Biden Regime Trots Out New Greenhouse Reductions For Highways

By William Teach November 28, 2023 – 7:15 am

Typical dictatorial over-reach from people who do nothing to practice what they force everyone else to practice

Biden Admin Rolled Out A Massive Highway Emissions Rule On Thanksgiving Eve

The Biden administration unveiled a massive set of highway emissions regulations on Wednesday as Americans were settling in for the holiday weekend.

The finalized rule, announced by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), effectively requires state and local transportation agencies to establish greenhouse gas reduction targets for federally-funded roadway projects. Critics of the rule assert that it is an attempt to use federal highway funding as a cudgel to impose climate policies on state and municipal governments.

“Federal overreach to advance a misguided climate agenda has become a staple of the Biden administration,” Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The final rule, which imposes the performance measure and the requirement to set greenhouse gas targets on state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), is just one more example of these harmful regulations.”

And, of course, Los Federales essentially take tons of money from taxpayers and feed it back into the states for a goodly chunk of road projects, from highways and on down.

Similar emissions reduction requirements for federally-funded highway projects were deliberately excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure law as Congress was negotiating on the package, which President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021, Capito told the DCNF.

“Without the authority to impose this mandate, the FHWA is ignoring the letter of the law to finalize a rule that hampers the ability of state DOTs and MPOs to address the transportation needs of their constituents,” Capito told the DCNF.

They do not care. They’ll probably find some small tiny bit of writing in some law to justify this, which is why Congress should be writing specific, targeted legislation with no leeway, rather than giant laws that are vague.

“It’s not surprising the Biden administration had Mayor Pete drop this regulation just as many Americans were fighting traffic to be with family on Thanksgiving on roads he won’t fix because he’s squandering gas tax money on bike lanes and climate nonsense,” Dan Kish, senior research fellow for the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF. “They don’t let the law get in the way of them imposing new edicts on Americans.”

They do not care.

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WWIII Watch: NATO Says Ukraine Will Join Once War Ends

By William Teach November 28, 2023 – 7:00 am

We haven’t talked about Ukraine much, because nothing actually really happens, except dumping money and weapons. This kind of pronouncement means Russia will continue fighting, not wanting Ukraine to be part of NATO

‘All Allies Agree’ Ukraine Will Join NATO, Says Alliance Boss

NATO reaffirms its long-term support for Ukraine and says its members all agree the nation will join the alliance, but not while the war is ongoing, and not before it has reformed.

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg again spoke of NATO membership for Ukraine as a definite matter — despite previous dissent from within the alliance — as he spoke of a forthcoming meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council this week.

“Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, Stoltenberg said as he said discussions this week would focus on “priority reforms” for the country to make it fit to join the organisation. Recent direct support for Ukraine cited by the Norwegian politician turned alliance leader included the air defence coalition, billions in new funding, and the opening of the F-16 training centre in Romania for Ukrainian pilots.

There would still be lots and lots of details to work on, but, how does Russia feel? This will incentivize them to go harder. Oh, and Ukraine really is still a not particularly good country.

Oh, and how about that whole anti-freedom and anti-Christianity stuff?

Read: WWIII Watch: NATO Says Ukraine Will Join Once War Ends »

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Reuters Is Concerned That Republican Attacks On EVs Could Backfire

By William Teach November 27, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Why? Because a lot of manufacturers are building in Red states

In 2024, Republican EV attacks may fall short as swing states reap investment

electric vehicleElectric vehicles are a “hoax,” they do not work, and they are strengthening China’s economy at the expense of American jobs.

Those are among the criticisms that contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have leveled on the campaign trail in recent weeks.

But while EVs have emerged as a common foe for Republicans seeking the country’s top job, they are increasingly a source of tax revenue and employment in the states that will determine the winner of the 2024 presidential election.

That has created a potential opportunity that President Joe Biden and some Democratic congressional candidates are seeking to exploit to win support before next November’s vote, according to 25 Democratic and Republican strategists, local officials, labor leaders and a review of campaign literature.

There have been roughly $128 billion in investments in domestic EV and battery manufacturing announced since the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA. That law, supported by Biden and congressional Democrats, created tax credits to boost domestic EV manufacturing.

