CUNY Law Professor Pushes China’s Version Of Government, De Blasio Threatens Churches

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 10:30 am

Is it any surprise that Democrats are taking China’s side? First, they want to dunk on Orange Man Bad. That’s how deranged they are, that they would promote authoritarian China. Second, Democrats are authoritarians at heart. Here’s Surya Deva, an associate professor at City University’s School of Law (Hong Kong), who specialises in the area of business and human rights.

With coronavirus crisis, China sees a chance to export its model of governance

…

However, we should not miss the evolution of China’s newest export: the Chinese model of governance (and political ideas underpinning it) as an alternative to the Western liberal model. This export is strategic because mere economic might will not suffice to sustain China’s superpower status.

Rather, as the West has in the past, China would also need to influence social, political and cultural landscapes in other countries in its quest for dominance.<

China’s governance model is built on concentration of power by a small group of leaders, making all state institutions
subservient to the Communist Party, prioritising economic development over human rights, using law as a tool to suppress civil liberties, treating religious or linguistic diversity as a threat to national unity, using media as a tool for government propaganda, and invoking national sovereignty as a shield to ward off any criticism of the government’s human rights record.

Didn’t they have a long period of protests and riots in Hong Kong, mostly about the authoritarian mode of Chinese government? Deva is not condemning, in fact, noting “China’s model offers efficiency, because unlike in democracies, there is no cost of dissent”

There are several reasons why some countries are finding the Chinese governance model attractive. First, this model has proved to deliver fast economic growth. China has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty and become the world’s second-largest economy.

Second, the Chinese model offers efficiency, because unlike in democracies, there is no cost of dissent. Nor does one have to worry about following tedious processes to accomplish an agreed outcome.

Third, the Chinese model offers more political and social stability in that it avoids uncertainties linked to periodic democratic elections and political transitions. It also keeps both civil society and the media in check.

Sounds pretty good to American politicians, eh? De Blasio must approve

(Hot Air) Mayor Bill de Blasio still hasn’t shut down the public parks in New York City, despite multiple complaints from the health officials. But he’s threatening to shut down some other facilities. Those would be the churches and synagogues who continue to hold services during the ban on gatherings of more than ten people. And if they continue to tend to their flocks in this fashion, he’s warning religious leaders that he may shutter the houses of worship “permanently.”

Interesting view, Bill.

Read: CUNY Law Professor Pushes China’s Version Of Government, De Blasio Threatens Churches »

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St. Greta Says We Can Fight Coronavirus And Solve The (fake) Climate Crisis At Same Time

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 7:18 am

St. Greta is applying all her worldly experience and college degrees (sarc) to explain how we can do this

Greta: We must fight the climate crisis and pandemic simultaneously

The world needs to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and climate change simultaneously, and guard against people who try to use the current crisis to delay action cutting carbon emissions, Greta Thunberg has urged.

Sadly, the rest is behind a true paywall, but you get the point. And it’s super easy for people with no responsibilities and no actual financial concerns to push this stuff. She’s a minor, and Someone Else, be it her parents or all the others who are providing aid, is paying for her current lifestyle.

And then this snowflake

Commentary: Outbreak shows we can confront climate change

I’m 18 years old. In the four years I’ve spent fighting for climate justice, I’ve constantly heard the same excuses from the leaders who are supposed to protect me, my future and the future of generations to come: “We just can’t do that. We can’t transform our economy. We can’t change that fast.” (snip)

Well, the coronavirus pandemic has blown their cover. It has exposed how government leaders, and the American public, actually can make immediate, dramatic behavioral changes; even when those changes have serious consequences for the economy and our quality of life. It’s just that, until now, they haven’t been willing to.

Well, yeah, in a real emergency. What has Jamie Margolin sacrificed?

