Racing to the Bottom

Selwyn Duke

https://www.selwynduke.com/2022/08/some-republicans-driven-by-politics-on-marriage-gay-now-say-yea.html

Approximately 20 years ago, then-prominent commentator Bill O’Reilly remarked on his erstwhile Fox News show that Americans would "never” accept faux (same-sex) marriage. As recently as 13 years ago, all 32 states that had voted on the matter rejected government faux marriage recognition. A year later, in 2010, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton still pretended to believe that marriage was between "a man and a woman.” They later "evolved,” as politicians like to put it, and now the public has largely followed suit, with a May Gallup poll showing that 71 percent of Americans and 55 percent of Republicans believe these unions should be governmentally recognized. There’s a word for this: inurement.

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Cheap Renewables

Willis Eschenbach

The Manchin-Schumer climate bill contains $400 billion dollars, nearly half a TRILLION, for payments to various "green" climate entities, industries, and parasites. That's $2,800 PER TAXPAYER!!

Remind me again just how darn cheap renewables are? …

Tim adds:

And how much will that help the average person in this inflationary perioid? Most of this "stimulus" won't have any effect for a while but the increased spending will add to inflationary pressures.

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Putin Pox upon Oktoberfest

Timothy Birdnow

That wascwwy Putin is such a killjoy. Not content with invading Ukraine he now wants to cancel Oktoberfest in Germany this year!

Yes, the rampaging Russkie is forcing the Germans to stop making beer!

I suppose next he'll invade Switzerland to steal all the chocolate...

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Climate Change Flattening Beer

Frank Lasee

What!! The climate Kool-Aid drinkers are attempting to end co2. CO2 is a necessary trace gas that is very good for plant growing.

Carbon Dioxide Shortage is Making Beer Makers Nervous

Tim adds:

I wrote about this a few years ago.

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Liberal Brains Liberal Pains

Anthony Watts:

Jorge Smirnoff just poked the bear one too many times. The gloves are off.

This letter to the editor is the bare truth of what Rush Limbaugh once said and Michael Savage wrote a book about: "Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder"

Letter: Differences in brains, and understanding science

It is safe to say that most well-educated and perceptive people around the World are cognizant of the dangers presented by Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Sadly, that excludes many people of the conservative persuasion.
One reason for that is due to the nature of the conservative psyche.
Several scientific studies, including MRI scans, show a physical difference between liberal and conservative brains.

Liberalism is associated with increased grey matter in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, which is responsible for anticipating tasks, attention, motivation, etc.

Conservatism is associated with an enlarged Amygdala. The Amygdala processes fearful and threatening stimuli and activates fearful behaviors.

One could say liberals are intellectuals driven by facts, and conservatives are scaredy-cats easily manipulated by disinformation.

True story — Google "differences between liberal and conservative brains.”

A prime example is Dave Walton and his vacuous letter 7-29. Said rant contributes nothing to scientific knowledge because Dave knows nothing about the climate, is oblivious to the daily ravages of AGW, and is afraid to find out the truth from scientists who are knowledgeable about the topic.

Instead, Dave Walton promotes the Heartland Institute’s climatological disinformation and Anthony Watts’ pseudo-scientif ic blog.

Let us hope that a clever student beats Anthony and the Heartland Institute at their own deception game by writing a BS essay about the climate crisis and runs away with a thousand bucks which they could apply towards a good STEM education and recant the silly essay afterward.

— Jorge Smirnoff, Chico

Tim adds:

They're starting that crap up again? It was idiotic then and is idiotic now. These "brain differences" are so nominal as to be below any acceptable scientific threshold.

I would add that a great many people are liberal when young and become conservative when they get older. So what does that mean? Do their brains change? Or is it they have been mugged by reality, as Irving Kristol observed. People change sides often.

Also, what determines "conservative" and "liberal"? There are degrees of thinking, subtle shades. A Lenin is quite different from a Hubert Humphrey. By this reasoning Lenin should have a much more developed Anterior Cingulate Cortex than old Hubert Horatio Hornblower (as Jimmy Carter once called him.) But we have no such evidence of any of this.

Also, the role of these brain regions is not as well understood as we like to believe. And if so, so what? The Amygdala is, in part, a threat assessment. It may well be the Left is just crazier, engaging in riskier behavior than does the right.

Who says our amygdala is too large; rather, isn't it likely theirs is stunted? The Anterior Cingulate Cortex is involved in emotion regulation and decision making as well as autonomic processes. Well, liberals are more emotional. That is well established. They lead with their hearts. Doesn't that suggest they're suffering from an abnormal Anterior Cingulate Cortex? They can't regulate their emotions, feeling sympathy for murderers and cutthroats and terrorists while despising good people trying to live their own lives.

