It Begins: Los Angeles To Reinvest Up To $150 Million From LAPD Budget To Communities Of Color

And what happens when LA become awash in violence? Who will LA blame?

As peaceful protests continue, LAPD budget could be cut by up to $150 million to reinvest in communities of color

As protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd stretched into a sixth day, Los Angeles officials said Wednesday that they will look to cut $100 million to $150 million from the city’s police budget as part of a broader effort to reinvest more dollars into the black community.

In all, Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged that the city would “identify $250 million in cuts so we can invest in jobs, in health, in education and in healing,” especially in the city’s black community “as well as communities of color and women and people who have been left behind.”

Those cuts, he said, would be “to every department, including the Police Department, because we all have to be part of this solution together. We all have to step up and say, ‘What can we sacrifice?’”

Eileen Decker, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, said that effort includes identifying $100 million to $150 million in cuts from the Police Department — something City Council President Nury Martinez and other council members had called for earlier in the day. The LAPD’s total annual budget is $1.86 billion.

Garcetti also said the city will impose a moratorium on placing people in a statewide database for identifying and tracking gang members — which reform advocates had lobbied for — and will require officers to intervene when they see inappropriate use of force and report misconduct.

In fairness, that’s around 5% of their budget, and, like so much government, how much of of the department’s budget is just waste? Do they really need $1.86 billion? Can they make do with $1.71-1.16 billion? Or are they already underfunded? Will the money redistributed make a difference to deal with the problems created in a Democratic Party run city to help people who vote for the people who help create the problems?

News of Garcetti’s announcement was met with mixed reaction among the demonstrators outside.

Carter Gregory, 26, said it was a good first step. “I think he’s listening and needs to keep going,” he said.

What’s that old saying about feeding an alligator? And the one about giving an inch and them wanting to take a mile?

Elsewhere

https://twitter.com/TheGreenNewDill/status/1268515692430725120

Read: It Begins: Los Angeles To Reinvest Up To $150 Million From LAPD Budget To Communities Of Color »

‘Climate Change’ Is The Most Important Mission For Universities Or Something

I figured it was to educate people to get them ready for a real career. Eric Worrell writes “If you thought the most important mission of universities was to provide kids with professional skills to help them get a better job, think again.” Of course, we’ve seen institutions of higher learning offering degrees this century that make basket weaving look good (hey, at least with a basket weaving degree you can make great baskets and sell them for money), degrees that make companies not want anything to do with the applicant because they will just be trouble, degrees that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. But, the mostly Democrat run schools are just looking for money

Climate change is the most important mission for universities of the 21st century

Universities are confronting the possibility of profound sector-wide transformation due to the continuing effects of COVID-19. It is prompting much needed debate about what such transformation should look like and what kind of system is in the public interest.

And, of course, the Cult of Climastrology is taking advantage of Bat Soup virus to push their cult

This is now an urgent conversation. If universities want a say in what the future of higher education will look like, they will need to generate ideas quickly and in a way that attracts wide public support.

This will involve articulating their unique role as embedded, future-regarding, ethical generators of crucial knowledge and skills, well-equipped to handle coming contingencies and helping others do the same.

And this means higher education changes are entangled with another major force for transformation – climate change.

How can universities credibly claim to be preparing young people for their futures, or to be working with employers, if they do not take into account the kind of world they are helping to bring about?

Much-needed transitions towards low carbon and well-adapted systems are emerging. But they are too piecemeal and slow relative to what is needed to avoid large scale cascading and compounding impacts to our planet.

Apply the graphic to universities. No fossil fueled vehicles, no fossil fueled travel for employees and sports teams or visiting dignitaries and lecturers. Heat has to be kept in the 50’s, AC in the 80’s. If even allowed.

Universities are key to enabling Australian society to transition to a safer and lower emissions pathway. They are needed to provide the knowledge, skills and technologies for this positive transition. And they are also needed to foster the social dialogue and build the broad public mandate to get there.

I’d say it is absurd that they’re saying that universities should be more about indoctrination rather than providing an education for a professional life, but, then, this is the way it has been going for a while.

They must become public good, mission-driven organisations devoted to rapidly progressing human understanding and action on the largest threat there has ever been, to what they are taken to represent and advance – human civilisation.

