Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Election 2020, Environment, Free Markets, Free Speech, Freedom, Global Warming, History, Humor, Immigration, Liberalism, Media Bias, Politics, Progressives, The United States | Tags: Blame., Guilt, Your Fault!
What is it about Liberals? Why do they want us all to feel guilty? We are not supposed to be thankful on Thanksgiving, because we should feel guilty about the Native Americans. We should feel guilty if we call them Indians rather than “Native Americans”.
Some, “Antifa” or something else, have been out rioting and tearing down statues again this weekend, The statues are torn down because we should feel guilty about putting up a statue to someone currently considered unworthy. like George Washington because he once owned a few slaves. Though historically he did not like slavery and had no wish to create a plantation out of Mount Vernon. But that was 244 years ago, and statues of George Washington must be destroyed today to assuage our guilt? Makes no sense whatsoever.
George Washington, father of our country, had a few things more going for him than just the possibility that he owned a very few slaves. Many plantation owners did own slaves at the time, Society, worldwide had not yet decided that owning slaves was wrong. The young people out to riot and break windows and loot and break things seem far more interested in doing that and getting away with it because they were part of a big bunch of people all having fun doing it. Had they been promptly arrested and stuck in cells until someone bailed them out, the whole rationale for rioting might be somewhat different.
Those who choose to feel guilty about celebrating Thanksgiving because we displaced the Indians, might remember that the Native Americans did a lot of massacres as well, of the intruding Englishmen. The history of civilization is full of people being displaced by other warlike tribes, and civilizations have arisen and vanished all over the earth. Supposedly that is why we study history to understand how the world has changed in the past and will undoubtedly change more in the future. But we really don’t need to feel guilty about a past that we had nothing to do with.
If you recall, when Joe Biden decided to run for the office of the presidency, he said that he wanted a black woman as his vice president, and so chose Kamala Harris. So he wanted the credit for choosing a black woman who might become the first black and the first woman to become president rather than choosing someone for their outstanding qualifications and skills.
If you appear in public without wearing a mask, you are supposed to feel guilty. Governors have ordered people to refrain from having Thanksgiving dinners because of Covid. Wags have tacked lifesize representations of those governors to windows where people might be having a Thanksgiving dinner against governors orders. Those governors who issued orders and then had their own celebration were quickly discovered and mocked in the press, and theoretically made to feel properly guilty. Anyone departing from the conventional wisdom of the moment must be guilty, and exposed.
It was hard to choose an image, because there are so many. All the members of the House abjectly kneeling on the floor of Congress. AOC weeping as she clings to a chain-link fence staring out at what turned out to be an empty parking lot that supposedly represented imprisoned illegals at the border, Elizabeth Warren emphasizing her “Indian heritage”, once even with a Native American. All the previous presidents conferring happily with Vladimir Putin, but only Trump being accused of some kind of wrongdoing across a table from him.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Coronavirus, Crime, Domestic Policy, Economics, Economy, Education, History, Humor, Police, The United States | Tags: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi
Former Vice President Joe Biden has clarified matters. Donald Trump caused the Corona virus, didn’t act on it promptly enough, didn’t do the right things when he finally did act, and thus caused all the deaths and misery and unemployment that have resulted. He has also caused all the riots and protests, is a thoroughly bad man and must be replaced as soon as possible by the aforesaid Joe Biden.
So naturally, the news today was entirely about Nancy Pelosi getting her hair done, cut and color, I presume. Partly it seemed to be about whether or not she wore a mask, (She didn’t). which was required. The salon didn’t open their doors, for they have been shut down by local laws. When Nancy became the object of the day’s news, she blamed it all on the salon which played some kind of dirty trick on her. She said she takes responsibility for allowing herself to be “set up” by the salon. I suspect she’s going to have to find a new salon after all this.They were not allowed to be open and opened just for her. Her haircut even trumped the news that the Stock Market today his the highest point ever. Go figure.
The Portland mayor, has been chased out of his home by rioters who broke into his condominium, but he has a number of other homes, so it is apparently not a big deal. Joe Biden, having demonized Donald Trump for going to Kenosha, is now going to go to Kenosha himself, but he will commiserate with the parents of the dead and be compassionate and kind and that will make all the difference.
