Is the Tide Turning against PC?

Has the contemptible Laura Kipnis Affair incensed the worm into turning? Our own David French certainly hopes so. “Feminists from Jezebel to The Nation have expressed concern about Kipnis’s treatment,” French wrote on Monday, “and Jonathan Chait has discussed her ordeal as part of his recent campaign against PC.” Indeed,” he continues, “there is a growing wave of leftist dissent against campus intolerance.

” The latest froth in the wave comes today, from “Edward Schlosser,” a teacher “at a midsize state school.” “I’m a liberal professor,” Schlosser writes over at the “explainer” website Vox, “and my liberal students terrify me.” Why? Because a considerable number of them have bought hook, line, and sinker into a worldview in which “the feelings of individuals are the primary or even exclusive means through which social issues are understood and discussed,” and, in consequence, any accusations of misconduct that are leveled at academics have become too subjective to be dispassionately analyzed. Chagrined and alarmed by the burgeoning number of inquisitions, Schlosser has been left fretting that were he to be hauled in front of a disciplinary committee, he would likely stand no chance:

Instead of focusing on the rightness or wrongness (or even acceptability) of the materials we reviewed in class, the complaint would center solely on how my teaching affected the student’s emotional state. As I cannot speak to the emotions of my students, I could not mount a defense about the acceptability of my instruction. And if I responded in any way other than apologizing and changing the materials we reviewed in class, professional consequences would likely follow. In March of this year, Schlosser issued a similar lament, albeit in less family-friendly language. “Personally,” he wrote regretfully, “liberal students scare the shit out of me.”

Via: National Review

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In Vermont, Frustrations Mount Over Affordable Care Act

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Just a few years ago, lawmakers in this left-leaning state viewed President Obama’s Affordable Care Act as little more than a pit stop on the road to a far more ambitious goal: single-payer, universal health care for all residents.

Then things unraveled. The online insurance marketplace that Vermont built to enroll people in private coverage under the law had extensive technical failures. The problems soured public and legislative enthusiasm for sweeping health care changes just as Gov. Peter Shumlin needed to build support for his complex single-payer plan. Finally, Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, shelved the plan in December, citing the high cost to taxpayers. He called the decision “the greatest disappointment of my political life.

”As the United States Supreme Court prepares to rule in a case that could gut a major element of the Affordable Care Act — federal subsidies for low- and middle-income people — Vermont should have little to worry about. Only states that use the federally run insurance marketplace stand to lose subsidies if the court rules against the Obama administration, and Vermont is among the 14 states that fully run their own.

Via: New York Times

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The Tax-Cut Payoff in Carolina

Even with lower rates, tax revenues have increased 6% this year, and the state has a $400 million budget surplus.

Four years ago North Carolina’s unemployment rate was above 10% and the state still bore the effects of its battering in the recession. Many rural towns faced jobless rates of more than 20%. But in 2013 a combination of the biggest tax-rate reductions in the state’s history and a gutsy but controversial unemployment-insurance reform supercharged the state’s economy and has even helped finance budget surpluses.

As Wells Fargo’s Economics Group recently put it: “North Carolina’s economy has shifted into high gear. Hiring has picked up across nearly every industry.”

The tax cut slashed the state’s top personal income-tax rate to 5.75%, near the regional average, from 7.75%, which had been the highest in the South. The corporate tax rate was cut to 5% from 6.9%. The estate tax was eliminated.

Next came the novel tough-love unemployment-insurance reforms. The state became the first in the nation to reject “free” federal payments for extended unemployment benefits and reduce the weeks of benefits to 20 from 26. The maximum weekly dollar amount of payments, $535, which had been among the highest in the nation, was trimmed to a maximum of $350 a week. As a result, tens of thousands of Carolinians left the unemployment rolls.

