Why Does California Let Billions Of Gallons Of Fresh Water Flow Straight Into The Ocean?

Rich Terrell

2015 editorial in Forbes:  For years people have tried to address this issue, pro, and con:
. . . "It’s problematic because it causes us to look at solutions that are inappropriate for the city, the state, and for long-term sustainability. For example: there’s a growing drumbeat about desalination. But it’s well known that this won’t solve the problem, and it’s extremely expensive and energy intensive.

"Why make freshwater when we could collect the water that falls from the sky? Even on the driest year in recorded history in 2013, it still rained 3.6 inches in Los Angeles. An inch of rainfall in L.A. generates 3.8 billion gallons of runoff, so you’re talking about more than 12 billion gallons of water that could be captured, but that flows within hours down our concrete streets and into the ocean. There’s enough rainwater to be harvested to produce 30-50% of the entire city’s water needs.

"Ashoka: What does harvesting rainwater actually mean?

"Lipkis: It means capturing and then treating the water the flows off our roofs and down our streets each time it rains. There are a lot of ways to do so, including by removing concrete and replacing it with permeable earth to soak in the water like a sponge. And homes and businesses can install rain bins and cisterns to hold the water for later use.

. . . 

"Ashoka: Skeptics of the Governor Brown’s mandatory reductions argue that we won’t make a dent until we deal with agricultural water use, which accounts for up to 80% of statewide use. Are they right?

"Lipkis: They’re right that farming practices need to be improved and that the ag sector needs some reforms. But in a way these are two different conversations: on the one hand, everyone needs to bring their water use down; on the other, we need to be smarter about collecting the precious water that does fall in our state, and we need to do so in ways that don’t damage entire ecosystems like we did to the Owens River valley.

When you capture rainwater locally, you’re reducing how much you have to pump in from other parts of the state, and that saves money and electricity. Moving water is actually the single largest use of electricity in California!" . . .  Full article.

300+ newspapers publish the same anti-Trump editorial today

I fear America's adversaries, the Iranians and North Koreans will now smell blood in the water and realize the American press is taking away the power with which our victor over ISIS, Donald Trump confronted them. What now happens in our dealings with these rogue nations?President Trump's undisciplined tweets have made many question his sanity and maturity, but as Abraham Lincoln once commented on rumors of General Grant's alcohol problem, "I can't spare this man; he fights!". TD

Rich Terrell

Thomas Lifson  "Today marks another milepost on the funeral march of the American newspaper industry. Has there ever before been such a mass demonstration of self-unawareness as the collective expression of outrage this morning by the editorial boards of these ailing enterprises? Here is the editorial as it appears today in the Boston Globe, which no doubt will receive one or more journalism awards (journalists love to give each other awards for agreeing with each other) for their “courage” – as if howling mobs were outside their doors, and military vans on their way to seize the printing presses.

"The editorial, indeed, raises the fear of being shut down right up front, relying on a poll supposedly indicating a public ready to send storm troopers into the nation’s newsrooms. Ginning up polls is a standard operating procedure for the media, who are well aware that by careful wording and sequencing on questions, you can shape the public response into the direction you are hoping for. In this case, Trump-haters are anxious to manufacture a purported threat to shut them down, which is something that nobody in a position of authority has ever even hinted at." . . .

My friend Andrew Malcolm, a veteran journalist who made his career as a foreign correspondent of the New York Times has the best commentary on the pathetic effort at Hot Air* (read the whole thing):

*Posted separately in this blog.

Eyes on the Prize-Fighters

Professor arrested on suspicion of assaulting Trump supporters with metal bike lock in Berkeley Photos added by TD

Ann Coulter  . . .  "But according to the media, the entire Democratic Party and two-thirds of the Republican Party, only one side was to blame for the chaos and violence in Charlottesville last year. 

"We were all agreed: Antifa are heroes. To condemn "both sides" was to cozy up to white supremacists. 
"This past weekend, we got to test that theory. With a few dozen white supremacists surrounded by a phalanx of cops and unable to instigate anything, and morally pure "Antifa" and their supporters swarming the streets, Charlottesville and D.C. should have been like a field of puppies. 

"EXPERIMENT RESULTS: Masked, black-clad Antifa violently attacked the police, journalists and random passersby. They destroyed reporters' camera gear, hurled bottles and fireworks at cops and journalists, smashed cars and screamed obscenities.
"Among the popular slogans being chanted by Romney and Rubio's heroes were: 

"F--K THE PIGS!" 
"NO BORDER! NO WALL! NO USA AT ALL!" 
"COPS AND KLAN GO HAND IN HAND!" 
"ALL COPS ARE RACIST, YOU BETTER FACE IT!" 