When it comes to the climate crisis, most of the statistics are flipped: Young people will suffer the most. A United Nations study estimates that countries have roughly 10 years to take “unprecedented” actions to cut carbon emissions, before it’s too late. In a decade or two, many of today’s most influential politicians won’t even be around. But my generation will be. And we will be suffering and dying in massive numbers from the countless harms of the climate crisis: air pollution permanently damaging our lungs and immune systems; more pandemics of infectious diseases; severe and frequent natural disasters, droughts and famine; a projected 150 million people displaced by sea level rise.

Uh huh

You want young people to sacrifice — to stop socializing, to shut ourselves inside — so older people can live. But many older people aren’t sacrificing so the youth can live.

The older should pass rules that only apply to those 25 and under who are pushing this stuff, see how they like it. I suspect after 3-4 more months of economic disaster and having to stay home, a lot of young climate cultists will be giving up their religion.

Read: St. Greta Says We Can Fight Coronavirus And Solve The (fake) Climate Crisis At Same Time »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Don’t Have Bank Account Info On Record With IRS? Mnuchin Has A Solution To Get Check Quicker

By William Teach March 30, 2020 – 6:54 am

I’ve mentioned before about the concern that lots of people would have to wait months to receive their $1,200 because they do not have their bank account information on record with the IRS. Around 23.4 million owed the IRS for 2019, slightly less for 2018, which were the terms the “stimulus” bill required. Then there are all those who processed in another way to get their refund. But, there’s a solution coming, per Mnuchin (doesn’t help if you do not have a bank account at all)

Mnuchin lays out when Americans can expect their coronavirus rescue package checks

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Sunday morning interview that qualifying Americans can expect to see their $1,200 checks deposited into their accounts “within three weeks.”

Mnuchin, who played a lead role in the $2 trillion bill’s passage, told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” that there will be an online system created so Americans who are not signed up, can do so and skip waiting for a physical check.

“We expect that within three weeks that people who have direct deposit information with us will see those direct deposits in their bank accounts,” he said. “And we will create a web-based system for people where we don’t have their direct deposit they can upload it, so that they can get the money immediately as opposed to checks in the mail.”

Individuals are eligible for payments up to $1,200, but that decreases for those who earn an adjusted gross income of more than $75,000 a year. The bill says that the payment is reduced by five percent of every dollar above that mark, or $50 for every $1,000 above $75,000.

Hopefully it works better than the website for Obamacare when it launched.

It is rather disturbing that the IRS keeps the bank account information on file though, isn’t it? But, Mnuchin had some sobering news, as well

Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he believes that by the third quarter of 2020, Americans will see an economic recovery with production and employment levels back up.

Hopefully, he’s being conservative in his estimate, because lots and lots cannot wait till at a minimum June. $1,200 won’t last. Small and medium businesses will be gone for good. People will be evicted, homes foreclosed. Cars repossessed. No money for food. We need things to get going before then. On the bright side, there will surely be crazy sales, better than on Black Friday. The NY Times editorial board wants this to happen

It increasingly appears necessary that for the next eight weeks, and possibly for longer, all nonessential businesses should be closed, domestic travel restricted and the “shelter-in-place” measures being employed by some parts of the country extended to the rest. Such a shutdown will be enormously expensive in the short term, likely requiring fresh rounds of federal aid on top of the $2.2 trillion Congress approved on Friday. But scientists say that based on what they’ve learned from Europe and Asia, that’s the only way to get the virus, which is spreading like wildfire across the country, under control.

It’s easy for people that are getting paid in full and don’t have to worry about anything to make these pronouncements, eh? The only way this happens is if Congress does another aid bill that gives most people $2500 or more a month.

Read: Don’t Have Bank Account Info On Record With IRS? Mnuchin Has A Solution To Get Check Quicker »

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UK Police Pour Black Dye In Lake To Try To Stop Instagramers

By William Teach March 29, 2020 – 3:05 pm

I’m of two minds with this. Who are they really hurting? If they’re keeping their distance, shouldn’t be a problem, right? On the other hand, these people who go out to take these social media shots are annoying. It’s all about the likes, rather than enjoying things

Coronavirus lockdown spurs police in England to dye ‘Blue Lagoon’ black to deter Instagrammers

In the age of social distancing due to the coronavirus, authorities in England have dumped black dye into a picturesque bright blue lagoon to stop Instagrammers from gathering to snap pictures.

