The Mystery of Blue Honey
12th September 2022
I have never seen, or heard tell of, blue honey.
Not sure I’d want any … unless it came with super powers.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Mystery of Blue Honey
12th September 2022
I have never seen, or heard tell of, blue honey.
Not sure I’d want any … unless it came with super powers.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Mystery of Blue Honey
12th September 2022
Pass a Tesla on the street or pick up an Apple Magic Mouse and you encounter the sleek simplified aesthetics that underlie the mindset of the new technocracy. Apple used Picasso’s Bull, a set of drawings that reduce the animal to a stylized cubist abstraction, as the basis for its own minimalist aesthetic reductionism. It’s an aesthetic that meshes with Big Tech’s love of frictionless experiences that make complex processes appear deceptively simple.
Eliminating the extrusions on a car or a computer peripheral doesn’t actually make them any simpler to construct or to operate. It’s a marketing strategy that also shapes how people think of technology. Early computer kits were messy assemblies of wire and circuit boards. The early internet was a sprawling assortment of unregulated content. That was around the time that science fiction author William Gibson, a foremost promoter of Cyberpunk, coined the term “cyberspace”. A generation later, Gibson even more radically envisioned the internet disappearing and being reduced to a few apps on the phone. And that is what happened.
…
Free speech was the first casualty of the simplified internet. Most people give it away for convenience. And they never missed it until suddenly they realized that they wanted to say or hear things that the new platforms no longer allowed. Big Tech wanted people to keep on clicking, but not in a way that disrupted their business model, their politics or culture.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Frictionless Politics of the Social Technocracy
12th September 2022
We’ve already seen how graceless the hateful left can be in their reaction to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but “Squad Member” Rep. Pramila Jayapal takes the cake with this one.
There were 2,977 killed in the twin towers and at the Pentagon that day. How does Jayapal get the 2,996 figure? By adding in the 19 hijackers.
Pretty clear whose side she’s on.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on The Vile Jayapal
12th September 2022
I’m a prepper, you’re a prepper, he’s a prepper, she’s a prepper, wouldn’t you like to be a prepper too?
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thought for the Day
12th September 2022
of Ansbach. Fortunately, he only managed to wound two people before he was shot dead by police.
According to witnesses, the high-spirited youngster shouted “Allahu Akhbar” — which is Arabic for “I demand a more diverse and inclusive society” — during his attack.
The following two video reports give accounts about what happened in Ansbach.
Wherever you go,
Whatever you do,
A Muslim waits there
To try to kill you.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on Knife Jihad in Ansbach
11th September 2022
It’s tricker than you might suppose.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on What You Need to Build a Greek Temple
11th September 2022
41,000 of 80K Resettled Afghan Refugees in U.S. Are in Workforce
New push to define Bidenomics (Axios) Easy–tax and spend.
Number of illegal migrants who entered US since Biden took office approaching two million
All Biden Has to Do Now Is Change the Way We Live (N.Y. Times) Ezra Klain, Voice of the Crust, dreams the impossible dream
VP Harris blames GOP ‘election deniers’ for making US democracy ‘weaker’ through ‘threats from within’
VP Harris blames GOP ‘election deniers’ for making US democracy ‘weaker’ through ‘threats from within’
VP Harris Dodges Criticism of Dems Funding GOP Candidates to Beat
Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Today in the Biden-Harris Slow-Motion Train Wreck
11th September 2022
Black gay community concerned monkeypox response is inadequate (NBC)
Liberal Disinfo: New York Times Corrects ‘Racist’ BYU Hoax It Should Never Have Spread
Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Today in BIPOC Privilege
11th September 2022
Cancer breakthrough is a ‘wake-up’ call on danger of air pollution (The Guardian)
Scientists Think They’ve Solved The ‘Enigma’ of How Air Pollution Causes Lung Cancer (Science Alert)
A carbon footprint life cycle assessment can cut down on greenwashing (Science News)
How to make recyclable plastics out of CO2 to slow climate change (Science News)
An Ocean of Plastic — Fishing Gear
This Winter, Europe Plunges Into “The New Dark Ages”
WEF: Pakistan Climate Change Floods are the British Empire’s Fault?
Europe Is Facing Energy Disaster And It’s Going To Bleed Over Into The US
We need a fossil-free internet by 2030 (Branch Climate Action) Why?
Swiss Social Media Abuzz Over ‘Rat Out Your Neighbor’ Energy Use Posters
Air conditioning has a climate problem. New technology could help.