In an interview at the governor’s mansion, Gov. Pat McCrory tells me that when he took office in January 2013 he looked at the data and knew “we couldn’t stay on the course we were on. We had the highest unemployment benefits and yet at the same time businesses were routinely complaining they couldn’t find workers until benefits ran out. We heard a lot of stories of workers waiting until benefits ran out before going back to work.” In sum, the state was paying people not to work.

While these measures were passing the legislature, the state capital boiled over with rancorous political rallies, called Moral Mondays, designed to block the “cruel” GOP agenda. Rev. William Barber II, one of the protest organizers, lambasted Republicans for making the Tar Heel State a “crucible of extremism and injustice.” The national media piled on with claims that the Republican agenda cut taxes for the rich while slashing benefits for the poor.

Via: Wall Street Journal

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EPA declares no ‘widespread’ harm to drinking water from fracking, boosting industry

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• FRACKING SUPPORTERS receive a boost by a new EPA report finding the controversial oil-and-gas extraction process has not caused "widespread" harm to drinking water in the United States.

Fracking supporters were boosted Thursday by a new Environmental Protection Agency report finding the controversial oil-and-gas extraction process has not caused "widespread" harm to drinking water.

The findings were contained in a draft assessment, as part of a report requested by Congress.

The report said the agency "did not find evidence" that any process has "led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States."

The agency did say the controversial drilling technique could affect drinking water if safeguards aren't maintained. It found specific instances where poorly constructed drilling wells and improper wastewater management affected drinking water resources.

But the EPA also reported the number of cases was small compared with the large number of wells that use hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

For industry and congressional voices who have long argued the health hazards associated with fracking are overblown, the report appeared to be a boon.

"Today's study confirms what we already know. Hydraulic fracturing, when done to industry standards, does not impact drinking water," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. "States have been effectively regulating hydraulic fracturing for more than 40 years and this study is evidence of that."

Via: Fox News

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EXCLUSIVE: Clinton charity took up to $10 MILLION donation from African church which called homosexuals 'devils'

Hillary Clinton's charity accepted a substantial donation from an anti-gay African church which has likened homosexuals to the Devil, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

The 2016 Presidential candidate took money for her sprawling health nonprofit from the Cameroon Baptist Convention whose official policy is that being gay 'contradicts God's purpose for human sexuality'.

The devout Christian organization has in the past compared being gay to committing incest and human trafficking. Its leaders have also railed against US attempts to promote gay rights in Cameroon.

Despite this, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board gave between $1million and $10million between 2010 and this year, according to the latest list of donors from the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

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Awkward: Public supporter of same-sex marriage Hillary Clinton's health charity took up to $10 million from a church which says homosexuality should be equated with incest and bestiality

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High-profile: The Rev Godwil Ncham, general secretary of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, kneels to receive flowers during a meeting at a church in the country. His church says of homosexuality that it 'contradicts God's purpose for sexuality'.

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At odds: Sir Elton John, who married his partner David Furnish as soon as it was possible in the UK last year. His AIDS foundation donated to the Clinton charity. He has campaigned on AIDS, meeting Hillary Clinton's White House rival Lindsey Graham in May in Washington D.C. at a Senate sub-committee hearing on the disease

The disclosure will be awkward for Mrs Clinton who has publicly stated that she supports gay marriage.

Some of her wealthy and influential celebrity supporters are gay including Ellen DeGeneres and Elton John, while many others Democrats are strong advocates for gay rights.

And during her election campaign Mrs Clinton will be heavily relying on them to raise her estimated $1 billion war chest.

The latest roster of donors for CHAI lists dozens of individuals and companies who have given up to $25million and over during the last five years.

But the CBC do not appear as in line with the Clintons' views in the same way as the likes of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who are some of the biggest givers.

Although they are broadly in line with some other denominations in their teachings on sexuality, including among others the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, the CBC are certainly very much at odds with the founder of the Elton John AIDS Fund, which is also a donor.

