Monday, September 23, 2019

More Fracking, or More War? It’s Our Choice.


National Review  "Here is a news lead that begins with a bang and ends with a whimper: “The strike on the heartland of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, including damage to the world’s biggest petroleum-processing facility, has driven oil prices to their highest level in” — here, Reuters should have used some ellipses of irony — “nearly four months.”
Four months!

"If the United States declines to go to war against Iran on behalf of Saudi Arabia, our increasingly troublesome client state, one of the reasons for that happy development will be: because we do not need to. It is no longer the case that the world sneezes when the Saudis catch a cold. U.S. interests and Saudi interests remain aligned, broadly, but they are severable.

"The high-tech method of mining shale formations for oil and gas colloquially known as “fracking” — though hydraulic fracturing is only a part of it — has been a game-changer for more than one game. While countries such as Germany set headline-grabbing, politics-driven carbon-reduction targets only to woefully fail to achieve them (it is very difficult to greenwash 170 million tons of brown coal), the United States has been relatively successful on that front, reducing energy-related carbon emissions by 14 percent from 2005 to 2017, thanks to natural gas; put another way, fracking has helped the United States to what climate activists ought to consider one of its greatest environmental victories.

"When the United States intensified its attention to the Middle East in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the country was heavily dependent on petroleum imports. Today, the United States is the world’s largest exporter of petroleum — thanks to fracking. The pointy-headed guys in the Washington war rooms spend a lot less time worrying about whether tankers can get through the Strait of Hormuz these days. And that means the United States has a much more free hand — and more realistic options — when dealing with Riyadh, Tehran, or any of the other pits of vipers that pass for national capitals in that part of the world."

. . . Beady-eyed realpolitik used to mean deferring to the world’s big oil producers when it came to our relations in the Middle East. Now it means being the world’s big oil producer and — once they decide they’ve grown tired of unnecessarily taking on risk while giving up wealth, income, and jobs — helping our British and European allies become bigger players, too. Fracking involves some real environmental challenges — American producers and regulators have developed great skill at dealing with them. The environmental challenges of fracking are manageable. The Saudis and the Iranians are manageable, too, but at a radically higher cost in blood and resources. (Emphasis added by TD)


To paraphrase Winston Churchill back in the fifties, "Frack-frack is better than war-war."

Why Mayor Pete and Black Voters; His 2020 Presidential Campaign is Already Finished

William Sullivan  "Pete Buttigieg has long had a problem with black voters. It's a problem that grew visible in his leadership as mayor of South Bend, Indiana over black-police conflictIn an effort to save his flailing presidential campaign, he has released his “Douglass Plan” to pander to the black electorate.  In this plan, he promises to reform credit scoring (currently consisting of five simple scoring metrics, none of which is the least bit racist), a “reduction in “racist policies” preventing some people from voting,” (like requiring a photo ID to vote, I guess?) and a “25% increase in government contracts with minority-owned businesses.”
. . . "True to my orientation’s claim, I’d estimate that this class was about 15 to 20 percent comprised of black students.  And no one was quicker to speak than those students on this particular subject.  Without fail, every single black student adamantly stated opposition to affirmative action policies in college admissions, and every single black student said that college admissions, just like everything else in life, should be earned by effort and merit.

"It was truly amazing.  In a semester of nothing but contentious discussion about various subjects, there was virtually no disagreement on this one topic." . . .
Why Liberals and Progressives Lie to Blacks


. . . "This dishonesty to black people practiced by Warren and the others -- fomenting anger toward the police -- makes the lives of African Americans worse, frequently endangering them and resulting in their deaths, as Heather Mac Donald details so well in her The War on CopsI often wonder how many liberals have read this book. I imagine very few because it so undermines their virtue-signaling narrative with uncomfortable and overwhelming facts. For someone like Warren to fan the flames of cop-hatred is despicable and immoral, but not surprising for someone so willing to lie about her Indian ethnicity. If black lives truly did matter to her, she would never say such a thing.
"Just the other day, legendary power forward Charles Barkley put it this way in his usually pungent manner: "Democrats only talk to black people every four years." He could have added: "And when they do, they lie.' " . . .
Sharpton: ‘I Still Can’t Understand’ Why Evangelicals, Christians ‘Enthralled’ to Trump