The Derbyshire Police said Wednesday that despite instructions by officials in the U.K. to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19, people were still congregating at a former quarry known as the “Blue Lagoon” in Harpur Hill, located near Buxton.

“No doubt this is due to the picturesque location and the lovely weather (for once!) in Buxton,” police said on Facebook. “However, the location is dangerous and this type of gathering is in contravention of the current instruction of the UK Government.”

The department shared photos of the bright blue water on Facebook, showing the moments before and after the black dye was added: “to make the water look less appealing.”

Of course, there is something else going on

While it may resemble something from a travel magazine, the water in the abandoned quarry gets its color from caustic chemicals in the quarry stone that can cause skin irritation, according to Sky News.

In addition to high PH levels, the water reportedly is very cold and has trash and dead animals in it.

Hey, if people want to make themselves Darwin Award nominees, let them. And, they’re still annoying.

Of course, the same police department is also shaming people for …checks notes…walking their pets and simply being outside while being separated from people

More on that and others in this article about a 13 year old boy arrested in Leeds for daring to ride a bike. And, in NJ, a guy was arrested for holding a party. Have we gone too far yet?

Read: UK Police Pour Black Dye In Lake To Try To Stop Instagramers »

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 29, 2020 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Geller Report News, with a post on Cuomo saying NY is basically bankrupt.

It’s spring dresses week!

Read: If All You See… »

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Patriotic Pinup

By William Teach March 29, 2020 – 10:00 am

Happy Sunday! It’s still better to be in the United States than anywhere else. The sun is shining, the geese are honking (good grief, they’re loud), and the squirrels are all over. This pinup is by Gil Elvgren, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Althouse covers the polling with Trump and Handsy Joe head to head (what happens when they debate and we see Gaffe Joe?)
  2. Weasel Zippers highlights Handsy Joe’s answer on why the Obama admin didn’t replace N95 masks
  3. Watcher Of Weasels notes how long this could go on
  4. Victory Girls Blog covers a college dean dancing when students asked for a refund
  5. The Right Scoop notes the NRA suing California over gun store restrictions
  6. Theodore’s World has something different, a link to the whole Agatha Christie Death On The Nile movie, one of my favorites
  7. The People’s Cube has Hopeless Headlines
  8. The Other McCain features the NY Times blaming America’s Christians
  9. The Last Refuge covers NY gov Cuomo getting upset about a potential NY quarantine
  10. The Hayride notes the lack of doomsday numbers
  11. A rare link to The Gateway Pundit, which notes the police charging a man after throwing a big party
  12. The First Street Journal says that Coronavirus exposes the economic ignorance of the Left
  13. Raised On Hoecakes discusses medical masks
  14. Powerline says 1984 comes to Britain
  15. And last, but not least, Pacific Pundit highlights illegal aliens demanding their $1,200

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 Patriotic Pinup »

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Coronavirus Is A Dress Rehearsal For ‘Climate Change’ Doom Or Something

By William Teach March 29, 2020 – 8:35 am

I actually agree a bit with this climate cultist: it is a dress rehearsal. It shows exactly what a world with all the Hotcoldwetdry policies of the Cult of Climastrology would look like. Would it be this bad? Not in my opinion. Perhaps about half what we’re experiencing with job loss, people staying home, economic activity, and so forth

Professor Sees Climate Mayhem Lurking Behind Covid-19 Outbreak

Jem Bendell doesn’t shy away from doom and gloom.

The lockdowns and social distancing caused by the coronavirus are giving humanity a taste of the disruptions to daily life that will be caused by climate change, he said.

“In modern industrial societies, the fallout from Covid-19 feels like a dress rehearsal for the kind of collapse that climate change threatens,” Bendell said in an interview. “This crisis reveals how fragile our current way of life has become.”

