Friday, May 31, 2019
The past comes alive.
How about something different?
Here's a photo of the original IRT City Hall station from what I think is the opening day of October 27, 1904. Color I added in with the aid of an app called 'Recolored' in this operation of photographic necromancy. I would credit the source of the original black and white image but I can't recall where I got the photo from. Getty Images or Shorpy most likely.
One of these days, I'll get to the 5 or 6 half written drafts and post them but until then, enjoy viewing a long ago world as the people who lived then would have seen it.
Donald Cavaioli
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
A Sad Little Empire Indeed.
When one thinks of empires one visualizes an emperor resplendent in a gold crown studded with precious stones and the finest robes. One thinks of the empires of Napoleon, Augustus, Alexander the Great, of magnificent imperial capital cities built by from the plunder of military conquest. Men of great military and political leadership who were feared and respected. Even the empires of men like Stalin and Genghis Khan although not so opulent, ruled through the considerable force of their personalities, aggressiveness and willingness to ruthlessly use violence not only to rule over their own people but to command the obedience of subjugated peoples and strike terror in their enemies.
However, no empire, no matter their wealth and military strength in the beginning survives in the long run and many did not even survive the death of their founding emperor. Empire is not something to aspire to.
But here now is the latest contender to enter the world stage with imperial ambitions. As empires were always the province of the most ruthless men of outstanding abilities and epic ambitions now these latest pretenders to the hoped for Euroempire throne are a gaggle of mundane bureaucrats. Where the men with ambition to rule did so by taking what they wanted, these bland eurocrat apparatchiks merely whine how unfair it is that everyone else who matters has an empire except them. They want an empire so as not to be the only kid on the block to not have one and are hoping the people of the current EU nations simply hand it to them.
If this United States of Europe imperialism thing is such a good idea, then did the Allies bother wasting lives and treasure and destroying Europe fighting against the Nazis? Or resisting Soviet communism in the cold war? Are some tyrannies better than others?
Some might try to argue that such a passive-aggressive method is better than military action but it would only bring to power a more venal and capricious gamma male. The exact sort of creature that resorts to lies and trickery to get what he wants. For the man who takes power by force would only fear or respect an enemy who would actively use force against him. As such he would tolerate a certain amount of speech from the powerless peasantry and care little what his subjects did as long as they paid their taxes and didn't take up arms against him. Not so with the gamma male bureaucrat who took power by subterfuge. It would be in his bureaucratic nature to gradually gain control over every aspect of their subject's mind and body. Further, as someone who takes power through sub rosa deception would always be fearful of everyone around him as anyone could use such underhanded methods against him and he would in turn be a greater tyrant, fearful of and overreacting to, every shadow of a threat.
No sensible person would want to be ruled over by any sort of authoritarian or totalitarian emperor but there is no dishonor in being beaten in open combat by the stronger, better man so long as one fights to their utmost. But the gravest dishonor and shame would be to allow such pathetic characters such as a wastrel like Juncker or a loathsome toad like Verhofstadt to have power foolishly handed to them by gullible people without even a murmur of protest. However recent election results in the EU Parliament and national elections shows people in Europe are waking up to this fact and are taking a stand against globalist imperialism.
Hopefully America can do the same.
However, no empire, no matter their wealth and military strength in the beginning survives in the long run and many did not even survive the death of their founding emperor. Empire is not something to aspire to.
But here now is the latest contender to enter the world stage with imperial ambitions. As empires were always the province of the most ruthless men of outstanding abilities and epic ambitions now these latest pretenders to the hoped for Euroempire throne are a gaggle of mundane bureaucrats. Where the men with ambition to rule did so by taking what they wanted, these bland eurocrat apparatchiks merely whine how unfair it is that everyone else who matters has an empire except them. They want an empire so as not to be the only kid on the block to not have one and are hoping the people of the current EU nations simply hand it to them.
If this United States of Europe imperialism thing is such a good idea, then did the Allies bother wasting lives and treasure and destroying Europe fighting against the Nazis? Or resisting Soviet communism in the cold war? Are some tyrannies better than others?