Looks like we may have a covid vaccine this fall, by October or November. Dr. Scott Atlas, Presidential advisor has sharply dissented with media accusations that it is being rushed because of the election, and said the development is carefully following all the protocols. It is just going well.
The Covid crisis is just another weapon they want to use against President Trump. He’s done pretty well with a disease that we didn’t know anything about when it arrived. Trump shut down all air traffic from China immediately and acted quickly to get ventilators, masks, and all the supplies hospitals across the country might need. Even Democrat governors were praising him for his quick response to their needs.
Expect more. More riots, more shootings, more statue attackers. More demands for reparations. Some have even demanded that the Mayor of Washington D.C. tear down the Washington Monument because George Washington once owned slaves. If you have ever seen it, it is a rather large object.
History is what happened in the past. Changing names, altering buildings, tearing down statues does not change a thing. What happened in the past — happened. We can learn from the past, but we cannot change it. You might remind others of that simple fact.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Coronavirus, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Humor, Media Bias, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Police, Politics, Progressives, Progressivism, Regulation, The United States | Tags: Bureaucracy at Work, Hydroxychloroquine, The Right Sensitivity
Small glimmers of progress. The New York Times now admits that Seattle’s CHOP was not the ‘Block party’ they claimed it was. Portland’s Mayor partially defunded the Cops in June and now the bodies are piling up. New York had a mail in Vote, and the results have been Lax deadlines, late ballots, carelessness, missing postmarks. The Democrats got wiped out in the Louisiana election, and the press is trying to keep it quiet. And a New York City Democrat just called Bill DeBlasio the “Worst Mayor in the History of This Great Country.” Here in Seattle hundreds of ordinary citizens turned out at City Hall to protest and let them know that they liked the police and weren’t happy with City Hall. One has to grasp at those small bits of progress. It all takes time. You mean that if you defund the police crime goes up and people get killed? But, but…
Another Democrat City Councilman announced that hydroxychloroquine saved his life. I thought that once Trump suggested that it works, it became impossible for anyone to use. .
On the other hand, Bureaucrats at the space agency NASA wanted to show that they were as woke as anyone else, so they are checking out all the names of celestial objects to display their sensitivity. The planetary nebula NGC 3392 which is blowing off outer layers at the end of its life will no longer be called the “Eskimo Nebula”. and NGC 3568, a pair of spiral galaxies found in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster will no longer be referred to as the “Siamese Twin Galaxy.” Do read that one for a stunning picture of the “Horsehead Galaxy” which doesn’t look much like the head of any horse I’ve known, and I have been pitched off a few.
But what to do about the celestial objects named for women? There’s Portia, one of the moons of Uranus, and Venus, and Pandora. And yes we won’t mention the other obvious problem there. They have already gone way too far with the “sensitivity” bit. and wandered off into absurdity. Don’t get me off on destruction of statues of Columbus again.
Filed under: Crime, Economy, Humor, Law, National Security, Police, Politics, Progressives, Progressivism, Regulation, Socialism, The United States | Tags: Antifa, City Center, Portland Oregon
A Judge here in Seattle has approved a potential recall election for Mayor Jenny Durkan. Portland tried out doing their own “CHOP” atonomous community, unfortunately they did it right in downtown Portland, and it didn’t go well. They attempted to seize property the same way anarchists tried to on Capitol Hill in Seattle, and called the area the Chinook Land Autonomous Territory (CLAT) since the land was allegedly stolen from Native Americans. Clat lasted only about 35 or 36 hours. How Come?
Antifa has been terrorizing Portland for years, and sending adherents up to Seattle when there was something useful going on here. They burned the Elk statue, shot off fireworks and other incendiary devices at the federal courthouse, and some rioters carried firearms. But last night the police cleared out Chapman Square Park and Lownsdale Square Park where they had set up the CAT. Police closed down the parks at 5:10 a.m, and gave them ten minutes to leave the park. Nine individuals were arrested for trespass and disorderly conduct.
Police reported that the parks will remain closed until necessary repairs are made, and the Police Bureau will asist other Portland City bureaus to repair, lawns, bathrooms, benches and public art (The elk?).