From a Corona Dictatorship to a Heating Dictatorship
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
11th September 2022
Two Trump officials subpoenaed for fundraising to undermine elections (The Guardian)
DOJ Unlikely to Charge Trump Before Midterms as Unofficial Deadline Passes (Newsweek)
Biden seeks to motivate voters from all parties against ‘Maga Republicans destroying politics’ (The Guardian)
‘Astounding’: Trump documents reveal casual disregard for long-standing security protocols (USA Today)
Why CNN Is Booting All the Trump Critics Who Work There (Slate) According to the Narrative, of course.
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome
11th September 2022
COVID-19 Symptoms Have Changed Over Time. Here Are the Latest Signs of Infection to Look Out For (NBC)
Can preclinical COVID-19 models help unlock mystery of long-COVID? (News-Medical Net)
Randi Whine-garten’s latest lies about school closings
How Outschool won the pandemic
Packers QB Rodgers Tackles California Lawmakers, COVID Mandates
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
11th September 2022
Former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller subpoenaed by Justice Department (CNN)
Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Mocked as Ukrainians Force Russia to Retreat (Newsweek)
Discriminatory profiling needs to end at Homeland Security (The Hill)
Jan. 6 Prisoners And Families Expose Brutal Truth About Jail Lockdown
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
11th September 2022
In November 2020, a report from McKinsey & Co. to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority predicted that transit ridership would recover to as high as 92 percent of pre-pandemic levels by 2025. Now McKinsey has revised that number downward to as low as 70 percent. Even that is probably optimistic considering that recent data indicate that New York subway ridership has been flat at least since February 2022, and has even declined somewhat since June.
More than in most cities, transit in New York depends on fare revenues. Before the pandemic, fares covered more than half the operating costs of New York City transit but only about a quarter of the costs elsewhere. A decline in ridership hits the city’s transit budget harder than almost anywhere else, so it’s no surprise that both national and local media are focused on the “fiscal cliff” that MTA is likely to hurdle over when it runs out of federal COVID relief funds, probably in 2024.
As the New York state comptroller noted in a recent publication, this is more than just a question of increased subsidies vs. reduced service. Instead, it is truly an existential issue for transit agencies nationwide.
New York is the poster child for mass transit–if it can’t be viable there, where can it be?
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Transit’s Existential Crisis
11th September 2022
Or maybe not. Check it out.
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on This Fermented Cooking Oil Could Replace Vegetable Oil
11th September 2022
John Hinderaker at Power Line.
On Meet the Press this morning, Kamala Harris said that if the Democrats pick up two Senate seats in the midterms, they will abolish the filibuster, at least selectively. The two additional seats, plus Harris’s own tie-breaker, will be needed to offset the votes of Senators Manchin and Sinema so as to create a majority in favor of altering Senate rules.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Is 52 the Magic Number?
11th September 2022
On Friday the White House released “the Biden-Harris economic blueprint” a/k/a “the President’s Economic Blueprint” (press release here, 58-page document here). It’s a “blueprint” with “five pillars” that have done so much for us already and promise to do more and worse in the future.
Performing the work that our native media fact-check workers refuse to do, James Bovard assesses the veracity of claims made in the “blueprint.”
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Blueprint for Malarkey
11th September 2022
A pilot and two passengers are okay after the Cirrus Vision Jet went down after deploying the CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System), apparently while on approach to Kissimmee Gateway Airport (KISM) in Florida on Friday.
The scene following the deployment was reported by a local news affiliate as a marshy area in the “area of Lake Tohopekaliga,” where the pilot and a boy walked away and a second passenger, a woman, sustained “no life-threatening injuries.”
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Cirrus Vision Jet Pilot Pulls Chute in Florida
11th September 2022
In September 2018, the linguist Ellen Jovin set up a table near an exit to the 72nd Street and Broadway subway station in New York City and invited passersby to ask her questions about grammar. Her first query, she writes in Rebel with a Clause, was a nasty “spousal apostrophe dispute.” Most people would have folded up their table and headed indoors after that, but Jovin and her husband Brandt took the show on the road. By now, they may have sparked spousal apostrophe disputes in Hawaii, Alaska, and Connecticut, too.
