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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

A rough road ahead for electric cars

By  December 30th, 2019 | Energy | 32 Comments @ CFACT

We have all watched the apparent increase in the acceptance of electric cars (EVs) thought to be a major portion of our automotive future. Tesla’s $95,000 upscale vehicles get featured almost weekly in the Wall Street Journal as their finances, good and bad, rotate their favor with the investors who keep the stock as elevated as bitcoin in recent years with no underpinning of real value based on price/earnings ratio. Wolf Richter, a San Francisco. based entrepreneur, calculated that if the company ever earned a $billion dollars with an average stock market P/E ratio of 12, the company’s stock should sell for $65, yet it regularly hovers around $400 having made no profit. Its highly touted $35,000 car for the masses never materialized, remaining in a price range of more than $10,000 over an equivalent gasoline powered vehicle. General Motors has given it a run for its money with a similar more expensive mid-sized vehicle.

All of these facts are current reality but many other chickens are coming home to roost, none laying golden eggs. For years the EVs warranted a $7500 tax credit for the first 200,000 manufactured by each company, then the credit is halved for the next 200,000, halved again for the next 200,000 and then disappears. Both GM and Tesla are near the no-credit position with Nissan, Ford and Toyota are approaching it. They are all already screaming for the credit to start over and in fact doubled to qualify for the next 400,000 vehicles. Tesla first said they did not need the credit anymore, then back-tracked on that boast.

It was long assumed that Tesla buyers, a special group of people, would buy regardless of incentives or no incentives. That appears now to have been an assumption that failed. When Hong Kong dropped its EV subsidy, Tesla sales plummeted. It is anyone’s guess  what the outcome will be as to continuing the tax credit.  I will bet the green lobbies will win in granting unwarranted concessions to an industry no longer in its infancy.

Yet there are more problems, many more. Up until now, believe it or not, the EV tax credit was granted on an honor system with no required affidavits to prove the credit was actually earned. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration ((TIGTA) recently reported that of 239,422 EV tax credits claimed between 2014 and 2018, it identified 16,510 as potentially erroneous. Some are outright frauds, others are to second owners who do not qualify or those leasing vehicles who also do not qualify. Worse yet, a Congressional Research Service study showed that 80% of all EV tax credits go to households with incomes exceeding $100,000. Truly a wealth redistribution in the wrong direction that liberals should not like.

For unknown reasons the public does not recognize that all EVs are really coal powered or natural gas powered vehicles. Where do they think the electricity with which they charge and recharge their cars come from? I am afraid most think it comes from thin air,

As time goes by more owners will experience problems charging and recharging in very cold weather. Generators, transformers, power lines and motors consisting of metals are most efficient in cold weather. For example, copper has half the resistance at minus 65 degrees C as it does at 100 C. However all batteries use electrolytes which are liquids such as acids, bases and salts that conduct electricity by the movement of ions which perform to the opposite of metals as to rapid or slow movement. A typical electrolyte conducts a fourth as much at minus 5 degrees C as it does at 55 C. Little by little EVs in normal to cold climates will experience this problem.

It is time for the market to determine which vehicles the public will choose to not be nudged by state and federal programs. Robert Bradley CEO of the Institute for Energy Research said in an article appearing in the Heartland Institutes Environment and Climate News, “Among the programs benefitting the relatively wealthy are state rebates, reduced registration fees, car pool lane access and other programs that apply in 44 states, as well as Federal R & D monies for ‘sustainable transportation’, averaging $700 million a year”.

It is long over due that extremely flawed electric cars stop drinking at the government trough. Yet Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has pledged that if the Democrats win the 2020 presidential election, the Senate will pass a law requiring that every car in America be electric by 2040. Hopefully that pledge will cost votes among thoughtful people but who can say? Other than it will be a very damaging economic policy for our nation.

Author

  • CFACT Senior Science Analyst Jay Lehr has authored more than 1,000 magazine and journal articles and 36 books.


Protecting the Innocent: Gun-Free Zones vs. Armed Citizens

December 30, 2019 by Dan Mitchell

When I wrote yesterday’s column, which augmented my collection of satire about gun control, I had no idea I would feel compelled 24 hours later to address the issue from a serious perspective.

But two tragic events over the weekend underscore why the individual right of gun ownership is such an important part of the Constitution.

First, an anti-Semitic nutjob attacked Jews Saturday night.
At least five people have been stabbed in an attack at a synagogue in New York’s Rockland County. That attacker is now reportedly in custody after fleeing the scene. …The suspect has been identified as 37-year-old Grafton Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, New York, in Orange County. Thomas, covering his face with a scarf, reportedly entered the building and pulled out a machete to attack the victims during a Chanukah celebration. Thomas reportedly chased after and stabbed victims as they fled the synagogue before running off and escaping in a gray Nissan Sentra. …This incident happened amid a rash of anti-Semitic attacks this week. …“We will NOT allow this to become the new normal. We’ll use every tool we have to stop these attacks once and for all. The NYPD has deployed a visible and growing presence around Jewish houses of worship on the streets in communities like Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Boro Park,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio added in a tweet.
Needless to say, Mayor de Blasio is being dishonest when he claims he will “use every tool…to stop these attacks.”

Like politicians in Europe, he’s a dogmatic opponent of private gun ownership and believes Jews shouldn’t be allowed to defend themselves.

Fortunately, Jews who live outside New York City still enjoy some civil liberties and are now prepared to thwart attackers.
More power to these people, who are the Orthodox Jewish versions of these good ol’ boys from Texas.


For what it’s worth, I suspect dirtbags will be less likely to target the Jews in Rockland Country.

There was another attack at a house of worship over the weekend.