"No hate there! Celebrating mass murder on a scale that dwarfs the (real) Nazis, the crowds waved hammer-and-sickle flags. They carried premade signs, such as: 

" 'Behind Every Cop, a Klansman" " 'Last Year They Came w/ Torches ... This Year They Come w/ Badges" " 'This system cannot be reformed, it must be OVERTHROWN!" " 'America was NEVER Great!" 

"A random guy on Twitter with a few thousand followers, Landon Simms, tweeted on Sunday night: 

<iframe width="1519" height="543" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/muoR8Td44UE" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

" 'My grandfather is a 96-yr-old German. When seeing Antifa videos, he shakes his head and says; ' 'We didn't think it could happen in Germany either. These people (Antifa) act and sound like the NAZI party's Sturmabteilung. Stop them now or you'll regret it.'" 
"In short order, Simms' tweet had gotten a Kardashian-level number of retweets, well surpassing CNN's average viewership. (And you wonder why the left is fixated on ending free speech on the Internet.) " . . .

Eric Clanton, the professor who attacks with a bike lock.

Assaults with a bike lock while masked and hiding behind another demonstrator; gets three Years probation!

Below: the ethics professor, Eric Clanton

Media coordinate with each other to battle Trump this Thursday

Washington Examiner

"Members of the news media are increasingly working together as they try to turn up the heat on President Trump's White House.

"On Thursday, more than 100 newspapers around the country are set to publish editorials in a coordinated push back against Trump’s repeated complaints of “fake news” and his remark that many in the press are the “enemy of the people."

"The Boston Globe initiated the campaign, and contacted local and national papers around the country to get them to join the effort.

“ 'We have some big newspapers, but the majority are from smaller markets, all enthusiastic about standing up to Trump's assault on journalism,” Boston Globe’s deputy editorial page editor Marjorie Pritchard told CNN on Saturday.

"But coordination within the press is going beyond the staging of op-eds. Liberal New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested last week that the media should work together on a new way to cover Trump's mega-rallies, where the president often ridicules reporters who are collectively covering the event, usually in an elevated pen so that cameras can get a clear shot.

“ 'No question that the press should not allow itself to be props at Trump’s rallies, and that can be dealt with by using a single pool camera that feeds all the networks, or reporters just sitting among the rally attendees, not in a special pen,” wrote Friedman." . . .

Mainstream Media 'REWRITES HISTORY' To Credit Obama For Trump ACCOMPLISHMENTS  . . . “ 'The stronger the economy gets under Trump, the more desperate his critics are to hand credit over to Obama. Even if that entails changing the past,” says an Investor’s Business Daily editorial. “A recent New York Times story says it all: ‘An economic upturn begun under Obama is now Trump’s to tout’.” 
"Things were not always thus.

“ 'We seem to recall that the economy was stagnating in 2016 after the weakest recovery from a recession since the Great Depression,” the IBD editorial noted. “In fact, The New York Times itself described Obama’s economy this way in August 2016: ‘For three quarters in a row, the growth rate of the economy has hovered around a mere 1 percent,” the IBD editorial recalled. “In the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, the economy expanded at feeble annual rates of 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.”

"The editorial also cited similar coverage at CBS News." . . .

Unfake the News: Mainstream Media Glorifies Violent Antifa Protests  . . . “'Unfake the News” is a Daily Caller program dedicated to debunking the mainstream media narratives that dominate our news cycle.

"That’s where TheDC’s Vince Coglianese steps in to cut through the PC bull. Each week, Vince takes a closer look at how cable news outlets are telling the top story and then gives you his own unadulterated take." . . .

White House: Media Dividing Our Country More than Donald Trump  . . . “It wasn’t until this individual started to negatively attack this President and this administration, and try to tear this entire place down, that she received the type of platform and rollout that she’s getting,” she said.

"Sanders said it was “sad” that Manigault-Newman embarked on a “self-serving” media blitz, noting that she was never critical of the president when she was in the administration. She pointed the media to positive economic statistics, reforms on school choice, and prison reform as proof that Trump was helping African-Americans. 

“ 'This is a President who is governing to help all Americans,” she said. “And I think we’d all be better off if the media gave that just a little bit more attention.' ”

MRC  "More than 100 newspapers have promised to publish editorials Thursday condemning Trump’s anti-media rhetoric. All while conveniently ignoring the hundreds of left-wing Antifa idiots who spent the weekend assaulting journalists in the street, vandalizing their equipment and trying to destroy their cameras."

