Politico: Comrade Newsom Running Out Of Climate Scam Bribes

By William Teach May 13, 2026 – 7:15 am

If you have to give bribes and “sweeteners” to get everyone to cooperate (at the barrel of the government force), maybe this stuff isn’t that good?

Newsom is running out of climate sweeteners

MONEY BAG: California climate politics are entering their austerity era.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is preparing to unveil his final May budget revision this week with an eye toward cementing his legacy. Broadly, he’ll be helped by an expected surge in tax revenue tied to anticipated tech company IPOs later this year, as our POLITICO colleagues Eric He, Tyler Katzenberger and Nicole Norman reported.

But on climate, he’s confronting an awkward reality Democrats long tried to avoid: California’s ambitious emissions-cutting regulations are no longer generating enough money to soften the political blow.

Since its inception in 2006, California’s cap-and-trade program was sold not just as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but as a machine for generating roughly $4 billion annually for projects lawmakers could bring back to their districts — electric school buses, wildfire prevention, affordable housing near transit, discounts on electric bills, clean water projects and incentives for farmers and drivers to adopt cleaner technologies.

I wonder how much of that money was being spent as intended, and how much ended up going to NGOs and donors and friends as graft and slush money?

That money became the political sweetener that helped sustain support for an otherwise costly and contentious climate agenda, securing votes from recalcitrant moderate Democrats (and even the occasional Republican) eager to deliver tangible benefits back home.

But the sweetener is now running out — leaving Newsom holding the bag. It’s a painful pivot for the likely 2028 presidential contender, who just last year relished rebranding the carbon market from “cap and trade” to “cap and invest” as a nod to the community groups clamoring to spend the program’s revenues.

It was basically a BS program designed to hide how expensive this all is, and now Californians are going to pay for it. More. But, then, the majority of them voted for this cult insanity. Have fun! And maybe they should all give up their own use of fossil fuels.

Read: Politico: Comrade Newsom Running Out Of Climate Scam Bribes »

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Federal Judge Whines That ICE Is Ignoring His Order On Arresting Illegals Without Warrants

By William Teach May 13, 2026 – 7:00 am

The judge pretty much made up his ruling, since federal law does not require federal agents to have a warrant to dragnet illegal aliens, something the Associated Press forgot to mention

Federal judge rules ICE in Colorado violated order limiting warrantless arrests

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that immigration officers in Colorado have violated his order limiting when they can arrest people without a warrant.

U.S. District Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have violated his November order that barred them from arresting anyone without a warrant unless they had probable cause to believe a person is in the country illegally and likely to escape before officers can get a warrant. Since then, Jackson said ICE agents have violated the order by continuing to make warrantless arrests “without individualized, pre-arrest probable cause determinations of flight risk.”

The judge also ordered immigration agents who are authorized to make warrantless arrests to undergo training on the court’s orders and for the government to turn over records of such warrantless arrests. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado over so-called collateral arrests of people accidentally caught up in immigration enforcement actions. (snip)

In his latest ruling, Jackson concluded ICE had failed to adequately train its deportation officers on the requirements of his November court order and is now requiring such instruction within 45 days.

He also found ICE had “uniformly failed” to follow documentation requirements for warrantless arrests under his court order.

Whatever. Federal law doesn’t require any of that, and the judge really has no power to usurp the power of the Legislative Branch. Keep whining, Champ!

Also in the People’s Republik Of Colorado

Colorado eyes expansion of state inspection authority over immigration detention centers

A proposal to add new inspection requirements for detention centers and increases the civil liability for sharing information with federal immigration authorities passed both chambers of the Colorado Legislature.

The proposal is now headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk.

House Bill 1276 expands a current law prohibiting employees of state agencies or political subdivisions from disclosing an individual’s immigration status to federal authorities by extending the civil penalty liability to the employer.

Good luck! You have no power here.

Read: Federal Judge Whines That ICE Is Ignoring His Order On Arresting Illegals Without Warrants »

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Your Fault: Hanatvirus Finding More Hosts Due To Climate Doom

By William Teach May 12, 2026 – 3:31 pm

I wonder how long the doomsday cult will beat this gong?

