Liberals to Aim For 'Cooling Justice'

Jazz Shaw at Haut Hair catches them starting the outcry, Liberal warning signal: Refrigerators are destroying the world

On the off chance that you didn’t already have enough to worry about, there’s another villain on the loose that’s trying to destroy the world through climate change. This time it isn’t the oil and gas industry, cars with internal combustion engines, or the farting of cattle on beef ranches. The culprit in this case can be found right in the homes of virtually everyone reading this. It’s your refrigerator. Well, not your specific refrigerator. Everyone’s refrigerators. In fact, all cooling technology of every sort that is currently in use, unless you’re in the habit of harvesting ice from a lake and saving it for the summer.

 

 

That’s the message being brought to us by David Owen in a lengthy column at The New Yorker this week. He begins by taking the reader for a stroll down memory lane to the days when commercial ice harvesters would cut blocks of ice out of lakes and ship them around the world to provide cooling for food storage over the summer. That industry died out when it was replaced by the advent of modern refrigerators and freezers, along with modern air conditioning. So what does this have to do with climate change? Owen argues that the advent of this technology created a negative feedback loop. Climate change makes it warmer outside, so we need more cooling indoors for both our food storage needs and our comfort. But the technology behind such cooling units works by moving warmer air from inside to the outside, making the outdoors warmer. Refrigerators and air conditioners also allegedly eat up a large chunk of the electricity used globally, most of which is still produced by burning fossil fuels. To finish the hat trick, refrigeration systems use hydrofluorocarbons, a powerful greenhouse gas that can leak out.

 

After covering all of that ground, Owen gets down to the meat of the issue (which I assume is not frozen). As he points out below, no solution to cooling is an acceptable one because every approach produces more climate problems than it solves. The fact is that the better or more efficient our technology becomes, the more of it we use. So, you see, it’s not really the refrigeration that’s the problem. It’s the selfish people that are.

The I.E.A. says that if we successfully implement what it calls an “Efficient Cooling Scenario,” by optimizing the energy efficiency of our cooling machines, we could save almost three trillion dollars by 2050. If we really do that, though, we will have three trillion to spend on something else, and whatever we spend it on will inevitably have climate consequences of its own. The history of civilization is, in many ways, the history of accelerating improvements in energy efficiency. Extracting greater value from smaller inputs is how we’ve made ourselves rich; it’s also how we’ve created the problem that we’re now trying to address with more of the same.

 

Making useful technologies more efficient makes them cheaper, and as they become cheaper we use them more and find more uses for them, just as adding lanes to congested highways makes driving more attractive, not less. In 2011, the D.O.E.’s forecasters presumably didn’t anticipate that improvements in energy efficiency would make it increasingly economical to power and cool the server farms that mine and manage cryptocurrencies. The correlation between growth in efficiency and growth in consumption is not accidental.

So you see, sports fans, the real problem here is your stubborn belief that you actually need refrigeration. And for the good of the climate you should just do without it, otherwise we’re all going to die or something. This is the same alarmist demand that we previously saw coming from the usual list of suspects when Vox declared that it was time we “reconsidered” air conditioning in the name of “cooling justice.” (No, I’m not even making that up.)

There are things you just can't make up. I don't expect this movement to gain wide credence even in the woke environmentalist community; it would just be too difficult to live up to personally, unlike say, banning plastic straws or food containers. It could, however, be the opening salvo in a campaign to hyperregulate household refrigerators (already overregulated) to the point of becoming prohibitively expensive to the poorer people in society, at which point they will "need" to "redistribute" them, or a least provide subsidies. 

Biden Starting the New Week on the Wrong Foot

Fallout from the volcanic explosion in Tonga Joe's bad, very, very bad week continues. Anxious anxiously whines about Biden's epic failures. Brooke Rollins at Am Mind calls it Failing as Predicted. From Town Hall, Everything Is Worse Under Biden. I'll let you guess the author.

