Stock up on Charmin.....Making America Venezuela: The Left is coming for your toilet paper

July 19, 2019

Making America Venezuela: The Left is coming for your toilet paper

By Monica Showalter

In its quest to make America Venezuela, the Left is coming for your toilet paper.

Kimberley Strassel spotted this beaut on Twitter:

Kimberley Strassel

✔@KimStrassel

And now they are coming for your toilet paper..... To be clear, folks, there is NOTHING the left would not seek to control in people's daily lives under the guise of fixing "climate change." They will even tell you with what to wipe. https://twitter.com/NRDC/status/1151566179489783808 …

NRDC 

✔@NRDC

Replying to @NRDC

America’s heavy use of toilet paper – particularly the pillowy soft kind (@Charmin) – is worsening climate change and taking a dramatic and irreversible toll on forests, especially the Canadian boreal forest, acc. to a report by @NRDC and @standearth. https://www.nrdc.org/stop-procter-gamble-flushing-away-our-forests?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=Boreal …

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Apparently, toilet paper is the new plastic straw of the green lobby, and they're out to put a stop to it.  Kid you not, here is what the National Resources Defense Council is shilling as its new narrative:

You may not realize it, but the toilet paper in your bathroom likely comes from some of the most important — and threatened — forests in the world. In fact, Procter & Gamble is driving the devastation of one of the last great forests on earth to produce Charmin, the world's biggest toilet paper brand — made out of 100 percent virgin forest fiber.

Now we're running out of time: Between 1996 and 2015, more than 28 million acres of Canada's boreal forest were logged. This logging threatens the ways of life of hundreds of Indigenous communities, releases hundreds of millions of tons of climate-altering carbon stored in the forest into the atmosphere every year, and devastates iconic wildlife.

Procter & Gamble must own up to its environmental impact and stop making its toilet paper from virgin pulp rather than sustainable recycled materials. The cost to communities, species, and our climate is simply too high to keep flushing our forests away.

This is horse hockey.  And greenies can't even get their stories straight.  If saving toilet paper is the aim, why are they targeting Charmin, which, in this lefty review, is the best toilet paper to use because users use less of it, based on its superior absorption capacities, quite unlike that flimsy scratchy recycled stuff?  Here's the Business Insider take, which actually recommends Charmin for saving the Earth:

All toilet paper is paper. In order to make paper, you need trees. Although there are plenty of eco-friendly alternatives on the market, for the sake of forests and our environment, the less toilet paper you use, the better.

One way to use less toilet paper is to install a bidet. We have a helpful guide on the best bidets, but basically, you can get a decent bidet on Amazon for less than $100 and install it yourself in about half an hour. You'll still need TP to spot check the bidet's work and to dry off, but you will use much less.

Bidets?  Really?  What about the water waste, which is an issue here in SoCal?  Meanwhile, here's an excerpt from B.I.'s review of its number-one ranked Charmin Extra Strong:

You might recognize Charmin Ultra Strong Toilet Paper from the series of commercials featuring bears with comfortable butts. As the name suggests, Ultra Strong is positioned as Charmin's strongest two-ply toilet paper. Charmin advertises it as having washcloth-like cleaning abilities with four times the strength of "the leading bargain brand" when wet.

A durable and absorbent toilet paper is useful when your digestive system is having an off day and trips to the bathroom are frequent. If you are concerned about a hardy TP wreaking havoc on your plumbing, you may take comfort in knowing that Roto-Rooter has approved Ultra Strong as septic- and clog-safe.

...and, for the money quote at the end:

Another reviewer remarked that this is the only toilet paper they use because a roll lasts a long time since they only need a fraction of what they would use with other options. They also have not had any clogging issues with Ultra Strong.

Now these jackasses are coming for your Charmin.  And the horse hockey continues as they rant about virgin forests.