Though this report from Texas has a happy ending.
Police said they received a call shortly before 10 a.m. local time about gunshots at the West Freeway Church of Christ, in a suburb a less than an hour from downtown Fort Worth. After the suspect entered the church and fired a weapon, “a couple of members of the church returned fire,” killing the alleged shooter, state officials said at a news conference. …Gov. Greg Abbott (R) condemned the “evil act of violence” in a statement, adding: “Places of worship are meant to be sacred, and I am grateful for the church members who acted quickly to take down the shooter and help prevent further loss of life.” …New laws that took effect in 2019 allow Texans with concealed-carry permits to bring guns to places of worship unless a sign is posted prohibiting it.
The happy ending is that the bad guy was killed by armed members of the congregation, presumably minimizing the death toll.

I’ve joked before about Texans and guns, but we have a real-world case of how lives are saved. And what happened over the weekend wasn’t the first time.

Let’s now shift from anecdotes to data.

A few years ago, John Lott looked at the evidence about gun-free zones, armed citizens, and mass shootings.
…not one of the mass shootings since at least 2000…would’ve been stopped by these laws. Nor would renewing the federal “assault weapons” ban solve the problem; even research paid for by Bill Clinton’s administration found no evidence the ban reduced any type of crime. …a young ISIS sympathizer planned a shooting at one of the largest churches in Detroit. An FBI wire recorded him explaining why he had picked the church as a target: “It’s easy, and a lot of people go there. Plus people are not allowed to carry guns in church.” …PoliceOne, a private organization with 450,000 members (380,000 full-time active law enforcement and 70,000 retired), polled its members in 2013 shortly after the Newtown, Conn., massacre. Eighty percent of respondents said allowing legally armed citizens to carry guns in places such as Newtown and Aurora would have reduced the number of casualties. …According to police and prosecutors, there have been dozens of cases of permit holders clearly stopping what would have been mass public shootings. It’s understandable these killers avoid places where they can’t kill a large number of people. Research I have conducted with economist Bill Landes looked at 13 different types of gun-control laws. Right-to-carry laws were the only type that made a difference in the rate and severity of these mass public shootings. …even the most ardent gun-control advocate would never put “Gun-Free Zone” signs on their homes. Let’s finally stop putting them elsewhere.
Amen.

John Lott is an invaluable resource on these issues, as is Jacob Sullum.

Though it’s really an issue of common sense.

Mass shooters are evil, but they’re calculatingly evil. Even if they’re willing to die, they want a high body count. Armed citizens make that less likely.

The bottom lines is that we can save lives by making sure law-abiding people have the right to keep and bear arms.

What happened this past weekend simply provides us with more evidence.

Education and Business: An Incestuous Relationship

Eileen F. Toplansky

Why in Sam Hill would a sentient parent send his child to any school of higher learning in America today when "colleges across the country are

Mind you, it is not to increase standards.  No, the changes involve "lowering of standards and a very clear implication that students from certain backgrounds cannot score as high on tests as their peers of a different melanin makeup."

Instead of rooting out the reasons why students of color are doing so poorly, the Left continues to use them as cannon fodder to control the education of young American minds.

Why is it that the public education system has failed so many of its black and Hispanic students? How is the following possible?
[I]n America's public high schools, 45% of black students and 43% of Hispanics (as compared to 22% of whites) drop out before their classes graduate.  Dropout rates are especially high in urban areas with large minority populations, including such academic basket cases as the District of Columbia (57%), Trenton (59%), Camden (61.4%), Baltimore (65.4%), Cleveland (65.9%), and Detroit (75.1%).  
Of those black and Hispanic students who do manage to earn a diploma, a large percentage are functionally illiterate.  Black high-school graduates perform, on average, at a level that is four academic years below that of their white counterparts. Of all graduates in the class of 2011, only 11% of blacks and 15% of Hispanics were proficient in math, as compared to 42% of whites.  Similarly, just 13% of blacks and 4% of Hispanics were proficient in reading, versus 40% of whites.  As political science professor Lydia Segal notes in her book, Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools: "It is in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia where the largest numbers of children cannot read, write, and compute at acceptable levels and where racial gaps between whites and blacks and Latinos are widest.  It is in large cities that minority boys in particular, trapped in poor schools, have the greatest chance of flunking out and getting sucked into the downward spiral of crime and prison."  
These failed, inner-city schools are run entirely by Democrats and progressives who, as author Jonah Goldberg points out, have "controlled the large inner-city school systems for generations."  Indeed, the powerful teachers unions overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party and its left-wing agendas; the bureaucrats at the Department of Education overwhelmingly hold progressive political and social views; and the ideological orientation of America's teacher-training colleges is decidedly leftist. All of these factors have combined to create the proverbial train wreck that is public education in the United States today.
It has not improved a whit since then...............To Read More

A Close Look at Adam Schiff

What political goals does this powerful Democrat congressman really have?

Discover The Networks Tue Dec 31, 2019

Fifty-nine-year-old Democrat congressman Adam Schiff became famous in recent months for presiding over the Trump impeachment hearings in the House Intelligence Committee. Let us take a close look at exactly who Schiff is, and what his political agendas are. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Schiff launched his political career in 1996 when he was elected to the California State Senate, where he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.  In 1997 Schiff received a Henry Toll Fellowship for “leadership development.” Sponsored by the Council of State Governments, this award has long been heavily financed by the billionaire philanthropist George Soros and his Open Society Foundations............In no way can Adam Schiff be described as a “liberal.” He is a hard-core leftist who seeks to fundamentally transform America, much like President Obama so candidly sought to do...............To Read More....

My Take - As you read this man's bio you can't possibly come away with any other conclusion than this man hates everything the Constitution stands for. His radical views, actions and associations are unbelievealbe, including support for outright anti-Semites. It should be clear to the most casual observer he hates this nation, just as much as does George Soros.

And the Democrat leadership is screaming about a "full and fair" impeachment.

How about a "full and fair" exposure of Adam Schiff by the media?  Can you imagine what they would've done if this was Trump's bio?  Yet they've totally ignored this man's intellectual and philosophical past. 

Monday, December 30, 2019

The Insane Want to Run the Asylum

By Rich Kozlovich

(Editor's Note: Originally I published this on Friday, March 22, 2019. I thought it was worth repeating. RK)

The left is insane.  How do I know that?  It's real easy. Leftism has been a massive failure from its very beginning with the French Revolution and the resulting "Terror" the ruling class imposed on French society. A totalitarian pattern that's been repeated with every socialist dominated society.  So, to keep insisting on repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting a different outcome is insane.  At least that's what Einstein thought, and I agree!