Some might try to argue that such a passive-aggressive method is better than military action but it would only bring to power a more venal and capricious gamma male. The exact sort of creature that resorts to lies and trickery to get what he wants. For the man who takes power by force would only fear or respect an enemy who would actively use force against him. As such he would tolerate a certain amount of speech from the powerless peasantry and care little what his subjects did as long as they paid their taxes and didn't take up arms against him. Not so with the gamma male bureaucrat who took power by subterfuge. It would be in his bureaucratic nature to gradually gain control over every aspect of their subject's mind and body. Further, as someone who takes power through sub rosa deception would always be fearful of everyone around him as anyone could use such underhanded methods against him and he would in turn be a greater tyrant, fearful of and overreacting to, every shadow of a threat.
No sensible person would want to be ruled over by any sort of authoritarian or totalitarian emperor but there is no dishonor in being beaten in open combat by the stronger, better man so long as one fights to their utmost. But the gravest dishonor and shame would be to allow such pathetic characters such as a wastrel like Juncker or a loathsome toad like Verhofstadt to have power foolishly handed to them by gullible people without even a murmur of protest. However recent election results in the EU Parliament and national elections shows people in Europe are waking up to this fact and are taking a stand against globalist imperialism.
Hopefully America can do the same.
Friday, May 3, 2019
NYC's Managerial Kleptocrats Plan to Game the 2020 Census
From: The Gotham Gazette: Heading in the Right Direction on City and State Census Funding, But More to Do.
Let's cut to the chase: New York State and City's wails to ensure every person is counted on the 2020 Census without mention of citizenship status is a blatant attempt to pad the count. Just as much as Democrat's whines about counting every vote means include the boxes of ballots that mysteriously appear in some party operative's car trunk a week or two after the elections. In the case of the census, padding the count with illegal aliens means new congressional districts created and an increase in New York State's Electoral College votes. Just as the move to give driver's licenses to all, meaning illegal aliens, ensures that illegals may vote in elections. All in all, more stealing, but hey, at least the Democrats will not have to stuff the ballot box as much going forward. In either case, it means that not only is U.S. citizenship rendered meaningless but the vote of American citizens is rendered null and void. Elections will be nothing more than a charade.
If you're wondering where the Republican are on this, if you can find them, they'll make some feeble, lukewarm, noises about sort of not being totally for this. Of course, the Republicans will do as much to oppose this as they do voter fraud. Shocked! Shocked, we are by all this! If only there were something we could do! Fake opposition.
If you think that's funny, wait until the 60's vintage liberals costumed as conservatives over at the NRO start writing pieces about the conservative case for anyone voting in U.S. elections, citizen or not.
This insanity will eventually sweep the country, every last square millimeter of it. Globalism and the manifest destiny of Progressive Leftism, the one true social and political religion, demands it. And the social justice warriors will not rest until their cult reigns supreme and the last unbeliever and heretic is burnt at the stake. So before anyone from the reddest rural and suburban places in the red states sneers at us for this predicament, they'll be coming for you too.
So to my neighbors who chant the mantra "my granfaddah voted Democrat, my faddah voted Democrat and I votes Democrat 'cause dere for da woykin' guy": How do youse guys feel now that "the party of da woykin' guy" more highly values illegal aliens (or any person of color from any third world hellhole, legal or not) and those who live off our tax dollars than the American working and middle class? Best of all, we have the obligation to pay for NYC's and NYS's generosity to their client voters even as they slap us around.
This is what our government establishment's "nation of immigrants" civic nationalism has mutated into: globalism. We as individuals are reduced to interchangeable components in the globalist machine. Moved about like pawns and used to suit the needs of the managerial state and their corporate vassals. Who cares about the fate of components that no longer fit the machine's needs or what becomes of a pawn.
Understand dear little morsels, your "great guy" politician, whom you worship like a little tin god, is stabbing you in the back with a big lie and a smile. He never loved you, you were just useful at least for a time. Oh, and enjoy the new homeless shelter with its drug addict and psychological problem residents around the corner from your house. Your protests and prayers to your great guy godlings went unanswered and we all will pay more to support the ever growing, imported homeless population as even as our cost of living increases.