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) didn’t seem like the type to put down a lawless occupation, but President Trump sent federal troops to help restore order, Wheeler accused the president of having “escalated” the violence. Which is similar to the response of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and Mayor Jenny Durkan(D) to Trump’s demand that they restore order immediately, insisting that it woudl be “illegal and unconstitutional” to quell an illegal rebellion. Lots of damage to local businesses in Seattle, who are suing the city for the damage. Cities do have some responsibility to maintain order, which local Democrats don’t seem to appreciate.
Filed under: Crime, Domestic Policy, Humor, Intelligence, Media Bias, Politics | Tags: Attacking Statues, Portland Oregon, The Elk
Best headline of the day, from Weasel Zippers: “We Have Reached Peak ‘Wokeness’ Now that they Burnt the Elk” accompanied by a comment from Mike: “Peaceful Antifa/BLM/full-time protestors/bored and angry kids set Elk statue on fire in Portland. Elks are a famous symbol of racism, and only a fascist would regret seeing this statue burn. No justice, no Elk.”
Somehow that just seems to sum up all the absurdity going on perfectly. The statue was donated by a former mayor in 1900 to commemorate the elk that once lived in the region. The city has temporarily removed it for safekeeping. (bronze doesn’t burn easily) It has been attacked previously.
Much as we all would probably be delighted to see the perpetrators jailed, the best medicine is undoubtedly laughter. They are making colossal fools of themselves, accomplishing nothing at all, and well deserve to be laughed out of town. Unsurprisingly, some want to blame it all on Trump.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Capitalism, Communism, Democrat Corruption, Economics, History, Humor, Law, Police, Politics, Progressives, Regulation, Seattle WA | Tags: CHOPs Autonomous Six Blocks, Communist Kshama Sawant, Murder in Paradise
There are times when you look out upon the passing scene — and think if you could just give them all a spanking and send them to bed without any dinner, it might settle them down a bit. These attacks on our national history and the statues there to remind us, are so ignorant and mindlessly destructive that it is thoroughly disgusting.
There has been a drive-by shooting at the CHOP site on Capitol Hill in Seattle, one 16 year old young man dead, a 14 year old hospitalized. Essentially though, most have moved out. The East Precinct police station is due to be reoccupied next week. The CHOP protesters got some national attention, but not the kind they were hoping for, and when it gets violent with people killed, it isn’t just fun and games any more. Seattle’s feckless Mayor Jenny Durkan had protesters appear at her own house, and she takes it a bit more seriously now.
Seattle’s communist City Council member Kshama Sawant cheerfully blamed “Capitalism’s Brutality” for the murders in CHOP’s autonomous state that Seattle’s government allowed to exist contrary to the law. Sawant and other council members were expected to vote Tuesday on whether or not to repeal a tax on companies like Amazon and Starbucks that the council intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis.
Seattle does have a statue, a 16 foot tall bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin, but he is privately owned, and rests on private property, so he will continue to inspire the residents of Fremont. The statue was created by Bulgarian sculptor Emil Venkov. It was completed and put on display in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1988, the year before the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
In 1993 the statue was bought by an American who found it lying in a scrapyard, and brought it home to Washington state, but died before he could carry out his plans for displaying the Soviet era memento. Since 1995, the statue has been held in trust waiting for a buyer for the last 25 years on a prominent street corner in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, unwanted and unloved?
Senator Mitch McConnell weighed in on the civil unrest in the country today, pointing out that “a large statue of Vladimir Lenin remains untouched while protesters topple memorials to Thomas Jefferson” and George Washington. Does look, though, in some of the pictures, as if someone has painted Lenin’s hands suitably red.
Filed under: Capitalism, Crime, Democrat Corruption, Domestic Policy, Economy, History, Humor, Law, News of the Weird, Police, Politics, Pop Culture, Progressivism, Regulation, Seattle WA, The United States | Tags: Capitol Hill Organized Protest, Reoccupying East Precinct, Vacating the Terror Zone
This is all extremely weird. The national news is reporting that the occupiers of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) are vacating, moving out. Their officials say that any protesters can stay as long as they went, but they seem to be tearing up the newly-planted vegetable garden and attempting to return it to ordinary park status, except that it has been all dug up.