Of that investment, $48 billion – or one third – has taken place in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan, according to an analysis done by advocacy group Climate Power at Reuters’ request. Those four states, along with Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, are the arguably the most competitive in the country.

Why is this happening in mostly red states? Because they have the lowest taxation, are the most business friendly, and are right to work states. Why would companies want to deal with all the insanity in Blue states? Further, EVs are inconvenient for most citizens, they are expensive, they do help China’s economy (just like solar panels), and, here’s the biggest point of contention, they are being forced on Americans, mostly by executive fiat or unelected bureaucrats. If you want one, get one. Good on you. But, for people who do not want them, why is Government creating the condition where that’s the only thing you will be able to get? Especially when the people foisting this on Americans mostly do not drive one.

This won’t move the needle at all when it comes time to vote, but, climate cultists are always dreaming.

Read: Reuters Is Concerned That Republican Attacks On EVs Could Backfire »

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 27, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful train which Everyone Else should be forced to ride, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is 357 Magnum, with a post on a dude suffering a victim-selection failure.

Read: If All You See… »

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Taking Selfies Is Considered A “Public Health Problem”

By William Teach November 27, 2023 – 10:30 am

Even after the selfie generation has seen lots of people getting hurt and even dying while taking selfies and videos, they continue to do it with utter disregard of their safety

Taking selfies is now considered a ‘public health problem,’ requires ‘safety messaging,’ say researchers

unintended consequencesThe taking of selfies is now considered legitimately dangerous.

A review by the University of New South Wales concluded that taking selfies could actually pose a “public health problem.”

Referencing data from multiple peer-reviewed studies in both the U.S. and Australia since 2011, the review was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in September of this year.

Selfie-related deaths at aquatic locations stood out as the most concerning incidents — including photo-taking at scenic and photogenic areas.

The general use of smartphones and apps is dangerous, the research pointed out, but four of the five peer-reviewed studies identified falls from heights due to selfie-taking as the most common cause of injury and death.

Drowning was identified as the second most common cause of death.

The study, though, didn’t really look at injuries on man-made structures or trains or stuff. And that’s leaving a lot of injuries and deaths out of the mix. How about those stupid vids where they record themselves getting out of their car to dance next to it, which often turns out badly? Where they’re dancing on tables or something and crash down? Just generally doing dumb things which get them hurt for the camera? I do not know about you, but, we rarely did dumb things like that when I was growing up and through my 20’s.

The people getting hurt the most are women, and the mean age is 22. “All for the ‘gram” is a dangerous saying. They all have to take photos of themselves at places, rather than just of the places, and, because they’ll take lots to get the perfect one, they put themselves in a bad place. Recently, I’ve seen lots of articles about “mourists” (moron and tourist) getting messed up because they got too close to wildlife.

The study concluded that the public health problem should require a “public health risk communication response.”

“To date, little attention has been paid to averting selfie-related incidents through behavior change methodologies or direct messaging to users, including through social media apps,” the authors concluded.

It’ll work as well as “don’t do drugs” and “stop signs mean stop”. They’d have to catch kids at a young age and hope the advice works for 10-20 years down the road. They’d probably have to teach kids how stupid it all looks.

Risk reduction methods have included “no selfie zones,” physical barriers, signage and information about dangerous zones provided on social media.

The research revealed, however, that these risk mitigation efforts haven’t been enough to prevent accidents.

What do you call an accident where you’ve put yourself in a bad situation? If you’re blowing stop signs and get hurt, that’s on you.

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, of NYU Langone, was not involved in the study review. But he agreed that selfie-related accidents constitute a public health crisis.

The issue doesn’t just lie in physical injury, he said via email to Fox News Digital; it also introduces the “unhealthy psychological aspects of taking a pause from actually living life to take a freeze-frame of it.”

Siegel added, “This involves an emotional cost as well, and is an unhealthy extension of our celebrity culture and social media pressures.”

I’ve seen some of these folks, from the young to the middle age, obsess about getting the right photo, the right video. It’s not healthy mentally.

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NYC Looks To Make Entire Fleet EV/Net Zero By 2038

By William Teach November 27, 2023 – 7:00 am

If this is so important, why wait so long?

