Overnight Open Thread (11-21-2013)

The Giveaway that Global Warmening is a Scam

People will bullshit with their mouth but almost never with their own money.

"The high cost of coastal homes in New York and Los Angeles is on its own a market signal that the alleged threat of global warming is well overdone. Even worse for those who buy into the theory of global warming that says a planetary crack-up is inevitable absent a substantial human response, is that Malibu, Manhattan and the Hamptons are filled with the very people who, when asked if they believe in the global warming theory, would most likely say yes. Ok, so Ted Danson owns in Martha's Vineyard, noted environmental activist Laurie David does too, and then Al Gore is known to have purchased a coastal palazzo in Montecito, CA. What this tells us is that even global warming's most famous advocates don't believe very deeply in their own activism. To believe the warmists we're sitting idle as Rome supposedly burns, but as evidenced by the popularity of coastal property among warmists and non-warmists alike, the market says the 'science' predicting catastrophe is utter nonsense."

Slate: The Global Warming Pause Proves That Anti-Global Warming Efforts Work

At this point AGW is simply non-falsifiable: There is literally no experiment or outcome you can predict that climate change believers will accept as proof it's false. Which tells you it's really a matter of religious faith instead of science.

Meanwhile the Global Warming global bandwagon seems to be unraveling: UN climate talks fall apart as 132 countries storm out

Mostly because wealthy countries aren't willing to hand over money to the poor countries for all the non-occurring global warming. I particularly like how the Australian government who have publicly repudiated AGW hysteria are treating the shakedown climate talks:

Australian diplomats have also thrown a wrench into the negotiations, as poor countries and activists accused them of not taking the talks seriously. The country did not even send high-ranking officials to the UN summit, saying that they would be busy repealing the country's contentious carbon tax.

"They wore T-shirts and gorged on snacks throughout the negotiation. That gives some indication of the manner they are behaving in," said a spokeswoman for the Climate Action Network.

Great Leftist Rebuttals: "The idea that young people won't go on to the exchanges is very gendered."

Huh?

Also Racist: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Because Latinos and other immigrants are simply unable to comprehend the concept of smearing stuff on sliced bread and this kind of White Man magic scares and oppresses them.

Banned in Canada: Doorknobs

Henceforth doorknobs are no longer allowed in new Vancouver construction. Because old people and arthritis.

In Vancouver, the doorknob is heading into a setting sun. Its future has been date-marked, legislated out of existence in all future construction, a tip to society's quest for universal design and the easier-to-use lever handle.

...In September, Vancouver council adopted new amendments to its building code, effective next March, that, among other things, will require lever handles on all doors and lever faucets in all new housing construction.

Whoa - Did the US Government Kill Brittany Murphy and Her Husband?

Okay this has got to be one of the wilder conspiracy theories but there's enough evidence that the government harassed Department of Homeland Security whistleblower, Julia Davis, with every tool at their disposal and had Murphy and her husband under surveillance that you can't reject it out of hand. Now given Murphy and Monjack's known drug habits this is probably what actually killed them - but on the other hand there are several people associated with the Davis case who are now dead and that seems worthy of further investigation.

Salon's Alternate Reality: The right's in a box - Here's how GOP loses Obamacare fight

Hoo boy normally publishing this would be grounds for a drug test.

The fact that Affordable Care Act enrollments are spiking in states that have functioning exchange websites of their own is great news for the law and for the many thousands of people who will be newly, or better, insured come Jan. 1.

Married? Well ObamaCare has a special treat for you. And by treat I mean a pretty hefty extra yearly bill.

A married couple is eligible for the federal subsidies if they make less than 400% above what the government considers poverty, but the poverty line for marrieds is lower than the combined level for couples living together. The unmarried couple could have a higher income and still reap the benefit of subsidies.

What you subsidize, you get more of. What you punish, you get less of.

Does Big Philanthropy Actually Help People?

Short answer: Not really. Of all the famed public philanthropists - Oprah, Bill Clinton, Angelina Jolie, etc  - Bill Gates has probably done the most but at best his charity has had only marginal effects. Mostly because it targets things that sound nice in speeches rather than what's known to work

Between 2000 and 2005, to take just one of its myriad projects, the foundation spent $1 billion constructing small schools in the United States. Gates believed that American public schools were mediocre because classes were too large. Student academic achievement did not improve, though, and the foundation eventually abandoned the project after its director conceded failure and resigned. Unlike Winfrey, Gates admitted his mistake, for which he deserves credit. But the presumed virtue of small schools was based solely on his own intuition; it had no basis in science. Will Gates similarly recognize and reverse his foundation's African folly?

Was George Zimmerman Framed by His Ex-Girlfriend?

the TMZ website reports sources close to Zimmerman as saying Scheibe told him she was six weeks pregnant after he made it clear he was leaving her and leaving Florida.

Zimmerman reportedly offered to make a child custody and support deal, but what Scheibe really wanted was for them to stay together.

When she saw Zimmerman packing his bags, the sources claim she decided to make up the story of him pointing the gun at her as revenge.

Her on-again-off-again pregnancy story is kind of fishy. So I guess we'll have to return to the old Zimmerman Rule of not taking any MSM report relating to him at face value. And he needs to get out of Florida and get back to his roots in Peruvia.

It Came From the 80s

Photos of American malls from 1989. With not a cell phone in sight and indoor smoking it feels much further away than 24 years.

Yahoo group. That is all.

The group thingy. And the middle class.

And my Twitter spew.

Tonight's post brought to you by life Bo Diddley-style:

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posted by Maetenloch at 10:05 PM

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