ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Army Prioritizes Climate Change as ‘Serious Threat’ to National Security By Caroline Downey

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/army-prioritizes-climate-change-as-serious-threat-to-national-security/

In a memo released Friday, the U.S. Army announced that it now classifies climate change as a “serious threat to U.S. national security interests and defense objectives.” The statement subsequently signaled the military’s intention to prioritize combatting climate change with new risk analyses, threat projections, installation and natural-resource planning, supply-chain procurement considerations, and general strategy.

The statement added that the effects of climate change can induce “humanitarian disasters, undermine weak governments and contribute to long-term social and economic disruptions.”

“The Army has a lot to be proud of, yet there is a lot of work to continue to operate efficiently across extreme weather and climate conditions,” the memo read.

To prepare for and mitigate the fallout from the Earth’s warming, the Army plans to conduct “in-depth assessments of likely climate change effects on the Army’s worldwide missions,” while also working to “lead the way in technology development for tactical vehicles that balances increased capability with decreased climate impacts.”

The Army’s policy change comes after the Biden administration signaled its commitment to fighting the climate crisis as a national-security threat. In April, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called climate change an “existential threat.”

MEDIA Comments turned off

Outrage after social media users discover series of Hitler-praising tweets from CNN freelancer The tweet turned out to be one of many in which Adeel Raja has praised Hitler By Cortney O’Brien |

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-adeel-raja-says-world-today-needs-a-hitler

CNN is under fire for having hired a writer who posted several times on social media that he believes the world needs another “Hitler.”

Social media users demanded that the network respond after discovering the tweets from one of its freelance contributors, Adeel Raja, who has written dozens of pieces for the outlet. 

After some digging, it turned out to be one of several messages Raja has posted praising the Nazi leader.

“The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” Raja wrote during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Raja last had a CNN byline on Sept. 16, 2020. He still lists his affiliation with the network on LinkedIn.

“Hail Hitler!” he wrote the following day. Twitter users shared screenshots of the messages.

“The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” Raja wrote during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Raja last had a CNN byline on Sept. 16, 2020. He still lists his affiliation with the network on LinkedIn.

“Hail Hitler!” he wrote the following day. Twitter users shared screenshots of the messages.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Top Retired Officers Are Right: Biden’s Leftism And ‘Woke’ Military Threaten U.S. Security

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/05/18/bidens-leftism-and-woke-military-threaten-u-s-national-security/

Military officials are trained to stand silently on the sidelines of politics, saying nothing but what relates to their mission, whatever it might be. But a recent open letter signed by 124 former flag-level officers warning of the dangerous effects of our nation’s sharp sudden turn to the left overturns that tradition. What do they know that the rest of us don’t?

The letter was not couched in military jargon or bureaucratese; it was plain-spoken and blunt in its concern about America’s course. It starts with a call for protecting our free and fair elections, but then turns toward the ominous political and cultural trends of recent years. No need for a translation:

Aside from the election, the current administration has launched a full-blown assault on our constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing Congress, with more than 50 executive orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous administration’s effective policies and regulations. Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and, most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter socialism, Marxism, and Progressivism, support our constitutional republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions.

They warned about the negative trends in a number of areas, ranging from our increasingly open borders and social media exercising control over speech, to Joe Biden’s return to the fatally flawed Iran nuclear deal and the failure to protect the rule of law.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Climate Lawsuits Take a Hit The Supreme Court makes it harder for cities to duck federal courts.

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-lawsuits-take-a-hit-11621288621?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

State and local governments have been trying to extract tens of billions of dollars from fossil-fuel producers for contributing to climate change. But a 7-1 majority of the Supreme Court on Monday decided an important procedural question in BP v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore that could put a lid on these suits.

Baltimore has sued some two dozen fossil-fuel companies for creating a “public nuisance.” It argues that the production, sale and promotion of carbon energy has increased greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to climate change that will cause “property damage, economic injuries and impacts to public health.” To describe its argument as a legal stretch is an understatement.

A similar effort by states to shake down fossil-fuel power generators already failed in federal court (AEP v. Connecticut) in 2011. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations can’t be sued for their greenhouse emissions under federal common law since the Clean Air Act delegates the regulation of CO2 emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Baltimore and other cities are now trying to sneak lawsuits through state courts where judges aren’t bound by AEP. The Supreme Court on Monday made this end-run much harder by ruling on a complicated procedural question regarding federal appellate court review of federal judges’ remand orders to state courts.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The CDC Inadvertently Outs the Mask Cult This strange collection of secular zealots have zero scientific credibility. David Catron

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://spectator.org/cdc-mask-cult/

When the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated people can safely participate in both indoor and outdoor activities without wearing face masks, it was good news for most Americans. In addition to a sense of vindication for those of us who object to post-vaccination masking, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s statement provided another much-needed service — it forced the metastasizing mask cult to reveal itself as a coalition of anti-science zealots and petty tyrants. A typical example of their collective response to the CDC guidance appeared in the Washington Post under the title, “The CDC shouldn’t have removed restrictions without requiring proof of vaccination.”