So what are you going to do about it? Another failure theater protest? Whine about it in the comments section of Queenscrap? The proprietor of that blog, when not posting rant porn, will just prattle on about how great Sandy Ocasio-Cortez is and how she will fix all our problems somehow by, uh...doing things and stuff. Yeah, right, buddy. Just wait until the costs of Sandy's masterpiece of statecraft, the Green New Deal as interpreted and implemented by our Glorious Leader, Mayor De blasio are passed on to you. Buckle up, 'cause some part of your anatomy is gonna be woyked but good.
So white, blue collar woykin' class backbone of the Democrat party, where is your god FDR now?
Donald Cavaioli
Let's cut to the chase: New York State and City's wails to ensure every person is counted on the 2020 Census without mention of citizenship status is a blatant attempt to pad the count. Just as much as Democrat's whines about counting every vote means include the boxes of ballots that mysteriously appear in some party operative's car trunk a week or two after the elections. In the case of the census, padding the count with illegal aliens means new congressional districts created and an increase in New York State's Electoral College votes. Just as the move to give driver's licenses to all, meaning illegal aliens, ensures that illegals may vote in elections. All in all, more stealing, but hey, at least the Democrats will not have to stuff the ballot box as much going forward. In either case, it means that not only is U.S. citizenship rendered meaningless but the vote of American citizens is rendered null and void. Elections will be nothing more than a charade.
If you're wondering where the Republican are on this, if you can find them, they'll make some feeble, lukewarm, noises about sort of not being totally for this. Of course, the Republicans will do as much to oppose this as they do voter fraud. Shocked! Shocked, we are by all this! If only there were something we could do! Fake opposition.
If you think that's funny, wait until the 60's vintage liberals costumed as conservatives over at the NRO start writing pieces about the conservative case for anyone voting in U.S. elections, citizen or not.
This insanity will eventually sweep the country, every last square millimeter of it. Globalism and the manifest destiny of Progressive Leftism, the one true social and political religion, demands it. And the social justice warriors will not rest until their cult reigns supreme and the last unbeliever and heretic is burnt at the stake. So before anyone from the reddest rural and suburban places in the red states sneers at us for this predicament, they'll be coming for you too.
So to my neighbors who chant the mantra "my granfaddah voted Democrat, my faddah voted Democrat and I votes Democrat 'cause dere for da woykin' guy": How do youse guys feel now that "the party of da woykin' guy" more highly values illegal aliens (or any person of color from any third world hellhole, legal or not) and those who live off our tax dollars than the American working and middle class? Best of all, we have the obligation to pay for NYC's and NYS's generosity to their client voters even as they slap us around.
This is what our government establishment's "nation of immigrants" civic nationalism has mutated into: globalism. We as individuals are reduced to interchangeable components in the globalist machine. Moved about like pawns and used to suit the needs of the managerial state and their corporate vassals. Who cares about the fate of components that no longer fit the machine's needs or what becomes of a pawn.
Understand dear little morsels, your "great guy" politician, whom you worship like a little tin god, is stabbing you in the back with a big lie and a smile. He never loved you, you were just useful at least for a time. Oh, and enjoy the new homeless shelter with its drug addict and psychological problem residents around the corner from your house. Your protests and prayers to your great guy godlings went unanswered and we all will pay more to support the ever growing, imported homeless population as even as our cost of living increases.
So what are you going to do about it? Another failure theater protest? Whine about it in the comments section of Queenscrap? The proprietor of that blog, when not posting rant porn, will just prattle on about how great Sandy Ocasio-Cortez is and how she will fix all our problems somehow by, uh...doing things and stuff. Yeah, right, buddy. Just wait until the costs of Sandy's masterpiece of statecraft, the Green New Deal as interpreted and implemented by our Glorious Leader, Mayor De blasio are passed on to you. Buckle up, 'cause some part of your anatomy is gonna be woyked but good.
So white, blue collar woykin' class backbone of the Democrat party, where is your god FDR now?
