…is an ocean that has swamped the land, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Independent Sentinel, with a post wondering which Woke ad you like better.
Doubleshot below the fold, check out Virtual Mirage, with a post on just reading the instructions.
Read: If All You See… »
Remember back during the Bush 43 years, when it was found that foreign surveillance picked up American citizens to a small degree, and the entire media freaked out? Was top news at all the Credentialed Media sites? Not now, and, it’s interesting to see where Credentialed Media outlets, like The Hill, are going with this
FBI repeatedly misused surveillance tool, unsealed FISA order reveals
The FBI repeatedly misused a surveillance tool in searching for foreign intelligence to use in cases pertaining to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and 2020 racial justice protests, according to an April 2022 court order publicly released Friday.
The order, which was released by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is significantly redacted but reveals thousands of violations of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the federal government to collect communications between certain targeted foreign individuals outside the U.S.
FBI officials said the violations came before corrective measures the agency took starting in summer 2021 and continuing into last year.
But the release could create obstacles as the FBI seeks to have its warrantless surveillance program receive reauthorization from Congress before it expires at the end of the year. It could also expose the agency to heightened scrutiny amid recent GOP attacks on its activities.
That’s what they’re worried about? Not that they illegally surveilled U.S. citizens, violating their Rights as the FBI violated the law? Now, just imagine how Trump would be slammed if this occurred while he was president and Democrats were being thrown in jail for “insurrection” and being refused bail
The order shows the FBI turned to the database to look into someone it believed was present at the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, an inquiry that did not have any “analytical, investigative or evidentiary” purpose.
An analyst conducted 13 searches of people who were suspected of participating in the riot to see whether they had any foreign ties, but the Justice Department later determined that it did not meet the standard required for a search.
FBI officials also searched for information on more than 100 people arrested amid the racial justice protests in June 2020. The order states the FBI said it expected the searches to yield foreign intelligence, but the reasoning is mostly redacted.
What this could, and should mean, is that a lot of those convicted for their J6 activities, which mostly seems to be wandering around the Capitol Building, should have their convictions thrown out and their lives restored, and potentially lawsuits against the FBI, with some nice monetary compensation. Same for those for the way, way worse BLM/Antifa protests.
Top FBI officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said most of the violations were because of confusion surrounding the standards among workers. They said the agency has made significant changes — like requiring training and overhauling its computer system so officials need to type in a justification for a search instead of clicking on preset options.
One official said an internal audit showed the compliance rate increasing from 82 percent before the changes to 96 percent afterward.
Does anyone else, I don’t care which side of the political aisle you’re on, find that absurd? Confusion surround the standards among works? Compliance to 96%? That tool is pretty damned serious, and people who do not know what they’re doing shouldn’t be involved. But, really, we all know they were intentionally misusing it, knowing that the protests had nothing to do with foreign influence. And now the FBI is saying “our bad, we’ve made changes, so sorry.” Nah, bro, people need to be demoted. Fired. Prosecuted. The FBI needs a serious overhaul. Remember, the next person they plan to F with could be you.
Anyhow, remember the “thousands” above, which is repeated in the buried stories at other leftist news outlets?
(Breitbart) The FBI misused its powerful digital surveillance powers nearly 300,000 times between 2020 and early 2021, including against January 6 protesters, according to a newly unsealed court document.
That’s a far sight from “thousands”.
Read: FBI Misused Surveillance Tool “Thousands” Of Times In Relation To J6, Others »
Gizmado thinks they really have something here, attempting to paint Abbott as an Evil EV hater, forgetting that all he did was sign the law, it was passed by the Texas general assembly, with an almost unanimous vote including the Democrats
Greg Abbott Signs Law Making EV Owners Pay for Their Gas-Free Cars
EV drivers in Texas don’t pay at the pump, but will have to start paying a significant annual fee that critics are calling “punitive.”
Driving an electric vehicle in Texas is soon to become more expensive. Governor Greg Abbott signed a law (SB 505) on May 13 instituting new fees for registering and owning EVs in the state. Under the bill, electric car owners will have to pay $400 upon registering their vehicle. Then, every subsequent year, EV drivers will have to shell out an additional $200. Both of those fees are on top of the cost of the standard annual registration renewal fees, which are $50.75 each year for most passenger cars and trucks.
At least 32 states currently have special electric vehicle registration fees, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. These range from $50 in places like Colorado, Hawaii, and South Dakota to $274 (starting in 2028) in a recently passed piece of Tennessee legislation. Note: Tennessee lawmakers had originally proposed a $300 fee, but lowered it in response to pushback.