Its author, former Planned Parenthood CEO Leana S. Wen, is a proponent of vaccine passports for routine activities such as retail shopping, restaurant dining, going to the theater, and working in a fully staffed office. Aside from the constitutional and legal issues raised by the kind of government-issued passports Dr. Wen advocates, her views aren’t shared by most Americans. A recent Gallup survey found that a mere 40 percent support vaccine passports for restaurant dining, and only 45 percent favor them in the workplace. The only activities for which majorities supported such passports were airplane travel and attendance at large public gatherings such as concerts. Dr. Wen isn’t satisfied with such modest limitations:

The problem is this: You know what you’re doing, but you have no way to be confident of trusting everyone else. Let’s say you go the grocery store. It’s crowded and few people there are masked. Perhaps everyone is vaccinated, but perhaps not. What if you’re vaccinated but not fully protected because you’re immunocompromised? You can no longer count on CDC rules to help you keep safe. What if you don’t have child care, so you had to bring your kids along? They didn’t choose to remain unvaccinated — the shots aren’t available for them. Surely, it’s not fair to put them at risk.

First, as a practical matter, it’s impossible to know who is vaccinated and who is not. If vaccine passports are mandated, it will create a black market through which forgeries can be purchased.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Scorning the Secret Formula of American Prosperity By Lawrence Kudlow

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.nysun.com/national/biden-scorning-the-secret-formula-of-american/91514/

Taxed to the max. In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. That famous quote, of course, is from Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Among all the problems with the Biden administration’s policy, they even want to raise taxes on your death.

That’s a poke in Ben Franklin’s eye. Today’s column is not about Ben Franklin, though it’s worth noting that he, like many of the Founders, was an avid follower of the free market theories of Adam Smith, published in “The Wealth of Nations” in 1776.

Think about that (we can talk later about whether it’s a coincidence). The real point of this column is to press the question of why taxes matter. They do. A lot. And incentives matter. To quote Art Laffer many years ago: Tax something more, you get less of it. Something less, you’ll get more of it.

Why? Because in a free economy, which is certainly in line with our Founders’ legacy, we should reward success, not punish it. At the margin, if the extra hour worked, or the extra dollar invested, or the extra business risk taken, pays more after tax, that will propel an economy into prosperity.

More work, more investment, more risk, this is why America’s democracy and its founding principles have created the best economy in history. Taxes are not the only factor, but they are a big one. I would suggest five factors right at the top that are a useful intellectual model leading to prosperity.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Byron York’s Daily Memo: A disaster entirely of Biden’s making by Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent | | May 17, 2021 08:42 AM

Posted By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-a-disaster-entirely-of-bidens-making

A DISASTER ENTIRELY OF BIDEN’S MAKING. The more we learn about the true dimensions of the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, the worse it is. Now, a new report says that in the last few months U.S. authorities have encountered illegal border crossers not just from Mexico, or the Northern Triangle countries, but from 160 nations around the globe. People are coming to Mexico from the most distant spots on the planet in order to cross illegally into the United States, confident that President Joe Biden will let them stay. And Biden is doing just that.

“More than 12,500 Ecuadoreans were encountered in March, up from 3,568 in January,” the New York Times reports. “Nearly 4,000 Brazilians and more than 3,500 Venezuelans were intercepted, up from just 300 and 284, respectively, in January. The numbers in coming months are expected to be higher.”

And then there are the migrants coming from India and Asia. “Some reported taking buses in their hometowns to a big city, like Mumbai,” reporter Miriam Jordan noted, “where they boarded planes to Dubai and then connected through Moscow, Paris and Madrid, finally flying to Mexico City. From there, they embarked on the two-day bus ride to reach the Mexico-U.S. border.” Aid workers report seeing migrants from everywhere — “Arabic, Haitian Creole, Hindi and Portuguese speakers,” among many others.

“Many of them are entering the United States through wide openings in the border wall near Yuma, Arizona, sparing them from the risky routes through remote desert regions,” the Times added. That would be the border wall that Democrats and their allies in the courts and media did everything they could to stop President Donald Trump from building. Now, the world is flooding in through gaps in the wall that Trump was able to build or strengthen.

Why are they coming? Because they have heard — correctly — that this moment presents a huge opportunity to enter the United States illegally without fear of being sent home. “While most of the migrants do not necessarily understand the intricacies of U.S. border policy, many said in interviews that they perceived a limited-time offer to enter the United States,” Jordan wrote. “Friends and family members already in the country, along with smugglers eager to cash in, have assured them that they will not be turned away — and this is proving to be true. ‘What we’re hearing back home is that the new president is facilitating entry, and there is demand for labor,’ said Rodrigo Neto, who came from Brazil.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Texas reports zero COVID deaths 2 months after Biden slammed ‘Neanderthal thinking’ It marked the first time the Lone Star State reported no coronavirus deaths in about 14 months By Megan Henney

Posted By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-covid-deaths-biden-mask-mandate

Texas reported zero deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, just two months after Gov. Greg Abbott drew heat from the White House for rolling back business restrictions and lifting the state’s mask mandate. 

