Well, what did you expect the Pope to say?

Pope FrancisThe Pope released an apostolic exhortation reaffirming the Church’s beliefs regarding traditional marriage between a man and a woman while simultaneously loosening the restrictions for divorced couples.   He also called for more acceptance of gays and transgendered individuals believing that we must show more mercy and acceptance and not be so judgmental.

While I’m not surprised the Pope has decided to focus more on inclusion of all people within the Catholic faith regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation, I can’t say that I’m shocked that the Pope would upend over two-thousand years of Church doctrine when it comes to marriage and sexual orientation.

The Pope has obviously been trying to help the LGBT community gain acceptance since he was chosen to the high office.  However, his personal views on acceptance have never given rise for anyone to think that he might make radical changes to Church teachings and beliefs.  It would literally require re-education of hundreds of thousands of cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns – and many others who subscribe to the orthodoxy – certainly a feat that could not be accomplished within a few generations.

It has been interesting to watch social media commenters from the LGBT community express frustration that the Pope is, essentially, just mere words that lack meaningful actions.  Society has always changed faster than the Church, and the Church will always struggle on how best to get its message across to all members while plodding slowly. Yet, despite this crawl towards wholly accepting values of the LGBT community, the Christian tenets of compassion and acceptance towards the gay community are growing.

It’s hard to imagine that the Church will ever change its position on gay marriage in anyone’s lifetime.  At least the Pope is trying to bring acceptance within the community; Islam considers being gay or transgender punishable by death under Sharia Law.  And the Muslim community is slower at adopting change.

 

So Donald Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly..

Dear Mr. Trump,

The last time you faced Megyn Kelly, you were a little perturbed at her questioning of you under the category of electability.  In responding to her question about your choice of words when you feud with others, especially women, you took umbrage and directed a few shots back.

While you have gained some sympathy for being targeted unfairly, you seem to have not only decided you don’t want to face her again, but you want to leverage your good polling numbers as a mob call to not have to endure her determined questioning.

Here’s your problem:  Poll numbers are not solid for any candidate at any time.  One wrong move, and you’re going to see people leave in droves.  In fact, this may actually be the one time you discover, most likely the hard way, that being a narcissist and a prima donna may see the beginning of your decline.

No one questions your business savvy.  We all know your ability to entertain.  But you’re not invincible nor invulnerable.  It’s pretty clear who put the crack in your armour.  The question is, will you take the time to repair it, make good with the voters and those on the fence, and demonstrate diplomacy in seeking a resolution – or will you try to ignore it and hope it doesn’t turn into a mortal wound that will leave a trail of blood seeing your political corpse danced upon from historians years down the road?

I don’t have any problem with you being the President.  However, you will find that people in this country will only tolerate your belligerent and disrespectful behavior towards a person of Megyn Kelly’s character for so long.  If the momentum shifts in her favor, you will have lost a potential ally in your bid to become President.  She can’t make anyone become the Chief Executive, but you might end up with a mortally wounded campaign.

Be the big man you espouse to be to your followers.  Do the debate.  Stop this silliness.

Sonoran Conservative.

Climate Science Follies: The Left’s Twisting to Support the Narrative.

Climate ChangeOver the last couple weeks, I have been researching for a long post about Climate Change. As I have continued this research, it is apparent that the science is corrupted to support the Human Induced Climate Change narrative and how those on the left have help to corrupt scientists into advocacy.

As the media posts articles, the first thing I always do is read the supporting evidence.  I think its important that when you read something from any media outlet that provides supporting documentation, you read it to see if, in fact, it supports the conclusions.

So when you’re reading articles from the various press sources, especially those that lean left, the first thing you should recognize is every article assumes the following:

  • CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat.
  • Human activities are generating CO2 in large amounts.
  • Temperatures are rising, and the rate of increase is unusually high.
  • Higher temperatures will negatively affect the planet and cause damage, some of which may irreversible.
  • Therefore, Mankind is contributing significantly to warming the planet and altering the climate.

The first two are undisputed.  The third one is an unsupported conclusion. The fourth is based on computer models, that include assumptions about the second and third.  The last one is a logical leap based on the second, third and fourth.

Of course, a lot of the environmental advocacy comes from the support of the left, of which, a number of the media outlets are influenced.  In this case, I’m focused entirely on outlets from the left, because these outlets are always quoted by my many leftist friends.

So today, I read this article from Vox titled, Arctic sea ice hit a record low this winter. Here’s why you should worry. In it, I took notice of this section:

2) Humans are mostly to blame for the Arctic melt

In 2012, a study in Environmental Research Letters concluded that between 70 and 95 percent of the Arctic melt since 1979 has been caused by human activity.

That includes a couple different things: Global warming has drastically heated up the Arctic, with the region warming about twice as fast as the rest of the world. (Here’s a great explanation of why.) On top of that, soot and other pollutants from factories and power plants in Europe and Asia travel up to the Arctic. When those dark particles settle onto snow and ice, they absorb sunlight and start sizzling.

Natural variability also plays a role. In 2012, for example, a large storm in August helped break up the slushy sea ice and cause it to melt even more rapidly. That was one reason why we saw a record low minimum in 2012 but then a slight rebound the following years. Still, scientists say, the long-term downward trend is the important factor here, not the year-to-year blips.