Like many other states that have instituted EV fees, the reasoning behind the Lone Star State’s new law is that electric car drivers don’t buy gas. Taxes at the fuel pump are the primary way that most states, Texas included, amass funds for road construction, maintenance, and other driving-related infrastructure.
OK, they actually played fair after the headline. And this really started to hit back during the Obama years when he significantly increase the CAFE standards, which meant a lot more hybrids and vehicles that achieved pretty decent MPG, which meant lower gas tax revenues. I could find posts about states, and even the federal government, talking about increasing fees for hybrids, increasing gas taxes, and even pushing taxes for miles driven (which would, of course, mean the government tracking your vehicle), all to make up for the lost revenue.
With the push for EVs, well, that revenue has to come from somewhere to maintain roads and the infrastructure and more.
But, compared with what gas drivers contribute, Texas’s EV fees seem a little out of whack. Charging $200 per year and $400 at the outset of EV ownership places Texas’s fee schedule at the higher price end of the policies out there. In comparison, Texas’s gas tax is among the lowest in the country, at just $0.20 per gallon. Just seven states impose a lower duty on gasoline than TX. Among the 10 most populous states in the country, additional fees levied elsewhere make Texas’s gas the cheapest.
Oh, there’s the whining. Again, just about every Democrat voted for this. Regardless, people will pay more in fees for EVs. Their auto insurance will go up anywhere 10% to 25%. Repair costs will be much higher. The greater use of electricity will then cause that price to go up, including at home
Electric personal vehicles are not a perfect solution to the ongoing problem of petroleum-powered cars. Swapping every gas-guzzler for an EV still would use up an extraordinary amount of resources, that are likely to be ill-gotten. Public investment in mass transit would inarguably be a better environmental strategy. But, as long as the U.S. remains overwhelmingly car dominant and as long as most Americans lack access to adequate public transit, EV uptake remains important for lowering the nation’s carbon emissions.
And there it is: those who believe they are the Climate Cult Elites believe that they can dictate your life. And let the cat out of the bag what they really want.
Read: ZOMG: Greg Abbott Signs Law Increasing Fees On Fossil Fuels Free EVs »
I wonder, how many Democrats truly approve of dumping hundreds of billions in money, aid, and military gear to Ukraine, with very little oversight, no end in sight, and little true need. For all the attempts to state how much Ukraine means to the U.S. national security, it really doesn’t
A Loud GOP Minority Pledges to Make Trouble on Ukraine Military Aid
A congressional delegation of five Republicans and two Democrats met with representatives of Ukraine’s parliament this month in Poland, where the Ukrainians thanked the delegation for U.S. aid and asked for F-16 fighter jets to help in the war against Russia. Three members of the delegation described the meeting as cordial and informative.
One left the session in a state of indignation.
“I just got back from meeting with the Ukrainian Parliament in Poland, where they demanded F-35s and thought it was an obligation for every American to pay $10 a month to fund their war,” first-term conservative Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote in a heated email to this reporter three days later. Ukrainians are not asking for the more advanced and expensive F-35s, but regardless, Luna said the U.S.’ role in the conflict could “potentially start WWIII.”
Ukraine ranked low on her constituents’ concerns, she added, vowing to brief her colleagues about the encounter.
Luna is among the boisterous proponents in Congress of former President Donald Trump’s “America first” worldview that regards financial commitments overseas with extreme skepticism. Like Trump, they maintain that every dollar spent on Ukraine — and there has been $113 billion for the war so far — is a dubious investment of taxpayer money that could have been better used on domestic priorities, like fighting the spread of fentanyl. Senior Republicans who support the war and maintain the hawkish traditions of the establishment GOP fear the movement will gain momentum as the conflict grinds on and Trump’s candidacy consumes the 2024 spotlight.
Um, yeah. What’s wrong with spending that money here? Helping Americans? Dealing with homelessness?
For the moment, America’s commitment to Ukraine seems resilient. President Joe Biden announced an additional $1.2 billion in military aid last week. Ukraine funding has gone unmentioned in the $4.5 trillion in spending cuts House Republicans are demanding in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. A House resolution introduced in February by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., aimed at halting further aid to Ukraine attracted only Luna and nine other signatories among the chamber’s 222 Republicans.
America’s? No, certain lawmakers in both the GOP and Democratic Party.