New York City Mayor signs bill to make a major change to fleet of city vehicles: ‘This is a huge, bold step that we are taking’

In a significant move to help improve air quality in New York City and drive down planet-warming pollution, Mayor Eric Adams has signed a bill that will require all vehicles in the city’s government fleet to be electric or zero-emissions by 2038.

“This is a huge, bold step that we are taking because we are making history and taking a big, bold step towards the city’s electric future,” Adams said, per CBS News.

New York City will be the first city in the nation to implement such a strategy. In addition to improving the lives of residents affected by vehicle pollution — and reducing its impact on increasing the Earth’s temperatures — Adams said the policy would help to save $90 million in taxpayer funds in the space of four years.

“When it comes to delivering greener city vehicles, New York City is leading the charge,” said Mayor Adams in a statement. “Electric vehicles reduce emissions and make our air cleaner, helping us meet our sustainability goals and improving quality of life for countless New Yorkers.”

On one hand, this is the type of thing that a city like NYC should do: regardless of your opinion on climate doom, fossil fueled vehicles do put out lots of smog and pollutants (CO2 is not a pollutant). Yes, they are a lot cleaner than they used to be, but, in a city like NY it is all condensed into a small area. I’ve always thought that NYC should ban most private vehicles cruising around the city. Sheesh, they could go back to using more streetcars like there used to be, to supplant the subway and buses. You could also reduce engine noise.

But, of course, once you start yammering about global boiling, well, did CBS News or any outlets covering the story ask Hizzoner when he will forgo traveling in fossil fueled vehicles? It’s not like the city is spending almost $400k so Adams can travel around in fossil fueled SUVs, right?

Meanwhile, she also observed that Black, Brown, and low-income communities are among those most at risk when it comes to extreme heat or flooding exacerbated by human-caused pollution.

Of course they had to drag raaaaacism into the story, which is always interesting, as it shows just how little respect climate cultists and leftists in general think of “black and brown” people.

Read: NYC Looks To Make Entire Fleet EV/Net Zero By 2038 »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 34 Comments | Trackback URL

UN Official Whines, Says Israel Attacks On Gaza Are Mean

By William Teach November 27, 2023 – 6:45 am

You have to wonder where all these U.N. officials were when Hamas was slaughtering, raping, torturing, and beheading Jews in Israel. And randomly launching attacks on Israel, primarily civilians, over the years. Especially since the UN has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, but, they rarely condemn them

UN official says attacks in Gaza show ‘disregard of international humanitarian law’

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations (U.N.) Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said Sunday that recent attacks in the Gaza Strip against U.N. relief locations have shown a “disregard of international humanitarian law.”

During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan asked Lazzarini about the recent killings of about 108 U.N. staff members in the territory, asking why the death toll is so high.

“Yes, Margaret, this is definitely devastating news, and the United Nation never ever lost as many staff in such a short period in the conflict. But now it is also true, Margaret, that about 70 of our locations, sheltering more than 1 million people, have been hit since the beginning of the conflict,” Lazzarini told Brennan.

“And we had about 200 people who have been killed and … injured,” Lazzarini added. “And this despite the fact that we’re constantly deconflicting, and notifying the Israeli authorities, but also … Hamas about our location.”

If you have your people working in areas where the terrorists operate and where Israel will go after them, bad things will happen. You have to know that the UN knew about all the weapons, command centers, communication centers, etc., in areas around hospitals, schools, civilian areas. That Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

“But clearly here, this has been a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law, a blatant disregard of U.N. premises, and a blatant disregard of a civilian population,” Lazzarini said.

This would be UN premises used to support Hamas, and Lazzarini isn’t saying boo about Hamas keeping civilians around their fighters, nor Hamas killing civilians to stop them from leaving. Or that the majority of Palestinians in Gaza support a terrorist group.

And a good demonstration in London

(UK Daily Mail) There were no war cries; no thinly veiled threats of the ‘river to the sea’ variety.

Few were in the mood for chanting but when they did, there was just one chorus: ‘Bring them home.’

And 2,500 miles to the East, a four-year-old girl was among the handful who were indeed heading home – albeit to a home without the two parents executed in front of her very eyes on October 7. (snip)

Yesterday, that collective anguish finally took to the streets as the capital staged the greatest show of support for British Jews since the Battle of Cable Street in London’s East End nearly 90 years ago.

