NYC’s Empty Streets Are A Lesson For ‘Climate Change’

You have to wonder if the climate cultists really think about what they write, because it really doesn’t look good. Or, do they just not care and this is what they really want?

Video: In New York’s Empty Streets, Lessons for Climate Change in the Response to Covid-19

The world is reeling from yet another week of the coronavirus pandemic, with death counts rising, economies spiraling downward and half the global population under orders to stay at home.

But there are also lessons from the response to Covid-19 that can be applied to the climate crisis, and opportunities for cities to take the policies implemented to deal with the pandemic and apply them to their efforts to slow climate change. (snip)

One similarity, Gerrard notes, is the way in which both climate change and Covid-19 disproportionately affect low income and marginalized communities. New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who serves the Lower East Side community of Manhattan, agreed. “When you think about our historically marginalized, disenfranchised communities,” she said, “I think that you will see how those inequities [have] really been brought to light” by weather events related to climate change and by the Covid-19 pandemic. (snip)

Many U.S. cities and states have enacted climate change initiatives, particularly since President Trump decided to pull out of the Paris Agreement in 2017. Perhaps the most ambitious of these plans is in New York City, currently the epicenter of the U.S. Covid-19 outbreak. Amy Turner, a fellow at the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia University, helps cities achieve their climate goals. She sees “an opportunity to marry some of the elements of climate policy and Covid policy, as we think about our response to both crises.” Turner cites increasing bicycle infrastructure, tackling building efficiency and increasing public transportation as some of these opportunities.

Councilwoman Rivera sees possibilities for transportation changes to increase bus ridership, and the opening up of green spaces. “When it comes to climate change, and to how things are changing and affecting us, we know as a coastline community that we’re going to continue to be affected,” she said. “But I really want to see investment in some of these communities to change things once and for all.”

So, let’s see, the climate cultists are thrilled that the streets are empty, poor folks are out of work (as are middle class folks), they’re shuttered in their homes by government edict, they’re threatened with fines and jail if they leave their homes, they want to force people (meaning the peasants) to ride bikes and take buses, limit their movement, and generally have their lives controlled by Government.

Interestingly, why do all these Democratic Party run cities have such inequality, so many marginalized and low income communities?

Read: NYC’s Empty Streets Are A Lesson For ‘Climate Change’ »

If All You See…

…is a glass of wine, which will be decimated by ‘climate change’ in the future, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Chicks On The Right, with a post on Handsy Biden confusing even the CNN hosts.

Read: If All You See… »

NJ Citizens Protest Draconian Bat Soup Rules, Woman Arrested For Organizing Protest

No more fear

Protest Against NJ Gov. Murphy Stay-at-Home Order: ‘No More Fear’

New Jersey citizens demonstrated in Trenton Friday against the “stay-at-home” order of Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy during the coronavirus crisis.

Politico reported the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce recorded video of the protest that showed “a long line of cars honking their horns along West State Street, across from the Statehouse and Murphy’s office.”

The chamber apparently tweeted about the demonstration, but that tweet and the video recording of the protest have been deleted.

According to the report, the demonstration featured people waving American flags.

“The words ‘no more fear’ were audible through a megaphone as a helicopter hovered overhead and law enforcement officers blocked access to the Statehouse parking complex,” the Politico report stated.

Interestingly, NJ.com was only really interested in the woman who was arrested, in an almost “don’t be this person, Comrades!” way

Woman charged for organizing protest of Murphy’s coronavirus stay-at-home order

A woman was charged Friday for organizing a protest in Trenton of the stay-at-home orders instituted last month by Gov. Phil Murphy to help slow the spread of the coronavirus in New Jersey.

This is the same Phil Murphy who said he wasn’t thinking about the Bill Of Rights and that it is “above his pay grade”.

Kim Pagan, of Toms River was charged by the New Jersey State Police with violating the emergency orders, according to a release from New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

The protestors gathered outside the Statehouse and other locations in Trenton on Friday afternoon as Murphy and state health officials held their daily coronavirus press briefing.