The stink of Biden's failure permeates the land, reeking intensely not unlike Eric Swalwell’s Volvo with the windows shut tight on a hot day on the way home from a double-bean chili feed at Fang Fang’s condo. Welcome to the malaise, kids.

At WaEx, Salena Zito calls his recent speech The moment Joe Biden finally lost his credibility. From the Guardian, The Biden administration has failed its Covid test and just about everything else, too. Mitt Romney! piles on from WaEx, Mitt Romney: Biden has had '52 weeks of bad weeks' and from Da Hill, Romney: I never got a call from White House to discuss voting rights.

Sauron's Eye, Biden at year one: Not enough focus on inflation leaves many frustrated  Sundance at CTH presents some Sunday Talks, CBS Outlines Collapsed Support for Biden Regime, But Purposefully Ignore One Central Component of Their Own Poll. Andrea Widburg at Am Think thinks A CBS News poll has just devastating results for Biden and his team. At Da Wire, Poll: Voters ‘Frustrated’ With Biden Ignoring Economy, Inflation, Focusing On Issues They ‘Don’t Care About’. MSN, Half in new poll say they're frustrated with Biden's presidency. NewsWeek, Only 6% of Biden Voters Think Things Are Going Very Well in America. Even AllahPundit at Haut Hair is disappointed, Americans to Biden: You're focusing on the wrong things, damn it. KT at Haut Hair, MLK III family rally in Arizona targeted Sinema over her position on the filibuster. Atop Da Hill, Carville advises Democrats to 'quit being a whiny party' but at Breitbart,  ZOA Urges Immediate Resignation of Florida Democrat Nikki Fried over ‘Sick, Demented’ Hitler-DeSantis Comparison

Athena Thorn at PJ Media, Wisconsin Judge Rules Ballot Drop Boxes Used in 2020 Election Were Illegal.  From Da Hill, Clyburn says election reform bills 'may be on life support' but aren't dead, but at Behind the Black Robert Zimmerman (no, not that Robert Zimmerman) notes House Democrats attempt end-around of filibuster to pass election law using NASA bill: IIRC, the same technique used for Obamacare.

A bill initially written to give authorization to NASA lease its property to others and and passed by the Senate has been stripped entirely of that language by House Democrats and replaced with their proposal to federalize elections nationwide.

H.R. 5746 was introduced in October by Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), chair of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. The bill extended NASA’s authorization to enter into what are known as enhanced use leases, or EULs, of agency property to companies, government agencies, or educational institutions, for 10 years. The House passed the bill by a voice vote Dec. 8.

The Senate amended the bill, extending the EUL authorization by only three months instead of 10 years, and passed it by unanimous consent, sending it back to the House.

The Democratic leadership of the House, in an unusual move, then took the Senate-amended bill and stripped out the NASA provisions, replacing it with the text of two voting rights bills and now called the “Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.” They did so because H.R. 5746 had already passed the House and Senate, so the amended version could go directly to the Senate floor without the threat of a filibuster from Senate Republicans, who oppose the voting rights legislation. [emphasis mine]

The level of corruption exhibited by this Democratic Party action is beyond words. The Senate approved one bill. The House Democrats have now turned it into another bill that the Senate did not vote on initially.

At Da Caller, Doocy Presses Psaki On Biden Vilifying Republicans, She Ends Response By Cheering For Football Team, White responds by cutting him out the the transcript? At Da Wire, White House Appears To Cut Out Remarks From Fox News Reporter In Official Transcript Of Press Briefing. NYPo notes how Biden keeps twisting facts about American history to serve his agenda. He's long been one of the worst liars (in both senses) in American politics; would we expect less now?