Organisers put the total figure at 105,000, nor far short of half the UK’s entire Jewish population.

Except that these were not all Jews. Far from it. The whole point of this march was for Brits of all faiths and none to show solidarity with a community enduring a ten-fold increase in anti-Semitic incidents since October 7.

This is a far cry from the imported crowd bolstered by Israel and Jew hating Brits screaming for the end of Israel, taking the side of terrorists.

Read: UN Official Whines, Says Israel Attacks On Gaza Are Mean »

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 26, 2023 – 1:02 pm

…are horrible carbon pollution driven wildfire clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Doug Ross @ Journal, with a post on today’s Larwyn’s Linx.

It’s sundresses week!

Read: If All You See… »

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach November 26, 2023 – 9:21 am

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another fine day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. Maybe getting a little needed rain, the squirrels are barking and chasing, and the Devils finally had a good game after a few poor ones. This pinup is by Greg Hildebrandt, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Old Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The O.K. Corral covers Catholic hospitals removing crosses
  2. The Other McCain discusses Geert Wilders winning
  3. The Right Scoop notes Mitt Romney’s TDS
  4. This ain’t Hell… features stupid people of the week
  5. Victory Girls Blog covers the BBC telling employees not to attend the anti-Semitism march
  6. The First Street Journal notes that wanting to protect the borders makes you “far right”
  7. Sultan Knish says there are no innocent civilians in Gaza
  8. Shot In The Dark is not impressed by the finalists to replace the Minnesota state flag
  9. Power Line notes what happened at a Queens school when a teacher stood up for Israel
  10. Pacific Pundit covers Blacks leaving the Democratic party
  11. Outside The Beltway wonders what comes next in Gaza
  12. Moonbattery covers a Catholic school inviting men with mental illness
  13. Legal Insurrection notes that parents and kids are avoiding colleges that hate Jews
  14. Geller Report shows military age men heading to Europe chanting Allahu Akbar
  15. And last, but, not least GeeeZ wonders why SCNY mayor Adams is having so many issues lately

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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AP Super Excited That Palestinian “Prisoners” Are Being Released

By William Teach November 26, 2023 – 7:00 am

The AP makes it seem as if these Palestinians are political prisoners or held illegally

Palestinian prisoners start to be released and Israeli hostages return to Israel, military says

Hamas militants on Saturday released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, from captivity in the Gaza Strip, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day cease-fire.

The cease-fire, brokered by Qatar and the United States, is the first extended break in fighting since the war began. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners. All are women and minors.

The late-night exchange was held up for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement. The delay underscored the fragility of the cease-fire, which has halted a war that has shocked and shaken Israel, caused widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip, and threatened to unleash wider fighting across the region. (snip)

In the West Bank, hundreds of people burst into wild celebrations for a second night as a busload of Palestinian prisoners arrived early Sunday. Teenage boys released in the deal were carried on the shoulders of well-wishers in the main square of the town of Al Bireh. But the mood of celebration was dampened by scenes of destruction and suffering in Gaza.

Some of the Palestinian prisoners were released in east Jerusalem, while the bulk returned home to a hero’s welcome in the occupied West Bank.

The article only mentions two of these “prisoners” way down in the article

Among those released was Nurhan Awad, who was 17 in 2016 when she was sentenced to 13 1/2 years in jail for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier with a pair of scissors.

In Jerusalem, Israeli troops evicted journalists who gathered outside the home of Israa Jaabis, who had been imprisoned since 2015 after being convicted of carrying out a bombing attack that wounded an Israeli police officer, and left Jaabis with severe burns on her face and hands.

So, criminals and terrorists. All the people Israel has detained are criminals and terrorists, including the children. When you’re attacking soldiers and civilians, there are legal consequences if caught. These are not innocent women and children.

It’s not surprising that the article takes this tone, when it was written by “JALAL BWAITEL, NAJIB JOBAIN, JOSEF FEDERMAN, SAMY MAGDY and BASSEM MROUE.” This is an AP Middle East team mostly involved with Gaza and the West Bank.

Read: AP Super Excited That Palestinian “Prisoners” Are Being Released »

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