help resolve this chronic lack of sleep, Acosta and Sosa are calling for rest as reparations. Yes, they’re looking for an ease to the many burdens that might prevent Black people and people of color from sleeping like systemic racism, socioeconomic struggle, and more. But they’re also looking for the opportunity to rest and have leisure time — time that will allow people to dream and heal.

Sounds like people are just angling for constant paid time off.

Read: Who Had “Sleep Is Now Racist” On Their Bingo Card? »

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Bummer: Handsy Joe Says We Only Have 9 Years Left From Climate Crisis (scam) Doom

By William Teach July 15, 2020 – 4:22 pm

Joe Biden should tell all his supporters to stop taking fossil fueled trips, give up their intake of meat, and go live in tents

Biden on Climate Change: Only Nine Years Left but Net Zero Emissions ‘No Later than 2050′

Former vice president and Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States only has nine years to address climate change as he vowed to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 — 30 years from now.

“We’ll lock in progress that no future president can roll back or undercut to take us backward again,” Biden outlined in a speech. “Science requires a time table for measuring progress on climate that isn’t three decades or even two.” 

“Science tells us we have nine years before the damage is irreversible,” Biden said.

“So my time table results is my first four years as president,” Biden said. “The jobs we’ll create, the investments we’ll make, and irreversible steps we’ll take to mitigate and adopt to the climate change and put our nation on the road to net zero emissions no later than 2050.

Hey, remember when it was 12 years left the other year? And St. Greta says 8 years left. And it was 18 months last July. And Prince Charles said we had 96 months left in 2009. That prognostication died 2 years ago. And the “500 days left to avoid climate doom” in 2014. And so many more. Are these climate cultists and extreme enviroweenies ever right?

Guess I’m going to have to do a couple Biden Hotcoldwetdry graphics, eh?

Read: Bummer: Handsy Joe Says We Only Have 9 Years Left From Climate Crisis (scam) Doom »

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 15, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is a sea that will soon swamp all the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Watcher Of Weasels, with a post on Portland’s mayor blaming Trump for the rising violence in the city.

Read: If All You See… »

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Surprise: Forthcoming Redskins Name Change Is Just A Start

By William Teach July 15, 2020 – 10:30 am

When you give in to SJWs they won’t stop. They’ll keep demanding more

Native Americans say Washington’s name change ‘signals the beginning’ of further reckoning

It was more than a sports logo, it was a symbol.

On Monday, Washington’s NFL team announced that it would change its nickname and logo, which has been long been decried as racist and dehumanizing by Native American advocates. Owner Dan Snyder had previously vowed that he would “never” change the name — but that was before demonstrators across the United States and beyond took to the streets after the death of George Floyd to protest systemic racism. (snip)

Change has been the operative word in tribal communities of late: The Supreme Court ruled on July 9 that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation based on a treaty signed with the Creek Nation in the 19th Century. This month, there have also been legal victories for Native environmental activists in their attempts to block two major oil pipelines. Statues of Christopher Columbus, whose arrival in the New World heralded the conquest and mass murder in the eyes of many Indigenous Americans, have been toppled in several states. (big snip to near the end)

Dunbar-Ortiz said she hoped that the unprecedented momentum would continue — including serious reflection over the cultural appropriation in other Native American-derived nicknames in pro and college sports, such as MLB’s Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.

“None of those names are Native terms. They’re made up colonial terms,” she said. “They’re not honoring Native people.”

For the first time in memory, the drumbeat for change is not falling on deaf ears.

Being in the South, there are plenty of Braves fans around here, and they think they are safe. They shouldn’t. I know a small number of Blackhawks and Chiefs fans, they think the same. They shouldn’t. It never ends. Heck, they’ll probably come after the use of Washington.

And, hey, while we’re at it, let’s look at place names, too! (via Hot Air)

Read More »

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Burger King Goes Climate Cult On Cow Emissions

By William Teach July 15, 2020 – 8:11 am

Just, just, just shut up and serve burgers. That’s your job. Serve fast food.

Burger King addresses climate change by changing cows’ diets, reducing cow farts

Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows.

