News Weakly - 4/30/2022

This is what we think of your "climate change"
China has spoken. "Oh, you want to save the planet? You want to make the world a better place? You want to stop 'global climate change'? Well here's what we say." They have decided to promote coal for power in an effort to revive their sluggish economy. Apparently, they are competing with the U.S. to be #1 in CO₂ emissions. Never be satisfied with being #2, eh?

Sidenote: It's interesting if you look at the question from some sources. (This one lays it squarely on the U.S. military.) Most say that the U.S. is currently #1, but it turns out they say so because of history, not current output. According to this story, "The total proportion of global carbon emissions coming from the US is less than half that of China." So it looks like China is #1. And it looks like there is anti-American bias in places. Could that be?

Logical Fallacy
Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) is a self-professed Christian, so, as we all know, he's got to go. Marvel rewrote the character as bisexual and Pratt is "part of a church whose leading figures espoused homophobic views," so he's got to go. Apparently none of those outraged are familiar with the classic logical fallacy, "guilty by association." Cancel this man ... now.

Making it clear
When does life begin? We want to know. One side says, "At conception" and another says, "At birth." In an attempt to clarify, a few states are going all in on their abortion laws. California aims to legalize "perinatal" abortion which would mean that a mother could terminate her child's life up to a week after birth. Maryland is shooting for 4 weeks after birth. Colorado is looking at 28 days as well. When does life begin? When we say it does. And don't go thinking you're safe, either.

A Racist in Every Corner
Elon Musk purchased Twitter, ostensibly to make it a free speech platform instead of the "free speech" platform (where "free speech" is in scare quotes for a reason) it had become. But, of course, we know that's not the real reason. It's actually "about white power." And it's not just one guy's opinion.

Lies We Tell Ourselves
Pfizer has requested emergency authorization to give COVID booster shots to 5 to 11-year-olds and Moderna wants to vaccinate kids 5 and under. Because a total of 980 kids under the age of 18 have died in of COVID -- less than 0.099% of the total. Because children of that age constitute less than 6% of the total COVID cases in the U.S. Because the risk of myocarditis from the vaccine is far greater in children than in adults. Oh, no, of course not. Because Pfizer and Moderna can still make a ton of money off a dying pandemic by playing on parents' fears. (Even Dr. Fauci says the pandemic is over.)

Bleach
CNBC reported that the mass Twitter deactivations after Musk bought Twitter were "organic." I call it cleaning house. Kidding aside, the real fear is that Musk will actually allow free speech on the platform and America is very clearly over that "freedom of speech" stuff. Now, private companies are not prevented from regulating speech in their venues, but the apparent message here is "We -- not the government and not Twitter -- decide what is 'hate' or 'misinformation' and who gets to speak or not." Because "Hunter Biden's emails" is "misinformation" and "violent insurrection" is not. Musk may end Twitter, but that's only because America is no longer the land of the free. (Is it significant that it was largely the Left that departed from Twitter?)

Taylor'd Rights
Margorie Taylor Greene is a lightning rod of controversy. Now she has claimed that the Catholic Church is controlled by Satan. So, in an ironic twist, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called on Congress to sanction her for it. It's ironic because free speech and the practice of religion are both "civil rights" about which they are complaining. I don't have to agree with or even like Greene to see that the two -- "civil rights" and "sanction" -- are contradictory.

The Bee and Not the Bee
We have the underreported story that Musk's Twitter purchase failed after 138,000 board votes were found overnight. And it's too close to true that those who think men can get pregnant are afraid that Elon Musk will allow misinformation on Twitter. Then -- not the Bee -- I saw a post where someone asked for suggestions for naming their new male dog. Someone else asked, "Boy or girl?" Only in today's world would that be a legitimate question. Only in today's world can God be criticized for assigning gender at conception. And is it true that Democrats are continuing the tradition of wearing white masks to show their political affiliation? I did like the story of the Christian missionary who wears a mask to try to reach the unsaved Democrats.

Must be true; I read it on the Internet.