Rebel with a Clause is a useful primer in the parameters of correct usage, but it is also a state-of-the-nation report on the use of American English. Jovin noticed that, despite the divisions of politics, questions of language bring people together in civil and enjoyable exchanges. She also noticed that they have an awful lot of questions. Never mind heavy-duty stuff like direct objects, appositives, and the best way to use a semicolon. Most of her clients struggle with the basic stuff and are often embarrassed by their uncertainty.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Communication Breakdown
11th September 2022
9/13 is all about forgetting.
9/13 means we’ve done it. We fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s time to move on now. Maybe take a day to remember the people who died in the towers, in a field, bow our heads and go on with what really matters today.
What’s the alternative? Fighting a forever war?
After WWI, most people were done with world wars. But world wars weren’t done with them. That’s a poor analogy because the Jihad isn’t some nationalistic European grudge match. It’s a thousand-year assault on the rest of the world that will not stop just because we’ve decided to move on.
Early on WW2, wags joked that it was the Bore War because nothing seemed to be happening on the western front. The jokes made sense at the time. But they stopped being funny really fast.
We’re in the Bore War now. But thousand-year-old wars don’t remain boring.
…
Islamic terrorism is not the only thing that matters. It’s not the only thing that will determine our survival. But it is one of those things. And it’s the one that we’ve forgotten.
Wherever you go,
Whatever you do,
A Muslim waits there
To try to kill you.
Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on 9/13
11th September 2022
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thought for the Day
10th September 2022
A split-second glance at two candidates’ faces is often enough to determine which one will win an election, according to a Princeton University study.
Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov has demonstrated that quick facial judgments can accurately predict real-world election returns. Todorov has taken some of his previous research that showed that people unconsciously judge the competence of an unfamiliar face within a tenth of a second, and he has moved it to the political arena. His lab tests show that a rapid appraisal of the relative competence of two candidates’ faces was sufficient to predict the winner in about 70 percent of the races for U.S. senator and state governor in the 2006 elections.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on To Determine Election Outcomes, Study Says Snap Judgments Are Sufficient
10th September 2022
The View’s Hostin claims Queen Elizabeth wore ‘crown with pillaged stones,’ Britain a ‘genocidal’ empire
‘The View’s Sonny Hostin defends professor who wished Queen ‘excruciating’ pain
Leonard Leo: the secretive rightwinger using billions to reshape America (The Guardian) Dunh dunh DUNHHHHH….
Bannon is not finished: his ‘precinct strategy’ could alter US elections for years (The Guardian)
Two Top Trump Political Aides Among Those Subpoenaed in Jan. 6 Case (N.Y. Times)
It’s official: Sarah Palin cost the GOP a House seat (Washington Post) According to the Narrative.
Michigan Republicans Stumble in Dress Rehearsal for Overturning Future Elections (Bolts)
NYT: U.S. Found Yielding to ‘Hate’ Hysteria
Wells Fargo Screws Sex Workers, Cancels Accounts Over ‘Risks’
35 Trump Allies Served With Warrants, Subpoenas According To Steve Bannon The witch-hunt continues.
Stephen Miller, Brian Jack Subpoenaed in Trump Electors Case The witch-hunt continues.
Proud Boys Hawaii Leader, Friend Plead Guilty in Jan. 6 Riot A stark chice: Take the plea deal or the government comes down on you with both boots.
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
10th September 2022
Do ‘Trump judges’ exist? We’re about to find out (Seattle Times)
U.S. reveals more classified records may be missing in Trump probe (Reuters)
Fox Host: Poll Showing Dislike for MAGA Is ‘Fake’ (Daily Beast)
Ex-Special Master Kenneth Feinberg Foresees Problem With Trump’s Case (Newsweek)
Trump’s DOJ pushed for legal action against John Kerry, says ex-US attorney (The Hill)
It’s Dumb and Dangerous for Liberals to Conflate All Conservatives With MAGA (Daily Beast) So let’s watch them do it anyway.
Trump and the Nuclear Documents John C. Wright is, in addition to being an ace science fiction writer, a Real Lawyer.
Trump backed failed campaign coup against Kushner, Navarro book says (The Guardian) Does anybody (other than RINO Navarro) think that, if Trump wanted somebody gone, that person wouldn’t be gone? The question answers itself.
So Many Trump Scandals, So Little Time (The New Yorker) Not to mention so little proof.
DOJ Gives Trump Judge an Opening to Take Back Her Absurd Special Master Ruling (Vanity Fair) I guess writing about fashion gives you automatic expertise in the law.