How climate change could help hantavirus find more hosts

The cruise ship departed Ushuaia, Argentina, in April with plans to ferry 147 passengers and crew members to some of the most remote places on earth, including Antarctica. But the ship, named the MV Hondius, had its voyage cut short by a rare virus that has killed three and infected several others.

Hantaviruses are an ancient family of rodent-borne pathogens that likely caused disease in humans long before they first appeared in medical records in the 1950s. The viruses infect people via rodent waste — often through the inhalation of dust containing trace amounts of the excreta. Andes hantavirus, the strain that gripped the MV Hondius on its polar cruise, is one of a few hantaviruses known to cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but often deadly illness.

So, this is nothing unusual? It’s long been around?

The emergency also points to another growing challenge for global public health: Climate change is altering the rainfall, vegetation, and habitat conditions that influence rodent populations — changes that experts say boost the odds that the pathogens these animals carry will spill over into human populations.

While the hantavirus’s one-to-six-week incubation period means the outbreak could have originated in any of the passengers’ home countries, a possible culprit is the ship’s stop for a birding expedition near Ushuaia, which is home to a landfill that attracts rodents looking for food. Argentina’s health authorities have already documented a sharp rise in hantavirus this season: 101 infections have been recorded since June 2025, about twice as many as there were in the same period a year earlier.

Wait, so climate doom caused Extreme Weather is at fault due to Mankind being bad, but, it could be from a landfill? Not carbon pollution making the world burn (when it’s not raining)? Huh. Cult.

The country’s health ministry hasn’t yet determined what’s behind the surge, but research suggests that climate change may play a role. Argentina and neighboring countries in South America endured years of severe drought between 2021 and 2024, including Argentina’s worst dry spell in more than 60 years in 2023, followed by extreme rainfall last year. Weather extremes exacerbated by global warming change how rodents behave, according to Kirk Douglas, a senior scientist who studies hantaviruses and climate change at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, in Barbados.

So, they have no idea, but, they’ll doommonger anyhow. Cult.

Read: Your Fault: Hanatvirus Finding More Hosts Due To Climate Doom »

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 12, 2026 – 1:00 pm

…are high winds driven by carbon pollution causing trees to bend over, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Gatestone Institute, with a post on Sweden choosing free speech over “Islamophobia”

Read: If All You See… »

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Weird: American Oil Companies Are Rushing Into Venezuela

By William Teach May 12, 2026 – 10:30 am

Remember when we were told that wouldn’t happen? That no one was interested?

Why some U.S. oil companies aren’t interested in returning to Venezuela

Venezuela oil industry too shaky for U.S. companies to rush to re-enter, experts say

US oil companies will be slow to answer Trump’s call to tap into Venezuela, experts say

How’s that working out?

U.S. oil rush into Venezuela tests Trump’s democracy promises

When the White House’s top energy adviser landed in Venezuela late last month, he was ushered into a terminal and asked to sign a guest book. On the wall hung a portrait of the nation’s former dictator, Nicolás Maduro, who drove most U.S. oil companies out of the country until he was deposed by President Donald Trump in a military operation in January.

Under the Maduro portrait’s watchful eyes, National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen signed the book with Trump’s energy catchphrase: “Drill Baby Drill.”

The experience, which Agen recounted on this week’s episode of the POLITICO Energy podcast days after returning from Caracas, encapsulates how much has shifted in the South American nation over the last four months — and the uncertainty that remains.

Agen and other Trump administration officials have shuttled back and forth from Caracas to help facilitate deals for U.S. energy and mining companies to invest in Venezuela, and in doing so have forged closer ties with interim President Delcy Rodríguez and her administration, largely hold-overs from Maduro’s regime. That engagement has picked up in recent weeks, especially as Trump pushes Venezuelan crude as an alternative to the supplies disrupted because of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.