Capitol Hill businesses have filed a major lawsuit against the City of Seattle. The merchants said in the suit that they have suffered economic ruin because the city allowed CHOP to happen. CHOP leader Naudia Miller confirmed reports that the area is being dissembled. She added “The burden of owning a business doesn’t compare to struggles of living in a nation that’s built on anti-black racism,” directed at businesses that are a party to the lawsuit.
A local investment firm closed it’s doors and announced that they were moving to Arizona. No local news purveyor managed to take pictures of the emptied streets, if they indeed are emptied. This is a screen capture from a hard-to-find video. Perhaps after the shootings, reporters and photographers decided to play it safe. This is the same view as in previous pictures that were decorated with barriers, signs, tents, debris and more signs. They talked about setting up at Seattle Center, by the Space Needle or elsewhere. The feckless Mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, was perhaps right when she called it a “summer of love” thing.
The CHOP (formerly CHAZ) has been major news across not only the country, but the world, turning the city of Seattle into something of a laughingstock, and suddenly they’re seeming to pretend that it never happened. There was a murder there, and people hospitalized.
CHOP leaders insisted their efforts are far from over: “We need every one of us to step up in a way that’s in our capacity, because we are dealing with trauma,” Miller said, adding that the only difference going forward is that Capitol Hill will no longer be a staging ground for Black Lives Matter.
Miller also spoke about everything that’s happened at the East Precinct, saying protesters’ takeover of the building was fair game after police used tear gas to disperse CHOP attendees.
“The Seattle Police Department chose that location when they terrorized people on Pine Street, and when they tear gassed people in their homes,” she commented.
The city says that the East Precinct will be reoccupied by next week. Stories about the six-block CHOP are pretty much absent from the news here, where one would think it would be big and welcome headlines. I had to really hunt to find anything.
Did they all suddenly recognize that this mess was giving Seattle a major black eye?
Capitol Hill is distinctly uphill from downtown Seattle, which is on a slight gradual slope down to the west and the water of Puget Sound, where the ferries dock. Seattle was famously built on seven hills, and some were plowed down to make them more acceptable for stores and businesses. If you assume that the CHOP area was in downtown Seattle, that’s incorrect. Capitol Hill is home to Seattle University, hospitals, schools and businesses. It slopes down on the eastern side to Lake Washington, and expensive residential areas along the lake.
Protesters have been shutting down the freeways too, or trying to. The Police keep them under control. As far as I can recall, we haven’t much here in the way of statues, or Confederate anything. Some totem poles.
Filed under: Australia, Canada, Coronavirus, Crime, Domestic Policy, Economy, England, France, Freedom, Health Care, History, Humor, Intelligence, Law, Media Bias, Police, Politics, Regulation, Seattle WA, The United States | Tags: Destroying Statues, Fury and Outrage, Rewriting the Past
Here’s the box they built around the statue of Winston Churchill in Britain. Police also protected the cenotaph, and protesters bravely threw some statues into the River Thames.
In Whittier, California, BLM protesters defaced a statue of John Greenleaf. Who is he? He was a prominent Quaker abolitionist, known for his anti-slavery writings. A picture shows the usual graffiti. Sometimes, it seems, we get a little over-excited about attacking statues. Of course, unlike attacking real people, statues just sit there and behave like the inanimate objects they are, and there’s no fuss unless the police catch you at it, and even then it depends on what the local rules are about attacking statues. It is entirely about the symbolism, and attacking a king symbolically ranks a little higher than a symbolic mere member of Parliament, for example.
Of course in America we went for bigger targets than mere statues (which were attacked as well) but that can’t compare to HBO blacklisting Gone With the Wind. Good Grief! Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Hattie McDaniels, who is black, won the first Oscar ever given to a person of another race. It was well deserved, but there’s the rub. She played the role of Mammy, a slave.
Well, never mind Oscars, the outrage was furious. Banning Gone With the Wind! America’s favorite movie of all time. What happened immediately was that everybody went out and bought a copy for their own, and just think through the economics of that little stunt, and how it would reverberate down through the years. I can even quote you the opening lines of the book: “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm, as the Tarelton twins were.”