Currently, there's a "clown car" of leftist loons running to become President of the United States in 2020.  What are they promoting?

Every one of them wants to abolish the Electoral College, pack the Supreme Court, lower the voting age to 16, create new states by splitting up California, recognizing Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as states, in order to create more Democrat Senators, impose a New Green Deal that will destroy the economy all the while claiming it will "reinvigorate the workforce" , demonstrating a complete lack of economic clarity.

They work to stop prosecutions on illegal aliens who've committed crimes claiming it's discriminatory. How can anyone not think this is complete nonsense?  Have we lost our minds? Why would the Supreme Court have to hear this?

These people have committed crimes. First, they're here illegally and secondly, they're stealing someone else's identity.  They're criminals! Why is that so hard to accept?  But leftist logic declares it discriminatory.

In spite of the fact student loans have, destroyed the affordability of a college education they want to forgive all those loans and make college free. Can you imagine how the costs would skyrocket then?

They insist that Global Warming is man made and is going to destroy the world in twelve years. Prince Phillip said something like that fifteen years ago.  He also said there were only months left before we were past the point of no return.  Amazing!

 (Editor's Note: It actually was Prince Charles, not Prince Phillip.  Prince Phillip wants to come back as a virus and eliminate mankind.  Thanks to Michael Harris for catching that error. RK)

He's still flying around the world and living the good life. But in the sane world,  time is on the side of those of us who've taken an opposing view.

Islamists have practically taken over the Democrat party to the point many have a legitimate fear we're facing a new holocaust in the near future.

As for those who claim to be conservatives - what a confused lot!

Many who refer to themselves as conservatives are lost because they're not real conservatives with firm moral and intellectual foundations.
 "Democrats talk about legalizing marijuana, murdering babies, welcoming Jihadists, seizing our guns, Soc. Sec. payments to illegals, demanding the popular vote over the Electoral vote and supporting ignorant Marxist puppet loons like AOC who wants everything free for all with no idea how to pay for it, short of the common tactic used by all governments… steal it from the producers. This applies to Bernie and the high cheek boned, blond Indian Princess, Elizabeth Warren. While other Democrat contenders may lurk in the shadows, they only try to out promise the other guy with what they would do with our money. These are simple people, you know, Morons." 
How could any legitimate conservative feel they're "wandering in the wilderness" or "culturally powerless" in the face of all that?  Every one of these initiatives should all be a fuse that light fires in every real conservative.  The rest are all phonies and traitors to the very concept of conservatism, like John Kasich, John, McCain and a host of others.  All with stunningly slippery moral convictions. 

As I see it, as a society we have four options.
  • Ignorance, which is fixable.
  • Stupidity, which is ignorance coupled with complacency.
  • Insanity, which is unavoidable if you accept their conclusions
  • - or -
  • Clear rational thinking which means accepting the reality that to be on the left is irrational and misanthropic, morally defective and everything these leftist loons say are lies of commission and lies of omission.
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 C.E.) once noted; "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."  How much more important is it to keep the insane from turning society into an insane asylum with they, the lunatics, in charge? 

Impeachment: 2020 and Beyond

By Rich Kozlovich

As the world looks over the field of candidates the Democrat party is fielding they must be wondering if we put mind altering drugs in our water. This impeachment charade the Democrat House has imposed on the nation isn't playing well, anywhere, including among many Democrats. The blue collar backbone of the Democrat party has been broken by statements from Obama and Hillary. The party has now been taken over by what one writer calls the "Moron Mob", and the term fits. There is no candidate running for the Democrat nomination that's not doing everything in their power to appeal to the lunatic left.

Warren is now waning in the polls. There's got to be a screw loose in that lady's head. She keeps making up stuff that can easily be exposed as horsepucky. Her own brother is upset at her for calling their father a janitor, which is an honorable position if there ever was one.

But it wasn't true.

It turns out he was a maintenance man, which most would consider a better position requiring more skills. Calling her dad a janitor makes her look humble, coming from unskilled people, doing the same kind of jobs performed by uneducated and unskilled immigrants.

Unlike most kids, Warren doesn't brag up, she brags down. Why? To give all these little people she's forced to appease a favorable view of her "struggle" to become as wealthy as she is today.

She claimed she was too poor to go to college. The truth?  She lied, again! As Monica Showalter notes:
It's part of a chain of fabrications so typical of Elizabeth Warren. As if the fake Indian scandal, the fake pregnant-teacher-firing scandal, the fake college-admissions scandals didn't teach her to be very very cautious about what she claims about herself...She just keeps on going and assumes no one will notice the inauthencity pattern.
All these fabrications are costing her, as pointed out in this article, Lying Liz Warren’s campaign facing embarrassing drop in fourth quarter fundraising,   Can she recover?  In my opinion, no.  She's now given the impression she really is nuts, not at all bright, lacks any understanding about economics and has nothing to offer but lies.  If she has so little confidence in who she is and where she comes from, why should anyone else? 

The Impeachment charade the Democrat party has embraced will impact their party for a long time, maybe to the end of the party.  It certainly isn't a party of the loyal opposition.  I find it inconceivable that so many elected members of Congress hate America so much, and the so many people in the nation think that's just fine.

Biden is done, Take him off the grill.  His complicity with his son's corruption has exposed him for the corrupt Deep Stater he's always been. He's bombing with Latinos.  While touting his support of unions, he actually killed himself by embracing the New Green Deal.

It gets better. It turns out Bernie Sanders is starting to scare them.  He might actually be able to pull it off and get the nomination, although I still think there will be a brokered convention, and there's even been some talk about Ocasio-Cortez being picked. Very small talk I might add, but it shows what a mess the Democrat party is.