Politico whines that Harris pushed hard for voting rights — then hit a brick wall, "The VP’s work was more extensive than known. But legislative paths appear closed." The Babylon Bee, Kamala Harris So Disliked Nation Considering Hillary Clinton. But seriously folks, at NYPo, Ex-Clinton adviser says there’s ‘good chance’ of 2024 Hillary/Trump rematch; At Da Mail, 'Good chance' Hillary WILL run in 2024 if Biden loses Congress in midterms, former top advisor to Bill Clinton says (Dick Morris); and Doris O'Brian at Am Think warns You Have Been Warned: Hillary is Back. A wooden stake and a mouth full of garlic might do it.

Fox Reports Trump delivers what sounds like a 2024 stump speech at his first rally of 2022. AZ Central, Trump resumes attacks on Biden, Ducey in combative Arizona appearance. AZ Sun Times, Trump Salutes Maricopa County Audit, Atty. Gen. Brnovich, Teases AT&T Boycott at 45K-Strong Arizona Rally. Mediaite whines Trump Fumes at ‘Woke Executives’ Pulling OAN from DirecTV, Floats Call of a Boycott Against DirecTV Parent Co. AT&T. At WaPoo, Paul Waldman opines Trump’s Arizona project shows the dire threat to American democracy

So, Glenn Youngkin has barely been sworn in as Governator of Virginia, and he's already giving the Democrats a case of the fantods. Twitchy, Mary Katharine Ham OWNS NBC harpy flipping OUT over Glenn Youngkin empowering parent CHOICE with student masking in kick-a*s thread.  At PM, Glenn Youngkin bans critical race theory, ends mask mandates in schools on first day as Virginia governor. At LI, As First Action In Office, VA Governor Glenn Youngkin Signs Order “Ending The Use Of … Critical Race Theory” In Public K-12, "Will the EO be effective? That remains to be seen, but it sets a tone and direction for K-12." It can only be effective if he has punishment to offer. At Da Caller, Gov. Youngkin Signs 11 Executive Orders During First Day In Office. At Breitbart, Ralph Northam: Critical Race Theory ‘Nothing More than a Dog Whistle’; Says ‘Not Being Taught’ in Virginia K-12. It's not being taught as a theory, it's being taught as a fact. Wa Free Bee reminds us Gov. Blackface Pardons Perv: Northam Absolves Democrat Jailed for Underage Sex Crimes in Final Act as Governor. What is it with Democrats and pedophiles? 

Speaking of Governators, ours is playing coy, on Da Hill, Hogan won't say if he will file to run for Senate by Feb. 22 deadline

Wa Free Bee sees  Senators Demand Cardona Explain Role in Letter That Called Parents Domestic Terrorists, "Emails show education secretary requested controversial letter to Biden." Robert Busek at Am Spec, Has Secretary Cardona Declared an Unwinnable War on American Parents? "Education secretary Miguel Cardona seems to be competing with Attorney General Merrick Garland in having school board critics bullied as “domestic terrorists.”" AP Dillon, Wake County Democrat tweet includes image disparaging parents, "Image decpicts the public and parents engaged in education issues as conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, anti-vax, and Jan. 6 protesters."Althouse catches WaPoo taking interest in a school board election in rural Washington, "I’m not what people assume that I am. I love the fact that I’m different, and maybe that makes me scary to some, but I don’t know, I’m not this gun-toting, right-wing extremist that they all think I am."

Said Ashley Sova, quoted in "A rural Washington school board race shows how far-right extremists are shifting to local power/The establishment candidate thought she was a shoo-in, but she hadn’t contended with the home-schooling, anti-masking member of the far-right Three Percent movement" (WaPo).

Ann in the comments  "Now, in this case, I went to the end of the article to get what I thought was bloggable. The entire top of the article was designed to make Sova seem untouchably toxic, so that triggered me to look for what they tucked away at the bottom."

Jordan Boyd at Da Fed Reports Federal Court Won’t Back Down After Sanctioning Russia Hoax Lawyer Marc Elias For Deceiving Judges. Elias is also neck deep in the attempt to use Jan. 6 as an excuse to black ball Republican candidate. 

