{"id":320,"date":"2018-08-21T18:30:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T02:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/?p=320"},"modified":"2018-08-21T18:30:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T02:30:19","slug":"interesting-items-08-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/2018\/08\/21\/interesting-items-08-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Interesting Items 08\/20"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information.\u00a0 Enjoy \u2013<\/p>\n<p>In this issue:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cakeshop<\/li>\n<li>Brennan<\/li>\n<li>Roundup<\/li>\n<li>Assault<\/li>\n<li>Camp<\/li>\n<li>Greening<\/li>\n<li>Donlin<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cakeshop. Not being content with being slapped down for their public hostility to Christians, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission is going after Masterpiece Cakeshop once again for refusing to bake another cake.\u00a0 This one is a celebration of a \u201ctransition\u201d from one sex to another.\u00a0 The request was made telephonically the same day the SCOTUS opinion in support of Masterpiece was handed down.\u00a0 It also appears to have been recorded.\u00a0 In response, the Alliance Defending Freedom that represented the owner before the SCOTUS filed suit in federal court requesting an injunction against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission against further harassment of the owner.\u00a0 Nothing like demonstrating that you are not anti-Christian bigots by once again exercising your anti-Christian bigotry in defiance of a 7 \u2013 2 slap-down by the highest court in the land.\u00a0 In a related story, the Masters of the Universe (Silicon Valley billionaires) who are busily censoring conservatives at the behest of democrat operatives working for them, on their boards, and in congress have been trying to use the excuse that privately held businesses ought to be treated like Christian bake shops and not be forced to carry content that they choose not to carry.\u00a0 This is a remarkably flaccid argument.\u00a0 A Breitbart article sliced and diced this argument nine ways from Sunday with the following rationale:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Christian bakeries can\u2019t kill your business. Social media companies have grown to the extent that a simple algorithm tweak (intentional) can shut down significant traffic flow to business web sites.\u00a0 A non-political, viral website LittleThings suffered this in January and had to shut down after losing 75% of its daily traffic.<\/li>\n<li>Christian bakeries can\u2019t swing an election. FakeBook claims to have boosted voter turnout by 3% by tweaking its algorithm in 2016.\u00a0 Goolag manipulates search results to favor selected democrat candidates.\u00a0 Some studies estimate this can swing up to 40% of undecided voters.\u00a0 Another author estimates this swung 2 \u2013 3 million votes toward Hillary in 2016.<\/li>\n<li>Christian bakeries don\u2019t birth and grow grassroots movements. Successful grassroots movements require some sort of social media for organization and fundraising.\u00a0 When Big Tech actively suppresses right wing comments, members, posts, and other forms of communications, they grow only the groups that support their worldview.<\/li>\n<li>Christian bakeries aren\u2019t public squares. A 2017 unanimous SCOTUS opinion ruled it was illegal for North Carolina to prohibit registered sex offenders from using social media.\u00a0 Rationale was that he social media platforms had become \u201cmodern public squares.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Christian bakeries aren\u2019t utilities. Public utilities and airways are not allowed to deny service because of your political views.\u00a0 This is what social media is actively doing.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, Christian bakeries are not monopolies, duopolies or oligopolies. The active collaboration of social media platforms to shut down Alex Jones took only 12 hours.\u00a0 There was coordination.\u00a0 Social media has turned into a cartel.\u00a0 For example, Gab, a free speech alternative competitor to Twitter has been locked out of Google Play and the Apple App store who control 99% of the market for smartphone operating systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tech\/2018\/08\/14\/bokhari-why-tech-giants-arent-like-christian-bakeries\/\">https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tech\/2018\/08\/14\/bokhari-why-tech-giants-arent-like-christian-bakeries\/<\/a><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Brennan. For pure comedy gold, we have the defenestration of former CIA Chief John Brennan under O\u2019Bama by the Trump WH.\u00a0 Brennan is one of the ringleaders of the attempted anti-Trump coup via corruption of the intelligence community, FIB and DoJ.\u00a0 He has been publicly running his mouth on any cable network that will give him air time.\u00a0 And he got a lot of air time.