So, wait, they are now rushing to Venezuela? I thought that wouldn’t happen according to Experts! and the Credentialed Media? They were wrong? Or just lying because Orange Man Bad? Who would have seen that coming?

But the coziness with Rodríguez has raised anxiety among some potential investors and Venezuelans abroad that the Trump administration has put off its stated goal of pushing the country toward democratic elections. Rodríguez told reporters during Agen’s visit that elections would be held “some time.”

Good grief, chill. Maduro was captured on January 3rd, 2026. It’s only been a few months. Marco Rubio has allowed Rodriguez to step up to president for continuity purposes, and you know he and his folks are watching and pulling strings behind the scenes. Things need to settle down and normalize, the economy needs to start humming before elections. This is peak TDS, where the Politico writers see the podcast with Agen and say “huh, how can we do Orange Man Bad?”

Agen had lunch with Rodríguez, who he said committed to moving at “‘Trump speed’” to get oil deals finalized and investment flowing in. But he said he didn’t raise the prospect of a democratic transition with her.

“We’ve indicated all along that ultimately there would have to be elections, and I think everyone understands that,” Agen said. “We didn’t get into that in my conversations because it was really more about the energy deals and the progress there and what are some of the more immediate needs.”

The energy is his job, not the elections. But, it’s funny, none of the Credentialed Media outlets are complaining, or have complained about Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the elites in their legislature cancelling elections. They mostly looked at defending the cancellation. With the declaration of martial law they do not need to have elections, per Ukraine law. They still could, though. And no one in the media is pushing for them. Weird.

Read: Weird: American Oil Companies Are Rushing Into Venezuela »

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Climate Cult Intent On The New Technology Of Straw Houses

By William Teach May 12, 2026 – 7:15 am

Living like it’s 499

Beware of Wolves, but Straw Houses Could Help With Climate Change

“The Three Little Pigs” was not written through the lens of sustainable building, said Paul Lewis, an architecture professor at Princeton University. For those needing a plot reminder: One house, made of straw, blows down. A house made of sticks meets the same fate. But the brick house remains standing, saving lives and vanquishing the villain.

These days, as the planet heats up because of burning fossil fuels — with the built environment accounting for some 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions — the moral of the 19th-century fable should be the exact opposite, Mr. Lewis said. “The straw house sequesters carbon; the wood house is pretty good, but the brick house is a carbon bomb that actually leads to climate disaster.”

Mr. Lewis believes that straw can do much more than provide bedding in a horse stable; it can also provide the stable’s frame, walls and insulation. He and his team have showcased the agricultural byproduct’s potential by building a tiny home — the first of its kind, he said — made almost entirely of straw. The cottage, which looks straight out of a children’s book but has some elegant, modern flourishes, sits on a plot of land outside Hudson, N.Y., about 120 miles north of New York City.

Well, how does this work with tall buildings in Democrat run cities.

“The theory of modern architecture is that when there’s a material, it eventually evolves into a form,” said Guy Nordenson, a professor of structural engineering and architecture at Princeton who worked with Mr. Lewis on the project. The straw house experiment shows what that form could look like. The long-term challenge is to make straw as viable as bricks or concrete blocks, but getting to that point will require more research, Mr. Nordenson said.

Go away. Leave us alone. How much taxpayer money is being used for this?

A heat pump, powered by a battery system on the premises and solar panels atop a trailer next door, provides heating and cooling. It is the culmination of three years of research, manual labor, and trial and error. The materials cost a little more than $50,000 (a hefty portion of that — $18,000 — went toward the house’s thatch roofing).

So, about $300K in California? That trailer seems out off place, eh?

Read: Climate Cult Intent On The New Technology Of Straw Houses »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Super Concerned On “Secretive” Deportation Flights

By William Teach May 12, 2026 – 7:00 am

They’re so secretive that people know about that

Democrats express ‘grave concerns’ over secretive ICE deportation flights

A group of 40 House Democrats have described “grave concerns” over the Trump administration’s secretive program of deportation flights and demanded the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address allegations of mistreatment and inhumane conditions on ICE charter jets.