Elias is infamous for using deception, lies, and money to meddle with U.S. elections and push Democrats to the top. Not only did Elias fund the discredited Steele Dossier designed to hurt Donald Trump in 2016, but he helped coordinate and design the Democrat-financed effort to change hundreds of election laws in the months leading up to the 2020 election.

On the Jan. 6 front, WaPoo reports Jan. 6 panel split on tactics. Some want to go straight to beheadings, others want a show trial first. Also WaPoo  whines As Jan. 6 case grows, Justice yet to zero in on Trump. "The Justice Dept. alleged Jan. 6 was a seditious conspiracy. Now will it investigate Trump?" Capt. Ed at Haut Hair warns of "Senate Dems' midterm wish: A DoJ indictment of Trump?" 'Wolf Howling' at Am Think accuses The Democrats of Attempting A Coup By Lawfare and John Green wonders Is Ray Epps the Key?. There's certainly something fishy there. Dan Brophy at Am Great knows Liz Cheney’s True Constituents, "Someone who can raise hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars with a few phone calls will harbor loyalty to D.C. interests, not to Wyoming voters."

Nick Arama at Red State sees Biden Supporter Makes Trouble at Trump Rally, but She Immediately Has Cause to Regret It

She was walking around, trying to incite the crowd and get a reaction, while a security guy followed her, trying to prevent things from getting out of hand. Someone took her sign, but then in response, she swiped a sign from a booth. She then insisted to the security guard that she wouldn’t give the sign she swiped back until he got her the other sign back, as she held the swiped sign between her legs. She kept insisting she had a “First Amendment right.”

But you don’t have a First Amendment right to swipe a sign and you don’t have a First Amendment right to disturb the peace. She needs a lesson in the Constitution. She then went over the line and threatened to punch the security guard. That’s when he signaled to the police. It didn’t end well for her.

Rick Moran at PJ Media, In the News: Civil War Is Coming … Again … or Not. War by other means PM reports  Twitter suspends J6 defendants' attorney's account with no reason given, "Twitter has suspended the account of Marina Medvin, who represents January 6 defendants, from the platform, giving no reason as to why." No reason needed. Just a warning shot.

Update: Marina Medvin's received a message that read "Our support team has reviewed your account and it appears we made an error. We've determined there was no violation and have restored your account to full functionality." The email apologized for the "inconvenience." But the account remains inaccessible.

  Twitter delenda est.

The Monday Morning Stimulus

Walk Report

One thing about having a Siberian Husky is that no weather the lower 49 can muster is an acceptable excuse for not going on a walk. It was 26 F and just starting to snow a little after lunch when we bundled up and set off on a short walk around the neighborhood. No way we were going to the beach.

By the time we finished the walk, about 30 minutes, lawns were already beginning to get white, and snow was sticking on shady areas of the untreated minor roads. We have about a half inch now.

If the radar is any indication, the weather is coming up from the south, and at some point will turn into ice and then rain.

Underwater Volcanic Explosion Near Tonga Sets Off Pacific Wide Tsunami

 Dang! CNN Tsunami advisories lifted in US after waves hit Tonga following volcanic eruption

An underwater volcano in the South Pacific erupted violently on Saturday, causing tsunamis to hit Hawaii, Japan, and Tonga's largest island, Tongatapu -- sending waves flooding into the capital.

The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) southeast of Tonga's Fonuafo'ou island, first erupted on Friday and a second time on Saturday around 5:26 p.m. local time, according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

The eruptions sent a plume of ash, gas and steam 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) into the air, according to RNZ. Satellite imagery showed a massive ash cloud and shockwaves spreading from the eruption. Ash was falling from the sky in the Tonga capital, Nuku'alofa, Saturday evening and phone connections were down.

The eruption caused a severe tsunami on Tongatapu, where the capital is located, with waves flowing onto coastal roads and flooding properties on Saturday.