When the Black Death killed 75-200 million people directly (from most of what we’re hearing Covid-19 doesn’t directly kill people) I’m doubting they were worried about the climate turning to a cool one. Nor yammering about what all those ox-carts were producing. But, climate cultists gotta climate cult.

The University of Cumbria social-science professor is well-known among environmentalists for his theory of “deep adaption.” In a 2018 paper, Bendell said that time was up for gradual measures to combat global warming. Without an abrupt transformation of society, changes in the planet’s climate would bring starvation, destruction, migration, disease and war — the collapse of civilization — within a decade.

Now he’s focusing his scalding assessments on the parallels and links he sees between climate change and the pandemic.

Cultists never let a good crisis go to waste. Especially when they have cushy jobs and don’t have to worry where their next paycheck comes from, nor losing their house or fossil fueled vehicle, getting a meal, etc.

While there’s no direct evidence linking global warming with Covid-19, animals are moving to cooler areas, according to Aaron Bernstein of Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. That’s brought humans in closer contact with them and the diseases they carry, he said. Epidemiologists say the novel coronavirus originated in bats.

Bendell is more willing to make the connection between coronavirus and climate change. He says that a warmer habitat may have caused the bats to alter their movements, putting them in contact with humans.

So, the bats flew into the market and into people’s mouths? These people just make it up as they go.

Dan Kurland: COVID-19 a test run for climate change

“Be prepared! That’s the Boy Scouts’ marching song. Be prepared!”

That was the start of Tom Lehrer’s 1953 satirical tribute to the Boy Scouts. But being Lehrer, the song quickly went awry: “Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well. Don’t write naughty words on walls if you can’t spell …”

Yet the sentiment was right — as the novel coronavirus pandemic has shown. Forewarned is forearmed. And the same holds for the other crisis facing America and the world — climate change.

That article slowly attempts to make the link that Covid-19 was caused by animals moving around because of you driving a fossil fueled vehicle (which caused a slight increase on global temperatures over 170 years).

Here’s a thought: all this staying at home and a tanked worldwide economy has caused a dip what they call carbon pollution, known in actual science as carbon dioxide. How much is yet to be known. But, according to CoC dogma, CO2 is the control knob, so, what happens if there isn’t a dip in temperatures, and it’s just normal? Won’t that rather show that this is all mostly caused by nature? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a dip in the urban areas, as, without all the moving vehicles and stuff happening, the actual air pollution which traps heat locally (Urban Heat Island effect), that heat can radiate.

Nothing matters, because we know what this is all about: creating a government run world. Modern Socialism.

Read: Coronavirus Is A Dress Rehearsal For ‘Climate Change’ Doom Or Something »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Climate Ghouls, Global Warming | 49 Comments | Trackback URL

The Coronavirus Is Fast Motion ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

By William Teach March 28, 2020 – 3:37 pm

Yes, this would be the climate change that has brought us a measly 1.5F increase in global temperatures over 170 years and an utterly average 7-8 inches of sea rise during the 20th Century, with no escalation of either. But, you know, climate cultists gotta climate cult

The Coronavirus Is a Fast-Motion Climate Crisis

Warnings about the crisis went unheeded. Scientists were ignored and called doomsayers. The press accounts were labeled fake news and brushed aside. “The cure would be worse than the illness” went the argument. Government watchdogs saw their budgets gutted. Lawmakers misled the country and did more harm then good. We were told by leaders that “everything was under control” or that the worry was nothing more than “a hoax.”

They were all wrong.

In recent weeks, as the coronavirus spread inexorably across the world, destabilizing countries, causing misery, heartbreak and shattering even the most robust economies, most governments were found unprepared and quickly overwhelmed. The world changed forever in a matter of days.

Instead of readiness and competence, the Trump administration had disbanded the global pandemic team at the National Security Council, and when face to face with the long-predicted crisis, the president proceeded to try and lie, bluster, and bluff his way through the threat. Then lots of people began to die.