It marked the first time the Lone Star State reported no coronavirus deaths in about 14 months, according to state health data. Abbott said the case numbers reported on Sunday – 388 – were the lowest in more than 13 months, while the number of hospitalizations was the lowest in 11 months. 

Greg Abbott
@GregAbbott_TX
Today Texas reported: * 0 Covid related deaths–the only time that’s happened since data was tracked in March, 2020. * the fewest Covid cases in over 13 months * the lowest 7-day Covid positivity rate ever * the lowest Covid hospitalizations in 11 months. Thanks, Texans!

President Biden skewered Texas, as well as Mississippi, at the beginning of March for relaxing lockdown measures, accusing state officials of “Neanderthal thinking.” At the time, Abbott had announced that businesses would be allowed to operate at full capacity – even though some health experts cautioned at the time that dropping preventative measures could lead to a spike in cases.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Convicted Former Congressman Still Draws Estimated $1 Million Federal Lifetime Pension By Adam Andrzejewski

Posted By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/05/17/convicted_congressman_chaka_fattah_

After being sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 23-count conviction for racketeering, fraud and other corruption charges, disgraced former Congressman Chaka Fattah was released from prison last July after about one year.

But the icing on this crooked cake is that Fattah is collecting a taxpayer-funded pension. The estimated pension is at least $55,000 per year. Fattah is only 64 years old, so his estimated lifetime pension is $1 million.

The reason we must take an educated guess? Congressional pensions are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Fattah, a Democrat formerly representing Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, was found guilty in June 2016.

But a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in McDonnell v. United States a few days later changed the legal definition of bribery to exclude “pay for access” and Fattah appealed his conviction, placing his sentencing on hold.

ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

What Really Is Behind the Latest Burst of Hamas Terror in Israel Like all wars, the real causes are many and lie below the surface. Dov Fischer

Posted By on May 17th, 2021

https://spectator.org/hamas-terror-israel/

The media of our day always coalesce around a narrative that fits their preconceived worldview. When viewed in a light that “Palestinians” all are “Victims of Color” and that all Israelis are White Supremacists or their next of kin, it is easy to misjudge the Mideast reality underlying present conflict coming from Gaza. That narrative thus preaches that Jews with legally valid property rights in the eastern portion of United Jerusalem are not entitled to advance their legal claims to oust trespassers, Arab or otherwise, from their homes. That same line of reasoning proposes that supposed Israeli belligerence lies beneath the barrage of some 2,000 rockets launched from Gaza and aimed by Hamas at Israel’s civilian population from Ashdod and Ashkelon to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The truth is that a property dispute in the Shimon HaTzaddik/Sheikh Jarrah community of eastern Jerusalem is not the cause of the present war. Jews there owned property since 1875. Their homes and land were stolen from them and their parents and grandparents in 1948, when Jordan’s armies, bent on “ethnic cleansing,” invaded and illegally drove them out. Local Arab squatters moved in, but Jordan refused to recognize the illegal squatters as the land’s new owners. After 1967, when Israel liberated east Jerusalem and reunited the city, the ousted Jewish owners went to court with their documentation to reclaim their seized property. Israel’s courts, which not only are fair but even lean over backwards to favor Arabs in such disputes, repeatedly have held that the Jewish claims are documented and legally valid. As the Jewish landowners were recognized legally, they did not try ousting anyone. Rather, the courts held they could charge rent to the squatters living in their homes, so they did.

Relatively recently, Arab squatters stopped paying rent, so the landlords went to court finally to evict. This happens everywhere in the world when tenants stop paying rent and make clear they will not resume. The verdict on the matter, which has been argued and decided on by Israel’s highest court, was set for announcement on May 10th. That is the whole dispute. This property dispute over Arab Muslims not paying their rent has nothing to do with Hamas launching their current war of more than 2,000 murderous Iranian-supplied rockets aimed indiscriminately at Jewish population centers. The notion that the long-overdue evictions for non-payment of rent caused a war is as absurd as expecting Bulgarian immigrants in California to launch 2,000 rockets aimed at destroying the entire American country in response to local court rulings in Old Town Sacramento backing landlords trying to evict 20 families who won’t pay their rent in a Bulgarian ethnic enclave.

Against that backdrop, Israel is posed with the conundrum of defending itself in a manner that accords with woke expectations of elegance. If rockets are launched against Jewish civilians and other noncombatants from residential apartment buildings, elementary schools, ambulances, and hospitals that Hamas terrorists now control in Gaza, how does one stop the launches — elegantly? Israel cannot just dispatch an Uber or Lyft to the terror launch sites and unplug some wires from wall sockets. They have to extirpate the launchers, the rockets, and the terrorists determined to inflict unspeakable civilian tragedy against millions of Jewish civilians if unstopped.