Why Yes, Joe Biden Does Want To Defund The Police

By William Teach July 18, 2020 – 7:04 am

Defund and redirect is pretty much the same thing

Fact Check: ‘Redirecting’ Police Funding is the Same as ‘Defund the Police’

CLAIM: Joe Biden doesn’t want to abolish or defund the police; he just wants to redirect police funding to other uses.

VERDICT: Mostly false. Even many activists say defunding the police and redirecting police funding mean the same thing.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace generated buzz on Friday afternoon with the release of a clip from his White House interview with President Donald Trump, which will air in full on Sunday.

Wallace “fact-checked” Trump’s claim that Biden wants to abolish or defund the police: (tweet of the discussion between Trump and Wallace)

Trump was incorrect about the “Biden-Sanders Unity” platform, which did not discuss defunding the police.

Moreover, the Biden campaign has said since June 8 that he opposes “defund the police.”

However, Trump correctly stated that many Democrats do wish to defund — or abolish — the police, and have taken steps to do so in many Democrat-run cities.

Many Democrats have attempted to protect the unhinged BLM and their “non-black allies” who are calling to 100% defund police departments by saying that they mean only that some of their budget should be moved to other priorities. Some, such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and NYC have actually gone this direction.

While Biden has said he does not want to “defund the police,” he has also said, as The Hill notes, that he wants to “re-direct” funding from policing to other priorities, like mental health, which some on the left have argued will be more effective in preventing crime.

This is also what some activists have tried to explain “defund the police” actually means.

The Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank, explained last month: “‘Defund the police’ means reallocating or redirecting funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality. That’s it. It’s that simple.”

So when Biden claims he wants to re-direct police funding, that is what “defund the police” means to many Democrats.

Exactly. Handsy Joe has avoided the phrase “defund the police”, while holding the same policy with “re-direct funding.” That’s part of the reason why the National Association of Police Officers has now endorsed Trump/Pence, after endorsing no one in 2016 and endorsing Obama/Biden in 2008 and 2012

Read: Why Yes, Joe Biden Does Want To Defund The Police »

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St. Greta Says We Need To Get Rid Of All The Old Systems To Stop ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach July 17, 2020 – 3:00 pm

I guess she’s basing this on all her worldly experience and education and degrees, right?

Greta Thunberg: World must ‘tear up’ old contracts, build new systems to save climate

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg said on Thursday the world needed an economic overhaul to have a chance of beating climate change and that countries should be prepared to tear up old deals and contracts to meet green targets.

The 17-year-old spoke to Reuters TV after she and other activists sent an open letter to European leaders urging them to take emergency action and saying people in power had practically “given up” on searching for a real solution.

“We need to see it as, above all, an existential crisis. And as long as it’s not being treated as a crisis, we can have as many of these climate change negotiations and talks, conferences as possible. It won’t change a thing,” Thunberg said, speaking via video from her home in Stockholm. (snip)

She cited a U.N. study published in November that suggested planned investments to boost fossil fuel production are likely to push temperature goals enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement out of reach.

“So that means that if we are to stay below these targets, we have to make it possible to tear up and abandon valid contracts and deals. And that is not possible within today’s system,” Thunberg said.

Remember when we were only supposed to listen to climate scientists? Not petulant, un-educated, teenagers pushing for policies that they have no idea about because they have zero real world experience? Let her get a degree and work a real job, see how that goes, first.

Read: St. Greta Says We Need To Get Rid Of All The Old Systems To Stop ‘Climate Change’ »

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 17, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful low carbon skateboard for transportation, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on racial injustice at the airport.

Read: If All You See… »

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Ageing Rocker Says You Can’t Support Trump And Rock ‘n Roll Or Something

By William Teach July 17, 2020 – 10:30 am

Apparently, you are supposed to support the party of Big Government if you support rock and roll

Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach: ‘If you support Donald Trump you stand against rock ‘n’ roll’

Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach was trending on Thursday morning after he tweeted, “If you support Donald Trump you stand against rock ‘n’ roll” — a post that he had pinned to the top of his Twitter page, just in case anyone missed it in the middle of the night. He then doubled down with a spree of angry replies to the MAGA supporters who bashed him.

This election year, Bach’s anti-Trump comments have become more frequent. In March, he defended NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander after Trump called Alexander a “terrible reporter” for asking the president to address Americans who are afraid during the pandemic. “The United States of America is Over until further notice. There is no end in sight,” a seemingly outraged Bach tweeted. “Our reality TV show host leader is a petulant little baby who doesn’t believe in science when it’s science and science only that will get us out of this science fiction novel. He is killing us.” More recently, Bach tweeted that Trump supporters are “complete f***ing idiots” and “only a moron would vote for Donald Trump this November.”

Bach is not the only ’80s metal star to express his anti-Trump views. Motley Crüe’s Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx are not fans of the current president either. But Bach’s above-mentioned friend Axl Rose is the most vocal of the bunch, so much so that the hashtag “#wokeaxl” often trends on social media. Earlier this month, the Guns N’ Roses star posted a lengthy rant about his “disdain for our current administration,” acknowledging that not all GNR fans will agree with his political opinions, but explaining, “In general my posts in regard to current events, politics or social issues are usually coming from a sense of outrage, obligation, and responsibility to say something at times when I feel not to is being complicit.”