Along with those left running who aren't in the top four, let's take a look at those who've dropped out.
Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, Eric Swalwell, Jay Inslee, Bill de Blasio, John Hickenlooper.  A few other non-notables padded out the clown car, including an obscure state senator and Trump voter, the most anti-war progressive to run for president since William Jennings Bryan, and a governor who resembles a stolid yet handy Hallmark movie hunk.
Can you even remember some of them?

The impeachment coup attempt is failing, badly, and it's costing these candidates badly.

Patricia McCarthy outlines the real problem for the Democrat party in her article, The Democrats' bleak midwinter as their coup attempt is unraveling ”, and it all revolves around the corruption involving “The deep state and the Democrat party have, from the moment Donald Trump announced his candidacy, set out to destroy the man, his candidacy, and then his presidency.”

She notes:
........they will stop at nothing; no fabricated smear is too low, no lie is a bridge too far. The left media will do the Democrats' bidding and vice versa. They are in a venomous symbiotic relationship bent on destroying America as founded and remaking it into some sort of sop to the anti-American, globalist left.  
They are like angry toddlers whose parents have rewarded every demand without rancor, just craven indulgence. They are used to getting their way and cannot abide their loss of the Left's presidential power over us all. Thus, we are afflicted with Pelosi's ridiculous, bungled management of their long-planned impeachment scheme.  
The Democrat party will never recover from their malfeasance in this endeavor; never. They are scoundrels..........
Does anyone really believe the public hasn't become aware of all this? The impeachment process has exposed them for the corrupt cabal they've been for decades, but were able to hide until now.

It will impact the 2020 Presidential and Congressional elections and I believe the elections in 2022 when a lot of Senators who've upset a lot of people. Bernie, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg are done, stick a fork in them.

As for the rest, those who've dropped out and those who're left, all the did, and alll they're doing, is eating up presidential contribution money. The hundreds of millions going into these primary races are going to come back to haunt them in the election.  No matter what anyone says, even with the Soros, the guilty rich, and the Hollywood cabal, there's only so much election money available.

There’s an old fairy tale entitled, The Emperor’s New Clothes”, about an arrogant vain Emperor wants everyone to admire him, spending large amounts of money to make him look grand. He’s conned into buying non-existent “invisible” clothing. Everyone can now see the Emperor is naked, but everyone has to go along to get along in fear of upsetting the Emperor praising his magnificent attire.

Well, this impeachment has exposed the Democrat party as a party with no scruples, that has to be praised by the media, leftist elitists, deep staters and their leftist sympathizers. People like Rep. Debbie Dingell telling the world how her husband "looking down from heaven would be so proud".

But the public isn’t impressed with the lies and underhanded corruption this impeachment process has exposed. As the third part of this series, tomorrow we’ll explore the long range vision of the Soviet Socialist Democrats.

The Hellish Dingell Legacy

Posted by Daniel Greenfield 0 Comments Sunday, December 29, 2019 @ Sultan Knish Blog

A decade ago, Time Magazine unveiled an in-depth article on the death of Detroit. One of the politicians whom the article blamed for Detroit’s woes was Rep. John Dingell.

The Dingell clan has held a congressional seat outside Detroit since 1932. Their 87-year tenure has not coincidentally coincided with the decline of a thriving industrial city into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

But it’s been good for the Dingells, three of whom have sat in their congressional seat since the days of Herbert Hoover, the rise of Hitler, and the radio age, and fattened their pockets on its sinecures.

Dingell Sr. was the son of Polish immigrants who started out in politics as a union boss, jumped into a newly created seat, and kept it through eleven elections before passing it on to his son. Dingell Jr, outdid daddy by becoming the longest serving member of Congress in American history. Before he died, he passed on the seat to his second wife, whom he married when she was 28 and he was 55 years old.

She was a GM lobbyist who married the Congressman from GM. What was good for GM was good for the Dingells.

By 2014, Dingell Jr. was listed as the third richest member of Congress from Michigan with a net worth of $3.5 million. When Debbie took over for him next year, her net worth was up to $3.6 million. The salary for House members was $174,000. The median household income is $57,000 in the 12th.

Not bad for a family whose business was and is the 12th district from western Detroit through Ann Arbor. Much of the Dingell money came through GM. And Rep. John Dingell had vocally fought for the GM bailout. The GM couple, which had millions in GM stock, had a lot riding on taxpayers bailing them out.

Taxpayers spent billions and the Dingells got millions in an arrangement made in the depths of hell.

Even though Rep. Debbie Dingell ran unopposed in the Democrat primary, and even though she was running for office in one of the most heavily Democrat districts in the country, she still raised over $1 million for that campaign, and another $1.2 million for 2018, and is already up to half a million now.

Even though no one running in the 12th whose last name is Dingell could lose an election to Abe Lincoln.

Where’s the money coming from? Unions, PACs, including the GM PAC, the Ford PAC, Walmart, and, insurance companies. GM, Ford, and Chrysler had also been paying her an undisclosed salary before she took over her husband’s congressional seat. It was a very neat arrangement.

The Dingells take care of them and they take care of the Dingells. Everyone else can go to hell.

Despite Rep. John Dingell’s motorcade pausing at the Capitol, and the gushing tributes to the “longest-serving” member of Congress, even his own party loathed him in life.

In 1996, the New York Times called him a “bully”. Some years earlier, Bloomberg had accused him of the, “bullying of bureaucrats, executives, and colleagues.”

“In the arrogance of his power, he terrorized individuals and institutions that he wanted to humble,” Anthony Lewis wrote in the Times.

"There isn't an industry in the country not touched by our committee,” Rep. John Dingell had bragged.

That includes finance which dragged him into the BCCI scandal through a $10,000 contribution and a mortgage on a home in McLean, Virginia.

After ruling the Committee on Energy and Commerce for 28 years, his own party grew tired of him and unprecedentedly forced him out in 2008. The overthrow of the corrupt "old bull" was the work of none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Despite eventually becoming the longest-serving member of the House, it was his fellow Democrats who conspired to take away the privileges of his seniority.