Clinton's campaign commercial featuring same-sex couples

Via: Daily Mail

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‘What Difference Does It Make?’… Hillary Travels to Texas for Elitist Fundraiser – Protest Breaks Out

Hillary Clinton traveled to Texas for a big donor fundraiser on Wednesday night.
A protest broke out…

Best Sign: “I did not have textual relations with that server”

What difference does it make?

Protesters lined the street in Texas to welcome embattled former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Lone Star State.
The Daily Mail reported:

They came in Bentleys, BMWs, Maseratis and Porsches. A handful drove Mercedes-Benzes and Lexuses. At least two luxury Tesla eco-cars made the trip.

Valet attendants parked the cars of the deep-pocketed Democrats for $10 per hour and raced around the neighborhood two hours later as a line of millionaires formed.

The guest of honor, Hillary Clinton, arrived in a black Cadillac for her $2,700-per-plate presidential fundraiser.

As the former secretary of state’s Secret Service escort pulled into the driveway of a $11.4 million home near Dallas on Wednesday night, a group of Republican activists were waiting.

When a nondescript Texan, a 20-something man in a silver pickup truck, drove by and yelled ‘F*** Hillary!,’ a small cheer went up.

Via: Gateway Pundit

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OBAMA: CLIMATE CHANGE LIKELY MAKING CALIFORNIA DROUGHT WORSE

During an interview with a local California news network, President Obama said climate change was probably making the state’s devastating drought worse.

“Neither a governor nor even a president can control weather,” he explained, but pointed out that his administration was putting more emphasis on “man made contributors” to climate change.

“We’re going to have to work hard to make sure that we’re serious about the climate change issue,” he said, acknowledging that although there was no evidence showing that the drought was “caused” by climate change, it certainly didn’t make it any better.

“What we do know is, if the temperature goes up a percent or two percent or three percent, more water evaporates, it changes weather patterns, and it’s not good for California, it’s not good for the West,” he said.

Obama praised farmers for voluntarily using less water and suggested that more of them shift to drip irrigation, to save more water, calling it an example of “where we need to go.”

Via: Breitbart

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POLITICS Black Pastor: ‘Democrats Have Failed Us For 50 Years’

Corey Brooks, a prominent Chicago pastor, told The Daily Beast that the African American community in Chicago had, for 50 years, been loyal to the Democratic party. Now, they’re realizing that the Democratic party has not been loyal to them and, says Brooks, it’s time for a change.

New Beginnings Church of Chicago, the home of Pastor Brooks, is where the pastor sat yesterday morning, laying out his case for Republican presidential candidates to travel to and campaign in the Chicago neighborhood that Brooks and the New Beginnings Church call home. Rand Paul is the first and only candidate to visit the church and his speech to the pastor’s congregation is the first step in what Brooks hope will be an increase in Republican stops in Woodlawn.

“We have a large, disproportionate number of people who are impoverished. We have a disproportionate number of people who are incarcerated, we have a disproportionate number of people who are unemployed, the educational system has totally failed, and all of this primarily has been under Democratic regimes in our neighborhoods,” Brooks said.

In 2014, when now-Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was running for his current position, Brooks took a risky step and supported the Republican in his campaign.

“They have a failing plan,” Brooks said of Democrats that his congregation and community has voted for since the Civil Rights movement. “A business owner wouldn’t allow the person who runs it to remain in charge for 50 years, constantly running it into the ground.”

Brooks believes that the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted, and he wants it to stop. Brooks is a Republican, and he’s trying to turn the massive power of the black vote in Chicago toward a party that will actually help them. In his interview with The Daily Beast, the pastor specified trade unions as a major obstacle for African Americans in the Chicago suburbs.

Brooks also believes that the breakdown of the family structure is responsible for the violence in Woodlawn, and wants to discourage the efforts of the Democratic party to facilitate this breakdown by electing Republican leadership.