Indoctrination.

Some universities are already starting to build aspects of climate change into their operations. Most prominent have been efforts to divest university finances from direct support of fossil fuels. While some institutions are still dragging their feet, the University of California has announced it will fully divest  its US$126 billion endowment from fossil fuels.

Yeah, but they don’t give up their own use of fossil fuels, and then have to raise tuition even more because of the loss of that investment. Have fun, kids!

Read: ‘Climate Change’ Is The Most Important Mission For Universities Or Something »

Problem Solved: Pornhub Stands In Solidarity Against Racism

I’m not quite sure what to think of a pornagraphy site taking a stand on this. Is it Important, considering how much people watch and that it ranks #59 for traffic and engagement world wide? Or, is it utterly absurd, because it is a pornagraphy site that features sibling videos, abuse and fake rape, forced sex, etc?

Pornhub Claims It ‘Stands in Solidarity Against Racism,’ Features Racist Videos

Pornhub joined other companies and websites that have signaled their “solidarity against racism” in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis, but the site’s critics assert its claim is phony since it hosts racist videos.

On Saturday, the pornography media giant tweeted, “Pornhub stands in solidarity against racism and social injustice. If you are able, we encourage you to give to organizations” and tagged groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), NAACP, and Bail Project.

Pornhub added it “pledged to support by donating $100,000 to organizations actively fighting for equality,” and invited others to join the website.

As the Daily Wire noted, however, anti-porn group Fight the New Drug (FTNG) called out the porn giant for hypocrisy in its claim it “stands in solidarity against racism.”

I guess it’s nice that Pornhub stands in solidarity, considering that George Floyd was killed by the officer while other officers stood around, but, was it racism or just a horrible cop? We have learned that Floyd and Chauvin knew each other for years. Does Pornhub stand in solidarity with all the violence, looting, property destruction, and so forth? Anyhow, speaking of Chauvin and the other officers

(USA Today) All four police officers in the killing of George Floyd will face charges, Minnesota’s attorney general announced Wednesday, and court papers described more troubling details about how officers did nothing to stop Floyd from dying on the ground.

Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference that evidence “supports a stronger charge” for Derek Chauvin. He had been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter May 29 and taken into custody the same day.

Thomas Lane, J.A. Keung and Tou Thao were the other officers on the scene. Thao was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder in the commission of a felony; the other officers face similar charges of aiding and abetting.

“Trying this case will not be an easy thing,” Ellison said. “Winning a conviction will be hard.”

Yes, it may well be. Some law pundits are saying that a 2nd degree charge is correct, others are saying it is crazy, and almost impossible. Especially when keeping the 3rd degree charge, for which the defense will go to court and say “pick one.” The 3 officers are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. What happens if a jury cannot convict on 2nd degree? That means the 3 officers get off scott free. Chauvin deserves prison, but, 2nd degree will be difficult, especially since his defense will claim he cannot get a fair trial, especially when the AG of Minnesota is personally involved.

But, fortunately, Pornhub stands in solidarity.

Read: Problem Solved: Pornhub Stands In Solidarity Against Racism »

Warmists Still Pimping A Green Recovery From Bat Soup Virus

Haven’t the climate cultists heard that the COVID19 issue is dead after all the protests?

Economic recovery efforts must consider climate change

In response to the massive economic contraction stemming from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some central banks — including those of the United States, European Union, Japan and other major economies — are engaging in “quantitative easing” (QE) programs on an unprecedented scale. These programs involve large-scale asset purchases, namely central banks buying financial instruments such as government and corporate bonds. The goal is to inject liquidity into financial markets and stimulate economic activity. (snip)

After the Great Recession of 2008, as central banks tried to stabilize the global economy, advocates for climate action called for “green” QE. They argued that central banks should buy only or primarily the bonds (or stocks, in some cases) of companies with low carbon footprints or with clear commitments to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. That way, the world could confront two challenges at the same time — global recession and climate change. In the end, QE in the 2010s did not consider climate change, and in fact some central banks disproportionately purchased assets from carbon-intensive companies.

This time, large-scale asset purchases are taking place in a very different world from the one of 2008.