He also tweeted out “I vote for a guy who can put children in school and Americans in work. That is Joe Biden not the f*** ass loser that you support.”

Think about it: that’s what R&R was about. Rebellion. Fun. Sticking it to The Man. Doing things your own way. Not bending to government. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. Now so many, including Bach (for those of you old enough, remember when the magazine Rolling Stone was pure counter-culture?), stand for massive Big Government controlling our lives. Not just telling us how to live our lives, but making us live a certain way. How does Bach tour without fossil fuels, which Biden wants to do away with? The guy who sang “Youth Gone Wild” is now the adult shaking his fist, wanting Daddy government to control everything. Joining with the mainstream government forces.

Seriously, can you imagine the PMRC hearings these days, with ageing rockers like Axl Rose, Tommy Lee, and Bach taking the side of censorship?

Meanwhile, apparently there’s raaaaacism in improv comedy, classical music, and and opera. Because why not, it’s 2020.

Read: Ageing Rocker Says You Can’t Support Trump And Rock ‘n Roll Or Something »

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Your Fault: Summers Could Maybe Possibly Soon Be Too Hot For Human

By William Teach July 17, 2020 – 7:52 am

I saw you eating that cheeseburger with a milkshake, using your fossil fueled vehicle to drive you to and fro during your lunch hour, using evil air conditioning at the same time

Climate change: Summers could become ‘too hot for humans’

Millions of people around the world could be exposed to dangerous levels of heat stress – a dangerous condition which can cause organs to shut down.

Many live in developing countries, and do jobs that expose them to potentially life threatening conditions.

These include being out in the open on farms and building sites or indoors in factories and hospitals.

Global warming will increase the chances of summer conditions that may be “too hot for humans” to work in.

When we caught up with Dr Jimmy Lee, his goggles were steamed up and there was sweat trickling off his neck.

An emergency medic, he’s labouring in the stifling heat of tropical Singapore to care for patients with Covid-19.

See? It never used to get hot in Singapore, but, you take long showers and refuse to unplug all your appliances before going to work, so, climate doom!

There’s no air conditioning – a deliberate choice, to prevent the virus being blown around – and he notices that he and his colleagues become “more irritable, more short with each other”.

And his personal protective equipment, essential for avoiding infection, makes things worse by creating a sweltering ‘micro-climate’ under the multiple layers of plastic.

“It really hits you when you first go in there,” Dr Lee says, “and it’s really uncomfortable over a whole shift of eight hours – it affects morale.”

It’s summer. Summer. It gets uncomfortable when there’s no AC.

Prof Richard Betts of the UK Met Office has run computer models which suggest that the number of days with a WBGT above 32C are set to increase, depending on whether greenhouse gas emissions are cut.

How many more days? That’s missing.

And he spells out the risks for millions of people already having to work in the challenging combination of extreme heat and high humidity.

“We humans evolved to live in a particular range of temperatures, so it’s clear that if we continue to cause temperatures to rise worldwide, sooner or later the hottest parts of the world could start to see conditions that are simply too hot for us.”

A minor rise of 1.5 Fahrenheit is not an sort of doom. Humans have adapted to warm periods an cool periods. We adjusted to an ice age. We’ve dealt with warmer Holocene periods than the current one, with no air conditioning, no fans, and no ice makers. We’ll do just fine.

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Cancel Culture Gator Comes For Starbucks Over Police Investment

By William Teach July 17, 2020 – 7:38 am

Being that this is Seattle, this protest is about as “non-black allies” as it can get

‘We Ain’t Shopping at Starbucks No More’: Seattle Protesters Call for Boycott

Protesters marched through Seattle, Washington, on July 16, in a demonstration calling for a boycott of the Starbucks coffee chain.

Footage of the march shows protesters chanting “we ain’t shopping at Starbucks no more.” Protesters called for Starbucks to cut all ties with and support for Seattle Police Department during the demonstration.

Starbucks’s first store opened in Seattle in 1971, and since then the company has grown to become the largest coffee chain in the world. However the business has come under fire for a series of racially charged incidents.

Remember, Starbucks gave in on allowing employees to wear politically polarizing BLM merchandise at work last month. They started at the first Starbucks, then moved on to others, and, remember, stores are pretty close

https://twitter.com/LizTurnbull5/status/1283888686610800640

That’s a pretty white protest, eh? Hilariously, the Seattle PD was on hand to protect the little snowflakes, who wanted Starbucks to stop giving money to the police, and even stop serving them coffee

https://twitter.com/maplebeanz/status/1283919144035905536

Starbucks is what the SJWs call an “easy target”, because they are supposed to be an ally, they’ve given in before, and they’ll give in again.

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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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Posted in 2nd Amendment, Current Affairs | 35 Comments | Trackback URL

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 »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Energy, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
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