The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cow’s daily methane emissions by about 33%.

Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion, and that has become a potential public relations hurdle for major burger chains.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector.

With an over-the-top social media campaign that teeters between vulgarity and science (sprinkled with more vulgarity), Burger King is banking on the heightened awareness of climate change and its responsibility to limit its own role.

No, really

What about all the chickens used? The gas grills (supposedly) used to make the burgers? All the energy consumption from the microwaves and fryers? All the foods that are fried? How about all the road miles to ship the foods?

In fairness, methane is problematic. I’ve said and written this many, many times. CO2 is a joke, but, there is concern with other GHGs such as methane, hence why I never say that the current warm period is solely caused by nature. The climate virtue signaling on this is amazing, though. As that’s all it is. Changing the diet of cows is a drop in the bucket as to BK’s operations.

Read: Burger King Goes Climate Cult On Cow Emissions »

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NYC Black Leaders Suddenly Realize That Getting Rid Of Cops And Anti-Crime Unit Is A Bad Idea

By William Teach July 15, 2020 – 7:59 am

New York City hasn’t gotten rid of their police yet, though they did vote to cut the NYPD’s budget by a billion dollars, which will mean lots and lots of officers gone. Officers are leaving and retiring at a much higher rate than usual. And citizens are seeing a much higher rate of crime already, as you know

Black Leaders Call on NYPD to Bring Back Anti-Crime Unit as Shootings Spike

Leaders in the black community are calling on the New York Police Department to bring back the plainclothes Anti-Crime Unit that was eliminated last month as shootings and murders spike across the city.

About 600 undercover officers from the unit were set to be transferred to other assignments including detective work and policing neighborhoods, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said a month ago. The anti-crime unit, which was responsible for getting guns off the streets, had been criticized as stoking distrust in law enforcement in minority communities.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, one of the African-American voices calling for action on gun violence, criticized the police force’s decision to completely disband the unit. He deplored the recent deadly shooting of a one-year-old, one of the victims of New York City’s recent spike in gun violence.

“I think that a total elimination is something we need to reevaluate,” Adams said, CBS New York reported. “Right now, bad guys are saying if you don’t see a blue and white you can do whatever you want.”

Surprise? Especially in a Democratic Party run city? With people who vote mostly Democrat? And are now voting for serious hardcore Progressives like AOC who want to completely defund the police?

Tony Herbert, an activist in New York’s black community, agreed and lamented the rise in violence, criticizing New York officials for their failure to address the situation.

“The guns keep going off and now we have a 1-year-old and the blood is on the hands of the mayor and the state Legislature,” Herbert said.

Perhaps Tony and Eric should have a conversation with Black Lives Matter, which is calling to defund the police. Oh, and maybe they should discuss that the NYC chapter wants to be autonomous and separate in a Communist manner

The best way for us to move our Black liberation work forward is to be autonomous from the global network. We will take time to build a collective that can realize our power, be accountable to our community, and transformative in our politics. We see this as a continuation of the radical Black liberation and Black power struggle that has spanned centuries around the world.  We believe in the right to self-govern and our need to become ungovernable to institutions that do not serve our interest of freedom, autonomy and liberation. We view the struggle for Black liberation as a human rights struggle. Black liberation is necessary and imperative for global liberation and the liberation of all people.

That sounds rather Black Separatist/Nationalist, eh? Regardless

The city’s murder rate for the month ending June 7 has more than doubled from the same period last year, and shooting victims have increased by 45 percent. Meanwhile, arrests for illegal gun possession have dropped dramatically, with only 29 people arrested during the week that ended July 5, down from 70 during the same week last year, according to NYPD data.

I thought citizen conflict resolution counselors were going to take over the job of policing? All those social workers? No? But, since the city council pulled $1 billion for the police budget, where do they get the money? Further, if who cares if the community doesn’t trust the cops: they aren’t there to make friends, they are there to reduce crime.

Read: NYC Black Leaders Suddenly Realize That Getting Rid Of Cops And Anti-Crime Unit Is A Bad Idea »

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