Donald Cavaioli
Thursday, May 2, 2019
De blasio's Green New Deal: A Solution in Search of a Problem and Crony Capitalist Middleman Economic Strip-Mining
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
H.L. Mencken, In Defense Of Women“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”
Dr. Theodore Dalrymple
From The Queens Chronicle: New NYC policies to fight climate change, April 25, 2019
When real problems are beyond the capabilities of the city's managerial establishment to solve, rather than appear incompetent, the real problems are ignored and the establishment goes hard on "solving" exaggerated or non-existent problems. In a system where individualism and free enterprise are utterly crushed beneath the ever growing mass of the managerial/custodial state, the concepts of an economy and wealth are mutated to mean nothing more than money changing hands between government mandated middlemen receiving either tax dollars or money extracted from their plebeian marks for goods and services nobody wants or needs. Enter now our Glorious Leader's grand plan to battle the weather save the Earth from the devil gas, carbon dioxide, who will set the Earth afire and lead the uppity peasants to sin by owning cars, eating meat and having too high of a standard of living. Behold Mayor De blasio's Green New Deal!
Seriously though, in short, all the shrill, bumptious, hype NYC gov is flogging us with is claptrap to cover another managerial state power grab and crony capitalist feeding frenzy. The ostensible reason, really a feeble excuse, might be it's good for the economy but this isn't growing an economy that creates wealth as much as it is blatant economic strip mining. Middlemen extracting money from other people's wealth with government ordered purchases of unnecessary goods and services. All this NYC Green New Deal is going to accomplish is to raise further the cost of living in a city that already has one of the highest cost of livings in the country and bind the serfs to the land. Most importantly and not to be forgotten: to re-distribute wealth from the plebs to the corporations that manufacture windmills, solar panels and the other accoutrements green sustainable living.
We're being lied to for the reasons given above by Dalrymple and Mencken.
De blasio will continue to enjoy his retinue of SUVs to take him around town in style, eat as much tasty food as he pleases (smoking pot gives you the munchies big time) and have as much electrical power to consume as he pleases- as will other high ranking members of the city's ruling class. The peasantry will live in the dark, packed like sardines in Grenfell Tower-like "green", "sustainable" buildings (heated only when they catch fire) and bound to their barracks, able travel no further than they can walk. Peasant serfs will be forbidden to eat meat because...reasons which are none of their concern. But Sandy Ocasio-Cortez and other of our betters shall chomp down on as many hamburgers as they please. Rank doth have its privileges and our betters must be visibly better in comparison to their proles who must know their lowly place. Spare the rod and spoil the peasant. Fear and humiliation in the presence of the ruling class godlings makes for good serfs.
Worst of all, this is all unnecessary. There is no credible evidence that human activity is adversely effecting Earth's climate or that future changes will be catastrophic (see in addition below). Therefore this Green New Deal is a costly solution in search of a problem. Read on for more details.
The non-problem problem:
The non-problems can be seemingly solved by a veritable dog's breakfast of new laws, speeches and government programs which includes tax money spent on bureaucracies and politically favored private sector troughers and/or government mandated goods and services the public is forced to buy by law. As the non-problem never existed in the first place, the threat posed never materializes and the politicians and bureaucrats can then take credit for saving us all from certain disaster. But sometimes a scam is just too good, is too much of a money maker for crony capitalists and endless virtue signaling speeches from politicians that the non-problem cannot be solved yet. More money must be spent, more laws must be passed and we the people must pay more under the managerial battle cry of "it's worse than we thought, give us more power and send more money !".
So once again, with global cooling, warming, change, or whatever, we are treated to yet another round of "it's worse than we thought! we're all gonna die! send more money!" apocalypse porn. When nothing bad happens that the even plebs can see for themselves, the managerial shamans will claim credit for saving us all by waving his magick stick at the invisible sky dragon. Then magically, we'll be given another 10 or 20 years to live until the next millenarian scare.