In the intervening decade, we have learned much about the risks of ignoring climate change when making financial decisions. Central banks can make a much stronger argument today for why taking climate change seriously is consistent with their mandates. They have more tools to incorporate climate considerations into their asset purchases. And, even if QE does not move the needle on climate change by itself, there are good reasons to pursue this approach anyway.

You know what we have learned? That so many of these “green” projects cannot survive without massive government (taxpayer) subsidies. And we’ve learned that Doing Something about climate change is popular in theory, but not practice, where most people, including Warmists do not want to pay much out of their own pockets. That people want to tackle real issues, not ‘climate change.’

Instead, responsible QE should support companies that will thrive in a low-carbon, resilient future. QE programs should more selectively purchase corporate debt from companies whose emissions are already aligned with Paris Agreement goals or that have set (or commit to setting) targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in line with climate science — as 841 companies have done with the Science Based Targets initiative.

Interestingly, almost no one follows up to see if these companies making pledges actually follow through on those pledges. I suspect they are mostly lip service, just like with all the pledges made by the Paris agreement signatory countries.

Taking climate change-related risks and opportunities into account for QE corporate debt purchases not only would be financially prudent, but it also could help unlock growth and deliver a strong, sustainable, inclusive economy — for example, by supporting economic diversification and the delivery of quality jobs. The case for climate action by governments is strong. A report by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate found that bold climate action could deliver economic benefits of $26 trillion between 2018 and 2030.

They keep saying this, but, there really hasn’t been much economic growth from this “green” stuff, rather the reverse. But, climate cultists are doing what they do best, hijacking a real issue to inject their cult.

Read: Warmists Still Pimping A Green Recovery From Bat Soup Virus »

If All You See…

…is a wonderful low carbon bicycle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Bunkerville, with a post on Crazy Uncle Joe saying police should shoot people in the leg.

Read: If All You See… »

Good News, Protest Is Once Again Patriotic

So says the NY Times editorial board

In America, Protest Is Patriotic

When George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, the scourge of police violence, festering for generations, became a rallying point for Americans yearning for the fulfillment of this country’s founding aspiration to promote life, liberty and happiness.

Yet as they turned out to exercise their most basic rights as citizens, these Americans have often encountered only more contempt for those rights from the people who are supposed to protect them.

Some protesters crossed the line into violence. Some people took advantage of the chaos to loot. But all too often, facing peaceful demonstrations against police violence, the police responded with more violence — against protesters, journalists and bystanders.

Remember, this was the same NY Times that mostly denigrated the reopen protesters, who didn’t throw bottles at police, didn’t loot and pillage, who didn’t spray paint graffiti, didn’t get violent at all, as bad people, and often right wing agitators and that it was all astroturfed, in articles and opinion pieces. They were not condemning use of police force and threats to use police force against people breaking lockdown. Nary a word on things like a paddle boarder out in the ocean having law enforcement come and take him away.

Obviously, those protests were not patriotic

Just a few weeks ago, the police demonstrated remarkable forbearance as heavily armed groups turned out in several state capitals to oppose coronavirus-related public heath measures. Now the police are demonstrating an equally remarkable intolerance to protests against their own behavior.

They weren’t violent at all, and, unlike with leftist protests, there’s little chance of violence unless leftists show up and start it. Let’s be clear, the George Floyd protests include conservatives, as we are all appalled by the murder of Floyd. I know many conservatives who have attended the Raleigh and Charlotte protests. But, since this is one where lots of leftists are running it and showing up, the violent leftists forces, ie, Antifa, anarchists, Black Bloc, and others, show up and cause problems. Law enforcement had intelligence. Auto businesses in north Raleigh had warnings about threats against them the past few nights.

Protesting peacefully is patriotic. More importantly, it’s Constitutional, both in the federal and state constitutions. The minute you start getting violent, it stops being constitutional. But, you also know what? Sometimes violence is required. Against the government. That’s how this country started. Rioting and looting against private businesses is not the same thing.

And, yes, sometimes the cops started it with no excuses. They didn’t have to worry about violence at reopen protests, you know.