But there is evidence to suggest that the anti-Ukraine flank of the Republican Party is playing not to the fringe but to the heart of the party’s base. A survey last month of registered voters by Kristen Soltis Anderson’s Echelon Insights found that 52% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents do not think U.S. interests are at stake in Ukraine. Similarly, a survey in March conducted by Axios/Ipsos found that 57% of Republicans opposed providing weapons and financial support to Ukraine.
This isn’t anti-Ukraine. It’s simply that we really do not care. I’m not anti-soccer and NBA: I just do not care. Most of us would want to see them defeat Russia and kick them out. But, we see no need to to spend the money and potentially start WWIII. And this just keeps going and going and going. Heck, most days the MSM barely covers it, including the NY Times.
Anyhow, it bogs down in all sort of silliness as the Times tries to paint opposition as Something Bad, it’s Isolationist, it’s Trumpian, ending with
So far, defying the Republican base by supporting aid to Ukraine does not appear to be politically detrimental to the party’s incumbents.
“Not at this time,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vociferous foe of assisting Ukraine and a Trump loyalist. “But I’ll be speaking at many of the Trump rallies, and you can bet that I’ll be heavily messaging against the war in Ukraine and anyone who’s funding it. And I guarantee you that’s going to be moving the needle.”
It’s really not driving votes one way or the other. But, maybe it’s time to be diligant with all the expenditures, and consider what this is really getting us.
Read: NY Times Seems Upset That Majority Of Republicans Aren’t Into Open Ended Funding Of Ukraine »
It was bound to happen. If you took a poll, I’d bet a good chunk of the people being inconvenienced by the climate cult protests will say they support Doing Something about ‘climate change’ in theory, but, as soon as it causes a problem in their own lives they’re not so supportive
A furious passer-by confronted Just Stop Oil protesters today after a ranting man hurled a female activist to the ground and smashed another’s phone.
Police have shut down at least three marches by the demonstrators who targeted London’s streets for the fifth day this week.
One passer-by who said he had worked in the fossil fuel industry told a protester: ‘You’re talking c**p… so f*** off.’
In another protest almost 20 Just Stop Oil demonstrators wearing hi-vis vests and holding orange banners flocked to Mansell Street in east London.
Footage filmed from a window above the street showed the moment a passer-by took matters into his own hands and started snatching the protesters’ banners.
They’re just so passionate about stopping oil, despite just about everything they’re wearing being made with petroleum, along with the signs
A member of the public has lost it today with Just Stop Oil, so many have been warning about this happening.. it was only a matter of time before someone snapped.
These protesters are stopping hardworking people getting to work.pic.twitter.com/XPzZSfLQGU— Adam Brooks AKA EssexPR ???????? (@EssexPR) May 19, 2023
These demonstrations are rather counter-productive, and are driving people away. So, yeah, keep doing it!
Meanwhile, uber climate cult celebrity chef
(Washinton Free Beacon) After the owners of the mall where Andrés is set to open the restaurant threatened to sue the city, Palo Alto administrators will allow Andrés’s Mediterranean restaurant Zaytinya to use natural gas lines, despite a new law this year that bans them in construction.
The restaurant relies on “traditional cooking methods that require gas appliances to achieve its signature, complex flavors,” said Anna Shimko, a lawyer representing the group that owns the shopping center where Andrés leased space for the project.
The lawyer argued the building’s plans were approved in 2019, years before the gas ban was imposed. She added that some of the appliances the restaurant staff needs “do not have electrically powered equivalents.” Shimko added that if the ban is enforced, “Zaytinya will likely choose not to locate within the city.”
The city in a Tuesday statement called the decision a “one-off” exception and a “unique” situation.
Exemption, eh? I’m thinking there were be a lot of suits if people do not get their exemption
Read: Surprise: Just Stop Oil Protest Gets A Big Nasty And Violent »
…is an Evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Green Jihad, with a post on South Africa beating their climate goals.
Read: If All You See… »
Well, now we wait to see if it will happen
DeSantis to launch presidential campaign May 24, sources say
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to formally announce in a “virtual” way on May 24 that he is running for president, as donors and fundraisers gather in Miami to make calls and fundraise for his campaign, according to three sources familiar with the planning.
He plans to file papers with the Federal Election Commission to officially establish his presidential candidacy. The Miami gathering, which includes some of the governor’s most generous longtime donors, are expected to receive briefings on campaign strategy and requests to help raise significant sums of cash for his bid, three people familiar with the plans said.