In addition:
Note that it isn't even officially called global warming anymore, it's called climate change and all of the apocalyptic scenarios exist only in computer models using unconfirmed assumptions. Note also that we are currently in the interglacial and interstadial (warmer period) of an ice age that began about 2.6 million years ago. Yes, you've read that right- we are currently in an ice age and the paleoclimate record shows that although ice ages may last for millions of years, they are just blips in history where greenhouse (or hothouse) Earth periods are much longer and more the norm. Something our own political/bureaucratic overlords and the U.N. globalist apparatchiks will never tell you.
The hysterical and de rigueur IPCC claims of runaway greenhouse effect, turning Earth into the planet Venus are patent nonsense unsupported by any laboratory experiments or empirical observations that confirm the hypothesis they are based upon. Climatologists have not even been able to identify the climate sensitivity of CO2 constant after decades of searching and can find no observable correlation between CO2 and measured temperature increase or decrease. Not to mention all the other greenhouse gas theory predictions have failed. And no, the rate of sea level rise has not increased either. Government scientists (assuming they are not activists) will find whatever results their managerial overlords will want them to find if they like their jobs or to continue getting grants, facts be damned. Activist scientists will lie to promote "the cause" and government scientists as bureaucrats will act in accordance with my 8 laws of bureaucracy. They're still bureaucrats after all and it's better to be a member of the managerial elite than a grubby prole. Rank doth have its privileges.
Finally:
Yes the Earth's climate changes. It has been changing since the Earth was formed over four billion years ago and there is no compelling evidence to suggest that human activity will have any more than a marginal effect, if any measurable effect at all, on the climate. The Green New Deal is based on lies and is simply an attempt to advance a political and social agenda that benefits the ruling class and the elite.
To the progressive emoters who would ask the skeptics why they do not believe in the science of anthropogenic climate change and denounce them as a science deniers:
Science is not something to "believe" in, it presents facts and data. Science is precise and accurate measurements of the world around us, "adjusted" data is only an estimate that carries a margin of error, it's not real measurement data. No data, no science. The gold standard of science is repeatable experiment and empirically verified theoretical predictions, not a paper published in a peer reviewed periodical or an unverified computer model. Scientific theories are never "settled science" but are always open to challenge and can be subject to falsification. Otherwise, to be called upon to "believe in settled science" or be labeled as a "science denier" is not accepting a scientific fact but to join a religion and denounce non-believers as heretics.
For further reading:
Watts Up With That is of course the best place to start.
The Manhattan Contrarian has written a number of skeptical posts on the global warming/climate change found here and here going into greater depth and detail. An excellent blog overall.
Recommended book: The Age of Global Warming: A History by Rupert Darwall
Donald Cavaioli
Seriously though, in short, all the shrill, bumptious, hype NYC gov is flogging us with is claptrap to cover another managerial state power grab and crony capitalist feeding frenzy. The ostensible reason, really a feeble excuse, might be it's good for the economy but this isn't growing an economy that creates wealth as much as it is blatant economic strip mining. Middlemen extracting money from other people's wealth with government ordered purchases of unnecessary goods and services. All this NYC Green New Deal is going to accomplish is to raise further the cost of living in a city that already has one of the highest cost of livings in the country and bind the serfs to the land. Most importantly and not to be forgotten: to re-distribute wealth from the plebs to the corporations that manufacture windmills, solar panels and the other accoutrements green sustainable living.
We're being lied to for the reasons given above by Dalrymple and Mencken.
De blasio will continue to enjoy his retinue of SUVs to take him around town in style, eat as much tasty food as he pleases (smoking pot gives you the munchies big time) and have as much electrical power to consume as he pleases- as will other high ranking members of the city's ruling class. The peasantry will live in the dark, packed like sardines in Grenfell Tower-like "green", "sustainable" buildings (heated only when they catch fire) and bound to their barracks, able travel no further than they can walk. Peasant serfs will be forbidden to eat meat because...reasons which are none of their concern. But Sandy Ocasio-Cortez and other of our betters shall chomp down on as many hamburgers as they please. Rank doth have its privileges and our betters must be visibly better in comparison to their proles who must know their lowly place. Spare the rod and spoil the peasant. Fear and humiliation in the presence of the ruling class godlings makes for good serfs.
