Interesting News 1/17/2022

Context is important.  If you have been hearing about 2021 being tied for the sixth warmest year on record, then you might think that this is part of an ongoing upwards trend in temperatures.  If you go back far enough, then some sort of argument could be made for that assertion.  If you just look at the last ten years, then it's hard to see a continuing upward trend.  Climate alarmists habitually claim that temperatures are in a terminal upward trend.  They are habitually wrong.  They are also unlikely to reassess the science behind their assertions.

A little late on this one.  Early in the pandemic, a scientist developed a reasonably accurate Covid test.  The US federal government stood in the way of the company looking to deploy this test.  They provided no clear direction on the company could correct any perceived deficiencies in their application.  The performance record of federal decision-making is underwhelming.  I'm being polite.

In 2020, the Wisconsin Elections Commission issued guidance to local elections clerks that permitted the use of a wide range of ballot drop boxes.  One problem.  The laws governing Wisconsin elections only permit two methods for submitting absentee ballots; via mail and in-person.  Did this influence the outcome of the election in Wisconsin?  It's hard to say.  However, last-minute attempts to change the rules for conducting elections do undermine confidence in the elections process.

One issue that makes it hard to accept "the science" is when "scientists" alter the historical temperature record.  Seemingly, such alterations make early years colder and/or later years warmer.  Scare quotes applied as appropriate.  Real science involves revising computer models to fit the data rather than fitting the data to the computer models.

Here is an interesting tidbit for those following the news out of Canada.  Last year, a researcher announced that they have found a mass grave near the site of a former Kamloops Indian Residential School.  The residential school system is a well-known source of harm to the First Nations people of Canada.  In the wake of the announcement, 68 Canadian churches were subjected to arson.  Here is the tidbit, not one single human body has actually been identified to date.  The investigation should continue as they might find bodies, but they also might find tree roots that look quite similar to human bodies in LIDAR returns.  And there was an apple orchard nearby.

They know they are being racist.  You know they are being racist.  Yet I predict that no one of any consequence will call them out on their racism.

#china #Olympics
Black athletes are greeted in China by a crowd using the "N" word

Enjoy your Martin Luther King day... pic.twitter.com/v8B91eJ5Ki

— Charles R. Smith🔹 (@softwarnet) January 17, 2022

We now have a video of elections officials that suggests that the elections laws of Pennsylvania were broken in the 2020 election.  Were those violations of the law sufficient to change the outcome?  Who knows.  No one is interested in answering that question.

I'm pretty much on the record of supporting protections for women's ability to compete in athletics on a fair basis.  Permitting biological men to compete against women, even after taking testosterone blockers, would compromise women's athletics.  Even Caitlyn Jenner agrees.

I am more than a bit tired of Democrat complaints about the legitimacy of elections.  They have spent most of the last 20 years alleging that the elections that they lose are illegitimate.  Pretty much, they expect to play a "heads we win, tails you lose" game without any complaints.  Nope.