BTW

‘Destruction is not the answer:’ After Raleigh riots, those arrested express regret

The Wake County Justice Center re-opened for Tuesday, and on the first day of regular business post-pandemic, eight of those arrested for their roles in weekend protests were on the docket.

After court, those charged described a protest that started peacefully before it grew, spurred by crowd anger, into something they regret.

“Destruction is not the answer,” Dijon Pulley said. He is charged with trespassing during an emergency for actions Sunday night.

Well, yeah, not that you’ve been arrested and charged, regret happens. I’m sure their lawyers are telling them to have regret for lighter sentences.

Read: Good News, Protest Is Once Again Patriotic »

Here We Go: The Climate Crisis (scam) Is Racist Or Something

Can you guess what the answer is from Eric Holthaus, a high poobah in the Cult of Climastrology?

The Climate Crisis Is Racist. The Answer Is Anti-Racism.

I’m writing this from St Paul, Minnesota. Our neighbouring city, Minneapolis, is descending into riots this evening. I can hear the fireworks and tear gas grenades being fired at protestors five miles away. They are outraged at the police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd. Floyd was killed by a white police officer who knelt on his neck for at least seven minutes while he was handcuffed and face down on the ground. Floyd repeatedly said, “I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe.” The same rainstorm that is falling on the burning buildings across the river is falling on the garden I planted with my preschoolers earlier today.

The CoC loves taking advantage of every event that happens, as we’ve seen time and again. They then try to subsume those events and make them more about ‘climate change’ then about the actual event, making the actual even less important.

The outrage in Minneapolis right now is primarily about inequality. Since the early days of this city, it has been divided along racial lines, beginning with the expulsion and extermination of the Anishinaabe people, whose land we still occupy. A hundred years ago, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, banks and city officials maintained a racist system of redlining, and created entire neighbourhoods where housing and businesses could not apply for loans and where poverty persists today. Schools in Minnesota, where Minneapolis is the largest city, have among the worst achievement gaps for kids of colour in the entire country.

Eric does understand that Minneapolis is a city run by his buddies in the Democratic Party, the party of ‘climate change’, right? Right?

Climate change is racist because the system that caused it is racist. No, rainstorms don’t care about skin colour, but worsening weather worldwide aggravates the divisions in society that already exist because it hits people of colour living in poverty the hardest. Simply put: the reason the world hasn’t been fighting climate change as hard as it should is because powerful people don’t want to stop exploiting people of colour. The urgency of climate change is also an urgency for racial justice.

Now that is a scorching hot take. Eric spends lots of time trying to prove this, forgetting it happens in areas that tend to be run by ‘climate change’ believing Democrats

Climate change is a symptom of the same unequal system. It is the denial of the right to exist on an enormous, planetary scale. It is a consequence of the same system run by people who think of Africa as a resource for imperialist expansion, not a continent filled with millions of families who deserve health and safety and happiness just like everyone does. It’s what happens when the lives of marginalised people and non-human species are viewed as expendable. That expendability, and the continuation of this system, is a choice. Nothing about it is inevitable or necessary, yet those in power choose to continue it every single day.

Eric’s plan?

The answer to all of this obviously isn’t easy, but the approach must include anti-racism at its core. Anti-racism, actively working to replace the current system with something that repairs past harms and redistributes power meaningfully in favour of people of colour is what is required of everyone in the climate emergency, especially those of us who benefit the most from how things are right now. We cannot fight climate change without being anti-racist.

Huh. Not much of a plan.

Read: Here We Go: The Climate Crisis (scam) Is Racist Or Something »

Celebs Sign Letter Calling To Defund The Police

You know, the people who tend to live in gated communities which often have their own private police force and also often have their own armed security

John Legend, Common, the Weeknd, Lizzo Sign Open Letter to Defund the Police

John Legend, Common, the Weeknd, Lizzo, Jane Fonda, and others have signed a new open letter urging local governments to decrease police budgets in favor of spending more on health care, education, and other community programs. Others to sign the letter include Megan Rapinoe, Yada Shahidi, and Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU.

The letter was released by activist Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a founding member of the Movement 4 Black Lives, a coalition of more than 100 black-rights organizations. The letter arrives in conjunction with #BlackOutTuesday and #TheShowMustBePaused, a grassroots campaign within the music industry to pause work today, June 2nd, and “reconnect with our community.” Talib Kweli, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Brie Larson, and Taraji P. Henson also signed on to support the letter.