All that has been forgotten. Dingell’s descriptions of Asians as “little yellow people”, his greed, shameless abuse of power, and arrogance were replaced with empty tributes to his greatness.

President Trump hasn’t forgotten.

And so, at a campaign rally in Michigan, Trump recalled a phone call from Rep. Debbie Dingell on her husband’s funeral. “‘He’s looking down, he’d be so thrilled,’” He recalled her saying. “I said, that’s okay, don’t worry about it. Maybe he’s looking up, I don’t know. I don't know. I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe. But let’s assume he’s looking down."

The locals laughed.

It was impossible to be from Michigan, to have had a front row seat to the antics of the Dingell clan which practically date back to the birth of mass automobile ownership, and imagine “Big John” in heaven. The image of the old crooked thug with wings and a harp is hopelessly laughable.

It’s easy to imagine him looking up, but President Trump generously tried to assume otherwise.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has gotten into trouble for bluntly poking fun at the niceties of a political industry where every crook is “honorable” and everyone pretends to believe it in public.

Does Speaker Pelosi really believe that Rep. John Dingell was a saint? If she does, why did she conspire to take away his chairmanship, against precedent and the seniority rules of the road?

Do the New York Times and Bloomberg want to apologize for calling him a bully?

John Dingell was not a nice guy. Nobody seriously thinks he would have been traumatized by the suggestion that he might not be going to heaven. This was a man who admired a tombstone that read, “He’s done his damnedest.” There’s two ways to read that one. But Dingell never pretended to be a saint. His calling card was hauling pork back to his district and supporting local companies. Like GM.

Nor did he restrain his rhetoric.

"I've read enough of that Steele dossier to know just how risky a ‘used Trump hotel mattress’ can truly be," he tweeted in 2018, referencing a smear by the Clinton campaign.

But Trump reached out to Rep. Debbie Dingell. John got a nice funeral in Washington D.C. And Debbie responded by voting to impeach President Trump for the smears of her fellow Democrats.

Nor is Debbie a nice person. At one point she inveighed against the, "the 13 white boys–sorry to say it that way–that are going to be doing this in the Senate". So much for civility and collegiality.

Was Trump really supposed to pretend that this racist, thieving clan is heavenly?

The D.C. political class throws a fit every time President Trump speaks bluntly about members of the swamp. And Rep. John Dingell wasn’t just part of the swamp. He owned his own mire. In his days ruling the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an iron fist, he would define his jurisdiction by pointing at the planet. These days his ambit, wherever it may be, is a whole lot smaller. And that’s for the best.

There’s a place for civility and collegiality. And had the Dingell clan sailed off into the sunset, maybe we could all remember them fondly the way we do the Hapsburgs, the Bourbons, and the Gambinos.

But they’re not going anywhere. That’s what this is all about.

After John Sr, came John Jr, and after John Jr. came Debbie, and after Debbie will come Christopher, currently a Michigan judge, and on and on, endless generations of Dingells, marching through the House, porking, thieving, and procuring, passing the family legacy of taxpayer money on through the ages until the Republic falls. Should President Trump or anyone else really be afraid to say it’s so?

America didn’t need a single Dingell in her House. It certainly didn’t need three.

If the country is to be rid of them, the chattering classes will have to accept hearing that John Dingell Jr. might not, despite his lifetime of good deeds for GM at taxpayer expense, have made it to heaven.


Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.
Thank you for reading.



Cory Booker Supports Abortion Because 'Women Are People'

Bronson Stocking Dec 28, 2019

Democratic candidate for president Cory Booker tweeted on Saturday that he supports abortion and encouraged other men to support the barbaric procedure as well because, as Cory sees it, "women are people."
To borrow from AOC, Keep going Cory. You’re so close to getting it.
To be fair, Cory's argument makes about as much sense as every other pro-abortion argument under the sun. If abortion did not involve the killing of another human being, a lot of the "it's just my body" nonsense might resonate with people whose mothers did not kill them during pregnancy......To Read More.... 



My Take - Intellectually, Cory Booker is a seriously flawed person.

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Impeachment: Big Ego's, Bad Attitudes

By Rich Kozlovich

It's so clearly obvious there's no criminal activity by the President of the United States.  Every accusation the Democrat party has thrown up has not only been debunked by their own investigations, it's actually come back to bite them on the can.

It's easy to understand the stupidity of the Democrats because they're afraid of the far left wing lunatics running the party.  They're afraid of the far left wing lunatics in the Congress like Ocasio-Cortez and her moron mob.

Robert Ringer, in January of this year, almost a year ago, notes:
First, absurd as it may sound to an intelligent, rational person, AOC’s lack of knowledge is actually an advantage when it comes to appealing to the Moron Mob.  These intellectually challenged bobbleheads comprise a huge segment of the population — from the guy in the street to Jim Carrey … from social activists to LeBron James … from college-campus snowflakes to media propagandists like Don Lemon — that has been growing at an accelerating pace ever since the Dirty Dems took off their masks a few years back and openly declared war on America. 
What’s scary is how easy it is for race hustlers and hate mongers to appeal to the Moron Mob.  One need only offer them free stuff — the more, the better — and they quickly morph into modern-day Jacobins shouting “off with their heads.”  Let’s face it, everyone likes free stuff — even me! — but rational, intelligent people of goodwill realize that “free” is nothing more than an illusion and that the true cost of so-called free stuff is a loss of freedom. 
Second, when bold, charismatic accidents of history like AOC are cheered on by the media, they inevitably become enamored with themselves and start believing their own gibberish. This misguided belief often evolves into a sadistic ruthlessness toward others. History is filled with examples of young people who were not taken seriously when they first came on the scene, yet went on to establish brutal dictatorships.
John Sobieski ran a piece entitled, "Murkowski is 'Disturbed,' All Right" saying the Senator is:
"disturbed by Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's statement he will be working closely with and taking his clues from President Trump in any impeachment trial in the Senate".
Amazing! She wasn't disturbed by all the manufactured testimony and corruption exhibited by Chairmen Schiff and Nadler. She apparently wasn't disturbed by the fact there has been no real evidence against Trump. She apparently wasn't disturbed by the evidence of the total corruption of the FBI, CIA and the DOJ by Obama. Apparently she wasn't disturbed by all the forged documents and failure of Democrats to turn over exculpatory evidence to the Republicans on the appropriate committees.