Is that an actual law, as passed by the duly elected legislative branch? Besides the 1st Amendment, NJ has their own Constitution. Article 1

1. All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain natural and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

6. Every person may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.

18. The people have the right freely to assemble together, to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives, and to petition for redress of grievances.

You can feel the lawsuits coming. Whether you think these people are going too far, asking too much, or agree with them, we still have Rights.

Read: NJ Citizens Protest Draconian Bat Soup Rules, Woman Arrested For Organizing Protest »

‘Climate Change’ To Cause Major Floods Daily In Future Or Something

It’s utterly normal for the seas to rise during a Holocene warm period. And the sea rise we’re seeing is utterly normal, as in utterly average, being in the range of 7-8 inches per century, when the average per century over the last 8,000 years is 6-8 inches per century. We should be seeing more during this warm period.

But, you know, doomsday cultists have to doomsday cult

US to have major floods on daily basis unless sea-level rise is curbed – study

Flooding events that now occur in America once in a lifetime could become a daily occurrence along the vast majority of the US coastline if sea level rise is not curbed, according to a new study that warns the advancing tides will “radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century”.

The research finds major cities such as Honolulu, New Orleans and Miami will become increasingly vulnerable to elevated high tides and stronger storms fueled by the global heating caused by human activity. Beach and cliff erosion will exacerbate this situation.

The accelerating pace of sea level rise means that by the end of the century floods currently considered once in a lifetime, or once every 50 years or so, will become a daily high tide occurrence for more than 90% of the coastal locations assessed by researchers from the US government, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Hawaii.

You know what’s not included? Any evidence that sea rise is accelerating. No charts, no graphs, no data. It is not accelerating. Even if it was, it doesn’t prove anthropogenic causation. Just a low level Holocene warm period.

Within 30 years from now, these now-rare flooding events will become annual occurrences for more than 70% of the locations along the US coast according to the research published in Scientific Reports. This scenario threatens huge, multibillion-dollar damages and, potentially, the viability of some coastal communities.

“If future sea-level rise causes once extreme but rare floods to occur frequently then … this may render some parts of the US coastline uninhabitable,” said Sean Vitousek, a scientist at the US Geological Survey.

The disruption caused by frequent flooding will threaten the habitability of much of the US coastline as it is already widely projected to do to many low-lying islands in the Pacific, Vitousek added.

Ah, the old 30 years from now canard (which, of course, makes it 2050). There never seem to be any consequences for making this advanced prognostications. But, see, if it does happen, they’ll say “we told you so.” If it doesn’t, they’ll say “see, the measures the world took in taking your money and freedom worked”.

Global sea levels have increased by about eight inches on average since 1880, although some places along the US coast have experienced higher rates than this. The seas are expected, on average, to rise by at least another foot by the end of the century even if emissions are constrained. This will be higher in some regions and much will depend on the pace of melting at the two great ice sheets, in Greenland and Antarctica.

They forget to mention that 8 is average.

Read: ‘Climate Change’ To Cause Major Floods Daily In Future Or Something »

Are You Wearing Sweatpants While Working At Home During Bat Soup Virus? The LA Times Is Not Happy With You

No matter what is going on, there will always be hot takes. People being Offended. I suspect if we had an alien invasion, nuclear war, a supervolcano going off, a zombie apocalypse, you’d still have SJWs being SWJs and naggy nags being nags

This is from deputy fashion editor Adam Tschorn (flip to Twitchy for his photo: no one should wear a hat like that and call themselves fashionable), who is worried about the Important Things. Here we go

I’ve waited, watched and bit my tongue during the last month of the pandemic-induced work-from-home era but I just can’t take it any more. Please, can we all put away those sweatpants, ratty, gray, decades-old collegiate sweatshirts and obscure minor league baseball caps and start our workdays looking like we deserve the paychecks we’re lucky enough to be earning while the world around us burns? Especially, for the love of all that’s holy, if there’s a group video conference involved?