Here's the reality: farmed forests are always renewable, and Canada has a helluva lot of them.  Not only that, but the cold climate and poor soil of Canada rather limits what can be farmed.  Are Canadian farmers now supposed to farm nothing and let the forest grow rampant?  Sixty Minutes already did a greenie piece about how such overforested areas in the far north contribute to global warming in a segment on Siberia a few weeks ago.  Again, a matter of getting their stories straight.

Or are the Canadian tree-farmers to turn to growing more picturesque renewable mangos up where the Boreal forest once stood?  Socialists have been known to try to command the weather: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's argument that people in the chilly Bronx grow tropical vegetables instead of racist cauliflower, described here, falls into this category.

Racism, greenie-ism, anything to justify a more perfect socialism, all done by experts...which is why toilet paper, that most prized of scarce commodities in socialist Venezuela, is, what a coincidence, also in the western socialist bulleseye. No toilet paper for you!

Will we see prominent celebrities following the no-Charmin rule to save the environment? Will Beyonce, whose famous liking for this red toilet paper here, switch to a scratchier, less colorful brand? Hey look! The boutique brand she uses comes from 100% virgin pulp - the very stuff the NDRC is yelling about.

Color me skeptical.

What we are seeing here is a confluence of bad ideas - made-up facts, bad science, and a greenie desire for micromanaging power, right down to what kind of toilet paper you use. The charts and graphs on this NRDC page over it are amazing, and not in a good way.

They aren't going to leave us alone about this. And like Venezuela, they mean to create shortages from excessive government regulation, same reason Venezuela has them. Worst of all, their 'narrative' is going to get louder as Bernie and Sandy and the rest of them embrace it. Make America Venezuela again...

Image credit: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter, with YouTube screen shot from Dateline NBC shareable Seinfeld episode clip and MaxPixel public domain source.

EXCLUSIVE: 'Revolutionary Communists' descend on UCLA; advocate 'overthrow of the system'...the folk who would make America into Venezuela, North Korea or China

EXCLUSIVE: 'Revolutionary Communists' descend on UCLA; advocate 'overthrow of the system' 

Arik SchneiderCampus Correspondent@arik_schneider on May 14, 2019 at 11:15 AM EDT 

• The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA distributed manifestos and featured displays at the University of California, Los Angeles.
• The group called for the formation of “organized fighting forces," claiming the group must be ready to “continually train and deploy new forces and leaders."

Members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of America launched an advertising campaign at the University of California-Los Angeles in early May by chalking and distributing signage in an apparent effort to recruit college students to subscribe to their communist ideology. 

ALSO TRENDING: Are colleges FINALLY getting the message on commencement speakers?

"We are going for an actual overthrow of the system and a whole better way..."    Tweet This

The group set up signs, handed out flyers, and wrote out chalk markings, as seen in photos obtained by Campus Reform, even after being asked by staff and housing officials to stop their activities. The group’s distributed manifesto condemned capitalism, as well as “jokes” based on race, gender, nationality, etc. Chalked markings on the ground and walls asked students to speak. 

The Communists remained in the campus dorms, known as “The Hill”, for several hours before leaving. 

Sections D3, D8, and D10 of UCLA’s On-Campus Housing Regulations forbid using housing spaces without permission, chalking and signing on The Hill without UCLA approval -- the failure of the group’s signage to be in Residential Life display cases indicates this was not obtained -- and advertising a non-university organization without approval, respectively. However, according to UCLA’s On Campus Conduct Policy, there exists no process for sanctioning non-resident violations.

A whiteboard displayed by the group bore the message "Revolution is the only solution."

[RELATED: UCLA event compares communist dictator Che Guevara to Jesus]

The Revolutionary Communist Party passed out flyers urging revolution -- but saying it will not provoke violence “at this stage” -- calling for the formation of “organized fighting forces," claiming the group must be ready to “continually train and deploy new forces and leaders,” and called for the establishment of a “New Socialist Republic of North America." 

"We are going for an actual overthrow of the system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people," one flyer stated.