Worst of all, this is all unnecessary. There is no credible evidence that human activity is adversely effecting Earth's climate or that future changes will be catastrophic (see in addition below). Therefore this Green New Deal is a costly solution in search of a problem. Read on for more details.
The non-problem problem:
The non-problems can be seemingly solved by a veritable dog's breakfast of new laws, speeches and government programs which includes tax money spent on bureaucracies and politically favored private sector troughers and/or government mandated goods and services the public is forced to buy by law. As the non-problem never existed in the first place, the threat posed never materializes and the politicians and bureaucrats can then take credit for saving us all from certain disaster. But sometimes a scam is just too good, is too much of a money maker for crony capitalists and endless virtue signaling speeches from politicians that the non-problem cannot be solved yet. More money must be spent, more laws must be passed and we the people must pay more under the managerial battle cry of "it's worse than we thought, give us more power and send more money !".
So once again, with global cooling, warming, change, or whatever, we are treated to yet another round of "it's worse than we thought! we're all gonna die! send more money!" apocalypse porn. When nothing bad happens that the even plebs can see for themselves, the managerial shamans will claim credit for saving us all by waving his magick stick at the invisible sky dragon. Then magically, we'll be given another 10 or 20 years to live until the next millenarian scare.
In addition:
Note that it isn't even officially called global warming anymore, it's called climate change and all of the apocalyptic scenarios exist only in computer models using unconfirmed assumptions. Note also that we are currently in the interglacial and interstadial (warmer period) of an ice age that began about 2.6 million years ago. Yes, you've read that right- we are currently in an ice age and the paleoclimate record shows that although ice ages may last for millions of years, they are just blips in history where greenhouse (or hothouse) Earth periods are much longer and more the norm. Something our own political/bureaucratic overlords and the U.N. globalist apparatchiks will never tell you.
The hysterical and de rigueur IPCC claims of runaway greenhouse effect, turning Earth into the planet Venus are patent nonsense unsupported by any laboratory experiments or empirical observations that confirm the hypothesis they are based upon. Climatologists have not even been able to identify the climate sensitivity of CO2 constant after decades of searching and can find no observable correlation between CO2 and measured temperature increase or decrease. Not to mention all the other greenhouse gas theory predictions have failed. And no, the rate of sea level rise has not increased either. Government scientists (assuming they are not activists) will find whatever results their managerial overlords will want them to find if they like their jobs or to continue getting grants, facts be damned. Activist scientists will lie to promote "the cause" and government scientists as bureaucrats will act in accordance with my 8 laws of bureaucracy. They're still bureaucrats after all and it's better to be a member of the managerial elite than a grubby prole. Rank doth have its privileges.
Finally:
Yes the Earth's climate changes. It has been changing since the Earth was formed over four billion years ago and there is no compelling evidence to suggest that human activity will have any more than a marginal effect, if any measurable effect at all, on the climate. The Green New Deal is based on lies and is simply an attempt to advance a political and social agenda that benefits the ruling class and the elite.
To the progressive emoters who would ask the skeptics why they do not believe in the science of anthropogenic climate change and denounce them as a science deniers:
Science is not something to "believe" in, it presents facts and data. Science is precise and accurate measurements of the world around us, "adjusted" data is only an estimate that carries a margin of error, it's not real measurement data. No data, no science. The gold standard of science is repeatable experiment and empirically verified theoretical predictions, not a paper published in a peer reviewed periodical or an unverified computer model. Scientific theories are never "settled science" but are always open to challenge and can be subject to falsification. Otherwise, to be called upon to "believe in settled science" or be labeled as a "science denier" is not accepting a scientific fact but to join a religion and denounce non-believers as heretics.
For further reading:
Watts Up With That is of course the best place to start.
The Manhattan Contrarian has written a number of skeptical posts on the global warming/climate change found here and here going into greater depth and detail. An excellent blog overall.
Recommended book: The Age of Global Warming: A History by Rupert Darwall
Donald Cavaioli
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