Guest “Is the headline really hyperbole?” by David Middleton
‘Black Trees Matter’ — VP Kamala Harris Asks NASA if It Can Track Trees by Race for ‘Environmental Justice’
JOSHUA KLEIN 7 Nov 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris asked NASA if it could use its satellites to track trees “by race” in various neighborhoods as part of “environmental justice” during a recent display on climate change, leading many to ridicule the vice president online and even giving rise to a “Black Trees Matter” hashtag.
[…]
In a clip originally shared by Deputy Director of Rapid Response at Republican National Committee (RNC) Jake Schneider, Harris is seen interrupting a presentation in order to share her “woke” inquiry.
“Can you measure trees — part of that data that you are referring to, [and it’s an issue of] EJ, environmental justice — that you can also track by race their averages in terms of the number of trees in the neighborhoods where people live?”
[…]
“I thought this was a Babylon Bee headline, turns out it’s our totally serious Vice President,” wrote Republican congressional candidate Leon Benjamin.
“Glad she has her priorities straight,” he added.
[…]
Breitbart
I thought this was a Babylon Bee headline, turns out it's our totally serious Vice President.
— Leon Benjamin (@Leon4Congress) November 6, 2021
Glad she has her priorities straight. https://t.co/XcC9Ad4tmD
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Well, I suppose the number of trees would stand as a proxy for environmental quality.
However, it would be pretty obvious from a visit anyway and there could be other features that offset any lack of trees so it doesn’t necessarily help.
To ask the question at all does seem to demonstrate an unhealthy obsession with racial identity.
Harris is well known for not being able to form a coherent statement.
I thought she was trying ask if NASA could measure the number of trees in a given neighborhood, then determine if there was a racial pattern in this number.
If black people choose not to plant trees in their own yards, is this really evidence of racism?
She eats and drinks no for breakfast, whatever that means.
I think it’s noo, ricebubbles soaked in gin.
#Let’s Go Kamy
NO? Nitric Oxide?
Trees in Ethnic Neighborhoods must breathe in CO2 with a Capital “C”
Like Franks Place…the “Capital C Club”
But only, you notice, in neighborhoods “where people live”.
Kamala Harris should be more concerned with how few grocery stores are in black neighborhoods.
No, that might lead to someone questioning why so few.
Not that it matters; they’d just spin and lie about the reasons, anyway.
Yes, those communities need more locations to steal groceries.
They’ve been blaming the lack of shopping in minority communities on white racism for decades.
Maybe they’ll show her a satellite photo of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) to augment her race argument.
Excellent comment!
Can’t recall the details but wasn’t there a case where a city council (think it was Manchester or Birmingham UK) wanted to cut down all the large trees in the area sitting some econonsensical reason? That would blow her idea if the trees were all gone.
James Bull
So we have to develop a definition of racial neighborhood , apply that to the census to plot the various locations and count trees to compare them for equality. That could keep someone busy full time forever. We need a new cabinet position to direct it.
If you recall, the 2020 Census did ask for racial information. That could be referenced versus address to map out the density of various races down to a neighborhood level. There might be some legitimate uses for such sociological purposes. But it also has the potential of being exploited for political ends.
This year, we were “randomly” selected to “participate” in the American Community Survey…
https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/questionnaires/2020/quest20.pdf
https://www.cato.org/blog/census-too-intrusive
We “answered” all of the questions in a manner we deemed “good enough for government work”.
Ehhh, not so much. As I recall, the smallest area you can get statistical information from the Census Bureau is 50,000 people. Anything finer, and they feel there is a chance you can tie individuals to some responses and they want to avoid that. You’ll have to wait 72 years to get the information for individual families.
The Census Bureau has Demographic micro data available at block level. This is not publicly available. I used to get this on 9-track tapes, but it’s been a while…
That data already exists. It’s what Democrats use to gerrymander voting districts.
To be fair, I believe she was asking if tree densities could be mapped versus the racial profiles of neighborhoods, not mapping trees by their race. She’s dumb, but not THAT dumb.
Well, she is pretty dumb for thinking there are a lot of trees in urban areas. The governments in Democrat Marxist cesspools can’t provide good schools or proper policing, yet decide that trees are a top priority. Figures, because the more government focuses resources on woke priorities, the worse it performs in those areas it’s SUPPOSED to run…like schools, police, garbage removal, street maintenance.
This has nothing to do with fairness.
This is deliberate race hustling from her side to push the race narrative and add new bullshit to the show (same trick as with AGW when they try to connect dying walruses to co2).
And they use “science” as Trojan horse.
Why on earth should anyone make an effort to be “fair” to her? As reward for her constant screeching search for fodder for the racial prejudice agenda? She epitomizes the old saw, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Yes, of course, but think about what she’s asking and why it even matters. It’s a clown question no matter how you interpret it, illustrating that she is indeed THAT dumb.
I think she is clearly that dumb. Can you point to a singe thing she has done that shows her being anything, other than dumb? Let’s have another staged chat to actor children to just ram the point home, of haw dumb she isn’t…..