I wrote about the stupidity of much of these types of claims at American Thinker years ago. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/09/junk_neuropsychology_comments.html

Also, if there ARE brain differences between conservatives and liberals, why do the liberals hate and mock conservatives? Aren't we told we are to accept those different from us? We are supposed to be tolerant of every sort of bizarre behavior, be it transgenderism, infantilism, or whatnot. But we can't be tolerant of conservatives who, by THEIR definition, are suffering from a disability. Strange how they punish and abuse the disabled!

And who is afraid? They claim conservatives are more fearful, yet it is the liberal who fears such things as climate change without sufficient evidence. liberals walk around in fear all the time. They fear overpopulation, war, protesting conservatives doing a self-guided Capitol tour (who they think are Nazis), they fear the SCOTUS abortion ruling will institute a theocracy with the Handmaids Tale becoming a reality, etc. The Left is far more fearful than the Right. They are just crazier, willing to take more risks with their safety, with society, and with the lives of many. And history has born that out. In pursuit of their utopian dreams they have killed far more people than ever has the "right wing".

The difference between conservative and liberal is one of trust. We don't trust those who are telling us what they would have us believe, and we can back up our distrust. They trust those who are telling them what to believe and hate us for raining on their parade with facts and logic. They are the kids who do whatever they are told. They are the ones who sought guardrails on their beds when growing up. They want to be protected, to be coddled. They aren't the explorers. They are the ones who want to be kept safe and taken care of.

Oh, one final point; almost all of these studies are based on self-identification. Most liberals don't even call themselves liberal. They think of themselves as moderates except the rare few who are honest with themselves. How does that skew these studies?

In the end most of this research is shoddy and intended to serve the purposes of those who want to fundamentally remake society. Psychology has always been full of activists pretending to be scientists, and that has bled over into neuroscience is many ways. It's part of the general decline of science in our post-modern world.

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The Kindness of Banks

David Nabhan

Who says banks, insurance and mortgage companies are heartless and hard to work with? Here's an absolutely AMAZING fact. With tens of millions of beachfront properties in the US alone, from Malibu to Martha's Vineyard, not one--not ONE!--has ever been declined the services of any of those institutions, stamped "rejected" owing to those properties obviously being doomed to go underwater by "sea level rise." What champs of those companies to take it on the chin like that!

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The Limits of "Trust the Science"

Timothy Birdnow

"Follow the Science" really means "follow me!"

A 75-Year-Old Warning about Those Who Say ‘Listen to the Science’

Author Jon Miltmore quotes Hayek, who says:

"

here is no such thing as a scientific ought,” Mises wrote, echoing a famous argumentby David Hume. "Science is competent to establish what is.” (For a deeper dive on the is-ought problem, read Hume’s celebrated 1729 work, A Treatise on Human Nature.)

I disagree; Science in many instances does not even do that. It is the pursuit of what is, and that only from a purely material and mechanistic perspective.

Science is woefully inadequate in dealing with many issues. If you want the meaning of life don't read a science book; read philosophy or religion.

And Science changes as we learn, and sometimes it goes down the wrong track. Anyone remember phrenology? Blood letting? Eugenics? All of these were Science, even "settled science" in their day.

What our modern era does is worship Scientism, which is making a religion out of Science.

That said, Hayek is on point with this. If we had "followed the Science" we would still have stomach ulcers. We would still think the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolves around it. We would still use leeches in medicine.

What science is is logic and common sense, mixed with facts. Anyone can do science. Not everyone can do it well, granted.

I would add the great inventors of history and particularly the 19th century were NOT scientists but rather just smart guys. Very few had advanced degrees. Didn't need them, and they probably made would have been detrimental as the "settled science" would not have been questioned enough to attack the problem.

At any rate, it's a good essay; do read it.

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Faucicide? Top Chef Alum Dead at 46

Selwyn  Duke

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/howie-kleinberg-top-chef-alum-dead-at-46/ar-AA102djt?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ad25bbf15ea84ff6b019f4606bb98522

Another victim of the Voldemort agent, Dr. Fauci? Just asking for a friend.

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Spinning Wheel

Carlos Velazquez forwards this:

Scientists Baffled as Earth Spins Faster than Usual

Tim adds:

And how does THAT affect climate? We are told we know all about the Earth's climate but can't explain this change in our rotational velocity.

The arrogance of establishmentarian science is staggering. more...

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On the Killing of Al Zawahiri

Bill H.

This is the third time we have announced the assassination of this clown. Were the first two times lies, or is this one a lie? Maybe all three were lies.

Secondly, I’d like some proof. The timing is, as you say, awfully convenient.

Third, the guy is old as hell and has not been involved in Islamic militancy for at least a dozen years. What is the point in killing him? Revenge? That is barbaric.