The Biden administration’s lawfare against Trump alllies continues
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome
10th September 2022
A Paxlovid fall primer: Who should take the COVID antiviral and when? (Boston Globe)
All SARS-CoV-2 variants neutralized by a potent new antibody (News Medical)
New York declares state of emergency over polio to boost low vaccination rates (CNBC)
COVID in California: Marin County weighs shorter isolation period for schools (S.F. Chronicle)
Lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of vaccine mandate bans on tribal land in Montana
You Can Still Get Long COVID If You’re Vaccinated and Boosted (TIME) So what’s the point?
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
10th September 2022
Shortly after Indiana passed a new law restricting abortion, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly condemned the law and announced that it would seek to expand outside the state.
It’s widely argued that social conservative policy is bad for business. Is that actually true, as the Lilly statement would seem to suggest? At some level, yes. But the impact is less than some claim. Today, social policy is a relatively marginal factor in business location decisions.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Is Pro-Life Bad for Business?
10th September 2022
Scott Johnson at Power Line.
We have followed the fate of law enforcement in Minneapolis since the death of Saint George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020. We have also followed the related media coverage, which has amplified and confused the multifarious racial issues. As the Minneapolis Police Department has contracted to the size of a shrunken head — a shrunken head capable of scaring no one — we have repeatedly asked who in his right mind would go to work for it. Among the inhibitions is the relentlessly stupid coverage afforded by the Star Tribune.
Departmental manpower is so inadequate at present that the department limited its response to nonemergency calls at one point this week. I know because the heroic reporter behind CrimeWatchMpls covered it. I’m not sure the news made it into the Star Tribune.
Posted in Democrats: Party of Plundering and Blundering | Comments Off on Report This
10th September 2022
The sound of Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson on Friday’s PBS NewsHour underlined how there is no debate and no democracy on PBS. They put on a RINO who says the GOP is simply awful, and the liberal on the panel says “Oh, I agree!” Republicans pay taxes to be painted as awful for opposing the murder of unborn babies.
Gerson was the chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, a moderate Christian conservative. Bush nominated Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade. He also nominated Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined that majority. But now, Gerson rails against Republicans as unfit for governing.
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on THIS Is Why Conservatives Can’t Stand Paying for PBS
10th September 2022
Just when it seems like we can’t possibly go any lower, we always manage to top ourselves. In the old days, every once in a while I would come across a story that would make me shake my head in disbelief because it was just so absurd. Now it is happening on a daily basis. In this article I am going to share some examples with you. I realize that some of these things are difficult to believe, but all of them are true. Our country really is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes, and the pace of our national decline only seems to be accelerating. If we are not able to turn our cultural decay around, eventually we will not have a country at all.s
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on What In The World Is Wrong With This Country?
10th September 2022
Pandemic travel has been chaotic and frustrating. But for the most part, it has been relatively clean, with many airlines committing to robust sanitation practices early in the pandemic, and numerous virus-wary travelers additionally wiping down their areas.
Over the past week, two widely shared videos of particularly filthy planes have raised concerns that the days of clean flights may be going the way of mask wear. They also sparked a debate about whether flight crew or passengers carry the responsibility for messes.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on The Plane’s a Filthy Mess. Who’s to Blame?
10th September 2022
This is really quite a remarkable video wherein Joe Scarborough says the Gospel of Jesus Christ is pro-abortion. How did we ever become this stupid? Mika looks on in awe thinking that Joe just destroyed the pro-life movement. It boggles the mind.
Posted in Full Frontal Stupidity | Comments Off on Only Experts Can Be This Dumb
10th September 2022
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Potential Hurricane on California Path After ‘Abruptly’ Changing Course
10th September 2022
or the first time in Britain’s history, there are no white men in the three Great Offices of State. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is the son of Ghanaian immigrants, Suella Braverman follows Priti Patel as another home secretary of South Asian origin, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was born in Lewisham to a midwife called Evelyn from Sierra Leone.
The rest of the Truss ministry also boasts senior politicians such as the Baghdad-born two-month chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants Kemi Badenoch, another minister with South Asian heritage in Ranil Jayawardena, and Alok Sharma, who was born in the Uttar Pradesh state of northern India and has remained in government because the “COP26 President” role still exists, for reasons that escape me and everyone I’ve asked.
