Mexico Wants Information On Operation Fast And Furious

By William Teach May 12, 2020 – 10:30 am

Remember, there was not a hint of corruption in the Obama administration. And this is going to confirm that no corruption

Mexico sheds light on note requesting answers over Obama era gun-running sting: report

The foreign minister of Mexico announced on Monday that he sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. requesting answers related to a gun-running sting that caused tension during the Obama administration, according to a report.

In a video posted on Twitter, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard quoted Eric Holder, the former U.S. Attorney General, as saying Mexican authorities knew about the ill-fated 2009-2011 scheme known as “Fast and Furious.”

“The [Mexican] government requests that it be provided with all the information available regarding the ‘Fast and Furious’ operation,” Ebrard said, according to Reuters. (snip)

A review of the program found that only 710 out of roughly 2,000 firearms were recovered as of February 2012, according to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). In 2011, Holder had requested the OIG to conduct a review of operation “Fast and Furious.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said last week his government would send a diplomatic note to Washington for information on the operation, as his current regime digs for more information on the cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, as well as possible corruption under previous administrations.

“How could this be? A government that invades in this way, that flagrantly violates sovereignty, international laws,” Lopez Obrador said at a news conference, according to Reuters.

We’d really like to know who knew what and when as well, Andres. Seriously, who green-lit a program that they knew would lose lots of guns and see the end up in Mexico? Some lower level regional supervisor certainly wouldn’t have authorized Operation Fast and Furious, and even the head of ATF and the others involved

On October 26, 2009, a teleconference was held at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. to discuss U.S. strategy for combating Mexican drug cartels. Participating in the meeting were Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, acting ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states. They decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low-level buyers.[3][40][41] Those at the meeting apparently did not suggest using the “gunwalking” tactic, but Phoenix ATF supervisors would soon use it in an attempt to achieve the desired goals.

along with the Arizona US Attorney’s office would have wanted higher guidance when these guns could end up in Mexico. And with Trump in the White House and Barr as AG the true details of the program might well be released. Especially with Obama running his mouth as of late.

Read: Mexico Wants Information On Operation Fast And Furious »

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Climate Hysteria Today: Who’s Up For Living Behind Sea Walls?

By William Teach May 12, 2020 – 7:07 am

This is your fault, you know. That fossil fueled trip to the burger shop? For shame

As sea levels rise, are we ready to live behind giant walls?

Climate change, it’s fair to say, is complicated. And it’s big. One of the main challenges of responding effectively is simply getting your head around the scale of the problem.

Well, it’s easy when climate cultists simply just scaremonger and say we’re doomed. Unless Everyone Else is taxed and has their freedom taken by Government.

A new study by European Commission scientists, now published in the journal Nature Communications, is a classic of this type. It looks at the costs of protecting coastal communities from climate change. The authors underline that our coasts will suffer from sea levels that are predicted to rise as much as one metre by the end of the century, as well as from more intense storms.

Of all the many varied impacts in a warming planet, sea level rise is one of the most straightforward to predict, although it will not affect everywhere the same and so some communities will be more at risk than others. We can be quite confident that the sea level is rising due to climate change, because sea water expands as it warms and because extra water is flowing from melting glaciers and ice sheets.

As the oceans warm, the sea levels rise bit by bit – and if ice sheets on Antarctica or Greenland collapse and water currently locked up is released, then sea levels will rise very suddenly, and by a lot. It will be expensive to deal with these impacts, and this new research shows by quite how much in Europe. Given the costs of flooded coastal cities, the European Commission scientists suggest that it would save money in the long run to build improved sea defences around 70% of the continent’s coastline.

Do we really want to live in a world in which we all live behind huge walls? Is this the only way to adapt? Many of us have trapped ourselves in places that will no longer be safe, and in some places building large defences is the only option. Certainly London will not survive without the next-generation Thames barrier.

Sea level rise is completely usual during the Holocene, which is the end of the last glacial age. There doesn’t have to be any anthropogenic causation involved….you know what? Y’all know all this stuff.

But there are other options in other places, and we can “defend” in different ways. Nature-based solutions such as recreating dunes or marshland or retreating from coastal zones are possibilities that we should consider wherever we can.

And you know what else?

The preferable alternative is to take a more nuanced approach. We know the climate is changing, and we will need a combination of more concrete, clever natural solutions, and better flood forecasts to prepare for what’s ahead. But by showing the sheer scale of the “hard” defences that would be needed on their own to keep Europeans safe, this new paper represents more scientific evidence that cutting emissions now, and mitigating the worst impacts, is the best future we can hope for.

If we tax you and lock you down we can stop the sea walls.