Woke Emmys Fail: Ratings Hit Record Low

Breitbart


"The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox drew a record low viewership on Sunday as TV fans opted to tune out of the telecast that featured woke celebrities lecturing America on issues including the gender pay gap and transgender rights.
"Sunday’s broadcast drew a paltry 5.7 rating and a 10 share in the overnight metered market ratings, down 23 percent from last year’s Monday night show on NBC and down 30 percent from the preliminary rating for the 2017 ceremony, which aired on a Sunday night on CBS, according to Variety.
"Deadline noted that the figures represent the “lowest rating the annual ceremony has achieved in early metrics.' ” . . .
"The decision came after the Academy Awards did the same earlier this year when comedian Kevin Hart withdrew from duties following a backlash over the resurfacing of old gay jokes and tweets.
"On Sunday, the Emmys featured acceptance speeches in which celebrities ranted about their political and cultural views.
"Actress Michelle Williams, who won for her lead role in FX’s Fosse/Verdon, spoke about the gender pay gap, invoking white men.
. . . "Patricia Arquette, who won an Emmy for her supporting role in Hulu’s The Act, devoted much of her speech to transgender people, invoking her late transgender sibling, Alexis Arquette." . . .
"Actor Billy Porter invoked James Baldwin while accepting his award for FX’s transgender-themed series Pose." . . .
Comment to this post: 
What? Another night of rich, liberal white people giving each other awards and telling each other how great they are. All while looking down on the Deplorables and Irredeemables.

"If global warming is not a fraud, why do the promoters of it so often do the sorts of things that fraudsters do?" (Thomas Lifson*)

Rich Terrell
Sorry, Greta: Trump skips UN climate summit  "Up until now, the public relations build-up for the big United Nations climate summit has been humongous.

"After all, who better than the United Nations to get carbon emissions choking the Earth down?  The world's at stake!  Twelve years to oblivion.  Submerged islands!  Funerals for glaciers.  Polar bears!  A very big march of some manipulated kids, led by Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg — and all of this hoopla getting lots of press.

"Well, President Trump has a response for it, according to ABC News:" . . .
This points to the wisdom of Trump's refusal to even bother with this United Nations clown show.  It's a new takeover bid from unelected leftist bureaucrats to rule the U.S., which has the most pristine record on climate emissions anyway.  It stinks; President Trump knows it stinks; and, mercifully for us, he has the steely resolve to ignore the pressure campaigns and just let these compulsive meddlers play among themselves, except not on his time.
Canada’s global warming models threw out actual historical data and substituted models of what the temperature should have been . . . "In other words, the computer models Canada uses to measure and project “global warming” are themselves based on other computer models.  The expression “Garbage in / garbage out” refers to the vulnerability of all computer models to poor quality data used as the basis of their calculations."
. . . "NOAA, for example, has frequently been caught adjusting past temperatures downwards and more recent temperatures upwards in order to make “global warming” look more dramatic. During the Climategate scandal, scientists at the CRU admitted that they had thrown away much of their raw data, leaving only their revised data intact." . . .
* Thomas Lifson

The Morning Briefing: Let's Put the Climate Hoax Kids In a Time Out



"Enough with the Adolescent Human Shields 
"Climate hoaxer truant Greta Thunberg has dominated the news for the last several days, largely thanks to the fact that none of the adults around her seem to care if she gets an education. In fact, the little spectrum girl finally admitted that her antics are mostly about having an excuse to play hooky from school.
"Time: "Why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us. That is being sold for profit.”
"Last month, I wrote that scaring young people into believing that climate change is going to kill them is child abuse. The adults responsible for spreading this hysterical propaganda should be rounded up and jailed. They use children as messengers to provide some cover for their fantastical and nonsensical claims.
"When they aren't unleashing the brats to fill news cycles with lies about weather, the adults are even more insane. The New York Times published a "News Analysis" article this past weekend that suggested likening forest fires to Nazi war crimes:" . . .

Elon Musk is enthralled with Greta  . . . "Others have encouraged Thunberg too, such as Hillary Clinton who wrote on Facebook: “One of my favorite #gutsywomen: Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist whose school strikes for climate action have inspired a global climate strike that will start tomorrow.”
"Former President Barack Obama also praised Thunberg, stating on Facebook after a meeting with the young activist: “At just 16 years old, Greta Thunberg is already one of our planet’s greatest advocates. Her age might have something to do with it. With full knowledge that her generation will bear the heaviest burden of climate change, she’s unafraid to believe that progress is possible—and fight for real change. She’s an example of why Michelle and I started the Obama Foundation — because we believe in a future that’s shaped by the courage and hope of young people like Greta.' ”