In this section, the first paragraph makes reference to this study.  Unfortunately, the study doesn’t even make those claims.  The study itself is a comparison of several computer model runs that compares observed data over the affected time period to those within the computer to determine the linkages between the September Sea Ice Extent (SIE) and the Atlantic Oscillation (AO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC).  It makes no mention of anthropogenic causes of the sea ice extent.

The second paragraph makes an unsupported assertion of soot, and goes to a broken link that exists nowhere. What Vox wants you to believe is that pollution is causing soot on the ice to warm faster.  And yet, most soot rarely makes it to arctic, but what does make it, has been declining over the last couple of decades.  Mostly, however, the arctic is white, and that temperature increases are more due to changing weather patterns.

The final paraphrase attempts, weakly, to add some support of other causes.  Here is the problem:  The climate has been warming since the late 17th Century as it has emerged out of the Little Ice Age, something that was statistically removed from the infamous Hockey Stick graph that was used to promote the IPCC contention of dangerous man made climate change.

Whether or not humans are responsible for the current climate is still hotly debated in scientific circles, despite the narrative of scientific consensus.  Reporters who make articles, like this one from Vox, fall back on the premise that its the scientists themselves who are advancing the theme.  If that is the case, perhaps they need to question the scientists and their advocacy.  Anyone who is a reputable scientist will tell you that discourse in science is important to advance research to find the real truth.

Besides, if you find a climate scientist that use the phrase “computer models”, you should probably just ignore them.

The Constitutional Crisis Obamabots want you to believe

liberals-be-all-angryYesterday, I fisked Paul Waldman’s post regarding the 47 Republican Senator’s open letter to Iran that has caused a great deal of anger among the Democrats.  In it, I included an example of how the Democrats have, in the past, tried to undermine US Foreign policy of a Republican President.  Today, on Twitchy, there are even more examples of how Democrat Senators went to see communist leaders to undermine foreign policy objectives of the sitting President, in this case, Ronald Reagan

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/575287543014506497

Continue reading

Hillary’s Email Conundrum: When the Press can’t save you.

hillary_ClintonHillary Clinton’s email problems from the NY Times article caused several media supporters to come rushing to her aid by attempting to paint Republicans as also using private email addresses in an effort to temper, and perhaps kill the obvious issue.

Their efforts to demonstrate hypocrisy on the right was ground to a halt when Fox News showed video of a July 2007 speech in which she called out the Bush administration for using private email accounts as part of a larger “cronyism and corruption” scheme to obscure the public on its war efforts.

Continue reading

Obama Granted 100,000 Illegals Work Permits Before Court Injunction

illegalsFrom Breitbart News:

“Specifically, between November 24, 2014 and the issuance of the Court’s Order, USCIS granted three-year periods of deferred action to approximately 100,000 individuals who had requested deferred action under the original 2012 DACA guidelines (and were otherwise determined to warrant such relief), including the issuance of three-year EADs for those 2012 DACA recipients who were eligible for renewal,” the administration explains. “These pre-injunction grants of three-year periods of deferred action to those already eligible for 2012 DACA were consistent with the terms of the November Guidance.”

Not sure how this will play out in the Court’s understanding of facts when issuing the injunction and the subsequent decision to accept or deny the government’s motion to stay, and may be a moot point considering DACA has been available since 2012.  However, what is interesting is that the Justice Department never presented this in any filings and are just now doing so.

The Justice Department in the last few years has had a miserable record of malfeasance in litigation, including FOIA requests, New Orleans Katrina prosecutions, and various other misconduct.  It seems as though the President’s lawlessness and unprofessional antics of his legal department continues unabated in its desire to bring immigration reform to cement a dreadful legacy.

Rest in Peace, Leonard Nimoy

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

As a kid growing up, I watched Star Trek in syndication for many years.  If it was ever on TV as I was channel surfing, I’d stop to watch.  Still do so to this day.

While I am a fan of the series, I have been more of a fan of the character of Spock.  He was the rational, logical one with an interesting twist of internal strife to subdue his humanity.  Ironically, he was the most human character of them all.  He epitomized the struggle of humanity itself trying to reach perfection.

Of course, Leonard Nimoy, was an accomplished man beyond the role of Mr. Spock.  He directed the popular movie Three Men and Baby, before going back to Star Trek movies, directing two and producing another.  He was also an advocate for the arts, doing photography, writing poetry and music.

Rest in peace, Leonard.  And thank you for creating the iconic character that will live forever in the hearts and minds of us all.

Michelle Malkin: DHS won’t release hyped report on CNN

dont-tread-on-meMichelle Malkin tweets:

CNN reported about the publication regarding domestic terrorism. Other news outlets also picked up the story, but CNN spent considerable time discussing during a few broadcasts.   Continue reading

Did American Sniper get snubbed? My thoughts..

American SniperThe Oscars are not a popularity contest.  It is a contest that is voted on by the members of the Academy, much like a trade group gives awards at an annual recognition dinner, except, this particular recognition is shown all over the world, and is far more flamboyant and full of the world’s biggest egos.
Continue reading