In a letter shared with the Guardian and addressed to the FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, the lawmakers describe the “urgent need for transparency” over ICE’s expanded use of commercial airliners to transfer detained immigrants and its “inappropriate and dangerous” efforts to shield these flights from public scrutiny.

“Credible reports indicate that individuals have been placed on flights without notice to counsel or family members, effectively disappearing from public view when flights are inappropriately shielded from tracking systems,” the letter states. “Families are left searching for their loved ones, and attorneys are denied meaningful opportunities to intervene, raising serious due process concerns.”

The letter references an investigation by the Guardian, based on leaked flight data, which revealed the Trump administration transported detained immigrants in ways that routinely violated their constitutional rights. The reporting also identified allegations of abuse and rights violations at a private detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana, a central node in the administration’s deportation program.

Well, maybe they shouldn’t be in the U.S. illegally? If they do not want this to happen they can leave. Heck, if they leave the U.S. government will give them some money and pay for the flight out. Pick somewhere.

The lawmakers ask the FAA to provide a detailed report of “all ICE air operations” since Trump was sworn into office, including flight origin and destination data as well as how many passengers were held onboard each flight. It addresses reporting by the Associated Press, which revealed how dozens of charter jets used for deportation flights were granted unusual permission by the FAA to block certain data, including tail numbers, from public flight tracking sites – making it harder to monitor ICE air operations in public.

If only Democrats cared half as much about American citizens as they do about illegals.

Read: Democrats Super Concerned On “Secretive” Deportation Flights »

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Oregon Voters To Vote On Blocking Democrats From Raising Gas Tax

By William Teach May 11, 2026 – 3:00 pm

Really, if the Oregon voter is registered Democrats they should have their gas taxes raised, because they voted for the people trying to raise them. If registered Republican, well, first, why are you still in the state?

Oregon Democrats found a way to improve roads. Now their gas tax goes before voters as prices soar

Electric vehicleAppealing to voters’ anxieties about the soaring cost of living is central to Democrats’ messaging in their hopes of big wins in this year’s midterm elections. In Oregon, a question on the primary ballot is complicating that strategy.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature raised the state gas tax and a range of fees last fall as a way to pay for road improvements and plug a hole in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans responded with a petition to repeal the increases, leading to a referendum that will land before voters just as the Iran war is causing the price of gas to skyrocket around the United States.

“It is a hell of a time to be raising gas taxes on people,” said Jeanine Holly, filling up her tank on a recent morning in Portland.

The gas tax repeal on the state’s May 19 primary ballot comes amid widespread disruptions in the oil industry from the war with Iran started by Israel and President Donald Trump. Discontent is high among U.S. consumers across the political spectrum, with the price of gas topping $4.50 a gallon nationally on Friday and averaging about 80 cents more per gallon in Oregon.

Oh, please, their gas tax was already high, and the Democrats and their pet media were not complaining when the gas was high under Biden. Heck, they were saying everything was fine.

The referendum will give voters a chance to weigh in on a hot-button issue hitting them directly in the pocketbook at a time when prices remain elevated for everything from housing to groceries. Nationally, Democrats have focused on the affordability concerns similar to those that helped propel Trump to victory in 2024. Some of their candidates have even proposed ways to cut taxes as a way to promote their agenda and counter a traditional GOP strategy.

“It’s difficult to imagine a worse situation for … a gas tax increase than right now in American politics,” said Chris Koski, professor of political science and environmental studies at Portland’s Reed College.

Here’s the thing, and I started mentioning it all the way back in Obama’s first term: revenues from gas taxes were dropping quite a bit due to the enforced higher CAFE standards for vehicles. The push for hybrids. All for the mythical ‘climate change’. If people are getting much better MPG, then they do not buy as much gas, hence, less revenue. I have a bit over 1,000 miles on the CRV hybrid I leased on March 25, with an average fuel economy up to 38.7 at this point. I’m on my 3rd tank of gas, including what came with, which was full. So, I’m paying a lot less in taxes, right? But, this is what they tried to force us into (I love my hybrid, loved the Accord hybrid before, and will probably always get one. Love the MPGs, and has pretty good power).