“Do not attempt to openly control and govern territory, until the necessary ‘favorable balance of forces’ has been achieved,” one part of the manifesto warns potential recruits.

These flyers are nothing new for the Revolutionary Communists, which boasts affiliates including Stop Patriarchy and Refuse Fascism.

“The fury of women can and must be fully unleashed as a mighty force for proletarian revolution,” Revolutionary Communist Party Chairman Bob Avakian says on an official party page referencing the former affiliate.

The Communists have gained notoriety at UCLA, largely due to frequent flyering and event disruptions, such as last year’s invasion of an “Indigenous People’s Event”. 

[RELATED: Anti-Israel activists aggressively disrupt UCLA panel]

UCLA students have pushed back against the group, often claiming that the group is almost entirely composed of non-students and preach a strain of Marxism far too radical for the left-leaning college.

“I'm a Democrat and I absolutely cannot stand the Trump/Pence administration but these people are out of their minds!” Jenai Blazina, a second-year Biochemistry major, told Campus Reform. “The United States is a democracy and if they truly want them gone, they should be advocating for impeachment or helping candidates that align with their own values. I'm not an expert in politics but this kind of sounds like treason.” 

18 U.S. Code §?2385. Advocating overthrow of Government criminalizes knowingly advocating for the destruction of the U.S. Government, including forming groups and spreading information for that purpose. It is unknown if the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently monitoring the Revolutionary Communists, but Avakian claims to have been put under surveillance back in the 1970s.

“I want to think they're harmless fools but they keep recruiting more and more people and now I don't know,” Blazina continued.

However, other students find the Communists a laughingstock, unable to take their claims seriously. 

“They’re suicidal for thinking they can take on the military of a country that literally spends more money on the military than the next seven countries combined, but at least they’re following true Marxist thought,” one undergraduate who wished to remain anonymous told Campus Reform. “It reminds me of Sparta, in that the state has a highly trained army entirely due to fear of a Helot revolution. Except replace ‘Helot’ with ‘communist’, and replace ‘fear’ with ‘not that much fear.’”

[RELATED: Army discharges West Point grad who promoted communism]

Despite the large amount of opposition, the Revolutionaries show no sign of abandoning recruitment efforts in UCLA, continuing to disseminate their literature regularly.

UCLA campus officials did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication. 

Ask these people to live without oil and plastic based products and transportation

UK climate protesters seek to block London Underground

"Extinction Rebellion" climate activists have said they will block the city's transport system on a third day of demonstrations. Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed solidarity with their cause but slammed disruption caused.

Nearly 300 people were arrested in London amidst ongoing climate change protests, police said late on Tuesday. More demonstrations were planned for Wednesday, including a disruption of the Underground, the city's subway rail network.

The Metropolitan police said that they had detained 290 people in connection with the "Extinction Rebellion" protests and that they "expect demonstrations to continue throughout the coming weeks."

London's mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement that he shared "the passion of all those protesting in London this week about the urgent need to tackle climate change."

"It's one of the biggest challenges we face," Khan said while endorsing the right to peaceful protest.

Subsequently on Wednesday, Khan told Sky News that he was "extremely frustrated" by the disruption caused by protestors within London's transport system.

"That's why I say to organizers: please work with the police, please work with the TFL [Transport for London authority] to minimize disruption cause to those trying to get about their business in our city.

That includes Londeners trying to get to work, but also others who work in London and do a huge amount to make sure our city is successful," said Khan.

The Underground carries 5 million passengers daily along its 11 lines.

'We have no intention of leaving'

Extinction Rebellion was founded in the UK last year and in that time has become one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements.

This series of protests began on Monday, with demonstrators blocking the areas of Marble Arch, part of Hyde Park, Oxford Street, and Waterloo Bridge.

Read more: Extinction Rebellion: The activists risking prison to save the planet

Activists also targeted the Shell Centre, home to the UK offices of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, with graffiti and smashed one of its windows. According to the police, three men and two women were arrested outside the building on suspicion of criminal damage.