There's a satellite video of the explosion at the link which is just stunning. A slightly less awesome, but at least embeddable one:

The explosion sent a tsunami out over the whole Pacific region, including the US Lori Dengler at the Eureka Time Standard: An unprecedented tsunami from the Tonga Islands

In the 74-year history of US tsunami warning centers, there had never been a volcanic-generated tsunami worthy of issuing a bulletin about. The software for sending alerts is predicated on an earthquake source and the warning center folks had to put something in the earthquake magnitude field in order to send it out.
Normally, the earthquake triggers the tsunami alerting process. An audible alert goes off and computer screens flash in the tsunami warning centers whenever an earthquake above a certain magnitude occurs and that initiates the analysis and bulletin dissemination. For US earthquakes, it typically takes five minutes or less to get an initial bulletin out. If the earthquake is further away, that initial bulletin may take 10 minutes.

This morning, the first tsunami bulletin from the National Tsunami Warning Center was issued at 3 a.m. PST. It was a statement — an earthquake of M1 had occurred in the Tonga Islands area at 8:27 p.m PST the day before and “Earthquakes of this size are known to generate tsunamis potentially dangerous to coasts outside the source region.” At 4:53 a.m. bulletin #2 announces that a Tsunami Advisory is in effect for all the US and Canadian West Coast and Alaska. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued similar advisories for Hawaii. This time the volcanic source was included, and Ryan at the NWS deemed it worthy of waking me up.
. . .
By the time the US tsunami centers issued their first bulletin, the tsunami was approaching Hawaii. By the time I got my computer up and running, I could pull up coastal tide gauges and underwater deep pressure data and watch the tsunami progressing across the

Pacific.

After an hour or two, it became clear to me that this tsunami looked very different than typical earthquake caused ones. It was particularly evident on the DART instruments. Beginning in the late 1990s, NOAA began deploying pressure sensors on the ocean floor. These instruments now called DART, are located in deep water far from coastal topography so that they can measure the true tsunami signal unaffected by coastal amplification. They are an important tool in the warning arsenal for forecasting likely tsunami heights.

I have looked at a lot of DART graphs for earthquake tsunamis. They tend to start out with larger amplitudes and then decay and disappear over the next hour. Today’s tsunami is lasting much longer on the deep-sea instruments – four hours now and still counting. We don’t know for sure yet why it is lasting so long – whether it has to do with the eruption itself or complex interaction with the sea floor. But it likely means that today’s tsunami will last even long than usual, and my guess is that I will still be seeing traces in a few days.

On the California coast, Port Luis recorded the highest water level so far – at just over 4 feet with Crescent City a close second at 3.9. 

The vulnerability of Crescent City to tsunamis has been well known since the Good Friday 1964 quake in Alaska led to the flooding, damage and death in Crescent City. Apparently, the hydrography nearby helps to bring out the best in them.

The signal of the tsunami was also easily visible in the Aleutian Islands:

But even more than the tsunamis, which beyond Tonga, seem to have had only minor consequence, I wonder about the effect of this eruption on the climate in the medium term. Large volcanic eruptions have been observed to have strong cooling impacts on the whole earth several times in recorded history, and down through geologic time. In recent events, it was considered to be the result of sulfate aerosols blocking sunlight. 

Well, several cubic kilometers of sulfate laden seawater just had a violent encounter with a whole lot of hot lava. Just sayin.'

Poor Joe's Bad, Very, Very Bad Week Ends

Will the next be worse? The postmortem on Joe's very bad week continues. Atop Da Hill, Joe Concha dissects Joe Biden's disastrous 48 hours. At WaEx, Paul Bedard gives Joe a White House Report Card: Biden's shrinking presidency stalling out. Solid Ds. Even WaPoo recognizes there's a problem, ‘One of those weeks’: From voting rights to vaccines, Biden experiences the limits of his office — and the fragility of his presidency, also, Virginia Kruta at Da Wire reports how Peter Doocy Asks Psaki Why Biden’s ‘Decades Of DC Experience’ Haven’t Paid Off ,‘What Happened?’ Peter knows well enough that Joe isn't really calling the shots. Clive Cook at WaPoo (from Bloomies) Biden Is Dividing the Country He Promised to Unite. 