How to dress for work when you’re working from home has been written about a lot over the last four weeks — including in the pages of The Times, where an early take on the topic suggested that you don’t really need to dress as if you’re going to the office. I couldn’t disagree more. For me, the WFH wardrobe is all about the three Rs: ritual, respect and reality. (Let me say at the outset that I don’t consider myself any kind of fashion plate. My personal sense of style falls somewhere between Vermont rural casual and West Coast preppy, but after 13 years of writing runway reviews for this paper, even I can tell when someone needs to switch up their style game.)

Sure, everyone is allowed their own sense of propriety, their own personal bitches and whines, some which have merit. Right off the top of my head, people pulling their shopping carts is annoying, but, then, when they do that they’re taking up more aisle space, it’s not just a random gripe. And I don’t usually waste space writing about it. Nor do I have a perch like the Los Angeles Times. I get the little amount of work I can do on my 7 days off (before 7 days on), just phone calls an some emails, takes about 30 minutes tops, done just fine in sweats or workout shorts and a hat (just happened to grab the one with USA on it today. Old and broken in and comfy). No one is seeing me.

Now, if you are going to be on a video call, yes, you should look professional. Shower, put on a decent shirt, and pants if the people will see them.

There’s something inherently grounding about the daily ritual. I won’t even consider punching the virtual time clock until I’m showered, shaved and fully dressed. This includes shoes — especially shoes — even if I don’t intend to leave the house. (If I do end up breaching the perimeter, there’s an elaborate protocol involving a second pair of shoes and a period of porch quarantine). Today, for example, I’m wearing a black-and-red check Brooks Brothers non-iron, button-down shirt, a pair of black Levi’s 559 five-pocket jeans, Stance socks and black Adidas Samba AV sneakers. I wore some version of this yesterday, the day before that and the day before that. I’ll be wearing some version of it tomorrow too and every work day until it’s time to return to the office, at which point I’ll probably kick it up a notch — by wearing a hat. (Everyone knows you shouldn’t wear a hat indoors.)

Well, good for you, you get an A for effort (that’s from some movie, can’t remember which). You know what’s great when you’re stuck at home? Being comfortable.

You’re more than likely laughing at me right now, sitting there in your yoga pants and your zip-front Patagonia faux fleece thrown over a circa-2000 Coldplay concert T-shirt sourced from the bottom of the hamper — your bare feet swinging wild and free under your Ikea Skarsta worktable. Your slouchy henleys, underwire bras, nice jeans and dry-clean-only designer tops are now shunted to the back of the closet like enriched polonium. If this sounds somewhat familiar, you probably don’t need the structure and reassurance of the daily armor donning to mark the start of your work day. Good on you for not being so rigidly ritual-bound.

Isn’t it rather sexist and patronizing to think that only women are reading his stuff? Wouldn’t this be the definition of “mansplaining”?

He seriously writes 8 more paragraphs on the subject. Good grief.

Read: Are You Wearing Sweatpants While Working At Home During Bat Soup Virus? The LA Times Is Not Happy With You »

Fossil Fuels Are To Blame For Bat Soup Virus Spreading Or Something

Wait, I thought it was Trump’s fault? Anyhow, Warmists who complain about fossil fuels are also big time globalists, but never seem to have an idea one what to replace fossil fuels with

Fossil fuels are propelling Covid-19—and the next pandemic

We tend to notice the connection between coronavirus and oil only when the energy markets collapse. But as history reveals, since the 19th century, pandemics have depended on fossil fuels to go global.

The novel coronavirus and rapid spread of the Covid-19 respiratory disease is no exception. In fact, this pandemic involves oil-fueled global connectivity that dates back to the 19th century. (snip)

What would an alternative model that connects oil and this novel coronavirus look like, then? Chiefly, it would factor in the true price of the fossil-fueled planetary infrastructures that spread pathogens and causes climate change since the 19th century and on. Coronavirus is not a distress call from mother nature to stop global warming. It is another symptom of the system that produces it, a motion sickness indicating that the carbon-based world we assembled is contaminated in more way we care to admit.