The reasons behind her goals are dumb, but this request is smart and evil. Overall, blacks tend to live in poor sections of cities while affluent areas, suburbs and rural areas have more white people. She already knows that the results will show less trees in black neighborhoods, and so she can use this as another argument to recruit the stupid into thinking its a problem caused by a racist society.
Unfortunately She/Her appears to be using the race “lens” at most all times. She is not completely dumb but unable to view the world without that lens. Some might consider that a sign of limited intellectual rigor.
Doesn’t matter how dumb she is, she is VERY embarrassing for the USA. As a non American I find it extraordinary in the extreme that she could overnight become the most powerful person on earth
Perhaps refreshing the Tree of Liberty will help.
Seriously, there is merit in using tree cover as a proxy for local environmental quality (and quality of life). Unfortunately for the progressive agenda the “cure” would be a lower density more exurban pattern of land development antithetical to most of their agenda.
What’s the difference between Kamala and Michelle?
Kamala h(e)ad Willie Brown
Michelle has a brown Willie.
That’s true. Inner city trees are much more disadvantaged than those trees in the suburbs and rural areas.
We joke, but the truth is inner city neighborhoods (which tend to be predominately minority neighborhoods) tend to have less trees than rural and suburban neighborhoods. But that’s more a urban vs rural thing rather than a racial thing. Not that race baiters like cackling Kamala will ever understand that.
The closer we get to a city the less trees there are
and even inside the city this trend usually continues the closer we get to the inner city.
Trees don’t like growing in concrete 🙂
Forget the racism too. Sexism is rampant in San Francisco, where the fruit trees are male, so they don’t dump fruit on the sidewalk.
No mixed metaphors there, but what a set-up for some gay repartee, eh …..?
short of pecan walnut and pistachio which are all NUT trees ALL fruit trees are female or theyre NOT fruit trees
flowering plums are the only aussie one I can think of nice flowers zero fruit used as roadside trees but NOT in cities often tortured by pruning to odd shapes
Yeah plums are what I read about in San Francisco. Male plum tree pollen has feelings too ya know.
I think she was trying to ask if NASA could use satellites to work out if there were more trees in predominately white neighbourhoods compared with black neighbourhoods. This is only slightly less batty than trying to determine the tree’s race, as it would suggest that she thinks the most important thing affecting the quality of life of people in poor black neighbourhoods is how many trees they can see, rather than poverty, high crime, poor schools etc.
Were it determined that there are more trees in predominantly black neighborhoods, she would characterize that as a White Supremacist effort to propagate automobile accidents in minority communities. There is no rational discourse to be had there.
If there was less it would be a conspiracy to deny predominantly black neighborhoods fresh clean air ….. it’s a win, win.
Tracking trees by race? How stupid is that? Didn’t know trees had a race. Reminds me of a discussion I had with a Dean at graduate school (before humor was banned by Democrat Marxists). He told of a questionnaire from the Dept. of Education that asked for the number of graduate students broken down by sex. He insisted his reply was, “To my knowledge, none of our students are broken down by sex. Usually it’s alcohol.”
Trees do have a race…
“OK let’s see who can drop their leaves the fastest”
“Ready…Set…Root”
Give it time, it’ll grow on you
What she is asking for is up to interpretation but the fact that she is asking a science institute to use race as a search criteria is not. The Marxists are using race and AGW to divide us is obvious.
A divided electorate leaves government with half as any people to fight or please.
Leftists have always sought to separate us by race. The more tension their is in a society, the easier it is for the government to control the people.
It leaves (sorry for the unintended pun) the door open to introduce lots of minor laws to manipulate & control the people, which is the raison d’etre Socialists are raised with, manipulate, control, rule, dominate!!! After all, it’s for their own good but the people just don’t realise it, apparently!!!
“What she is asking for is up to interpretation”
Which means she isn’t capable of asking a coherent question.
This from the political party that gave us representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who asked NASA if they could send the Pathfinder rover over the hill and photograph the flag the astronauts left. The representative, I forget his name, who was worried Guam would tip over if we deployed too many troops there. Not to mention, Al Gore and John Kerry.
Hank Johnson?
Yes, it was good ol’ Hank Johnson. But KH does make him look semi-smart, sort of.
This is a profoundly stupid person, who can’t even get above Creepy Joe’s poll numbers.
God help the White trees if they can track by race.
Well, for starters, there are white birch and black walnut.
And also eucalyptus trees such as black butt, yellow box, red gum, white gum . . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eucalyptus_species
Well we should immediately have that address to make sure that all the more important and popular species don’t have white in descriptor. As they say Black Trees Matter.
Bann them immediately, they have no rights to exist!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉
Red maple, plus black and white oak, never mind REDBUD trees.
I’m sure Blue Spruce is feeling left out about now
Woman is dumb as a bag of
hammers.
At least a bag of hammers has a practical use for a carpenter. She isn’t of any practical value to anyone.
She was of practical use to Willie Brown
And to Brown’s willy, I presume.
It’s likely the reason she was “given” the spot of Veep on the ballot. Insurance, y’know – something like that. Biteme may be bordering on the downhill side of SD, but his doctor wifey can keep him in an upright position.