HBO decided that unbanning Gone With the Wind was probably the better idea, but because of George Floyd and all, they hired Black scholar and TCM host Jacqueline Stewart. She is a professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago. Cinema and Media Studies is a major at the University of Chicago? It has not been yet announced just when GWTW and Scarlett and Brett will return to streaming services. Jacqueline Stewart will provide an introduction to the movie, so you understand the correct viewpoint. This is a very odd time, we can’t seem to decide whether we can allow history to remain unchanged, or if we have to have a do-over that we like better. Historically, we do recognize that the Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Southern forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and on April 15, President Lincoln issued a public declaration than an insurrection existed and called for 75,000 militia to stop the rebellion. It ended on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S, Grant at the Appomattox Court House, with a remarkable lot of history in between those two dates. If you are unfamiliar with the Civil War, study up! You’ll be glad you did. Here’s a guide to books on the war.
You might want to look up the Emancipation Proclamation.
Race has come up as a major subject in the international outrage over the death of George Floyd. Statues are being destroyed in this country, in Britain, Australia, Scotland–Robert the Bruce, the Scottish King who freed Scotland from England’s clutches, and who knows where else, which accomplishes nothing at all, but expresses varying degrees of outrage over varying subjects. The Civil War in general, any generals who fought for the South, anything named for a general who fought for the South, that sort of thing. Fort Bragg and Fort Benning are especially mentioned as needing to be renamed immediately to appease the anger about race. Quick, can you tell me where Fort Bragg is, and who it is named for? Didn’t think so. How about Fort Benning — location, named for? If we are going to be outraged and change names, shouldn’t we know what we are talking about, and how it relates to, for example, “CHAZ” or “CHOP” as it is now, on six blocks of Capitol Hill in Seattle? And what does that have to do with putting a box around the statue of Winston Churchill in Britain?
What seemed to happen to George Floyd was clearly an outrage, but what actually happened was not as it seemed. The call to police about Floyd was that he was trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. We never learned if it was counterfeit or not. There must have been some kind of resisting arrest going on for him to end up on the ground with an officer holding him down with his knee.
Floyd was a very large man who worked as security in a night club, a “bouncer” as they are called, as did the police officer, and they apparently worked at the same establishment. The cause of death is unclear. Yes, he was saying “I can’t breathe” but before the choke hold as well. He was apparently high on fentanyl. The autopsies (there were two) also mentioned a heart attack, and another fatal condition. The officer has been charged with murder, but in the middle of international outrage. I have no idea. It just sounds like it is a lot more complicated than we were led to believe. The outrage over what was seen on film was huge. The emotion stirred up was huge and has led to all the rest.
Hopefully, enough information will eventually come out to clarify the whole thing. Why it has led to the destruction of Columbus statues, names of anything connected to the South in the Civil War, remains unknown. Aunt Jemima syrup has changed its name and picture. Kellogg’s Rice Crispies has been attacked for Snap, Crackle and Pop who seem to be three white boys. The same white boys are on the Cocoa Crispies box, although the cereal is brown. In other words, a big section of America has become certifiable. A City Councilman in Charlotte, SC has declared that it is time to proclaim that racism is a public health crisis. The worst reaction is the call to defund the police. which is beyond stupid. Unfortunately it has all been exacerbated by the CORONA-19 turmoil and societal shutdown and all the chaos that has caused. Emotions were already stirred up by people locked down.
This too shall pass. From the Federalist: “Why White People Will Always Be Racists: Whites are continually put into the position of forever having to prove the negative, that they’re not racists. This is impossible. And that’s the point.”
Filed under: Free Speech, Freedom, History, Humor, Law, Media Bias, News, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Police, Politics, Progressives, Regulation, Seattle WA, Socialism, The Constitution, The United States | Tags: And Other Helpful Deeds, Defunding the Police, Tear Down Statues
The Autonomous state of CHAZ on Seattle’s Capitol Hill continues, The folks who actually live in the area are somewhat terrorized, because if someone tries to break into their houses or attacks one of the occupants, they cannot call the police. And the occupants of the new state don’t seem to be the most congenial group.
The Seattle Police Chief, Carmen Best, who is a black woman, has been ordered to leave the East Precinct Police station to the anarchists. Neither our Governor, Jay Inslee, nor the Seattle Mayor, Jennie Durkin, want to be put in a position where they might actually have to do something that might possibly be criticized. Life is just so complicated these days.