So, did fossil fuels spread (graphic under the fold) the Black Plague? Small pox (1520)? Plague of Justinian (541-542)? Even the Spanish (whoops, that’s racist) Flu, one of the biggies, occurred when there really wasn’t that much fossil fueled travel. People were still using horses quite a bit. Heck, you can’t blame AIDS deaths on fossil fuels, mostly on poor-education and gay males continuing to have risky anal sex.

Reducing both oil and the disease to little more than economic forces obfuscates another side of the equation, in which the virus is a thing in the world. Yet seen this way, tracing the coronavirus as a diagnostic marker that travels the arteries of capitalist globalization can expose the ills of the system. What transformed a local contagion in a wet market in Wuhan into a pandemic within a matter of months is a network that begins with ground transportation within the infected regions and ends with the sea- and air-lines—all powered by fossil fuels.

And it’s the fault of capitalism, too.

How capitalist economic ideology adds fire to the fuel

Yup, they hate capitalism. Interestingly, and like normal, the author, On Barak,  senior lecturer in Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University, doesn’t want to say what he wants to replace capitalism with to stop Hotcoldwetdry.

Read More »

Read: Fossil Fuels Are To Blame For Bat Soup Virus Spreading Or Something »

If All You See…

…is a horrible cat sucking up resources and causing the temperature to spike, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on the NJ Governor vs. The Bill Of Rights.

Read: If All You See… »

You Can’t Buy Seeds And Paint In Michigan, But, Governor Says Abortion Is Essential

Apparently, abortion on demand is life sustaining. But, what if it is snowing?

An infant car seat is rather life sustaining, but you can’t buy one of those in Michigan, either

(Daily Caller) The governor of Michigan said Thursday that abortion is “life sustaining.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, discussed abortion in times of the coronavirus pandemic during David Axelrod’s Axe Files podcast posted Thursday. Whitmer, who has drawn criticism for the coronavirus restrictions she’s implemented, noted that while Michigan has put a hold on performing all elective surgeries, abortions can still be performed in the state and are considered essential.

“We stopped elective surgeries here in Michigan,” she said. “Some people have tried to say that that type of a procedure is considered the same and that’s ridiculous,” she added, referring to abortion.

“A woman’s healthcare, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is a fundamental to her life,” Whitmer said. “It is life sustaining and it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of. ”

But, see, you going out to live your life and have the money to survive is not life sustaining. Maybe these abortion nutjobs could teach kids in the schools they run to have safe sex, instead of using abortion as a contraceptive? Meh, they have to have their abortion on demand. As Brit Hume notes “this is how such people actually think.”

Read: You Can’t Buy Seeds And Paint In Michigan, But, Governor Says Abortion Is Essential »

Poll: Democrats Are Even More Super Concerned Over ‘Climate Change’

There were several important questions not asked in the poll

U.S. concern about climate change is rising, but mainly among Democrats

The share of Americans who say global climate change is a major threat to the well-being of the United States has grown from 44% in 2009 to 60% this year. But the rise in concern has largely come from Democrats. Opinions among Republicans on this issue remain largely unchanged.

About nine-in-ten Democrats (88%, including independents who lean to the party) now consider climate change a major threat to the nation, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 3-29. That’s up 27 percentage points from a 2009 survey. Concern about climate change has increased among both liberal Democrats and moderate or conservative Democrats (rising 20 and 27 points, respectively).

By contrast, the 6 percentage point increase among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents since 2009 is not statistically significant. In the new survey, about three-in-ten Republicans (31%) consider climate change a major threat, while 45% say it is a minor threat and 24% say it is not a threat to the nation.

What I’m not finding is a link to the actual poll and how the questions are framed. If you just say “climate change”, that could mean mostly/solely man-caused, mostly/solely natural, or some mixture.

The latest survey was fielded amid growing concern in the U.S. about the outbreak of the coronavirus. Respondents who took the survey in the latter part of the month – after the March 13 declaration of a national emergency due to the virus – were about equally concerned about climate change as those interviewed earlier in the month. Around six-in-ten (63%) of those interviewed March 13 to 29 called climate change a major threat, as did 55% of those surveyed March 3 to 12. (This 8-point difference is not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.)