“There’s a class of African-Americans who have gone on to be very successful, and we’re grateful and thankful for that,” Brooks said. “But with their success, some of them didn’t bring it back to the community.”

Brooks hopes the Republicans can bring his community out of poverty and violence and into prosperity.

Via: Daily Caller

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Mooch To Take Mom And Daughters On Another Taxpayer-Funded Vacation, Heading To London, Milan, Venice…

Time is running out before she has to start paying for these trips on her own.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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NAACP Refuses to Help Young Black Man, Aspiring Cop Over Bogus Gun Charge

Steffon Josie-Davis is a responsible gun owner who wanted to be a police officer. He used to work as an armored guard for armed service company Loomis. When his little sister was playing in the garage where his gun was accessible, Josey-Davis put it inside the glove box of a locked vehicle. Josey-Davis then drove that car before accidentally failing to take the firearm out of the vehicle. His handgun is legally registered in the state of New Jersey.

Hello, My name is Steffon Josey-Davis I'm a 24 year old from New Jersey who became a convicted felon for a legally owned firearm. As an armored Guard for Loomis, As a Armed service company who transported U.S & foreign currency to banks and service ATM's. I was also on the road to a successful career with my township police department.

One Morning on September 20th 2013. I was preparing myself for work, grabbing my firearm out of my safe, bulletproof vest, Making my way to the garage. While in the process of disarming my firearm. My little sister came into the garage. To avoid any accidents, I put the firearm in the glove compartment moments after putting my bulletproof vest on the passenger seat. After securing my firearm, I took my sister upstairs to put her back in bed. Losing track of time, I noticed I was running late, grabbed my keys and continued to leave my house that morning for work. Not realizing my firearm was still in the glove compartment.

When I left out of the house that morning I was later pulled over in my vehicle. During my traffic stop, I notified the officers who I was, Who I worked for and I had my Legally owned firearm in my glove compartment.

The officers took my fire arm and let me go, When I went to claim my fire arm from the police department they arrested me and charged me with unlawful possession of a firearm I legally owned.

I was facing 10 years in prison for a simple technicality. I am now a convicted felon.  

Via: Townhall

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Immigration Advocates Frightened By 99-Pound Blonde by Ann Coulter

Third World immigration advocates Frank Sharry, Ali Noorani and Marc Andreessen aren’t shy about rushing to the press with pabulum quotes about how wonderful immigration is, but they don’t want to debate me, even to lie about all those benefits.

They don’t want you to think about immigration at all.

Although you will miss the lush analytical context of the full case made in my smash new book, Adios, America: The Left’s Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole, here are some more startling facts from my book that the anti-American crowd doesn’t want you to know:

– If an illegal alien drops a baby on American soil, the entire family can access welfare programs that were supposed to be for U.S. citizens — in addition to the government assistance illegal aliens can collect right away, such as food stamps and housing subsidies, free medical care and free schooling.

– The Constitution did not make U.S. citizenship a game of “Red Rover” with the Border Patrol. Haha! Too late — I had the baby! The 14th Amendment confirmed the citizenship rights oaf former American slaves — not 21st-century freeloaders from China.

– Our ludicrous “anchor baby” policy was invented out of whole cloth by Justice William Brennan and slipped into a footnote in a Supreme Court opinion in 1982.

– On average, college graduates in the United States pay about $30,000 more in taxes each year than they get back in government services, while those without a high school degree get back about $35,000 more in government services than they pay in taxes.

– Only about 7 percent of Americans do not have a high school diploma, but more than a third of legal immigrants under the post-Kennedy immigration act and about 75 percent of illegal aliens do not have a high school diploma.

– Mexican immigrants send $20 billion back to Mexico every year — more than the U.S. sends to that country in direct foreign aid.

– The New York Times was saved from bankruptcy by one of the richest men in the world, Mexican Carlos Slim, whose fortune comes from illegal aliens’ sending money — most of it from the U.S. taxpayer — back to Mexico.