Remember when Rolling Stone was about music and culture, rather than unhinged cultist politics? Anyhow, for all the caterwauling about Trump Trump Trump, what of other countries who failed? Anyhow, the beginning was needed to get to

We have seen this horror movie before. The mishandling of the coronavirus has terrifying parallels to the climate crisis. It’s difficult to think about the other civilizational calamity on our doorstep. It’s much easier to be consumed by what’s happening right now, or better yet to hunker down and binge watch your favorite shows and hope the plague passes over. But we cannot. Both tests call for innovation and a collective response. During the pandemic, we have witnessed failures of leadership but also incredible bravery, resolve, sacrifice, and innovation. That is the blueprint for our future.

I agree, Warmists should show their collective response and give up their own use of fossil fuels and make their own lives carbon neutral.

For decades, scientists warned of the perils of climate change and yet we didn’t act. Worse, we doubled down on our addiction to fossil fuels as the industry bought our politicians and local governments. “Drill, baby drill” became a rallying cry when America could have led the world in shifting toward renewable energy sources. Instead, there was empty rhetoric and disinformation campaigns led by an industry bent on extracting every last dime from the earth.

What’s this “we”, Sparky? Get back to me when 10,000+ climate cultists are not taking long fossil fueled trips to vacation spots for climate conferences multiple times a year.

The last thing you want to read about right now is more doom-filled climate predictions. All the more reason to start thinking of the climate story as more than one of just doom – but as one of innovation and ingenuity, compassion and courage. This week and next, Rolling Stone is releasing its special issue on the climate, featuring Greta Thunberg on the cover. In it you’ll hear from scientists and activists and ordinary people, sharing their grief and their hopes and their hard work on issues such as the state of the oceans, solar power, and the fate of biodiversity. We will not stop covering the climate crisis. We’re not going to look away. There is still time to hold back the worst of the coming tide. Despite likely having contracted the virus herself, Greta hasn’t stopped. She’s continuing her Friday for Future as a “digital strike” until it’s safe to take to the streets again. And we have no doubt she will.

Right, right, because people will care about this while suffering and in fear. Hey, if Rolling Stone wants to do their part they would just shut down. Stop killing trees and burning lots of energy for their website.

Read: The Coronavirus Is Fast Motion ‘Climate Change’ Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 28, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is an area flooded because solar subsidies are too low, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Blazing Cat Fur, with a post on Canada sending masks to China.

Read: If All You See… »

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Toilet Licker Says She’d “Pull Up And Cough On Dr. Phil

By William Teach March 28, 2020 – 10:30 am

Remember this wackjob?

https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1238915362470625292

She made it worse

“I trolled America,” she told the Miami Herald. “It was a clean toilet seat on a sugar daddy’s plane.”

“I feel hot, rich and iconic,” she continued. “If those are the symptoms of corona, then b—ch, I’m ill.”

This “TikTok star and Instagram model’s” parents must be really proud

The college student who licked an airplane toilet said she’d ‘pull up’ and cough on Dr. Phil, who called her ‘spoiled and entitled’

Ava Louise, the woman who coined the phrase “I’d rather die hot than live ugly” and whose TikTok of herself licking an airplane toilet seat was shared widely, has officially stirred the pot with Dr. Phil.

The 21-year-old self-described “skinny legend” held nothing back when she spoke with the TV therapist about her decision to use the coronavirus pandemic to gain publicity.

“I was, like, really annoyed that corona was getting more publicity than me,” she told Dr. Phil in an interview that aired Thursday.

“I just don’t think that this is as concerning as possibly as it could be, because I don’t have coronavirus. I don’t have any symptoms. No one I know has symptoms,” she said, adding that because she went on spring break and Florida and is still healthy, the disease can’t be that serious. (snip)

She said she was so frustrated by Dr. Phil’s criticism of her video — which since been taken down from TikTok — that she was tempted to cough on him.

“I’ll pull up and I’ll cough on you,” she told Dr. Phil, who then called her “spoiled and entitled.”

Read: Toilet Licker Says She’d “Pull Up And Cough On Dr. Phil »

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