But she is disturbed by "McConnell objecting to and refusing to participate in this charade", because she wants a "full and fair process". What's "full and fair"mean? It means the Senate has to do what the House Democrats tell them to do. And that doesn't disturb her?

She wasn't disturbed by the Star Chamber process conducted, probably illegally, by Adam Schiff. She wasn't disturbed by hearsay witnesses.

What should disturb everyone else is her utter lack of consistency, and her utter lack of the Constitutional understanding. The Constitution gives the Senate total control over how any impeachment process is handled. What should disturb everyone is her failure to understand the President of the United States cannot be charged with "obstruction of Congress", one of the articles of impeachment.

It's called separation of powers and the Constitution gives the Executive broad powers to challenge Congress, but it didn't disturb her or the Democrats when Obama actually did abuse those powers.

There are a lot of things in her history that should have legitimately disturbed her, yet she remained silent. Now, it appears after:
 "Bill Kistol of the now defunct Weekly Standard and his group, Republicans for the Rule of Law, targeted Murkowski with a million dollar ad buy to persuade her and other wavering GOP Senatore to turn on Trump."......wanting her to criticize President Donald Trump for asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden...."
She's seems disturbed by a lot of things, but fails to be disturbed by slander, lies and the utter corruption of the Congress by House Democrats. Let's face it, Murkowski has never been a profile in courage, not uncommon for a politician.

But one thing this impeachment process has made abundantly clear, she's disturbed.

After 2022 she may be a whole lot more disturbed.

One more thing.  Think Third Party, filled with RINO's and "disturbed" Democrats with no hope to be re-elected in their districts, and nowhere else do go. 

The Hidden Agenda Behind the Roundup Lawsuit Campaign

Eliminating glyphosate would drastically reduce feed crop yields, prompting a major rise in food costs, especially meat. It would green-light more bad science and enrich more bottom-feeding lawyers while punishing farmers and consumers.

Julie Kellyn December 26th, 2019

A Virginia lawyer arrested earlier this month for extortion should bring much-needed attention to one of the biggest legal, scientific, and environmental scams in recent memory: The case against Roundup, a weedkiller used on farms and open spaces in more than 160 countries around the world.

Timothy Litzenburg, a Charlottesville attorney, has been charged with threatening an unnamed company unless it paid his $200 million shakedown. The unidentified company, according to the federal indictment, manufactures glyphosate, the active chemical in Roundup.........

The IARC is populated with green activists with a grudge against Monsanto. One IARC advisor now is a paid legal expert for the plaintiffs in several Monsanto-glyphosate lawsuits. (For years, that scandal was under investigation by House Republicans and ended after Democrats took power.) As I wrote in 2017, “it is now obvious that this [IARC] report was prepared and promoted by dishonest activists to wage an international assault on a safe, necessary chemical just because they hate the company that makes it.”................To Read More...





Climate Alarmist Banks Go Carbon-colonialist

By Paul Driessen and David Wojick

Africa has the world’s lowest electrification rate. Its power consumption per capita is just 613 kilowatt-hours per year, compared to 6,500 kWh in Europe and 13,000 in the United States, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina observed in July 2017. That’s 9.4% of EU and 4.7% of US electricity consumption. It’s equivalent to Americans having electricity only 1 hour a day, 8 hours a week, 411 hours per year – at totally unpredictable times, for a few minutes, hours or days at a stretch.

It’s actually even worse than that. Excluding significantly electrified South Africa, sub-Sahara Africans consume an almost irrelevant 181 kWh of electricity per capita – 1.4% of the average American’s!

In Sub-Saharan Africa, over 600 million people have no electricity, and over 700 million rely on wood, grass and dung for cooking and heating. The region is home to 16% of the world’s population, and 53% of those without electricity. By 2050, its urban populations could increase by 600 million.

Determined to transform the “dark continent,” the AfDB launched a $12-billion New Deal on Energy in 2017 and a Light Up and Power Africa initiative in July 2018. It frequently emphasized that access to sufficient supplies of reliable, affordable modern energy – including fossil fuels – is critical for the continent’s social and economic development. Without energy, it is impossible to create jobs, increase productivity, reduce inequality, improve people’s health and wellbeing, or end poverty.

The bank’s lofty goal for its energy New Deal is 100% access to electricity in urban areas, and 95% in rural areas, by 2025. In July 2017, Mr. Adesina told the African Union Summit he was excited that “Japan has answered our call” to “adopt a balanced energy mix” that includes “its ultra-super critical clean coal technologies” that remove sulfur, nitrogen oxides and particulates, while greatly reducing CO2 emissions.

In 2018, the bank approved seed money for a Nigerian coal project and geared up to finance a 350MW coal plant in Senegal. It also initiated plans for a $2-billion coal-fired power station in the Kenya’s port city of Lamu, after the IMF, World Bank and other western lenders rebuffed Kenya.

But then Mr. Adesina and the AfDB caved in to carbon colonialist pressure. The bank now says almost nothing about coal or even natural gas. Its new themes include: responding to global concerns about climate change, gradually adopting a “low-carbon and sustainable growth path,” significantly reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and transitioning to “green growth” and “clean renewable energy,”

In September 2019, the bank announced that it planned to begin scrapping coal-fired power plants all across Africa, build “the largest solar zone” in the world, and pull funding for the Lamu power plant. “We’re getting out of coal,” Mr. Adesina said. “Coal is the past, and renewable energy is the future.”

So the AfDB has joined the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and other Multilateral anti-Development Banks in caring more about climate alarmism and avoiding criticism from the likes of Greta, the perpetually aggrieved and angry Grinch of Christmas 2019 – than they do about safeguarding the lives, livelihoods, health and living standards of hundreds of millions of electricity-deprived Africans.