\u00a0 When he ratcheted up the invective to the point where he accused President Trump of treason, Trump began preparing return fire.\u00a0 The first round move was to pull his security clearance.\u00a0 For most people with clearances, they are only granted when you have a need to know.\u00a0 Some of the real high rollers, former CIA Chief would be one of those, they are allowed to maintain their clearance after leaving office as a gesture of respect \/ gratitude for the job and position they used to hold.\u00a0 That clearance is parlayed into very high paying jobs at defense and intelligence contractors, the revolving door in the swamp that allows everyone to get rich as they bounce from job to job.\u00a0 Trump just removed Brennan from that world.\u00a0 And given the hysterical media and democrat reaction to doing it, they have just identified yet another tool he can use to drive them stark, raving mad.\u00a0 Operating in the contractor world was where former FIB Directors Comey and Mueller made all their personal money.\u00a0 Pull the clearances, and those jobs disappear instantly. \u00a0Brennan, ever the brilliant (\/sarc) political player, promised to sue and get a court to reinstate his clearance.\u00a0 I do expect an O\u2019Bama DC Circuit court judge to order this done.\u00a0 OTOH, I don\u2019t expect Brennan to ever see a clearance again.\u00a0 As to Brennan\u2019s co-conspirators in the attempted coup, I expect they will be losing their clearances in short order.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2018\/08\/15\/trump-pulls-security-clearance-of-ex-cia-director-brennan-778791\">https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2018\/08\/15\/trump-pulls-security-clearance-of-ex-cia-director-brennan-778791<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Roundup. A California jury awarded $289 in damages from Monsanto to a plaintiff who claimed he got cancer from the active ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s Roundup.\u00a0 $39 million were compensatory and $250 million were punitive damages.\u00a0 This is only the first of what promises to be thousands of class action lawsuits aimed at destroying Monsanto.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the funny part:\u00a0 glyphosate may not be carcinogenic.\u00a0 Years of testing by the EPA have found no data supporting the notion that glyphosate is clearly carcinogenic.\u00a0 The World Health Organization found that it was carcinogenic in 2015 after removing findings from studies that concluded glyphosate was noncarcinogenic before publishing their conclusions.\u00a0 A long-term observational study of 89,000 farmers and families in North Carolina consistently failed to find any link with exposure to the active ingredient and any increase in cancer.\u00a0 California piled on and accepted the WHO designation, imposing a statewide designation of the chemical as a carcinogen, which was the foundation for the jury\u2019s conclusions.\u00a0 Science loses when its pursuit is turned into a money grab by the trial lawyers.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2018\/01\/years-of-testing-shows-glyphosate-isnt-carcinogenic.html\">https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2018\/01\/years-of-testing-shows-glyphosate-isnt-carcinogenic.html<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Assault. DNC Vice-Chairman, Muslim, former congress critter from Minnesota Keith Ellison is leaving congress to run for state attorney general.\u00a0 Allegations surfaced last week toward the end of the campaign that Ellison had emotionally and physically abused his former girlfriend.\u00a0 The DNC, which has been in the fat middle of the #MeToo movement has been not unexpectedly silent about the allegations.\u00a0 The timing of the charges conveniently a week before the state primary is more than a little suspicious.\u00a0 In response, Minnesota democrats nominated Ellison for Attorney General, a race he is expected to easily win.\u00a0 This campaign will be interesting to watch, as Minnesota democrats are still fairly upset at the gratuitous cashiering of Al Franken in sexual harassment charges, something that probably led to Ellison\u2019s easy primary win.\u00a0 Remember that senate democrats forced Franken out as because they knew MN Governor Mark Dayton would appoint another democrat to replace him.\u00a0 They wanted Franken gone as moral positioning to defeat Roy Moore for US Senate in Alabama.\u00a0 We will see is #MeToo is still important to the democrats in the runup to the 2018 elections or if they haven\u2019t simply moved on to all racism all the time in their get out the vote efforts.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2018\/08\/14\/free-beacon-dnc-suuuure-seems-quiet-deputy-chairs-domestic-violence-allegations\/\">https:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2018\/08\/14\/free-beacon-dnc-suuuure-seems-quiet-deputy-chairs-domestic-violence-allegations\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Camp. NM law enforcement took down a terrorist training camp in the desert.