Over years of following American politics, I’d come to regard Joe Biden as harmless — a back-slapper without strong conviction, given to exaggeration and the occasional outright lie, but no worse than average for a career politician and no threat to the republic. Lately I’ve been wondering if I overestimated him.

Breitbart has a Poll: Plurality Say Biden Is Dividing the Country. Chuck Lipsom at Spec World, The little president who cried racism "Biden hides in the last refuge of today’s scoundrels." Capt. Ed at Haut Hair hears Retreat: White House declares Republicans, Manchin, Sinema not segregationists and traitors "as humans," or something. Then why did your speechwriters put it in your speech?  At CNS News, Tulsi Gabbard: Biden’s Smear of Americans More Divisive and Disgusting than Hillary Clinton’s ‘Deplorables’ Slur. Tim Graham sees No Fact-Checking for Biden's Atlanta Smears. Pat Buchanan? Biden: Bull Connor's GOP Imperils Democracy

If Biden's purpose was to add Senate votes to build a majority for ending the filibuster on voting rights, this looks like a loser. Implying that 52 senators, including Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, are racists for the stand they have taken on keeping the filibuster does not seem like the way to bring them around.

At WaEx,  White House defends Biden's record after week of setbacks. Of course they do; they'd also tell you the sky is green if they needed it to fit their narrative. NYPo says Accusations fly as ‘demoralized’ Dems point fingers in wake of filibuster fallout. KT at Haut Hair reports Manchin, Sinema turn on Biden, join others holding him responsible for COVID test shortages. Fair is fair. Insty, WELL, THEY HATE HER, AND THEY HATE REPUBLICANS, SO THE CONFUSION WAS NATURAL: Whoops? CNN Chyron Labels Sen. Sinema a Republican During Anderson Cooper 360. NYT, cited by Haut Hair, Dems face dilemma on voting bills: Compromise or keep pressing?

Fox reports Kamala Harris advisers look for reset after difficult year for vice president, "Her team hopes to raise her floundering poll numbers." Althouse alludes to another reset attempt, But do they have a button? "I'm seeing "Frustrated Democrats Call for ‘Reset’ Ahead of Midterm Elections" (NYT). . . If I were a Democrat — and I hasten to say I'm not a Republican either — I would banish the word "reset" from my vocabulary."

Fox, Republican Glenn Youngkin sworn in as governor of Virginia. I hope his snow removal plans are in order; Dems and the media (but I redund) are just aching to blame him for anything bad out of this nor'easter/  'Bonchie' at Red State sees that Glenn Youngkin and Company Start Things off by Going Scorched Earth in Virginia

On his first day in office, Youngkin is going to sign an order to eliminate the state-wide mask mandate for children in schools. That’s in response to the overwhelming amount of data that masks in schools have been one of the most useless, asinine policies of the COVID-19 pandemic.
. . .
Further, Youngkin also announced the hiring of outspoken anti-CRT voice Jillian Balow as Education Superintendent, which will hopefully help to rein in the state’s rogue school boards. Clearly, things aren’t going the way Larry Hogan’s administration went in Maryland.

But while Youngkin is making the moves you’d expect, it’s the new Attorney General Jason Miyares that is already causing wailing and gnashing of teeth. He’s replacing Mark Herring, who ran the office in the typical far-left, woke fashion that led to a higher crime rate and deterioration of safety. Herring also let the various George Soros-funded district attorneys in the state run wild.