Is era of Ocasio-Cortez over? Candidate she backed gets 6% in Dem #HI01 primary

Legal Insurrection

"She’s still a media darling, so expect her to keep getting attention even though there is no Ocasio-Cortez wave."

. . . "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a media darling. They love, love, love her. Her defeat of Joe Crowley in the NY-14 primary was to herald a new era in Democrat politics – a new, young Socialist face for the coming years.

"Ignored was that Ocasio-Cortez won her primary with only about 16,000 votes in a primary that had an abysmally low turnout (just under 12%). Crowley pretty much ignored her candidacy, allowing her to win with barely a 4,000 vote margin.

"Yet she was hosted on many of the anti-Trump cable and network shows. Her appearances were embarrassing. She had a degree in economics and international relations from Boston University. But her know-nothing talking-point responses on a wide range of issues is an indictment not just of Democratic Socialists, but also of our educational system." . . .

. . . "Ocasio-Cortez, nonetheless, drove the Democrat agenda, with numerous likely presidential candidates jumping on her Abolish ICE bandwagon. Ocasio-Cortez hit the campaign trail pushing the Democratic Socialist message for candidates all over the country.

"Anti-Israel activists were particularly heartened by Ocasio-Cortez’s willingness to criticize Israel, a sign that the anti-Israel Democratic Socialist agenda might be making a breakthrough. Ocasio-Cortez backing of Israel-hater Ihlan Omar in MN-05 must have heartened the anti-Israel community.

"But the results have been abysmal. There is no Ocasio-Cortez bump, and candidates she backed have lost, including recently in KS-03." . . ."

Sarah Jeong and the Media’s Alt-Left

Sultan Knish  "Ever since the New York Times decided to hire racist blogger Sarah Jeong, despite her history of hateful tweets about white people, “the world could get by just fine with zero white ppl and the thing stopping POC (people of color) is...a disinclination toward genocide?”, white women, men, heterosexuals and Christians, and then refused to part ways with her (unlike its treatment of previous hire, Quinn Norton, whom the left had accused of homophobia based on a few tweets, despite her being gay), the debate has been about all the wrong things. 

"Jeong isn’t really the issue. Her racism is typical of an influential subset of the left. 

"Some of the pro and anti Jeong essays briefly circle around the actual problem before quickly zooming away. Andrew Sullivan writes in his anti-Jeong essay of the “extent to which loathing of and contempt for ‘white people’ is now background noise on the left”. Vox's Zack Beauchamp, wrote in his pro-Jeong essay that comments such as hers in the "the social justice left" about "white people" are typical. 

"But what part of the “social justice left” or “left” is really producing Sarah Jeongs? 

"To answer that question we have to talk about what no one really talks about, the alt-left. Unlike the alt-right, a subject of numerous essays, news reports and investigative pieces, the internet culture of racism, misandry and heterophobia that is the millennial alt-left is mostly undocumented. 

"The alt-left’s norms of discourse are defined by the same harsh contempt and winking racism that appear in Sarah Jeong’s tweets. It’s an internet culture where “white people” is an inherently derogatory term and new slurs, such as “caucasity”, are coined. Ironic racism is defined as “resistance” to whiteness. And what better way to resist whiteness than with racial slurs aimed at white people? " . . .

Fighting socialism

John Scotto  "As wrong and warped as most leftists' views seem today, the reality is that most people on the left fight relentlessly for their cause.  Can the majority of conservatives look themselves in the mirror and honestly say they fight for their beliefs and principles to the same degree as the left does?

darkangelpolitics

"Our U.S. Constitution is the rock of America, the foundation for maintaining our way of life.  It is the main cog within the engine of freedom.  Freedom is fragile and needs to be cared for.  It can be sustained only through vigilance.  A secure U.S. border, a respect for law enforcement, and a belief in a strong U.S. military are some of the key conservative principles that keep all of us safe and free.  Individual liberty, limited government, lower taxes, and personal responsibility are among the many fundamental concepts we as conservatives need to continue to promote when confronting leftists.

"When conservatives are able to clearly communicate their logic-based beliefs and principles to others, conservatism inevitably wins.  It is imperative that we highlight the huge differences between conservatism and socialism.  When we are able to illustrate these differences, most people begin rejecting socialism.

"Individualism and critical thinking are integral parts within a free society, as opposed to collectivism and group thought, the two main components of socialism, which stagnate a society.  Diversity of thought is an important concept for people who value a free society.  Education and the encouragement of diversity of thought within our schools " produce critical thinkers and entrepreneurs.  The use of leftist indoctrination within our public school system ultimately creates a society inhabited by human drones, most of whom find contentment in becoming the parasites of society." . . .