A more formal kickoff event is expected to be held closer to June 1, according to those familiar with his plans. It is likely to occur in DeSantis’s hometown of Dunedin, Fla., sources familiar with the plans said.
A DeSantis spokesman declined to comment on the timing for an announcement. The news on a launch next week was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
While no article has a named source, this is a case where it’s most likely true. So now you have
(Newsweek) In a post on Truth Social, the former president said that DeSantis has “zero chance” of gaining the White House, despite the governor attempting to increase his name recognition with appearances across the country over the past few months.
And
(NY Times) Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida all but declared his presidential candidacy on Thursday afternoon, telling donors and supporters on a call that only three “credible” candidates were in the race and that only he would be able to win both the Republican primary and the general election.
“You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,” Mr. DeSantis told donors on the call, organized by the super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down. “Biden, Trump and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him.”
Who’s right, and who’s wrong? I’ll say again, I just do not think Trump can win in 2024, even against Biden. Even without Democrat cheating, the electoral college math is just not in his favor. It doesn’t matter how many votes he got in 2020, things have change. The constant whining about 2020, the legal actions against Trump will hurt, there are too many who are just over him. Democrats seem to be over Biden, but, they really cannot get rid of him. Trump spends too much time bashing Republicans. Sure, people were surprised in 2016. This is not 2016. Hey, anything can happen. I just do not think he can win the White House, and if citizens are voting against him, they may vote against Republicans in the House, Senate, and even state elections.
Their policies are similar, but, DeSantis is less bull in a china shop, more focused on policy, and doesn’t sit around and bash Republicans. We’ll have to see how it goes.
Another bit of climate doom. Yes, this is mostly caused by humans, and to some degree, mostly natural climatic changes, but, it is not global, and mostly goes to things like land use
Climate change, humans shrinking lakes by trillions of gallons a year, study finds
Climate change‘s hotter temperatures and society’s diversion of water have been shrinking the world’s lakes by trillions of gallons of water a year since the early 1990s, a new study finds.
A close examination of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes found they are losing about 5.7 trillion gallons (21.5 trillion liters) a year. That means from 1992 to 2020, the world lost the equivalent of 17 Lake Meads, America’s largest reservoir, in Nevada. It’s also roughly equal to how much water the United States used in an entire year in 2015.
Even lakes in areas getting more rainfall are shriveling. That’s because of both a thirstier atmosphere from warmer air sucking up more water in evaporation, and a thirsty society that is diverting water from lakes to agriculture, power plants and drinking supplies, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science.
Authors also cited a third reason they called more natural, with water shrinking because of rainfall pattern and river runoff changes, but even that may have a climate change component. That’s the main cause for Iran’s Lake Urmia to lose about 277 billion gallons (1.05 trillion liters) a year, the study said.
First off, the climate is always going to change. No need to invoke witchcraft for this. During the last glacial age the Mediterranean was barely present, with the Atlantic Ocean being so low. When it ended, the Atlantic rose, water was released from glaciers, and the Med became what it is today. The land use and diversion of water is the primary cause.
The article uses as their primary example the loss of water from the Aral Sea. Well, even Warmist NASA said the primary cause was water diversion. But, the great thing about propaganda is that a story like the above is being broadcast and repeated throughout the media, with no pushback, no journalistic skepticism, so, who’s going to look for the truth?
Read: ‘Climate Change’ And Land Use, But, Mostly Land Use, Shrinking Lakes »
This is a hell of a thing. I thought all the Progressives in New York City were very supportive of illegal immigration, and happy with their status as a sanctuary city. That they really wanted to help out all these poor, downtrodden refugees from Mexico, Central America, and South America. No?
As Crisis Grows, All of New York’s Migrant Plans Are Met With Outrage
Since tens of thousands of migrants began arriving in New York City last year, the administration of Mayor Eric Adams has searched for one place after another to house them: hotels, parking lots, a cruise ship terminal and a pair of giant tents on Randall’s Island among them. Almost every idea has caused an uproar.
Now, the daily stream of migrants feeding the crisis has doubled in size in recent weeks, city officials say. As many as 700 migrants are arriving each day in the city — up from less than half that number since the expiration last Thursday of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed immigration officials to expel some border crossers back to Mexico.
Whoa, whoa, I thought the Credentialed Media was telling us that the number of border crossers wasn’t that bad?