Twitchy, Incoming Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares cleans house, reportedly fires entire civil rights division. Richmond.com, Miyares fires 30 in AG's office, including lawyer investigating dangerous conditions at Richmond apartments. Fox, Virginia's new AG Jason Miyares announces major investigations within hours of taking office

Virginia’s newly sworn-in Attorney General Jason Miyares announced investigations into the Virginia Parole Board and Loudoun County Public Schools within hours of taking office. . . "One of the reasons Virginians get so fed up with government is the lack of transparency - and that’s a big issue here," Miyares wrote. "The Virginia Parole Board broke the law when they let out murders, rapists, and cop killers early on their sentences without notifying the victims. Loudoun Country Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain, leading to an additional assault of a young girl."

And speaking of the sexual assault of a young girl by a skirt wearing boy, John Sexton at Haut Hair notes that Loudoun County still won't release report on high school sexual assaults, but Smith family wants it made public. WTVR 6 in Richmond, History-making Winsome Earle-Sears hopes to help lift kids out of poverty through education "The Republican said her background as a Jamaican immigrant who arrived in the United States at age six, shaped her worldview that with hard work and education, a child, even those living in abject poverty, can become anything they want to."

Insty, SCIENCE! Midterms coming up! "US Government to end daily COVID death reporting. A document issued issued Jan 6 by the US Health and Human Services tells hospitals they are no longer required to report daily COVID-19 deaths to the federal government starting Feb 2." That's one way to destroy the virus. Also, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RACE OFFICIALLY BEGINS:

● Florida Democrat Nikki Fried compares Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to Adolf Hitler.

● Samantha Bee Labels DeSantis ‘Worse Than Trump.’

Flashbacks:

● American Politics Reaches Its ‘Worse Than Trump’ Phase. “This is simply how Democrats begin to talk about Republican candidates whom they believe are capable of winning a national election. When such candidates reach office, they’re Hitler. When they’ve left office, they’re bad, but not as bad as the ones in office. And when they’re dead, they’re the sort of Republicans whom the living ones should be more like — yes, even if, when they were alive, they, too, were deemed to be Hitler. The assertion that ‘DeSantis is worse than Trump’ was inevitable from the moment Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.”

● Every New Republican Is the Most Evil Republican Ever.

● Every Republican president or presidential candidate is the next Hitler — even Calvin Coolidge, who served before the Nazis came to power.

KT again, Texas Dems work around election integrity law as they mail out "hundreds of thousands" of mail-in ballots. On Da Hill, Trump to make election claims center stage in Arizona. Dan Chaitin at WaEx reports GOP Arizona governor candidate drops out hours before Trump rallies with endorsed rivalPolitico whines Trump 2024 is here, if he wants it. Althouse blogs the Slantic, "Trump has had a remarkable 14 months. Most losing presidential candidates are forced into quiet retirement by their parties."

Insty blogs HUGH HEWITT: RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel On The RNC’s Divorce from the Biased Presidential Debate Commission.

They even saw it from Da Hill, YouTube temporarily suspends, demonetizes Dan Bongino's channel, for departing from the regimes orthodoxy on masks. 

Politico claims to have identified We Found the One Group of Americans Who Are Most Likely to Spread Fake News. conservatives, of course, unlike the peddlers of the Russagate hoax, and the wild origin of WuFlu. 

Switching gears to the Jan. 6 Capitol Incursion, Andy McCarthy, a Never-Trumper, but an honest former federal prosecutor thinks Seditious Conspiracy Is the Wrong Charge in the Capitol-Riot Prosecutions

Seditious conspiracy is the rare criminal offense in which motive matters. In most crimes, prosecutors need establish only knowledge and intent — meaning, the defendant did not act by mistake. If you embezzle funds from a federal agency, for example, it makes no difference that you needed money to feed your starving family; you knew the funds were not yours, and you stole them on purpose, case closed.