OK, let’s start by defunding the government run city police in the areas these people live. They can be the experiment group, everyone else can be the control group. The state police and county sheriff’s departments would not be allowed to respond. Let’s see what happens.

The open letter ties the deaths of unarmed black people like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others to the disproportionately devastating effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on black communities. “The COVID-19 deaths and the deaths caused by police terror are connected and consequential to each other,” it states. “The United States does not have a national healthcare system. Instead, we have the largest military budget in the world, and some of the most well-funded and militarized police departments in the world, too. Policing and militarization overwhelmingly dominate the bulk of national and local budgets. In fact, police and military funding has increased every single year since 1973, and at the same time, funding for public health decreased every year, crystallized most recently when the Trump administration eliminated the U.S. Pandemic Response Team in 2018, citing ‘costs.’”

Interesting. What about the number of blacks killed by blacks? Year over year, somewhere between 7,000-8,000 blacks are killed each year by other blacks. Despite being around 13% of the population, blacks account for around 50% of the murders/murdered. In 2019, about 1,000 citizens were killed by police overall, and just 24% of those were black. Maybe they should be concerned with the violence within the black communities, which tend to be in areas run by the Democratic Party, because the Dems love to keep blacks in their plantations, er, low income areas.

Noting, for instance, that state and local government spending on police and corrections jumped from $60 billion to $194 billion between 1977 and 2017, the letter lays out an array of different ways that money could be used. “It could go towards building healthy communities, to the health of our elders and children, to neighborhood infrastructure, to education, to childcare, to support a vibrant Black future. The possibilities are endless.”

In fact, the U.S. and states have spent lots and lots of money on these things, yet, nothing seems to change. Because Democrats are still the same racists they were during Jim Crow and segregation, now they just keep blacks in certain areas. They have housing built, and the areas turn into dangerous areas with gangs and all sorts of violence, crime, drugs, poverty, etc. That’s what Democrats want.

Read: Celebs Sign Letter Calling To Defund The Police »

Climate Cultists Lay Out 50 Step Plan For Markets And Regulators

This would all require massive amounts of government

Warning of ‘green swan’ risks, climate group Ceres and bipartisan supporters lay out 50-step plan for markets and regulators

The U.S. has sustained more than $1.775 trillion in costs from more than 265 climate-related extreme weather events since 1980, by some measures, and more than $500 billion in economic losses between 2015 and 2019. That means any move forward from COVID-19 and its economic malaise requires a concerted climate-change response from financial markets and their regulators, a new report says.

Huh what? What does one have to do with the other? Besides, weather events have always happened. No need to blame witchcraft, er, carbon pollution.

The call, leveled at major financial market and insurance regulators and with support from a key Democratic Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, was sounded in a report released Monday by sustainable investing advocate Ceres.

The release examines the wide-ranging and compounding impacts of the climate crisis on U.S. financial markets, establishes how these impacts fall within the purview of seven different federal financial regulatory agencies as well as state regulatory agencies, studies what models for action are already being implemented by regulators around the world, and recommends more than 50 specific actions U.S. regulators can take right now. This includes what regulators might learn from the COVID-19 recovery effort, including a warning about ignoring sustainability requirements in any relief awarded and in plans to rebuild from the pandemic.

This really isn’t about science nor the climate, is it? Sounds more like excuse making to empower more Big Government.

“A multi-industry chorus of big investors, central banks, rating agencies, insurers and top economists warns of severe economic disruption from climate change — what the Bank of International Settlements termed ‘green swan’ risks; systemic and catastrophic,” Sen. Whitehouse said in response to the report. “For safety’s sake, U.S. financial regulators must prepare and adapt,” he added.

For safety’s sake, Government must control the entire economy, ya know. Funny how it always comes to this. Say, what do we call it when the government runs the economy?

Read: Climate Cultists Lay Out 50 Step Plan For Markets And Regulators »

If All You See…

…is a sea rising up to meet the forests, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on comparing the rate of COVID19 in Europe and the U.S.

Read: If All You See… »

Pirate's Cove