With no clear solutions at hand, the city turned to shelter some migrants in public school gyms starting last week. That plan, like many others before it, was almost immediately met with outrage — not only from activists and human rights groups, but also from public school parents and the ranks of everyday New Yorkers.
Why would the activists and human rights groups (ie, mostly white liberal do-gooders who refuse to get their own hands dirty) be against housing the illegals? Is it because they do not want them in their own areas? Well, of course. Same with Democrat voting, illegal alien supporting NYC residents. It’s fine when the illegals are Over There, not in their own areas
That new influx of arrivals has forced the Adams administration to contend with new layers of what was already a humanitarian and economic crisis that the city had spent $1 billion addressing so far, and may cost as much as $4.3 billion through June 2024, according to Williams-Isom. It has strained Adams’ relationship with not only New Yorkers but with President Joe Biden.
Surely NYC liberals would be willing to pay more in taxes and fees to cover this, right?
The arrival of migrants has tested left-leaning cities around the country in particular. In addition to New York, many of the migrants are ending up in places like Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C., where leaders have sought to emphasize that they are welcome, while at the same time warning that the large numbers of newcomers are straining services.
They’re welcome in theory, not in practice.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered outside P.S. 172 in Brooklyn, one of the schools whose gym was designated as emergency housing for migrants. Some protesters arrived as early as 3 a.m., when they believed migrants might begin to arrive.
Gabriela Vizhnag, 50, the mother of a third grader, said she was “not racist or anti-immigrant” because she had immigrated from Mexico. But she opposed the plan to house people in a school gym with no available showers and only two bathrooms.
“It is not good for the children and it is not humane for the migrants,” she said.
These illegals dealt with worse on their trek to the U.S. border. And, it’s a nice excuse, but, really, the NYC residents do not want them messing up their city.
Activists and legal groups have called on the city to focus on helping people find permanent housing, but New York is in the grip of a long-running housing crisis, and its voucher program has been plagued with troubles.
Are these folks ponying up money and making their own homes available to house the illegals? No, they want Other People to pay, and the illegals to be far away. Seriously, all these Democrats let them in in mass numbers but they never thought what to do with them once they were here.
Read: NYC’s Citizens Are Decidedly Unhappy About The City’s Plans For Illegals »
No, no, this is totally not a scam
Top State Judge Handling Climate Lawsuit Worked With Environmental Group Tied To Plaintiffs’ Lawyers
The Chief Justice of Hawaii’s Supreme Court, who is hearing Honolulu’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies for climate damages, has worked with a D.C-based environmental group that has close ties to the plaintiff’s attorneys.
Honolulu’s lawsuit against Sunoco, Shell, Chevron and other companies is one of many lawsuits cities have filed against energy companies in an effort to extract alleged damages for the firms’ contributions to climate change; the Supreme Court declined to hear these lawsuits in April, pushing them back to state courts—meaning Honolulu’s case is now squarely before Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald. However, on May 9, Recktenwald disclosed that he engages in “educational presentations relating to environmental, energy, and natural resource issues” and has worked with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a group which routinely collaborates with environmental activists.
ELI co-founded the Climate Judiciary Project, which developed a climate science and law curriculum for judges handling environment litigation, and has worked closely with individuals who have consulted for or been employed by the environmental activist legal firm representing Honolulu in its lawsuit, Sher Edling LLP.
“Judges are supposed to not only be impartial, but to maintain the appearance of impartiality so that the public can have faith in their rulings,” Rob Schilling, Executive Director of Energy Policy Advocates, a nonprofit that works for transparency in energy policy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It appears that the judge may have attended (or even presented at!) seminars organized for those on one side of this type of case. Those on the other side were not permitted to present their view, and the seminar took place outside of the courtroom and outside the protections provided by the rules of evidence.”
The article continues getting deeper and deeper, with other Hawaii judges involved, and none of them seem to have any intent to recuse themselves. But, you know what? I want them to rule against the energy companies, so that the companies say “good riddance” to Hawaii. Let’s see the state be able to operate without fossil fuels. How will that work for all the autos, airplanes, helicopters, and boats? How will all the goods come to Hawaii? Will tourists want to have to bike everywhere, and live with minimal power? Hawaii produces very little in the way of food other than fish for mass consumption. Hawaii will quickly become a 3rd world nation without fossil fuels and tourists will say “nope. I’m not spending all that money to visit.”
But, every experiment needs an experimental group, right?
Read: Surprise: Judge In Climate (scam) Lawsuit Linked Plaintiff’s Lawyers »
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