I can imagine the email fired out of Labour HQ when the late-night ministerial announcements came trickling onto Twitter: “please, for the love of God, criticise the new appointments all you want, but do NOT mention race.” Additional warnings would have added that anyone using the term “coconut” or “oreo” would be swiftly defenestrated from Parliament and into the Thames.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Are the Left the REAL Racistz?
10th September 2022
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thought for the Day
9th September 2022
When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready (N.Y. Times) Ready to push the Narrative.
BlackRock strikes back at ESG critics (Axios)
Senators preview details of religious rights amendment to gay marriage bill I’d love to know what provision of the Constitution givers the Federal government the power to legislate on this subject.
Same-sex marriage bill teeters on verge of GOP filibuster (Politico)
Morning Joe Suppresses That Suspect In Journalist Murder a Democrat
Young Democrats are flocking to register to vote in Texas after abortion ruling, data shows (Houston Chronicle) Pushing the Narrative in the run-up to the mid-term elections.
Student Loan Forgiveness As Class Warfare
The Right to Free Speech Is Not the Right to Monologue (The Atlantic) ‘Shut up!” he explained.
Employees Shocked as Lesbian Vegan Doughnut Shop Goes Out of Business
What I Noticed Was Missing at James Madison’s Montpelier Home
California Man Takes Fiancée Out Of State For A Romantic Lightbulb-Lit Dinner
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Today in Progressive Totalitarianism
9th September 2022
Republicans Aren’t the Only Ones Who Can Play Culture Warrior (Politico) Rich Lowry, National Review RINO.
How Democrats gained the upper hand on God, guns and gays (Politico) Pushing the Narrative in the run-up to the mid-term elections.
Dan Patrick Demanded That Texas Retirement Funds Divest From BlackRock. But He Kept His Shares in the Firm. (Texas Monthly)
Republicans winning the House could plunge US and world into ‘chaos,’ warns New York Times
The hidden danger posed by a MAGA takeover of the House (Washington Post)
The problem with GOP extremists isn’t what they thought in college (Washington Post)
How reactionary is MAGA? Try the first century B.C. (Washington Post) Dana Milbank loses his shit.
U.S. cited ‘domestic terrorism’ in search tied to Oath Keepers’ lawyer (Washington Post) The witch-hunt continues.
Oath Keepers: Leaked membership list includes police and politicians (BBC) So does the Democrat Party.
An ex-professor spreads election myths across the U.S., one town at a time (Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton to Melania Trump: ‘How’s Your Summer Going?’ (Daily Beast)
12 Brilliant Ways Republicans Are Planning To Screw Up The Midterms (Babylon Bee)
Rubio walks the Mar-a-Lago line (Politico)
Chelsea Clinton says she used to be friends with Ivanka Trump until ‘she went to the dark side’
It Didn’t Start with Trump: The Decades-Long Saga of How the GOP Went Crazy (Mother Jones)
William Barr: The New Alyssa Farah
Steve Bannon’s indictment reveals the truth about Trumpism (The Guardian) The witch-hunt continues.
GHOULISH Politico Whines: Why Isn’t 2020 Objections Top of Mind in GOP Obits?
Revealed: Ginni Thomas’s links to anti-abortion groups who lobbied to overturn Roe (The Guardian) Dunh dunh DUNHHHHH….
Behar Calls DeSantis ‘Cowardly’ for Refusing Invite to ‘The View’
CA High School: ‘Whites,’ ‘Heterosexuals’ And ‘Christians’ Are Fascists
Posted in The Hunt for Heretics and Sinners | Comments Off on Today in Witch-Hunt Culture
9th September 2022
Elijah Wood and original ‘Lord of the Rings’ cast shut down racist critics of ‘Rings of Power’ (CNN)
‘Lord of the Rings’ Original Hobbits Support ‘Rings of Power’ Cast Amid Racist Backlash (CNET)
U.S. Soccer Star Alleges Racism When Bartender Asks him To Pay For A Drink
Some Networks Ignoring Police Claim That BYU Fan Didn’t Use Racial Slurs
College condemns professor who celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s death
Nets Skip News Leftist DAs Let Memphis Shooter Off Easy
SC Democrats call on their party’s US Senate nominee to quit (Associated Press)
NYT: Are the Stabby Sanderson Brothers Indians? Don’t Ask Us!,
NYT Opinion: the Queen Didn’t Apologize for Being White Enough
BBC Whines Monarchy “At Odds With Diversity” Hours After Queen’s Death
Government Funded Paper Claims Science Is Racist
BYU: No Evidence of Racist Slurs Against Duke Player
NFL Hoping 3rd Year Of ‘End Racism’ Painted In End Zone Will Do The Trick (Babylon Bee)
Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | Comments Off on Today in BIPOC Privilege
9th September 2022
World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds (The Guardian) A study! That proves it!