– Anything the Times says on immigration ought to be treated like a press release from a tobacco company about the low risk of disease from smoking.

– Contrary to repeated assertions that fences don’t work (by the Times, as well as a slew of Republicans, such as former Texas governor Rick Perry), after Israel completed a fence along its border in 2013, the number of illegal aliens entering the country dropped to zero.

– The country that put men on the moon can’t seem to build a wall like the one the Chinese built 700 years before Christ.

Via: Human Events

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$132 Billion in New Taxes/Fees Proposed by CA Legislators … So Far

As the Legislature nears the June 15 deadline for sending a budget bill to the governor, the California Taxpayers Association released “Tax Watch,” a report detailing $132 billion in new taxes and fees that have been introduced by lawmakers so far during this legislative session.

The report includes every bill introduced so far this session that would impose or authorize higher taxes, fees or tax-like “fees” estimated by state officials to generate $5 million or more per year in net revenue.

State revenue increased more than $10 billion this year under our existing tax structure, but that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers from asking for even more. With tax revenue surpassing expectations, and the state’s rainy day fund now in place to help weather future storms, this is not the time to be proposing $132 billion in new tax and fee increases. 

The most expensive proposal for taxpayers is Senate Bill 8 (Hertzberg), which would extend the sales and use tax to cover services (including veterinary services, auto repairs, gardening and music lessons).

The State Board of Equalization, which administers the sales and use tax, estimates that this change alone would cost taxpayers $122.6 billion every year, on top of all existing taxes.

To prepare “Tax Watch,” CalTax reviewed every bill introduced or amended from December 1, 2014, to May 29, 2015. In cases where two or more bills proposed similar increases (for example, four bills proposed taxes on marijuana), the cost was counted only once for purposes of calculating the total amount of taxes and fees proposed during this session.

Teresa Casazza is president of the California Taxpayers’ Association

Via: California Political Review

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Gawker’s Editorial Staff Votes Overwhelmingly to Unionize

The hard-snarking editors at Gawker Media voted 80-27 to unionize yesterday. With the vote, the editorial staff of Gawker, Deadspin, Jezebel and several other sites join the Writers Guild of America, making them the first major online journalism venture to vote themselves the ability to collectively bargain.

“The next steps: determining what we want to bargain for; forming a bargaining committee; and negotiating a contract,” the staff wrote in a post announcing the tally Thursday morning.

Depending on your POV, this is a major territorial advance for the waning American union, which represents a decreasing slice of the American workforce in increasingly outsourced industries. Former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse had a great rundown of the frontier yesterday:

The Gawker effort is unusual in numerous ways, starting with the fact that its supporters say Gawker is currently a good place to work. Many say they want a union as a sort of insurance policy in case the next generation of managers is not so nice. “We’re in a very good place right now,” wrote Anne Merlan, a Jezebel writer, in an online debate about unionizing. “But we also exist in a bubble. When it bursts, I’d like us to have fair labor practices in place to protect everyone and provide for them in the event of ‘downsizing.'”

In another twist, the company has not opposed the unionization drive; indeed, Gawker’s founder, Nick Denton, said he was “intensely relaxed” about it. The company and the Writers Guild East even issued a joint statement: “We believe the cumbersome and often fractious process of unionization is premised on an assumption of complete antagonism between management and labor. Nothing of the kind exists at Gawker Media.”

Whether that’s a fluke or a harbinger of a new style of worker organizing remains to be seen. Gawker has been merciless in exposing the labor practices of rival publications such as Vice and Huffington Post, while the online writing industry in general remains mired in unpaid internships, low salaries, and borderline non-existent grievance processes for employees.

“Every workplace could use a union,” longtime Gawkerist Hamilton Nolan wrote in April. “A union is the only real mechanism that exists to represent the interests of employees in a company. A union is also the only real mechanism that enables employees to join together to bargain collectively, rather than as a bunch of separate, powerless entities. This is useful in good times (which our company enjoys now), and even more in bad times (which will inevitably come).”