Read: Climate Hysteria Today: Who’s Up For Living Behind Sea Walls? »

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Bat Soupe Lawsuits: Judge Sides With Barber Over Michigan Tyrant, Er, Governor

By William Teach May 12, 2020 – 6:56 am

It’s not particularly shocking that more and more lawsuits are being filed across the country against the over-bearing restrictions from many governors who’ve gone completely overboard. And these suits mostly seem to be coming down on the side of freedom, liberty, choice, and state and federal Constitutions

Michigan Judge Sides with Barber, Rejects Gretchen Whitmer Demand to Close Shop

A Michigan judge has denied a motion made by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration that an Owosso barber close up shop during the coronavirus outbreak.

Great Lakes News was outside Karl Manke’s Barber & Beauty Shop on Monday when the ruling came down.

Reporter Katie Heid said the judge denied the state’s claim that the 77-year-old Manke to close his shop because he was allegedly in violation of Whitmer’s stay-at-home order.

“This is not only a big victory for Mr. Manke, but also for other small businesses,” she said.

“Who else will open their doors?”

The state Attorney General lost in its effort to obtain a temporary restraining order, NBC 25 reported.

The AG called his business an “imminent danger to public health…..” Cutting hair. While wearing a mask and gloves. Sanitizing. Washing hands.

Manke told ABC 12 he reopened after unemployment benefits were denied three times.

The barber had been repeatedly fined for allegedly violating the shutdown orders, but supporters paid the fines.

People like Whitmer do not care. They have found a taste of Power and want more. And have been corrupted by it. From the NBC 25 report, Manke’s lawyer, David Kallman, notes

“Certain businesses are favored, they can open. Other businesses are unfavored, they stay shut and their businesses get destroyed. That’s what we’re fighting in this case,” Kallman stated.

People are showing massive support to Manke, and he has even had business from out of state.

“I expect people to follow the law. These executive orders are not a suggestion, they’re not optional, they’re not helpful hints, this is an order to prevent the spread of COVID19,” said Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Tyrants do what tyrants do. The law group said

The government charged Karl with criminal misdemeanor violations for allegedly violating Governor Whitmer’s Executive Orders (EO). All the EOs issued by the governor after April 30, 2020, however, are illegal and unlawful because the Legislature refused to extend her declared state of emergency past that date. Governor Whitmer’s Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Robert Gordon, also improperly issued an “Imminent Danger and Abatement Order” against Mr. Manke on Friday, May 8, 2020. At the direction of the Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel, the DHHS Order was personally served on Karl at his barber shop by six Michigan State Police Officers. This order violates the public health code and has not been properly issued.

It took 6 officers to serve him? Nothing tyrannical about that, especially when there is no force of law behind the restrictions.

Read: Bat Soupe Lawsuits: Judge Sides With Barber Over Michigan Tyrant, Er, Governor »

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Say, How Do You Climate Strike When Everyone’s At Home?

By William Teach May 11, 2020 – 3:00 pm

Of course, the question the Cult of Climastrology should be asking is if anyone actually cares now that there is a real emergency

How do you strike for the climate when everyone’s stuck at home?

…

One of the few silver linings of a generation-defining cataclysm like the coronavirus is that everything can change in its aftermath. Just as the welfare state was embedded following World War Two, many activists on the left believe this is an opportunity to address fundamental issues like chronic poverty, economic inequality and, most of all, climate change. (snip)

As a result, that stimulus package will be enormous. The government has already announced a support program of approximately $25 billion, and more will come in this Thursday’s Budget. Faced with this surge in government spending, climate activists are determined to direct the cash flow towards creating a green future. “This is the first time in my generation that we’ve had billions of dollars on the table,” noted Amanda Larsson, Greenpeace NZ’s lead climate campaigner. “It’s a chance for a total economic reset. That’s why we’ve been calling for a green Covid recovery.” (snip)

Covid-19 cast a new light on the climate challenge. “We realised that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to reshape our world,” said Coco Green-Lovatt, a lead organiser with New Zealand’s #SchoolStrike4Climate movement. “Maybe a year ago, our demands might not have seemed like they were going to be implemented. But then Covid-19 happened, and we could see that our demands were both crucial and possible.”

This isn’t really about science, is it.

To regain some strength, climate groups like #SchoolStrike are shifting to digital. The group has scheduled an Zoom “Online Strike” for May 15th. Strikers will put #unitebehindclimate placards in their windows and draw their vision of a green New Zealand with chalk at the end of their driveway. It’s an amalgam of lessons from lockdown: the virality of window teddy bears, the interactivity of Anzac Day’s #StandAtDawn event, the necessity of keeping people engaged through more than just funny Zoom backgrounds. But details are still scarce, and without the vibrancy of an in-person event even the organisers acknowledge it likely won’t match up to their previous strikes. “We might not get the same numbers that we did last year,” conceded Green-Lovatt.

I’d like to get on that and hold up this sign

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 11, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Chicks On The Right, with a post on Chuck Todd getting busted with a deceptively edited video.