Not a joke: The New York Times has an advice column about how to 'cure' white skin privilege

Rich Terrell

Monica Showalter  . . . "You can't make this stuff up:

Dear Sugars,

I’m riddled with shame. White shame. This isn’t helpful to me or to anyone, especially people of color. I feel like there is no “me” outside of my white/upper middle class/cisgender identity. I feel like my literal existence hurts people, like I’m always taking up space that should belong to someone else.

I consider myself an ally. I research proper etiquette, read writers of color, vote in a way that will not harm P.O.C. (and other vulnerable people). I engage in conversations about privilege with other white people. I take courses that will further educate me. I donated to Black Lives Matter. Yet I fear that nothing is enough. Part of my fear comes from the fact that privilege is invisible to itself. What if I’m doing or saying insensitive things without realizing it?

Another part of it is that I’m currently immersed in the whitest environment I’ve ever been in.

"Apparently, this is real, and not some joke put on by rightwing satirists. No satirist could make up something this bizarre in its minute self-loathing and expect to be believed.

"The panel of lefty columnists answer her with stereotypical soothingness -- there, there, dear -- and advise her to pick up the torch for social justice warrior-hood - to relieve herself of her white skin privilege affliction. Only by becoming a SJW will she be redeemed." . . .

Antifa is the future of the Democrats

The rationalization for this is America is evil. Colleges have indoctrinated millions of Americans into believing this.

Don Surber  "Let's get something straight: Antifa is the fascist arm of the Democratic Party. If you want to know where the party is headed, look where its youths are. Antifa speaks for all Democrats when it chants, “No border, no wall, no USA at all!”

"Think not? People in the 1970s blew off the Weather Underground as radicals who had nothing to do with the party.

"But whom did Democrats nominate in 2008? And who was his political mentor? And who was his religious mentor? And who was the communist he put in charge of the CIA?

"This was no accident or coincidence. Democrats have plotted this for 50 years, going back to Teddy the Drunk Kennedy's first immigration reform, which he reformed again 31 years later, which 32 years later, they want to reform as open borders -- which was their goal all along.

"Democrats want to rule with no opposition. You don't get that without being a third world nation and you don't get a third world nation without importing millions of third world people.
. . . 

My message is simply do not blow off Antifa as kooks. Learn from the Weather Underground electing a protegee as president. These people think they can wait us out.

Man Hates White Cops, Smashes A Police Cruiser Window With A Brick, Arrested For A Hate Crime

His Facebook page shows a lot of selfies giving the middle finger.

Strzok and Page: Not an Olympics skating pair.

Scorned FBI Lover Lisa Page Torched Cheating FBI Partner Peter Strzok; “Lisa is on a Warpath”  

"In the end, Peter Strzok’s FBI lover Lisa Page “sold out” the FBI executive and divulged many improprieties he was involved in along with other FBI brass, according to FBI insiders.
"Strzok was fired today from the FBI.
"FBI insiders said Page, his former lover, was “instrumental in getting him terminated.”
"“Lisa is on a warpath,” one former colleague said. “She is not done either.”
"Fired FBI leaders Andrew McCabe, James Comey and other current FBI leaders like Bill Priestap could be on deck, according to officials familiar with Page’s congressional testimony in hearings and private sessions with her attorney.
"Strzok, FBI sources said, is the target of several investigations.

"And more could be on the horizon, according to Congressional investigators who spoke to True Pundit’s Thomas Paine.

"Lisa Page is angry, according to her associates inside FBI HQ in D.C.

“ 'Remember you guys (True Pundit) had the story where McCabe was going to burn down the FBI?” one agent said. “You may want to rewrite it for Lisa Page. I think she could bring it all down on their heads.”

"That’s the word on the street. Page is angry and willing to testify against everyone linked to losing her FBI career.

"If her House testimony is any indication, that spells trouble for the Deep-State Sanhedrin. After Page testified, True Pundit reported China had hacked Hillary Clinton’s emails when she was Secretary of State." . . .

GoFundMe Page Raises $250,000 for Peter Strzok After Firing From FBI
. . . "The "Friends Of Special Agent Peter Strzok" quickly garnered more than $250,000 and counting for Strzok, who was let go by the bureau on Friday.
"Strzok played an integral part in both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and what would later become the special counsel's Russia probe.
"He was subpoenaed to testify before House lawmakers in July over anti-Trump texts he sent to Lisa Page, his former co-worker and lover, using his FBI phone." . . .