UPDATE 9:27 a.m.: Writer’s Guild of America East responds:

“As Gawker’s writers have demonstrated, organizing in digital media is a real option, not an abstraction. People who do this work really can come together for their own common good,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “The WGAE, Gawker’s writers, and the company’s management share a commitment to journalistic integrity and creative freedom. We are eager for Gawker’s editorial staff to join our creative community, and we are eager to negotiate a fair contract.”

Via: Mediaite.com

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IRS: AMNESTIED ILLEGALS DON’T NEED TO HAVE FILED RETURNS TO ACCESS TAX CREDITS FOR ILLEGAL WORK

John Moore/Getty Images

Illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty can claim back tax credits for work they performed illegally, even if they never filed a tax return during those years, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has confirmed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

In a written response to questions Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Koskinen following a February hearing on the IRS budget, the IRS commissioner clarified his earlier assertions that illegal immigrants granted executive amnesty — and Social Security numbers — can access Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) for years they were working in the country illegally.

Back in February, Koskinen said that in order to claim the tax credits the amnestied illegal immigrant would have had to have filed returns in the past.

In his written statement to Grassley, released Wednesday, Koskinen went another step, saying an illegal immigrant granted amnesty could claim back tax credits regardless if they had filed returns in the past.

“To clarify my earlier comments on EITC, not only can an individual amend a prior year return to claim EITC, but an individual who did not file a prior year return may file a return and claim EITC (subject to refund limitations under section 6511 of the Internal Revenue Code). I would note that filing new returns for prior years would likely be difficult, since filers would have to reconstruct earnings and other records for years when they were not able to work on the books,” Koskinen said in his written response.

According to the IRS, illegal immigrants granted amnesty, and with it Social Security numbers, can claim up to three years prior in back tax credits.

“Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code requires an SSN on the return, but a taxpayer claiming the EITC is not required to have an SSN before the close of the year for which the EITC is claimed. At your request, the IRS has reviewed the relevant statutes and legislative history, and we believe that the 2000 Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) on this issue is correct,” Koskinen added.

With this benefit Illegal immigrants granted amnesty could receive tens of thousands of dollars in back tax refunds.

Via: Breitbart

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The climate warming pause goes AWOL (or not)

Science mag is publishing a blockbuster paper today, on June 4.  Oh boy!  Get ready to watch yet another big fight about climate change – this time mainly among different groups of climate alarmists.  Is there a “pause”?  Did global climate really stop warming during the last dozen years, 18 years, or even 40 years – in spite of rising levels of the greenhouse (GH) gas carbon dioxide?

The renowned National Climate Data Center (NCDC), a division of NOAA located in Asheville, NC, claims that the widely reported (and accepted) temperature hiatus (i.e., near-zero trend) is an illusion – just an artifact of data analysis – and that the global climate never really stopped warming.If true, what a blessing that would be for the UN-IPCC – and for climate alarmists generally, who have been under siege to explain the cause of the pause.

This paper is turning out to be a “big deal.”The publisher of Science has even issued a special press release, promoting the NCDC claim of continued slow but steady warming.

Of course, NCDC-NOAA and Science may end up with egg on their collective faces.It does look a little suspicious that NCDC arrived at this earth-shaking “discovery” after all these years, after “massaging” its own weather-station data, just before the big policy conference in December in Paris that is supposed to slow the rise of CO2 from the burning of energy fuels, coal, oil, and gas.

Now watch the sparks fly -- as there are two major constituencies that have a vested interest in the pause:

There are at least two rival data centers that may dispute the NCDC analysis:

the Hadley Centre in England and the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).In fact, Hadley’s partner, the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, was the first to announce, on the BBC, the existence of a pause in global warming.

Via: American Thinker

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