The Left’s Cynical and Childish ‘Climate Strike’  "What is even more obnoxious than thousands of smug, self-righteous leftists preaching hysterically about the Church of Mother Earth and the imminent destruction of our planet due to “global warming?” Hearing this same song-and-dance from a bunch of literal children." . . .
"Let’s just take a look at some of the most stomach-churning examples of this totally organic and not-orchestrated-in-the-slightest media narrative:
WATCH: California School Kids Chant, “Who Do We Hate? Donald Trump”
. . . "The video shows children being coached by their teachers to chant, “Who do we hate? Donald Trump.”
"This should horrify every freedom-loving American. These children should be learning about math and science. Instead, the public schools in San Francisco are teaching the youngsters how to be community organizers." . . .  Or transgenders

They are joining the climate cult


Buttigieg Staffer Attended Anti-Semitic Farrakhan Sermon

The Buttigieg campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether it supports Farrakhan's rhetoric.

Free Beacon


"Deven Anderson, who recently joined Pete Buttigieg's (D.) presidential campaign as a regional organizing director in Columbia, S.C., has a history of praising anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and attended a sermon where Farrakhan said "You can walk with a Jew, but you can't walk with me."

Between April 2010 and August 2013, Anderson tweeted more than 20 times about Farrakhan, praising his sermons and tweeting out quotes. Two days before Farrakhan spoke at Union Temple Baptist on April 25, 2010, in southeast Washington, D.C., Anderson tweeted about planning to attend the sermon." . . .
 Anderson's tweets as of 9/23/2019

I swear this is like the scene from Malcom X in front of the hospital when they were lined up. Beautiful sight looking at he Brothers 

In another tweet on April 23, he responded to a now-deleted tweet saying he has "never seen the Honorable Minister Farrakhan in person," adding that choosing between Cornel West and Farrakhan will be a "real tough decision." On the morning of the service, he tweeted that he and two friends were "on [their] way to see The Honorable Minister!" 
"Farrakhan preached today." While Anderson didn't tweet about anything Farrakhan said during his sermon, there is video on YouTube of the remarks, which commemorated the 37th pastoral anniversary of .
"When Wall Street saw they were going to regulate, Wall Street paid back all the money. The banks still not loaning you nothing. Do you know why?" Farrakhan asked. "They print money right over there next to the Holocaust Museum. That is not an accident either."
He said Jews have been "scattered throughout the Earth as a result of their rebellion to the laws and statutes and commandments of God." Farrakhan continued, "God would never have had to give commandments to the children of Israel, thou shalt not steal, if they weren't crooked."
"You can walk with a Jew, but you can't walk with me. I believe in Jesus, but they don't. Why you reject me?" Farrakhan asked, beating his fist on the pulpit. "Why can you sit down with Weinberg and Steinberg and Huffman? Is it because they have money? They have influence? They have power? Then tell me you're not a worshipper of God. You worship the power of this world."  . . . 
Anderson appears to be conflicted in his convictions: He posted this:
Retweeted  . . .

Chick-fil-A has more than doubled sales since critics called for boycott

Weasel Zippers
Washington Examiner "Chick-fil-A has more than doubled its annual sales since gay rights advocates called for a boycott of the chicken chain restaurant after it was revealed nearly a decade ago that the company donated to organizations that opposed same-sex marriage.

"In 2018, the company had $10.5 billion in total sales, becoming the third-largest chain in the nation behind Starbucks ($20.5 billion) and McDonald’s ($38.5 billion). It was a 16.7% increase in sales from the year prior.

"An analysis credited the growth to a variety of factors, including the opening of nearly 700 more locations in recent years, low start-up costs, and digital sales via delivery apps.

"There are now more than 2,400 locations nationwide, and the $10,000 in startup costs for an operator are significantly lower than the costs needed to open a McDonald’s.

"The company’s growth has happened despite the calls for a boycott.

"The controversy began in 2011 when Towleroad, a blog focused on news about gay and transgender issues, posted the headline: “If you’re eating Chick-fil-A, you’re eating anti-gay.” The headline was in response to the company’s support of a seminar hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which opposes same-sex marriage.

"In 2012, Dan T. Cathy, the son of the founder of Chick-fil-A, said he was “guilty as charged” when asked about his opposition to gay marriage. Years later, he said he regretted his comments but that his views hadn’t changed.

"In response to the backlash, the company said it would stop donating to all political groups and those opposed to gay rights. But critics say the company has broken that pledge by donating to groups such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, whose student leadership application says "neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitute an alternative lifestyle acceptable to God.' " . . .