In other words, this is a cult, and their opinions only get more cultish. What needs to be asked, though, are questions like

  • What are you personally willing to pay monthly to stop ‘climate change’?
  • Have you given up your own fossil fueled vehicle?
  • Have you moved into a tiny home?
  • Have you given up meat altogether or at least a few days a week?
  • How much more are you willing to pay for your energy bill?
  • Have you put solar panels on your house?
  • How much are you willing to see your cost of living rise?
  • Are you willing to lose your job or work reduced our?
  • Are you practicing what you preach?

Read: Poll: Democrats Are Even More Super Concerned Over ‘Climate Change’ »

California Moves Forward With Ending “Fishmas” In Several Areas

No fishing! That’s nuts!

California moves forward with fishing ban in some rural areas to stem coronavirus spread

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration was granted authority Wednesday to temporarily close the state’s fishing season in some rural counties following a disastrous telemeeting last week that erupted into chaos and slurs.

The California Fish and Game Commission’s unanimous vote over another teleconference will allow Charlton Bonham, director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, to postpone the spring trout season, which opens April 25, in a few eastern Sierra counties at the request of local officials.

Elected leaders in Mono, Inyo, Sierra and Alpine counties have been urging Newsom’s administration to close the fishing season in their lakes and rivers. They fear that the thousands of out-of-town anglers who normally travel to their regions to fish for mountain trout will bring the coronavirus with them.

The worry is that if the infection rates among local residents spike, it will overwhelm their small medical facilities, which have limited equipment and medical staff to treat critically ill patients even in the best of times.

Several local officials from those counties, including Mono County Supervisor Stacy Corless, urged the commission to give Bonham the authority to halt fishing locally. For some anglers, the opening weekend of the spring trout-fishing season is so momentous they call it “Fishmas.”

While it seems silly to stop Fishmas, this is one restriction that actually makes sense. Do you really want to put thousands of people into smaller communities and having them in close proximity to each other? You’ve seen photos of those big fishing days in rivers and streams, right, with them all packed together? Plus, yes, if someone is actually sick, this could cause problems, and there are, supposedly, many who are asymptomatic. It’s much like shore towns not wanting people to come now, even if they own a home, because they are not yet ramped up to support them, like they would be come mid-May or so.

There are solutions, though. It doesn’t have to be fully open or fully closed, like everything else. They could give out a limited amount of daily passes, working off a list. We do a thing at work where we all put our cards in a hat and pick the order of sales ups. It’s usually just 4, but, with the slowdown and such, we are picking everyone’s card, so everyone gets a chance. In this case, let everyone apply at once, then pick a number of them for a day, then more for the next day, and so forth, till all picked. When they come, they need to have their temperature measured, then they can go. Must stay apart when fishing. If a game warden sees people close, they get a ticket.

Several anglers called the board’s virtual meeting Wednesday, saying they were worried the commission was overstepping its authority, fearing a slippery slope that would give Bonham authority to stop all fishing, which is protected under California’s constitution.

“I do respect their small communities not wanting to be infected,” one caller said. “But I also believe in the Constitution.”

Others said they were worried about limiting the ability of anglers to catch fish to feed their families, arguing fishing is less dangerous than going to the grocery store.

“Standing on the bank of a river or an ocean is not any worse than standing in line at a food bank,” said another angler.

Others urged the commission to do nothing, saying local governments had already closed piers, boat ramps and marinas, cutting off fishing access.

“We are using fishing to de-stress down here, and a lot of our local lakes have been made unavailable,” said another caller who said he lived in San Diego.

If you are in a boat isolated from other people, what’s the problem? You are social distancing. This is the over-reach. It doesn’t have to be all closed or all opened. We can find a good middle ground.

*The photo is from the Kenai River in Alaska, but, you get the idea of what can happen.

Read: California Moves Forward With Ending “Fishmas” In Several Areas »

Pirate's Cove