Read: If All You See… »

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Bat Soup Virus Proves We Never Needed Obama’s Net Neutrality

By William Teach May 11, 2020 – 10:30 am

Of course, the thing is, Obama’s version of Net Neutrality (as opposed to the NN practiced since the late 1990’s) was never about about anything other than giving the federal government more power over the Internet, turning it into a public utility to be regulated, and forcing opposing voices off the ‘net

Who needs net neutrality? Internet providers are handling coronavirus demand just fine.

Two years ago, the Federal Communications Commission repealed “network neutrality.”  Many forecast disaster as a result, predicting the rise of miserly internet providers and throttled access. But the pandemic has decisively proved these predictions wrong. The internet has performed admirably despite unprecedented demand — a testament to the wisdom of the United States’ light regulatory approach.

The pandemic has been a nearly ideal test for the doomsday predictions. When net neutrality was repealed, for example, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “Without #NetNeutrality when a couple is streaming their favorite #Netflix show but it keeps lagging and killing the mood, who will be to blame?”

Since late March, the demand for broadband has been enormous, with traffic across cable and telecom networks up anywhere from 19% to 35%. In contrast to the dire forecasts, however, the digital infrastructure has performed very well.

The nation’s businesses have relied on modern video communications as a management and delivery platform, while these same services have become a fixture in social lives. Further, broadband expansion and innovation over the past decade have given rise to the tools we are finding so essential right now.

Well, in all fairness, any company that plays games right now would be excoriated by pretty much everyone. In the very few cases where bandwidth was throttled beforehand was due to people exceeding what they paid for. As for companies giving priority to certain steaming sites? Well, yeah, welcome to business. Don’t like it because you use another streaming site? Switch your wireless provider

For most of the past 25 years, the United States has strategically minimized regulatory interference in a sector of the economy that empowers innovators, entrepreneurs and consumers. This light-touch regulatory environment has encouraged private companies to invest tens of billions of dollars in building the internet’s superstructure while opening the doors to innovators and entrepreneurs.

The result, according to Huddleston, is a “robust innovation ecosystem (that) has benefited American consumers by providing both a wide variety of choices and, in particular, free and low-cost options for services that are available now in a time of crisis.”

With heavy regulation everything is stifled. Think wireless service itself: it exploded in innovation because the government took a lighter touch. So did wired phone service when lots of restrictions were removed.

An important and simple lesson is before us: Federal policies that unleash innovative and competitive forces, penalize anti-competitive conduct, and let consumers vote with their dollars and their feet are the recipe for success in building digital infrastructure. Heavy-handed government regulations are not.

Exactly. But, again, NN was never about “fairness” or any high-minded principles, it was about control. Just like most Leftist policies.

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Extinction Rebellion Nutters Will Go For “Digital Disruption”

By William Teach May 11, 2020 – 7:05 am

Since they can’t be unhinged wankers in public, they’ll do it online, at least the Australian chapter

Extinction Rebellion goes for digital disruption amid pandemic

Extinction Rebellion, the environmental movement known for disruptive and theatrical protests, is going digital to accommodate the pandemic lockdown.

The campaigners are launching a national “digital rebellion” on Monday to target governments and “climate-complicit industries” while obeying public health laws banning group gatherings and enforcing physical distancing.

Planned events include a “koala rebellion” where people dress up as koalas and film themselves to contribute footage to a protest video highlighting NSW and Victorian logging of unburnt native forests.

The activists will also be tweeting during the ABC’s Q&A on Monday night when the Premiers of NSW, Victoria and Queensland are scheduled to appear, and organising “social media swarms” to encourage divestment from the big four banks. Some plans are secret to keep the element of surprise.

Koalas. Sounds more like they have a Furry fetish. The Sydney Morning Herald was nice enough to include what these totally sane people look like

“The pandemic isn’t a hiccup that we have to get past and go back to business as usual,” Mr Tennant said.

“Events like this, whether it’s animal-borne diseases and pandemics or floods and droughts, both in Australia and overseas, are going to continue to create crises like this that will have huge economic impacts,” he said.

“For us and for our children and grandchildren, it has to be a different kind of economy that we’re going to rebuild after this.”

It’s almost like this has nothing to do with science and everything to do with politics.

Read: Extinction Rebellion Nutters Will Go For “Digital Disruption” »

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You Know Who Democrats Don’t Want “Locked Down”? Illegal Aliens

By William Teach May 11, 2020 – 6:51 am

There have been very few complaints from Democrats over all the lockdowns and craziness that accompanies it. They have mostly taken the side of Progressive (nice Fascist) Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. They seem to cheer when paddle boarders are detained, skate parks are filled with sand, parties are busted, churches shut down and pastors arrested, and Other People’s businesses are closed. They denigrate people protesting to reopen America. They love the notion of snitch lines. But

Trump Is Using the Pandemic to Flout Immigration Laws

For more than a month, under the guise of fighting the coronavirus, the Trump administration has used the nation’s public health laws as a pretext for summarily deporting refugees and children at the border.