EVs? They do not pay any gas tax. Sure, their property taxes/and or registrations cost a lot more, but, does that make up for the lost revenue? No.

Republicans wasted no time in appealing to voters after the Legislature and Democratic governor signed off on the tax increase, which also included a higher payroll tax for transit projects and a boost in vehicle registration and title fees.

They needed 78,000 voter signatures to qualify the referendum for the ballot. They quickly got 250,000.

“That is a remarkable number,” said Republican strategist Rebecca Tweed.

But, will Oregonians vote to block the increases, if the general assembly doesn’t find a way to stop the referendum? Democrat voters should be happy to pay the taxes and fees.

Meanwhile

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Posted in Democrats, Global Warming, Taxation | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach May 11, 2026 – 1:00 pm

…is a tropical tree that will soon grow in Siberia, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Climate Scepticism, with a post on weather station.

Read: If All You See… »

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Illegals In Hawaii Detention Could Wait 19 Months For Hearing Or Something

By William Teach May 11, 2026 – 10:30 am

There is a simple solution for this

Detained Immigrants Could Wait 19 Months For Their Day In Honolulu Court

Honolulu’s federal immigration court has become increasingly overwhelmed since 2020, with new data showing that the number of cases pending and the wait time for those cases to reach the courts both have hit their highest levels in 15 years.

Those problems, which predate the second Trump administration, have been further tested by a quadrupling of immigration arrests in Hawai?i in 2025 compared to 2024.

The pace of arrests was averaging 35 a month last year, then appeared to be tapering off in February, according to the latest data obtained by the Deportation Data Project.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is moving to limit the time allocated in courts for individual hearings in asylum cases, while ramping up requests for removals before hearings can be conducted.

How many illegals were there in the very expensive state of Hawaii?

New immigration cases in Hawai?i began overwhelming completed cases during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and, according to Maui attorney Kevin Block, “there was also a surge of unaccompanied minors and other types of cases in 2023 and 2024. So it was after Covid, but before the second Trump administration.”

The backlog in Honolulu immigration cases doubled from 568 in the 2023 fiscal year to 1,162 in the 2024 fiscal year, he said — cases that are still making their way through the courts.

The backlog of pending immigration cases is now at its highest rate in 15 years, with 1,413 cases reported as of March 2026, according to new data obtained from the Department of Homeland Security, which was released on May 6 by an immigration tracking project based at Syracuse University.

That’s not a lot of illegals for one state, but, the courts are smaller because Hawaii is out in the middle of nowhere. Rather a strange place to just show up illegally and demand (fake) asylum, eh? It’s not cheap getting to Hawaii, but, we’ve been told that all illegals are poor.

The state has a limited number of immigration attorneys and if someone is detained in FDC Honolulu, their lawyer may have to travel to O?ahu to confer with them, he said, assuming they have the money to retain one in the first place.

Well, yeah, it’s not the kind of state that would need a lot like NY or California. Oh, well. It shouldn’t take long. Listen to the illegal make up a story of woe, realize that it is BS, and ship them off.

After ICE raids, immigrants are living in fear. How their neighbors are trying to help

The news of ICE raids has quieted in recent months, but many immigrants are still living with uncertainty. Here is a look at the people and organizations who are working to assist immigrants in their communities throughout the Midwest and Great Plains.

Juan’s fingers interlock as he sits on his living room couch. He squeezes them tighter as he talks about his American journey.

He came to the U.S. from Guatemala more than 30 years ago in search of a better life and became a citizen a decade ago.

But here in Sioux City, Iowa, the immigrants he knows are afraid.

“Many people live with that fear constantly, especially those with families,” Juan said in Spanish.

And they should be. They are here illegally. How many have stolen the social security numbers of Americans, causing problems with their credit? And the fear is the point. They, like those in Hawaii, should simply self deport.

Read: Illegals In Hawaii Detention Could Wait 19 Months For Hearing Or Something »

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