This 180-degree flip-flop is delusional, dysfunctional and disingenuous. For many, it will be lethal.
First, there is nothing “green,” “clean”or “renewable” about wind and solar energy. The vast amounts of land and raw materials, mines and factories required to build wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and transmission lines – to harness widely dispersed, insufficient, intermittent, weather-dependent wind and solar energy to benefit Sub-Saharan Africans – are anything but clean, green, renewable or sustainable. In fact, trying to meet those needs would require millions of turbines and billions of solar panels. 
Second, The AfDB cannot possibly achieve its Energy New Deal or Light Up and Power Africa goals with wind and solar. It will never reach 100% or even 25% access to meaningful electricity that way. No country has ever built or sustained a modern economy this way – and countries that have tried to by mandating wind, solar and fossil-fuel-free economies are paying a terrible price. Headlines tell the story.  
Germany’s green suicide: Industrial job losses top 80,000. German wind industry faces extinction340,000 German families have pricey electricity cut off. British steel faces insolvency. Meanwhile, the fossil and nuclear-based US economy added another 266,000 jobs in November and wages also grew.  
Third, there is no evidence to support claims that temperatures, droughts and weather anywhere in Africa are unprecedented or due to carbon dioxide from fossil fuels – or from wood, grass and dung fires. They and other climate changes have been common throughout history, and an energy-rich, prosperous Africa will be far better able to deal with future changes than a poor, energy-deprived continent could.  
Fourth, China, India, Indonesia and other countries are not going stop building coal- and gas-fired power plants – and emitting enormously more CO2. Why should Africa and the AfDb go down a different path?  
Finally, banishing fossil fuels (and nuclear), and focusing on pseudo-renewable energy will mean millions of children and parents will continue to suffer and die needlessly every year from diseases of poverty and energy deprivation. This eco-manslaughter at the hands of climate activists and banks must not continue.
Africans have a fundamental human right to more than the few light bulbs, cell phone charging stations and one-cubic-foot refrigerators that can be supported by a wind turbine and solar panel economy.

Thankfully, Botswana, Tanzania and other countries recognize that their continent is rich in coal, oil, natural gas, hydro and uranium. They intend to utilize those resources, take charge of their destinies, develop their economies and improve their people’s lives – by building coal- and gas-fired power plants, hydroelectric facilities, and pebble bed modular or other nuclear power plants. They will also install wind turbines and solar panels in distant villages until electrical grids bring 24/7/365 power to the villages.

No single solution will work everywhere. But “under no circumstances are we going to apologize” for developing Africa’s oil, gas and coal fields, Equatorial Guinea energy minister Gabriel Obiang Lima has said, adding it is “criminal” for any non-African to suggest that Africa should ignore any resources it has.

“Energy is the catalyst for growth,” says Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s new Mineral Resources and Energy Minister and national chair of its African National Congress. Africa has long exported its oil and gas to the rest of the world, while remaining energy-deficient itself, he noted during a recent Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town. That is no longer tenable. His new Integrated Resources Plan includes coal and nuclear, and all forms of energy, as appropriate to a given time and situation.

South Africa’s trade unions now see that solar and wind will not create jobs or prosperity; they promote coal power for inland areas where coal is plentiful, and nuclear for coastal regions where water can cool reactors. Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda all appear prepared to join SA in going nuclear – and Zambia has a new Zambian Atomic Energy Agency (ZAMATOM), headed by Dr. Roland Msiska; it has begun building a nuclear center and preparing for a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors.

“I am tired of being lectured by people in rich countries who have never lived a day without electricity,” says Nigerian Sam Bada. “Maybe they should just go home and turn off their fridge, hot water, laptops and lights. Then live like that for a month and tell us, who have suffered for years, not to burn coal.”

Energy deprivation perpetuates economic deprivation – and creates breeding grounds for terrorist groups in weakened African nations. Recent Islamic State attacks underscore this growing danger. Meanwhile, too many banks lack the moral decency to stand up for fossil fuels or nuclear, or question climate alarm doctrine. If they continue to balk, China could well step in – and gain greater influence and expanded control of Africa’s raw materials in the process. It would be much better if Africa stood up for itself.

Every new power plant generates electricity, jobs, better living standards, and more tax revenues to build more power plants, transmission lines and prosperity. Every country can do this, just as China, India and other nations have already. There’d be no better holiday gift than to banish Greta the Grinch from Africa.

Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and author of books and articles on energy, climate change and economic development. David Wojick is an independent analyst specializing in science and logic in public policy.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Cartoon of the Day


Sword and Scimitar: Weekly Score Card

By Rich Kozlovich

I'm sick of those who attempt to equate actions by "Christians" and westerners against poor abused Muslims living in western nations with a foundational Judaic/Christian moral foundation as being equilivant to all the violence and criminal activity of Muslims world wide.  I see TV shows and movies where some Muslim will be outraged at "what they have to go through daily" in America for being Muslim. Well, I'm sick of it and I've decided we need to keep a weekly score card.

One of the things we really need to qualify is this: Christ didn't tell his followers to kill those against Christianity, or those who were simply members of another religion, or kill Christians who decided they didn't want to be Christians any longer and converted to another faith. The Koran requires Muslims to kill those who convert from Islam. The followers of Islam who are murdering, raping, robbing and brutalizing non-Muslims, and even Muslims of a different sect of Islam, are doing exactly what Muhammad told them to do in the Koran.

The intent of this series is to demonstrate the real moral foundations that create the social paradigms of peoples raised with Islamic values, versus the people who were raised in nations founded on Christian values.

It might be noted there are those who commit acts of violence and intimidation against Muslims, but those acts are not condoned or promoted by Western governments, unlike Muslim ruled nations.  Nations  that actually promote and sponser violence agasint non-Muslims.  That's required of them by the Koran.

Yet in Western nations we find the leadership actually tries to cover up what's normally considered criminal behavior by Muslims, and yet they whine they're not treated fairly.

Let's see who did what to whom this week, and then let's talk about "fair".