Earth Is Teetering on The Edge of Five Disastrous Climate Tipping Points, Study Finds (Science Alert)
How many people can Earth handle? (BBC)
U.S. evaluating need for further SPR oil releases after October -Granholm (Reuters)
White House is not considering further releases of emergency oil at this time, official says (CNN)
The Middle East is warming up twice as fast as the rest of the world (Washington Post)
‘This is the future’: rural Virginia pivots from coal to green jobs (The Guardian)
Physicists Struggle to Unite Around Future Plans (‘Scientific’ American)
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss ends national ban on fracking amid energy crisis
Greenland Is Still Melting, and It’s September (‘Scientific’ American)
Special Report: How U.S. ethanol plants are allowed to pollute more than oil refineries (Reuters)
Why Ethanol Plants Pollute More Than Oil Refineries (Newsmax)
Jason Momoa So Furious About Environment That He Shaved His Head (Futurism.com)
Actor Jason Momoa Chops Off His Trademark Long Hair In Protest Against Single-Use Plastic (The Weather Channel)
Farewell, octopus; hello, lionfish: Lebanon’s warming seas change fishing (Washington Post)
The clean hydrogen energy economy was a dream. The climate bill could make it a reality this decade (CNBC) Pushing the Narrative in the run-up to the mid-term elections.
Energy Transition A “Dangerous Delusion”: Report
California’s Power Grid Turmoil Spurs Diesel Demand For Generators
Rand Paul: “America Should Be Appalled” At Fauci Covering His Tracks
Greenpeace Co-Founder Patrick Moore Says Climate Change Based On False Narratives
“Really A Desperate Time”: Summer Drought Wreaks Havoc Across Northeast Farmland
“The Weaponization of Science: Politics, Vilification, and the Climate Debate” – Dr. Willie Soon
Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points
Wall Street Journal Exposes Gov. Newsom & California’s High-Cost Energy and Reliability Debacle
The Greens’ New Target Will Cause Global Hunger
A Much Larger Greenhouse Effect – But Temperatures Dominated by Cooling
Why Are Environmental Activists Trying to Stop Green Energy?
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
9th September 2022
Who should get the updated coronavirus vaccine booster now—and who should wait? (CNN) No matter what, we all need to PANIC!
New Omicron offshoot BA.4.6 evades protection of Evusheld’s antibodies, study finds (CNN)
Giant viruses are infecting algae in a floating lake in the Arctic (LiveScience)
Giant Viruses Are Infecting Algae in a Rare, Floating Lake in The Arctic (Science Alert)
What scientists have learnt from COVID lockdowns (Nature) Very little, it seems.
Science Confirms: Lockdowns Don’t Stop The Spread (The Federalist)
When the masks come off in blue states
Second Person in US Dies After Monkeypox Diagnosis
Meet Joe Biden’s Monkeypox Czar — A Gay Doctor In Drag Who Wants To ‘Dismantle Stigma’
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Pandemic Panic – It’s Titanic
9th September 2022
DOJ appeals special master ruling in Trump Mar-a-Lago probe (Politico)
‘This cannot continue’: MAGA influencers are creating hell for California elections offices (S.F. Gate)
William Cohen labels Trump a ‘clear and present danger to democracy’ (The Hill)
Michael Cohen claims DOJ is ‘tip-toeing’ around Trump as if he were ‘the supreme leader’
Five things to know about Aileen M. Cannon, the judge who granted Trump a special master (The Hill) According to the Narrative.
In ruling for Trump, low-profile judge Aileen Cannon invites scrutiny (Washington Post) And a witch-hunt.
Grand jury issues subpoenas seeking information on Trump-aligned PAC (Politico)
U.S. reveals more classified records may be missing in Trump probe (Reuters) Pushing the Narrative in the run-up to the mid-term elections.
Former U.S. attorney dishes on how he held line against Trump White House (Washington Post)
An ugly GOP election scam in Michigan unmasks a big right-wing lie (Washington Post) Greg Sargent loses his shit.
Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb calls him ‘deeply wounded narcissist’ who acted in ‘criminal’ way to overturn Biden win (CNBC) The small fry try to monetize their status by biting the hand that fed them. The witch-hunt continues.