\u00a0 The camp was led by five adults, one of whom is related to the Blind Cleric who led the initial attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.\u00a0 He is a 1993 unindicted co-conspirator and Linda Sarsour\u2019s mentor.\u00a0 The five were training children in the use of firearms and tactics intended to be used to kill teachers, law enforcement and other targets of their fundamentalist ire.\u00a0 The compound was essentially a school shooter training ground.\u00a0 The 11 children were starving and maltreated.\u00a0 The NM judge let the five out of court on $20,000 bonds apiece.\u00a0 There was at least one death of children in the compound following some sort of Islamic cleansing.\u00a0 Terrorist training camp in NM?\u00a0 Child abuse?\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 Let \u2018em out.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to appear judgmental.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/victorygirlsblog.com\/siraj-ibn-wahhaj-son-of-nyc-iman-tied-to-93-wtc-bombing-was-running-terrorist-training-camp-video\/\">http:\/\/victorygirlsblog.com\/siraj-ibn-wahhaj-son-of-nyc-iman-tied-to-93-wtc-bombing-was-running-terrorist-training-camp-video\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Greening. WUWT is running a series of articles on Global Greening.\u00a0 Kip Hansen described an April 2017 article by a journalist named Zimmer who reported that plants today are growing at a faster rate than any other time in the last 54,000 years (the middle of the last great ice age).\u00a0 Additionally, plants are converting 31% more CO2 into organic matter than they were before the Industrial Revolution (end of the Little Ice Age in the mid-19<sup>th<\/sup> Century).\u00a0 The article went on to conclude that global greening has mitigated global warming following the end of the Little Ice Age in 1880, limiting that warming to only 2 degrees F.\u00a0 All in all, a pretty balanced article.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t last long, as the journalist came back a year later with completely different conclusions, that global greening is bad.\u00a0 Rationale?\u00a0 More photosynthesis doesn\u2019t necessarily mean more food.\u00a0 Extra CO2 can somehow make plants less nutritious.\u00a0 More plants won\u2019t prevent climate change.\u00a0 And global greening won\u2019t last forever.\u00a0 The article goes on to take a look at the notion that more photosynthesis doesn\u2019t mean more food.\u00a0 CO2 is even better, as it enhances both crop water usage (plants use water more efficiently) and yields.\u00a0 Of course, some plant types do better than others, but general improvement is measurable across the entire spectrum of plant growth.\u00a0 More CO2?\u00a0 Great for plants.\u00a0 Great for us.\u00a0 Especially great for people trying to farm in marginal soil and water conditions.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2018\/08\/14\/the-fight-against-global-greening-part-1\/\">https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2018\/08\/14\/the-fight-against-global-greening-part-1\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li>Donlin. The Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Land management issued major permits for development of the Donlin Creek Mine 275 miles west of Anchorage.\u00a0 The agencies selected Donlin\u2019s proposed development scenario, rejecting opposition proposals including not building the mine at all.\u00a0 Infrastructure associated with the mine will include a 316-mile-long natural gas pipeline from Cook Inlet, and a 30-mile long access road to a port along the Kuskokwim.\u00a0 The mine should create up to 3,000 new jobs during construction and up to 1,200 new jobs during 30 years of planned operations.\u00a0 The mine went through over 400 meetings over the years, most of them in rural Alaska communities.\u00a0 Opposition has grown in recent months, most of it fanned by the Usual Suspects in the environmental community.\u00a0 Most interesting part of this project is the support by the usually anti-development Walker \u2013 Mallott administration, which vociferously opposes the Pebble Mine in the neighboring watershed to the east, mining much the same material for sale.\u00a0 Difference between Donlin and Pebble?\u00a0 Donlin is native owned and operated.\u00a0 Pebble is not.\u00a0 Donlin is perhaps a fifth the size of the revised Pebble.\u00a0 Congratulations to everyone involved in this.\u00a0 Get it right, guys.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/business-economy\/2018\/08\/13\/federal-government-advances-donlin-gold-project-issuing-major-permit\/\">https:\/\/www.adn.com\/business-economy\/2018\/08\/13\/federal-government-advances-donlin-gold-project-issuing-major-permit\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>More later &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; AG<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information.\u00a0 Enjoy \u2013 In this issue: Cakeshop Brennan Roundup Assault Camp Greening Donlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interestingitems.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}