History, one might remind, is what happened in the past. You cannot change it. There may be many things you might wish to change, but you can not. You don’t get to rewrite it either. We seem to have arrived at a point where all traces of the Southern side of the Civil War must be obliterated, statues torn down, anything named for a Southern general renamed. Won’t work.
The Civil War remains a major event in American history. The Confederacy lost, but that does not mean that they didn’t have some good generals. The Confederate Flag should not be flown over statehouses, just the American flag. But it is not necessary to recoil at the sight of the stars and bars. History is what happened. We can learn from it. You can tear down statues, but those men once lived and did what they, in real life, actually did.
Nancy Pelosi wants to remove something like 13 statues of Southerners from Statuary Hall, which will accomplish nothing. Her Father, Thomas D’Alessandro was mayor of Baltimore, and put up statues to Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. This is simply virtue-signaling.
Trying to assert that because you want to tear statues down, you are more completely one with today’s blacks who are angry about the death of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman who held him down with a knee. The death of George Floyd was clearly excessive force, but we don’t know what actions preceded George Floyd’s being taken down and what made the drastic hold necessary. Awful situation, and it has developed into a world wide situation. And just what will be improved by defunding the police? That they cannot seem to understand what the results of that would be remains a major puzzle.
Filed under: Crime, Domestic Policy, Free Speech, Freedom, Humor, Law, News of the Weird, Police, Politics, Regulation, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Governor Jay Inslee, Six Square Blocks, The State of Chaz
There is today, unsurprisingly, a remarkable amount of conversation in the press about race. The protests have spilled out internationally to England, to the European continent and to Australia and South America, and maybe other locations. Lots of tearing down statues and fiery speeches.
I live in a Seattle suburb, so the construction on an “independent state” which has seceded from the rest of the country, is of particular interest to the press who are always breathtakingly waiting for a happening, and usually have to settle for what some so-called celebrity has to say, and about which nobody cares at all.
Our Governor, Jay Inslee, having extremely unsuccessfully run for the presidency, was surprised to be questioned about the new autonomous state in the largest city in his state. He seemed entirely unaware of its existence, which is a little embarrassing when the press in the rest of the country is more informed than he is.
The Antifa people displaced a bunch of homeless who were occupying the sidewalks in the six block area they had claimed as their state, so they invited them in. But quickly complained when the homeless had eaten all their food, so they had to appeal to their friends on the outside to buy them some food, preferably vegan with meat substitutes. It’s the little details that make this all so fascinating.
There are around 500 people who live in the area, and the city has provided a fire truck in case things get out of hand. They are trying to charge the businesses in their new state rent, (they have to find a way to pay for the food) but that is actually a crime like entrapment or something. Lots of demands, but they have already invaded City Hall, so there’s not much left to invade, and nobody is paying any attention to their demands.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, History, Humor, Immigration, Junk Science, Media Bias, Politics, Taxes, The United States | Tags: Climate Change, Complications of the News, To Blame for Everything
RECENT EARTH CLIMATE HISTORY
600 – 200 B.C.: An Unnamed Cold Period
200 BC to about AD 600: The Roman Warming
600 to 900: The Dark Ages Cold Period
900 to 1300: Medieval Warming
1300 to 1850: The Little Ice Age (two stages)
MODERN CLIMATE HISTORY
1850 – 1940: Especially between 1920-1940: Warming
1940 to 1975: Cooling Trend
1976-1978: Sudden Warming Spurt
1979 to 1998: +1º
1998 to 2011: +1º
The Medieval Warming period led to the Renaissance which began approximately in 1300 and ended approximately in 1700. A bountiful time, wine grapes grew in England, food was plentiful and there was a flowering of learning and art. Think Michelangelo, Raphael, and Copernicus among others. What I’m getting at here, is the idea that if we are facing climate doom, the world is going to die in 10 or 12 years if we don’t save it by stopping “fracking,” using oil and gasoline, and eliminating plastic bags. That’s what you get for listening to “celebrities” instead of studying up on the science.