‘You have to run’: Romney urged Biden to take down Trump, book says (The Guardian) Somebody needs to primary Romney.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Today in Trump Derangement Syndrome
9th September 2022
Read it. And certainly watch the video.
The idea is that an owner will be able to store the vehicle in their garage and then drive to a local airport. With the push of a button, the car’s wings will swing out from under its cabin, while a tail unfolds from the rear — a process that takes just three minutes.
The owner will then be able to fly the hybrid gas/electric vehicle to another airport, transition it back into car mode, and drive right off the runway to their final destination.
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Flying Sports Car Cleared for Takeoff by FAA
9th September 2022
Freeberg nails it.
It’s a one-party state, but it’s their party and they see nothing wrong with it. So their bosses can tell them…the wildfires are climate change…the power outages are climate change…the budget shortfalls are due to climate change…crime is out of control because of climate change…we’re just forcing you to suck up smaller sodas through these paper straws, and use these grocery bags, and buy an electric car you can’t charge, because of climate change. And they’ll buy all of it. There are no signs of possibly incompetent management. None are needed. It’s their guys running things.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on The California Liberal
9th September 2022
Scott Johnson at Power Line.
Yesterday we noted how West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has played the fool for the Democrats’ tax, climate, and spending bonanza in the absurdly named Inflation Reduction Act. You can’t help but get the feeling that the Democrats are conducting a social science experiment. They are testing voters to ascertain if they’re paying attention.
West Virginia voters appear to be paying attention. Drawing on a recent Triton poll, RedState’s Mr. Bonchie declares “Manchin’s political career appears to be over.” The poll shows Manchin losing to any of three possible opponents. Unfortunately, Manchin’s Senate seat isn’t up until 2024.
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Man(chin) Down
9th September 2022
Social media deplatforming and algorithmic manipulation remain huge problems demanding clear, forthright public policy responses, but the same underlying sentiment—the arrogant and malicious impulse to subjugate and “other”-ize the “deplorable” half of American society, humiliating them into second-class subjection—is already playing out in other industries as well.
De-banking—the politicization of lines of credit and the severing of basic financial services to “controversial” conservatives—is already very much here to stay. Just ask (recent congressional candidate) Laura Loomer about PayPal, or ask the spirited Canadian truckers (remember them?) about GoFundMe. In recent years, moreover, conglomerates such as Bank of America have stopped lending to certain firearms manufacturers—the very defenders, in this case, of the Second Amendment. Other examples abound.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Welcome to Two-Tiered America
9th September 2022
Rumor has it that taxation in the U.S. is soft: this is not the case with income tax, the main source of government levies. The top federal marginal rate of 37%, above $523,000 of income, is misleading. In New York, you have to add the state tax (10.9% maximum), the city tax (3.876% marginal rate), and the tax to fund Social Security, the pay-as-you-go pension plan, at 6.2% (up to $147,000 of income).
In total, the marginal tax rate exceeds 53% in New York.
…
In short, leaving New York, where the cost of living is exorbitant, means getting back about two months of the net salary.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Great American Tax Migration.
9th September 2022
People who follow politics are familiar with the scenario. When a Republican “wave” appears likely, or a Republican presidential candidate develops a significant lead over the Democrat candidate, the media begin reporting “stories” that the wave is receding, and the Democrat is gaining ground.
Television networks prefer close races because it adds to ratings. For once influential newspapers, it used to help sales.
Are these claims true? It doesn’t matter to the media. A majority of journalists identify as liberals/Democrats. Neither does it matter how often polls are wrong. Like people who rely on psychics to tell them what they want to hear (“you will meet a tall, dark stranger”), accurate polls depend on the way the questions are asked, and the understanding people have about candidates and issues. They also depend on the size and political balance of the sample.
The most recent inaccurate polls occurred in the 2020 race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Pollsters had the largest margin of error in 40 years. In 1980, polls showed Jimmy Carter beating Ronald Reagan by six percentage points, according to a study by Vanderbilt University.
Now, the usual pro-Democrat newspapers, cable and broadcast networks are “reporting” on polls (in some cases commissioned by themselves) that show a red wave may not happen and Democrats might even produce a “miracle,” holding on to their slim congressional majority. Such polls also can have the effect of depressing Republican voter turnout. Why vote, goes the thinking, when it appears the result is already determined.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Is the ‘Red Wave’ Fading?