Why the accused acted is, however, a core question in seditious-conspiracy prosecutions. It must be proved that force was directed at government facilities and agents because they instantiated the government’s execution of its lawful authority. Or it must be shown that the defendant was trying to wage war against the American people: The purpose of attacking civilian infrastructure, for example, must be to coerce the United States into surrendering, changing policy, or taking some other national action. To the contrary, while blowing up a building in order to collect on the insurance is a heinous act, and one who does it should face a severe sentence, it’s not seditious conspiracy.
. . .
A good example (I could cite many others): The indictment relates that in an interview on December 22, 2020, the lead defendant, Elmer Rhodes, “urged president Trump to use military force to stop the lawful transfer of power” (emphasis added) and described the upcoming January 6 joint session of Congress as a “hard constitutional deadline” to do so.

That is a grossly inaccurate description of what happened. Rhodes did not urge that the lawful transfer of power be stopped. Prosecutors offer no reason to believe that Rhodes intended to obstruct the lawful transfer of power. To be accurate, the indictment would have to say Rhodes urged Trump to stop what Rhodes believed was the unlawful transfer of power. And while Rhodes was mistaken in this belief, he did not formulate it out of thin air. He believed the transfer of power to Biden would be unlawful because the incumbent president — the only public official vested with constitutional authority to uphold the laws — insisted it would be unlawful. Consequently, Rhodes saw January 6 as a “hard constitutional deadline” because he saw himself as upholding the Constitution — preserving the government, not overthrowing it. He was not trying to oppose the government’s lawful authority; he saw himself — again, based on what the government’s own top official was saying — as protecting the government from the unlawful seizure of authority.

Vicky Taft at PJ Media has a better review; Nick Searcy Blows the Lid Off the Jan 6. Narrative With 'Capitol Punishment.'  WaPoo want the investigation extended to Trump, The Justice Dept. alleged Jan. 6 was a seditious conspiracy. Now will it investigate Trump? WaPoo whines about how Jan. 6 panel grapples with how to secure testimony from lawmakers, Pence, "The House select committee is divided on whether to pursue subpoenas, in part over fears that a protracted legal fight would delay the committee’s goal of issuing a report ahead of the November midterms." It's all about battlespace preparation for the midterms.  NN hears MSNBC say McCarthy Should Be 'Handcuffed,' 'Locked in Basement' for Defying Jan 6 Panel. They better be careful, their turn in the minority may come soon. Mediaite whines Tulsi Gabbard Claims Biden Is ‘Targeting’ Jan 6. Defendants Just for Being ‘Anti-Authority’. No, he's targeting them for being anti his authority.

An amusing anecdote from the Insider, Capitol rioters called Nancy Pelosi's office looking for a 'lost and found' for items they left behind on January 6, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin. Doh! They weren't all the sharpest tacks on the board. 

In contrast, from PM, BLM rioter sentenced to federal prison for burning down Minneapolis shop after fire killed man, 10 years.

Lee was not directly charged with Stewart's death. However, the man's death did factor into the prison sentence, Post Bulletin reported. In written arguments, prosecutors requested a 144-month sentence stating that "the Court's sentence must account for the fact that Mr. Lee's crime took Oscar Stewart's life."

Lee's legal counsel argued in written filings for an 88-month prison sentence, stating the lighter sentence would allow Lee to "have an additional chance at life; to be a father to provide for his community, and to become a law-abiding citizen once again." In court Friday morning, attorney Bruce Rivers said that Lee was "caught up in a mass protest against police violence." Rivers stated that Lee had checked to make sure no one was in the building before starting the fire.

"I was hoping to be another voice added to the cry for change. I wanted to be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. Though I don't stand by my actions, I stand by my reasons behind them," Lee said.

At Wa Ex, Emily Brooks reports Jim Banks says ‘long past time’ to kick Cheney and Kinzinger from House GOP. It looks like the voters are going to do it anyway. 

Snowy Sunday?

There's a big Nor'easter hitting the mid-Atlantic today, and there's a remote chance it might turn into a snow event for us. These girls are ready for it.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.