This new border policy runs roughshod over legal rights, distracts from meaningful measures to prevent spread of the coronavirus and undermines confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s top health protection agency, which delivered the directive that imposes these deportations.

The administration has weaponized an arcane provision of a quarantine law first enacted in 1893 and revised in 1944 to order the blanket deportation of asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors at the Mexican border without any testing or finding of disease or contagion. Legal rights to hearings, appeals, asylum screening and the child-specific procedures are all ignored.

More than 20,000 people have been deported under the order, including at least 400 children in just the first few weeks, according to the administration and news reports. Though the order was justified as a short-term emergency measure, the indiscriminate deportations continue unchecked and the authorization has been extended and is subject to continued renewal.

Same people complaining about “rights” for illegal aliens do not care about rights of legal U.S. citizens

The deportation policy was issued by the C.D.C. based on an unprecedented interpretation of the public health laws. The policy bears the unmistakable markings of a White House strategy imposed on the C.D.C. and designed to circumvent prior court rulings to achieve the administration’s political goals.

The Border Patrol is carrying out the C.D.C. directive by “expulsion” of anyone who arrives at U.S. land borders without valid documents or crosses the border illegally, not because they are contagious or sick but because they come from Mexico or Canada, regardless of their country of origin. The deportations violate the legal right to apply for asylum and ignore the special procedures for unaccompanied children.

The same people who want illegal aliens given free access to the U.S. are the same ones who want you locked down in your home.

Despite what the administration says, the order is not part of any coherent plan to stop border travel or prevent introduction or spread of contagious people or the virus, which is already widespread in the United States. Nothing limits travel from Mexico or Canada by truck drivers, those traveling for commercial or educational purposes, and many others, including green card holders and U.S. citizens. And the restrictions that exist do not apply at all to travel if it’s by airplane.

You mean people who are lawfully entering the U.S.? Huh.

The administration’s order is like a bull’s-eye drawn on the side of a barn around an arrow that’s already been shot. The targets are refugees and unaccompanied children, and the policy is designed to thwart their rights.

Just call them illegal aliens. Who have exactly zero rights until they enter the U.S. illegally. Then they have a right to a hearing for asylum. For which under 6% actually qualify for, even under Obama.

The United States and the rest of the world face a pandemic of unknown scope and duration that has led to the greatest social and economic disruption in recent history. But the dangers we face are not limited to the pandemic alone. The risk is also that governments will abuse the emergency to abandon the rule of law and adopt discriminatory measures targeting those they disfavor.

Perhaps Mr. Lucas Guttentag, who was a senior counselor at the Department of Homeland Security and Dr. Steffano M. Bertozzi, dean emeritus of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, could write a missive on the way the rule of law has been violated in places like California, NY, NJ, and other states run by Democrat governors. Really, federal law targets illegal aliens. It’s right there in the federal statutes. If they want asylum, let them apply at a U.S. embassy, rather than sneaking in.

This is what Democrats care about: illegal aliens. With everything going on with Bat Soup virus, do you think citizens really care?

Read: You Know Who Democrats Don’t Want “Locked Down”? Illegal Aliens »

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 10, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful high rise in a big city with people who are fellow Believers, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post on Climate Barbie speaking and lying.

It’s tan lines week!

Read: If All You See… »

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach May 10, 2020 – 9:28 am

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in America, as we slowly reopen. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and season 4 of The Last Kingdom was released, so, binge watched that. This pinup is by Jessica Doughtery, with no help needed.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Weasel Zippers covers Michigan targeting an elderly barber for opening
  2. Vox Popoli says Obama is getting nervous
  3. The Right Scoop covers Tesla threatening to leave California
  4. The People’s Cube notes that Bat Soup Virus and sex don’t go together
  5. The Lid discusses San Francisco delivering drugs and alcohol to the homeless
  6. The Last Refuge covers Obama panicking now
  7. The First Street Journal discusses the real reason behind all these Constitutional violations
  8. White House Dossier notes Trump offering Biden a testing kit to get him out of his basement
  9. The American Conservative covers the real scandal of the pandemic
  10. Powerline discusses our garbage media doing garbage
  11. Pacific Pundit notes an Illinois mayor mocking those locked down but opening his own bike shop
  12. Outside The Beltway covers civility strained by Bat Soup
  13. neo-neocon highlights the Laguna Beach uprising
  14. Moonbattery notes Democrats planning a crippling looting spree
  15. And last, but not least, Maggie’s Farm wonders if the FBI committed treason with their Russia hoax

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

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

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

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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