We might wish to explore the idea that Islam isn't a religion at all, but a criminal, political movement masquerading as a religion. The Constitution stands for freedom of religion, but the Constitution wasn't meant to be a suicide pact. We need to define things properly, and that's done by seeing what people do, not what they say.

There's one article here that shows why America has wisely refused to abandon U.S. sovereignty and sign on to a leftist scam laughingly call the International Criminal Court and allow it to destroy Constitutional guarantees.

Muslims, Anti-Semites - This will be defined in this weekly series as believers in Islam, or anti-Semites, who commit, promote or defend violence against Christan, Jews, Non-religious Westerners, and other religions around the world, and even Muslims against other Muslims.
  1. Crackdown on Iranian protests killed 1,500, says report
  2. CBN News Video: Raymond Ibrahim Exposes Turkey’s Role in Slaughter of Nigerian Christians
  3. Video: Raymond Ibrahim on Pensacola and the Pelosi-CAIR Alliance
  4. Queen is the enemy of Islam and must die’
  5. French Jewish principals urge their students to leave France
  6. India: Muslims come out of mosque after prayers and throw stones at police
  7. Chad: Muslims murder 14 people in jihad massacre at fishing village
  8. Arizona: Muslim migrant punches, kicks police officer, throws him to the ground
  9. Pakistan: Professor sentenced to death and fine of $3800 on blasphemy charge
  10. Turkey: Veiled Muslima on plane says she has bomb, “I will blow up the aircraft”
  11. Fatah top dog: Murdering Israeli civilians is one of the “values, customs” of the “Palestinians”
  12. International Criminal Court Prosecutor Pursues Sham Anti-Israel Investigation    
  13. Jewish-Israeli student files complaint alleging anti-Semitism at Columbia University
  14. Another Christmas in the Age of Jihad
  15. UK’s Jihad Prisons: Sharia Trials in British Prisons
  16. India: Muslim cleric says “we will not hesitate in waging jihad” over law granting asylum to persecuted non-Muslims
  17. Washington state: Muslim cleric who led prayer at state house says Allah transformed Jews into “despicable apes”
  18. Indonesia: Christians celebrate Christmas in tent after authorities forbid rebuilding of churches Muslims destroyed
  19. Erdogan tells Turks in Switzerland not to integrate into Swiss society
  20. UN Commission on the Status of Women slams Pakistan for persecution of religious minorities
  21. Somalia: Muslims murder at least seven people in jihad martyrdom suicide attack at hotel
  22. San Diego State cancels Jew-hater Ava Muhammad after antisemitism charges
  23. From dictator’s legal adviser to ICC chief prosecutor going after Jewish state
  24. Christmas Terror: Grenade Attack Near Cathedral Leaves Several Wounded in the Philippines
  25. Germany: Eight Muslims Attack Christmas Party at St. Nicolai and Stab Parish Employees   '
  26. Burkina Faso: Muslim murder at least 35 civilians, mostly women, in jihad attack on town
  27. Iran: Qur’an expert says Qur’an commands that protesters “should die in agony, not merely be killed”
  28. Maldives: Security services reveal that close to 1,400 Maldivians would kill in the name of Islam
  29. WSJ condemns “new war” on Christians in Africa which is “massive in scale, horrific in brutality”
  30. Netherlands: Convicted Muslim migrant rapist charged with three more sex offenses
  31. Another Christmas in the Age of Jihad: Oppression and Appeasement
  32. Sweden: School forces non-Muslim fifth graders to kneel on prayer mats facing Mecca and worship Allah in Arabic
  33. 'Silent Night': Persecuted Palestinian Christians Kept Out of Sight
  34. The Genocide of Christians in Burkina Faso
  35. Switzerland: Masked leftists storm worship service of Islamocritical female pastor on Christmas Eve
  36. Nigeria: More than 6,000 Christians killed by Islamic terrorists since 2015
  37. Jewish Mom walking with child beaten in SIXTH ATTACK ANTISEMITIC IN NYC THIS CHANUKAH, , “We are coming after all you Jews”
  38. Seattle Area Mosque Apes Muhammad’s Jew-Hatred

Christians, Jews, Non-religious Westerners - This will be defined in this weekly series as those who perpetrate, defend or promote violence against Muslims.
  1. Maldives: Three Islamic scholars suspended for encouraging jihad terrorism (Editor's note: 
  2. I guess firing maniacs for preaching insanity could be construed as an attempt ot promote anti-Islamic thinking. RK)






Democrats Must Live with Consequences of Their Foolish Impeachment Farce

It’s showtime. Let the fools’ carnival of unfeasible candidates elevate the designated Democratic piñata for this successful if edgy president to hammer through the election campaign.

Conrad Black - December 26th, 2019

The NeverTrump campaign has sputtered to a ludicrous and pitiful end with this year. Having dragged its media lackeys and the dwindling curiosity of the country through an absurd burlesque of a “solemn, sad,” impeachment process—without alleging any actual illegalities—the NeverTrump campaign has rushed through in a procedural Star Chamber because of the “urgency” of removing the president before the country reelects him.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will not send the articles of impeachment to the Senate until Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promises to go to court and oblige administration witnesses to testify, a step the trained Democratic seals of the House declined to take because of the urgency of trial and removal of the president.

Finally, the revelation appears to have been noticed by the speaker, just ahead of the arrival of Santa Claus, that the Democrats have no case against the president, are slipping in the polls, and that the last stand of the argument that a moral imperative makes Trump clearly unfit to serve in the great office to which he was elected, has crumbled..........To Read More....

My Take - As so many have stated - this was a no win situation for the House Democrats, and Pelosi.  She's not the brightest pebble in the brook and now everyone .....and I mean everyone.....knows it.  Everyone also knows she's as gutless as tree moss by allowing AOC and her mob to bully her into the corner she's in.  Better to have stood her ground and taken the hits from these left wing loons than to end up in the crapper by caving in to them.

But, let's face it.  Pelosi is clearly on the Board of Directors For the Club For the Galacticly Stupid for a reason.