Just waiting for KH to commit a truly serious faux pas…. or did I miss that already?
If I was this guy, I would have responded “No, it can’t identify institutional racism. But for another trillion dollars in our budget, we could build one that does.”
I have no idea what she just said…
“can you measure um trees?…part of that data that you’re referring to, and it’s EJ’s environmental justices, but you can also track by race their averages in terms of the number of trees in the neighbourhood where people live”
Btw, it’s also very rude to ask the question to the guy making the presentation, then immediately turn away to look for the answer from someone else.
Maybe if we knew what the guy was talking about it might make more sense…maybe.
Can NASA count the number of roos loose in the top paddock from up there?
NASA, probably not, but I’d bet the DoD can.
OT but worth of an editor’s attention:
“Melting Alpine glacier reveals hidden WW1 tunnels and bunkerHistorians delight in trove of lost artefacts, yet have ‘huge concern’ about the impact of climate change on the Alps’ 4,000 glaciers”
This bit made me laugh ‘have ‘huge concern’ about the impact of climate change on the Alps’ 4,000 glaciers‘
Have some sympathy for the poor WWI soldiers had to dig dip under glacier, unless (of course) the area was clear of ice.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/08/melting-alpine-glacier-reveals-hidden-ww1-tunnels-bunker/
“Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage.”
(It’s almost Thanksgiving)
This guy should have his diploma pulled, what a nutter.
There’s always another way to save the glaciers. How about towing a big honking asteroid into the Earth’s orbit. Then when it hits the surface, it will create a shitestorm or ash and debri that will temporarily block the sun’s rays, and wallah! Glaciers Rejoice!!
Soon, she will want not only the count of minority trees, but also an estimate of mass, leaves, and health of each tree. It would seem likely that certain kinds of trees are more WOKE than others so maybe we should track tree species as well. Rich-Man trees will be taxed.
We need to have an accurate estimate of both sunshine and water delivered to each tree so that we can ensure that minority trees are getting at least their fair share. If they aren’t, a massive $4.5T Green Gnu Deal spending bill to pay for infrastructure to move water and sunshine (space mirrors) to the disadvantaged trees should be passed, and half of this money used for counseling the minority trees and building them “Safe Fields” where they can continue to grow in a safer environment away from nasty rich-man trees.
I can ridicule this person all day…the problem is she likely supports about half of this.
That’s genius man!! You need to send this proposal along with resume to the Biden Admin pronto. You will definitely be meeting with the big guy real soon. This is a capital idea; definite Cabinet-level stupid.
Kamala had a thought. Doesn’t happen often but when it does stand up comedy wins.
#clownworld
I read that she is mixed race…1/4 black…1/4 white….1/2 Indian as from India. The Great Obomba is 1/2 black and 1/2 white. Both carry the race card.
And in both cases, the card is over drawn.
It’s a card that the left just love to play at every opportunity, that good old “racist” card is their go to card when losing any debate or argument, even if or even especially if it’s over concerns over military build ups in Russia or China, use the racist card asap!!!!
Apparently when whites vote for a black woman to be Lt Governor of Virginia, this is proof that the whites are racist.
It’s the only “argument” I hear anymore. Telling.
Hey, identity matters. I’m 1/2 Irish and 1/2 German, and suffer from the curse of my people. Every pay day, I get really, really drunk…then invade France.
In Australia there are two eucalypt species with common names of white gum and black gum, due mainly to the colour of the bark. Both species are not sought out by the millers and the black gum (eucalyptus ovata) is considered rare and is now protected and the white gum (eucalyptus viminalis) is quite common and is found throughout most of the country. So I guess the the black gum matters.
I think there is something there that is telling me something. but can’t put a finger on it.
Was it a result of the White Australia Policy?
She always seems high/drunk to me. Anyone else?
Her Dad said much the same…
Dumb people sometimes seem that way John, ‘cos they’re pretending to be smart.
I have to admit my white privilege, there are about 40 trees on my 1/3 acre.
But, there are no street (public) trees within 1000 feet of my property.
I am very confused, I may very well be dark, but privileged.
Go for the late Peter Ustinov argument, as he had with American immigration officials when first entering America, he put in answer to the question, “colour”, “Pink”, the immigration officials were not best pleased because he had to be “white” or “coloured”!!!! As I said the other day, apparently “white” is no longer a colour, however I believe that we’re ALL coloured, the shade just varies!!!! The best Afro-Caribbean jokes were told to me by Afro-Caribbean men & women, the best Asian-Indian jokes were told to me by Asian-Indian men & women, the best Jewish jokes were told to me by Jewish men & women, the list goes on!!! I dislike anyone who uses race as a political weapon to stir up division & hatred on those grounds!!!
People who have been divided by racial hatred, are easier to rule.
Kamala has been studying the North Korean crazy ant leadership style and is now ready for full scale weapons grade deployment. You had better find your place in Race World or Climate World because there is no room elsewhere. Our allies need to hold some emergency meetings soon to align with others or prepare for the worst. Putin is smiling wide.