Protesters set up camps in Hyde Park and stood their ground in several points around London overnight on Tuesday.

"We have no intention of leaving until the government listens to us," said Extinction Rebellion spokesman James Fox.

Con Edison imposes gas moratorium in Westchester County

By MARIE J. FRENCH

 

01/18/2019 09:31 AM EST

 

Updated 01/18/2019 04:40 PM EST

ALBANY — Businesses, developers and homeowners looking to switch to natural gas from oil or get service for new construction projects in much of southern Westchester County are out of luck.

Con Edison has officially imposed a moratorium on new firm service in southern Westchester, something it has been warning state policymakers would happen for months. The gas utility will stop accepting applications for new service on March 15. The moratorium applies to communities in the county south of Bedford, Mount Kisco and New Castle.

Still, local officials expressed shock Friday. 

“If this was brewing, we should have known about this a year ago,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale). “It’s going to devastate development in Westchester, including affordable housing initiatives, all economic development … It sounds at first blush that we have a major catastrophe.”

Paulin said development in New Rochelle, which has received $10 million from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downtown investment program, could be stalled.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said it would stop a “building boom” in the state’s fourth-largest city.

“Developers are already telling us they can’t build more housing or commercial buildings until this is resolved,” he said in a statement. “Con Ed and the Public Service Commission need to implement an immediate plan to solve this.”

The moratorium is the result of high gas demand on the coldest winter days and the limited pipeline capacity in the area. While Con Edison proposed non-pipeline alternatives in an attempt to avoid blocking new gas hookups, the proposals were ultimately not enough to alleviate the need for a new pipeline.

"We are pursuing non-pipeline solutions and reduced reliance on fossil fuels through innovative, clean-energy technologies. We will also continue to explore opportunities for gas infrastructure projects that can meet New York State requirements," Con Ed states on its website with information about the moratorium. "However, until our efforts align demand with available supply, we will no longer be accepting applications for new natural gas connections in most of our Westchester service area."

The Cuomo administration has rejected permits for most new gas pipeline projects in recent years, leading to pipeline developers shying away from proposing projects in the state. Environmental advocates are pressuring Cuomo to reject all new gas infrastructure, including a pipeline National Grid says is needed to avoid its own moratoriums on Long Island and in the city.

“Con Edison’s temporary moratorium is the result of a significant recent spike in demand for gas,” said PSC spokesman Jim Denn. “The company did not propose a pipeline to meet or address growing demand.”

Denn said the PSC would monitor the utilities' interactions with customers to make sure they’re apprised of alternatives.

“The Commission is committed to ensuring that consumers have access to affordable, clean and reliable energy sources,” he said. “We will push all utilities to address changing market dynamics, while achieving our clean energy objectives and advancing economic growth.”

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins chided the utility in statement. 

"Con Edison's hasty announcement will hurt many communities and residents in the southern part of Westchester County," she said. "Their actions will impede smart investments in commercial and affordable housing projects aimed at improving our neighborhoods and local economy. Following last year's storms we had hoped that Con Edison would work better to be a partner in improving our community, not a hindrance."

New Yorkers for Affordable Energy, a business and labor-backed group, blamed the moratorium on Cuomo’s recent antipathy toward pipelines.

“This action is a direct result of the state's continued blockade on natural gas infrastructure, which will make it harder and harder — and more and more expensive — for New Yorkers to heat their homes and run their businesses,” said Peter Kauffmann, the group's spokesperson. “This notice, coupled with single-digit temperatures, should be a wake-up call for Albany that if this trend continues New Yorkers will be left vulnerable and without reliable, affordable heat. Winter isn’t coming; winter is here."

Con Edison has not been able to find a new pipeline supply and has also warned that moratoriums may eventually be necessary in New York City. Cuomo’s former deputy secretary for energy met with Con Ed executives about potential moratoriums in early December.