In Peter Strzok, Trump-haters have picked a truly repulsive martyr to their cause

. . . "There's more, and if you can take it, you can read about what a swell fellow he is, though it doesn't explain his super-power to detect Trump-supporters by smell." . . .

What's not to like about this guy? (pictured, right)

Trump delivers on coal

Don Surber

They said it couldn't be done, but Donald John Trump did it anyway.

"That is the story of his life. He brought back Manhattan. He built the Central Park skating rink. He wrote a best-seller. He had a hit TV show. He married a model. He married a model. He married a model.

"Since then he won the presidency and saved the coal industry. The only time in his campaign when he wore headgear that was not of his own making was when he donned a coal miner's helmet in Charleston, West Virginia.

"The New York Times scoffed. In February, it ran an editorial, "Trump’s Deceptive Energy Policy."

"The Times said, "Mr. Trump’s false narrative on coal is particularly cruel, since it offers empty promises to Appalachian coal miners who are suffering grievous job losses and myriad health and economic ills. It’s true that the last two Democratic presidents — Bill Clinton and Mr. Obama — cracked down on power plant emissions like soot and mercury with rules that imposed real costs on producers; and Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, aimed at cutting the carbon emissions that fuel global warming, would have pressured the industry more.

" 'But these regulations did not kill coal-fired plants, and rolling them back, as Mr. Trump is doing, will not stop the unforgiving forces of the market, chiefly the switch to cheaper natural gas, and renewables’ increasing competitiveness. These are the forces that have been largely responsible for the decline in mining jobs and the closing, or conversion to natural gas, of hundreds of coal-fired plants.' " . . .

Omarosa: After selecting people like Kelly and Mattis, how did Trump make this choice?

Under normal circumstances, an honest press would refuse to go along with this travesty. They would leave this kind of self-promotion to the scandal sheets. Unfortunately, hating Trump is one of those addictions that you just can't put down.   Silvio Canto, Jr.

Rich Terrell

Tuning Omarosa Out  "The latest episode of Fire and Fury is on your TV screens.  

"Unlike the book, you won't have to pay $30 for this version.  In fact, you can see for free for the next six weeks on MSNBC.  The episodes include audio tapes recorded secretly in the White House.  

"Among other things, Omarosa reminds us that Trump has mental problems!  No kidding!  I bet that he walks at night and checks with Richard Nixon before he tweets!  

"Can these people come up with something new other than racism or mental illness?  Who made them psychiatrists, anyway?

"This is not going to work, for a couple of reasons:

"First, I'm convinced that people have tuned this daily anti-Trump garbage out.  In other words, the only people who care about this already hate Trump.  Wonder how many Democrats running in competitive elections will invite Omarosa to their next rally?

"Second, and here I agree with Eliana Johnson, picking a fight with highly respected Chief of Staff John Kelly was not smart:  . . ." 

Naturally, Trump lashes out at her  . . . "Trump is right that it’s not presidential to take on the likes of Omarosa. It’s also not presidential to give her a high-level job." . . .

. . . "Lindsey Graham nailed it when he said of Trump, in response to the charge that the president is racist:

It is not the color of your skin [that determines how Trump reacts to you; it is not the content of your character. It is what you say about him.

"That’s a good defense to the racism charge, but it’s a sad commentary on the man and, to some degree, his presidency." (Emphasis added by TD) 

WH: Omarosa Defending Trump's Character 'Wasn't Paying Her Bills'  . . . "Gidley is also suspicious of Manigault's change of heart and whether it had anything to do with fame and fortune. She once touted Trump as a friend to the black community and defended his character at every turn, but that apparently "wasn't paying his bills," Gidley mused. Now, she calls him a "racist." Her new book, full of details critical of the Trump White House, is sure to sell more than a few copies, he suggested." . . .

Dana Perino: Omarosa's book will be forgotten -- her despicable behavior will not
. . . "And with that, I was able to move beyond that book. I forgave and moved on with my work. That, President Bush said, is what working in the White House is about. It isn’t about the self but it is the people of this nation. They deserve the best work ethic White House employees can muster.
"Omarosa chose not to do that. Her book will be forgotten. Her breach of confidence and ghastly disloyalty - to the country - will not be." . . .

Hell hath no fury . . . "President Trump had moved up, but he hadn’t adequately moved on from some of the people around him that were stunting his growth as our president.

"Omarosa should have never been a part of Trump’s staff. It was clear from the beginning she was out for herself. Kudos to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for recognizing that as quickly as he did. When the president invites someone to be a part of his staff, they must realize they have a duty to serve the American people by serving the president and helping him fulfill the agenda that elevated him to the highest office in the land." . . .