Fourth, in order to get him we blew up an apartment building in downtown Kabul, in an expensive residential area. When someone blows up buildings in the United States are outraged and call it "terrorism.” When we blow up buildings in the heart of a city in other countries we call it "justice..” It’s all a matter of definitions, like "recession” and "vaccine.”

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Killing the Internet

Timothy Birdnow

Tomorrow we get hit by a big solar storm. Wired makes the case that such an event could be catastrophic for the internet.

https://www.wired.com/story/solar-storm-internet-apocalypse-undersea-cables?utm_campaign=falcon&utm_source=facebook&mbid=social_facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned&utm_brand=wired&fbclid=IwAR1AfANY3dmYq4_mT0jhQCO_0uBs2AcQsLGm1C0BFzU6oYLjYTYiZEAJZCo

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Musk Hurt by "Antics"?

Timothy Birdnow

Uh, sure....

Elon Musk's
'Antics' Turn Owners, Would be Buyers, Against Tesla

This is almost entirely anecdotal. Shows the way the Left has wormed their way into everything - including car magazines.

There is no solid polls showing this, nor is there any dropoff in sales or in investors they can point to. It's your typical liberal hit-job.

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About that "Record Heat Wave"

Frank Lasee

Setting the record straight.

 London had 2 days of hot among a month of cool. Eastern Europe was cool. Those facts don’t fit the narrative. So they don’t get reported. Why are they hyping warm and ignoring cool or cold?

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Lock Up Your Spam!

Timothy Birdnow

Doubt we are in a real economic crisis? How do you explain this?

Food Being Kept Behind Lock and Key as After Soaring Prices Make it More Expensive than Ever

I mean people are stealing SPAM for crying out loud!

We are in big trouble.

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Portland Defends Trannie Teacher

Warner Todd Huston

Portland Public Schools Defend Teaching Transgenderism to Kindergartners

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Hot Summer, Climate Change to Blame

Anthony Watts

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Big Solar Storm Coming

Richard Cronin

In 2013, M.a. Padmanabha Rao (an e-mail acquaintance) issued a paper "Discovery of Self-Sustained 235U Fission Causing Sunlight by Padmanabha Rao Effect”. Dr. Rao identified several wavelength bands of the signature daughter isotopes of nuclear fission in solar flares. I’m working on a paper to describe the mechanisms which concentrate the heavy fissiles near the surface of the Sun to achieve a critical mass. If you to examine the image in the linked article the flare’s appearances matches that of the atomic bomb tests conducted at Los Alamos in the 1940s. Sun spots are bomb craters produced by solar flares.

Solar Storm from Hole in the Sun will Hit Earth on Wednesday August 3.

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The Incredible Shrinking Biden

Timothy Birdnow

I had to take my father to get a tooth extracted yesterday and after we watched Joe Biden on Fox News discussing the droning of Al Zawahiri.

Biden sounded terrible. His speech was hesitant, as if he were searching for words. He slurred. He seemed to not know what he was doing. He is showing all the classic signs of a man in the throes of dementia.

It is a horrible thing to see the President of the United States degenerate in this fashion. I think the way he has been used by everyone - including his wife - is disgraceful.

Not that I have any soft spot for Mr. Biden. He's destroying America for his own aggrandizement and profit. But I do sympathize. It's a horrible thing, dementia. I've said a few prayers for him and hope everyone else does likewise.

BTW Does anyone else find the timing of this assassination uh, convenient for the Democrats? Biden needed a big win somehwere. The Donkeys had to have something they could tout going into the home stretch of the off-year election.

This leads me to believe they had Al Zawacannolongerhearie in their sites for months, waiting for an opportune time. Kill him too early and it loses it's political benefit, too late and it overshadows the campaigns of the Democrats.

Still, I'm glad they turned the old Aymin to worm food. It's the most beneficial use for him.

Of course you know this means war. There will be a reprisal. And I doubt Mr. Biden will be up for handling it.

Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi is showing signs of chickening out of going to Taiwan, but now she has little choice. If she decides not to go Biden himself should, or at least Kamala Harris. Somone has to go at this point.

And the Chicoms are promising retribution. So what do they do? Probably aid Al Qaeda to launch a counter strike on us.

Now is not the time to have a senile President. We need someone who can outthink our enemies. Sadly, I rather doubt Mr. Biden can outthink a head of cabbage at this point.

We need prayers for him and for America, now more than ever.

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The Senseless and Dangerous Stupid

"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force.

Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential

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Hard Facts on the Economy

Steven Chase

Only guessing here.... Congress/Dems have proposed spending another Trillion dollars to prop things up. Can't blame them. We've been 'redefining' debt as growth for a long, long time.

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