I was an English Major, which meant that I learned how to read hard stuff, and read a lot. That does not mean that I’m always right, but I do like to think so. Christiana Figueres was quite sure that the object of “climate change” was as a tool to get rid of Capitalism. Leftists do not like capitalism, which seems a bit strange, but economics is not their strong point. Capitalists are business CEOs and owners, and the “Rich:”. The Left is simply entitled to be in charge because they are morally superior.
Conservatives have long sneered at the Left because they were the Southern slave owners in the Civil War, but the Left has ended that accusation by electing the first black president, who served for two terms, which puts them back in the morally superior category. Global Warming, plastic bags, ending fracking, and giving taxpayer money to illegal aliens adds to their superiority.
America is a nation of immigrants, as you know, which leads them to believe that immigrants are special, and just because they can’t be bothered to enter the country the legal way, shouldn’t keep them from sharing in the bounty of America. So Leftists care about illegal immigrants, which means hating I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and making sure that illegal immigrants get stimulus money. It is that mindset that makes them believe that if little immigrant children were kept in cages, it was obviously done by conservatives, contrary to the actual actions of the Obama administration. Once you get the “entitled to be in charge because they are morally superior” theme firmly in mind, it makes understanding all the other stuff simple. Or at least it helps.
Then there’s this: From Climate Realism and Climate Depot:
Among the top articles in a May 19 Google News search for “climate change” were a slew of articles claiming climate change causes cancer. CNBC and several other major news outlets published the claims, citing American Cancer Society (ACS) activists making the assertion. The line of reasoning is preposterous. And even if the ACS line of reasoning were sound, the line of reasoning would indicate that climate change is reducing cancer incidence and mortality.
The CNBC article is titled “Climate change is fueling extreme weather that lowers cancer survival rate and threatens prevention.” The article points out ACS line of reasoning as “[1] Climate change has triggered more frequent weather disasters like hurricanes and wildfires that [2] release deadly carcinogens into communities and [3] delay access to cancer treatment.” Each of the three prongs of the argument is ridiculous, and the three in combination give new meaning to the term “far-fetched.”
That’s a pretty good indication into how the news gets so weird, and wrong ideas seem to prevail. The fact that it is an election year means that politics rears its ugly head, and before you know it, all is confusion. Fight back.
Filed under: China, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Humor, Junk Science, Law, Media Bias, Politics, Progressivism, Regulation, Science/Technology, The United States | Tags: A Confusing World, Reject Models, What is True and What's Not
As the lockdown fades away into masks or no masks, open society, or partly open, or don’t even think about it, or growing revolt, it becomes ever more confusing. At this late date, Kamala Harris has introduced a resolution that says calling Covid-19 the “China Virus” is “hate speech.” So helpful.
It is important, however, to recognize that Democrats are incapable of “hate speech” because they are nice people. And nevermind that viruses are usually called by their place of origin, to distinguish them from other viruses arising elsewhere. West-Nile virus, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, for example. The latter you got from ticks if you wandered around in the sagebrush, which I did a lot as a kid. Got lots of ticks, but no spotted fever.
The authorities, whoever they may be, cannot seem to make up their minds about masks. Some say useless and others say mandatory. We are told that you get the virus by being in range when someone with the disease sneezes or coughs, and the virus may linger in the air, or you will get the virus from touching something that someone with the disease has touched, to the mandatory washing your hands thoroughly as you have been taught.
Other than that, all is perfectly clear. The authorities are changing their minds from taking their information from models to adding up actual statistics, but then you have to consider what actions each country took and how they are different and who did what right.
If you want clear information, visit the think-tanks. Hoover.org, AEI.org, Cato.org, Reason.org, Heritage.org. A vast improvement over today’s media, who keep decorating their posts with terms like “blockbuster”,”bombshell”, and other words especially chosen to rouse interest rather than inform.
It appears from the quantity of masks advertised online that everyone has jumped into a new business of selling masks with funny mouths or monster mouths, or well designed to go with your clothing, or just appealing patterns. They are now, I am told, selling tri-kinis. That’s a bikini with a matching mask. If, as they are now saying, masks are useless, we have another bunch of businesses going broke.
So there you are, wandering in a mysterious changing world where we mostly don’t have a clue. But then nobody else seems to have a clue either. We are learning that models don’t work. But, for the most part, Americans are fortunately blessed with a great sense of humor. If you can still laugh, we’ll be alright.
American Elephants 