Paulin said the first step should be to find a solution for the immediate challenge in Westchester County, but that the state would also need to address the gas supply issue in New York City and Long Island because of the importance of the region as an economic driver for the entire state.

Part of the growing demand for natural gas has been driven by businesses and residents switching off oil and other, higher-emitting and more costly fuels to the cleaner-burning natural gas.

Con Edison states it is looking to help provide alternatives for businesses, homeowners and developers looking for gas service. That includes electric heating options, such as heat pumps, and taking interruptible service for commercial projects which would then require an on-site fuel supply when the gas system is constrained, typically oil.

The company is also exploring an oil-to-electric conversion pilot and requesting proposals from third parties on that.

A recent analysis by NYSERDA found that electric heating options were not cost-effective, even when accounting for emissions reduction benefits, when compared to natural gas in the downstate region.

“[Alternatives] should be encouraged, and we certainly should have the goal of 100 percent renewable … but in the interim we cannot stop the economic and housing development in our community, so I don’t know that these solutions are viable,” Paulin said. “I am hearing that they’re not and I’m concerned about it.”

The tyranny of 50...

San Francisco scooter protesters block Silicon Valley buses

Dave LeeNorth America technology reporter

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Image copyrightTWITTER/ @ALLEKTO 

The streets of San Francisco saw angry protests on Thursday morning - and once again, the target was the technology industry many people here think is causing great harm to the city.

A group of around 50 demonstrators, according to local reports, blockaded at least nine buses ferrying workers to Silicon Valley giants such as Apple and Google.

The barricade was carried out using some of the many on-demand electric scooters that can be seen on the city's streets, a trend seen here as the latest symbol of tech arrogance.

Protesters held banners with slogans such as "destroy the tech saviour industrial complex" and "sweep tech, not tents".

Image copyrightTWITTER/ @ALLEKTO 

Image captionProtesters stacked electric scooters in the buses path

The demonstration was organised by a coalition of local advocacy groups, and was fuelled in part by anger over the recent removal of homeless encampments in the city's Mission District - an area that has been greatly disrupted by rapid gentrification.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, while there were 126 tents targeted for removal by the city in April, only six homeless people were placed into short-term shelters. 

The root causes of the city's crippling homelessness problem are the subject of great debate, and the stand-out talking point in the city's current mayoral race.

One candidate, London Breed, criticised the protest.

Image copyrightTWITTER/ @ALLEKTO 

Image captionAround 50 people took part in the protest

"I know people are upset about the problems we face as a city," she said.

"But destructive behaviour is not helpful. When we pit one group of San Franciscans against another, or argue about who is a 'real' San Franciscan, it becomes harder to find common ground. We are ALL San Franciscans."

Meanwhile, San Francisco's streets have become awash with on-demand electric scooters that can be rented via a mobile app. 

Three companies have spread their scooters far and wide - with public pavements being used as storage. 

It's a transportation trend that has investors extremely excited. 

One company, Bird, raised $150m in a funding round that valued it at over $1bn.

Officials in San Francisco have ordered the scooters off the streets until it can work out and set-up a permit system.

Image copyrightTWITTER/ @ALLEKTO 

But protesters said they felt the city was doing little to enforce the rules, instead putting more effort into removing homeless people from the streets.

“It’s absurd scooters have more rights than the homeless do,” said protester Chirag Bhakta, 30, speaking to the Examiner.

But Scott Wiener, a state senator, said the protests were inappropriate.

"Trashing scooters, blocking commuter shuttles so people can't get to work, and demonising people because of where they work isn’t how you make positive change," he said.

The double-decker buses that take employees to-and-from the vast tech campuses found south of the city have in recent years become an obvious target for protesters.

In January, a bus carrying Apple employees was hit by what police believed was a pellet gun. 

And in 2013, a bus carrying Google employees had its windows smashed, followed by protests over how the well-paid tech sector had pushed up house prices in the city.

According to US home rental directory Abodo, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city last year was $3,333, compared with a national average of $1,040.