9th September 2022
The global economy is a biological system, and money is its nervous system. This is more than a mere analogy. Money is not just important; it is a system that conveys complex information that enables billions of actors to do what the world needs them to do in order to get what they want from the world.
As I wrote in Visible Capital, “At their core, economics and biology are the same science. And the actions observed by economists are, in essence, biological processes — organisms interacting selfishly with their environment in order to survive.” Money helps coordinate the actions of these organisms. It has always done so, but more forcefully and efficiently over the past few hundred years.
But money’s role is under question from several directions. Some question money’s ability to serve its original function. And some question the social cost of allowing money to continue to serve that same function — to serve as the preeminent driver of human action.
The price system is the information network that allows a complex economy to function. The first sin of socialism and other totalitarian systems is that, under such systems, prices (when they exist at all) are set artificially and so don’t reflect real-world conditions and preferences, hence such economies sooner or later (usually sooner) crash and burn. Semi-totalitarian wage and price ‘controls’ have the same flaw and suffer the same degenerative effect.
Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Money is the Message
9th September 2022
If California, our most populous state, were its own nation, it would rank as the world’s fifth largest economy and boast the highest average household income (outside a handful of “countries” like Monaco or Luxemburg).
And, yet, the governor is begging its citizens to stop using their appliances, turn off their lights and keep their thermostats at a stifling 78, lest they suffer more rolling blackouts, like some junior mandarin in a Third World country.
Of course, I kid when I say that California is already experiencing the effects of the Green New Deal. A state that still derives more than 66% of its energy from non-renewable sources, has tens of trillions of dollars to go before it meets President Joe Biden’s promise of a 65% reduction in emissions by 2030. The flooding of an already rickety grid with undependable renewables offers only a small taste of the “transition” to “clean energy.”
Because you can scaremonger about climate change all day long and ratchet it up to insane levels, but no one escapes the laws of physics or economics. California has been forced to extend the life of its last nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon and gas-fired power plants to save the state from being plunged into darkness rather than the occasional blackout.
As it turns out, most people are only theoretically fans of deindustrialization.
Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Welcome to the Green New Deal, California
9th September 2022
Researchers from MIT and China have developed a solar desalination device that could provide a family of four with all the drinking water it needs — and it can be made from just $4 worth of materials.
So obviously companies are rushing to implement this tremendous idea! Right?
Uh, no.
Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on MIT Invents $4 Solar Desalination Device
8th September 2022
Scariest part of the NorCal heat wave could be yet to come (S.F. Gate)
Climate gains are ‘inconvenient truth’ — it’s not all bad news about the environment
Yes, climate-related weather deaths are decreasing worldwide (WQAD)
Yellen will vow to ‘rid’ US from ‘dependence on fossil fuels’ in Detroit speech (The Hill) The Dr. Fauci of finance.
US farmers face plague of pests as global heating raises soil temperatures (The Guardian)
Biden admin settles with eco groups to block massive oil drilling leases
Environmental activist warns of ‘dire’ electricity crisis in California: ‘Incompetence piled on ideology’
I’ve had a long battle with climate despair. Now I’m leaving the ‘denial machine’ to their demons (The Guardian) Poor baby.
Interfaith work is moving beyond dialogue and entering … the climate scene? (Deseret News)
California scrambles to avoid blackouts as it pursues a green energy future (Washington Post) Connecting the dots is apparently not in their skill set.
New UK PM Truss To Lift Fracking Ban, Climate Activists Crushed
Special Report: How U.S. ethanol plants are allowed to pollute more than oil refineries (Reuters)
Vancouver’s New Virtue Signaling Fire Engine–Useless, But At Least It Won’t Wake the Neighbours Up!
Are Hawaii’s beach showers in violation of the Clean Water Act?
Wind Turbines Are Destroying the Planet
Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Today in Global Warming Hysteria
8th September 2022
On the menu today: You may have heard about that Democratic county official in Nevada whom police have arrested on suspicion of murdering a reporter. But you probably didn’t hear about the Democratic campaign consultant in New Jersey who pled guilty to conspiracy and murder-for-hire earlier this year. And only those who closely follow politics are likely to have heard about the Democratic mega-donor from California who lured men into his apartment and injected them with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two fatal overdoses. I think we’re starting to see why some in that party were so enthusiastic about the notion of abolishing the police.
Posted in Democrats: Party of Plundering and Blundering | Comments Off on Do the Democrats Have a . . . Murder Problem?