If All You See…

…is a field that would be perfect for a solar farm, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Political Hat, with a post on designated oppression.

Read: If All You See… »

Brandon Admin Looks To Push Allies To Up Pressure On Russia Over Ukraine Or Something

Do people really care that much anymore? It’s barely in the news and people have other concerns. What’s happening in Ukraine really doesn’t affect them that much

U.S. aims to rally allies to up pressure on Russia, shore up Ukraine support

The U.S. government will seek to rally allies this week to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and shore up support for Kyiv, a top U.S. Treasury official is slated to say on Monday.

I love how it’s “the US government”, rather than the Biden administration. It’s almost like the media forgets who’s president

Treasury Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh will underscore the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine in a speech at the Brookings Institution as global finance officials gather in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, according to excerpts obtained by Reuters.

It’s wavering. We The People have mostly checked out on sending money and arms

Shambaugh, who traveled to Kyiv with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February, said current inflationary pressures could not be separated from the war and its economic spillovers.

It barely makes a difference for the U.S. All that money could have been used to help Americans. Well, except for quite a few of the sanctions on Russia, which do not really seem to be hurting Russia, just nations that deal with Russia.

“The United States is redoubling our efforts to rally our global coalition of allies at the Spring Meetings on Treasury’s two lines of effort as part of the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine,” he said in the prepared remarks. That means “shoring up economic support for Ukraine’s government and people, and … continuing to deny (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the revenue and military equipment he needs to further his illegal war.”

In other words, the allies in this are getting squishy.

“Looking ahead, Ukraine will need support from a broad set of donors as its recovers and rebuilds. As an international community, we can coalesce around meeting the most urgent and concrete needs — high-impact areas that can help Ukraine restart its economy and bring home displaced Ukrainians as conditions permit,” he said.

Um, Ukraine hasn’t won, and they are nowhere close to winning. Not by a longshot.

Read: Brandon Admin Looks To Push Allies To Up Pressure On Russia Over Ukraine Or Something »

We Must Ban Superyachts To Stop ‘Climate Change’

The NY Times is all in a lather over the superyachts of billionares. Of course, what would actually happen is that the fossil fueled boats of the average person would end up being banned

The Superyachts of Billionaires Are Starting to Look a Lot Like Theft

If you’re a billionaire with a palatial boat, there’s only one thing to do in mid-May: Chart your course for Istanbul and join your fellow elites for an Oscars-style ceremony honoring the builders, designers and owners of the world’s most luxurious vessels, many of them over 200 feet long.

The nominations for the World Superyacht Awards were all delivered in 2022, and the largest contenders are essentially floating sea mansions, complete with amenities like glass elevators, glass-sided pools, Turkish baths and all-teak decks. The 223-foot Nebula, owned by the WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, comes with an air-conditioned helicopter hangar.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but the ceremony in Istanbul is disgraceful. Owning or operating a superyacht is probably the most harmful thing an individual can do to the climate. If we’re serious about avoiding climate chaos, we need to tax, or at the very least shame, these resource-hoarding behemoths out of existence. In fact, taking on the carbon aristocracy, and their most emissions-intensive modes of travel and leisure, may be the best chance we have to improve our collective climate morale and increase our appetite for personal sacrifice, from individual behavior changes to sweeping policy mandates.

Does anyone really need to own one of these? Who cares? It’s none of anyone else’s business, but, members of the climate cult feel the need to tell Other People who to live their lives and spend their money. But, I will give Joe Fassler, a food and environmental issues “reporter” credit for noting that it’s time to take on the “carbon aristocracy” and their climahypocrisy.

Joe goes into all the megayachts and private jets owned and taken by the Elites, leading to

But this misses a much more important point. Research in economics and psychology suggests humans are willing to behave altruistically — but only when they believe everyone is being asked to contribute. People “stop cooperating when they see that some are not doing their part,” the cognitive scientists Nicolas Baumard and Coralie Chevallier wrote last year in Le Monde.

As the old Glenn Reynolds saying goes “I’ll start believing it’s a crisis when those who tell me it’s a crisis start acting like it’s a crisis (to which I add) in their own lives.” The Elites keep telling us we need to Do Something, preferably by government fiat, yet, they’re the worst offenders

Whether we’re talking about voluntary changes (insulating our attics and taking public transit) or mandated ones (tolerating a wind farm on the horizon or saying goodbye to a lush lawn), the climate fight hinges, to some extent, on our willingness to participate. When the ultrarich are given a free pass, we lose faith in the value of that sacrifice.

If you’re doctor tells you to lose weight, yet, he or she is fat and smokes, do you listen? I’ll still give Joe points for going after the Elites, but, he loses a few for pushing government authoritarianism. However, this is all a bunch of mule fritters when it comes to climate apocalypse. However, when it comes to real environmental issues, yest, they are very much polluting.

Read: We Must Ban Superyachts To Stop ‘Climate Change’ »

Gun Grabbers Push Gun Grabbing Immediately After Leftist Nutjob Kills People

The Lexington Herald Leader noted the timeline of the murders

8:38 a.m.: Louisville Metro Police officers received a call of shots fired at 333 East Main Street in downtown.

8:41 a.m.: Officers arrived at the Old National Bank where they encountered the shooter who was actively firing. Police immediately opened fire on the shooter, who died at the scene. Police are working to determine if the shooter’s cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, or the result of police gunfire.

10 a.m.: It was determined there was no longer an active threat to the public.

And at 1142am in the same paper

After Louisville shooting, it’s time to get out our bullhorns. We’re sick of gun deaths. | Opinion

Have we had enough yet?

Exactly two weeks after a deranged shooter killed six people in Nashville, three of them precious, innocent children, a deranged shooter killed four people in Louisville (the shooter also died), and sent eight more to the hospital.

Yes, a Democratic Party voting transgender wackjob

How many dead bodies ripped apart by bullets are enough? Does this have to go on until every family in America has lost someone to gun violence? Maybe that could be a high enough threshold for the insane death cult started by the National Rifle Association and upheld by so many of our elected officials.

So when will we have had enough? America, the great and good superpower, looks less and less exceptional on every front, but most of all it’s because any public or private space can at any minute turn into a shooting gallery. Why is that ok with so many people?

Connor Sturgeon, the Louisville murderer, uses he/him in his social media stuff, and

https://twitter.com/SebGorka/status/1645467439763685393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1645467439763685393%7Ctwgr%5E0e15a7c8d5d490a0b419f13c4b47ea0206536485%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fsamj-3930%2F2023%2F04%2F10%2Falleged-social-media-of-louisville-mass-shooter-connor-sturgeon-he-him-very-telling-screenshots%2F

Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville was one of the rare dissenters. On Monday she tweeted: “It is time to address common sense gun legislation. KY requires all guns confiscated in the state to be resold on the open market. Will not even discuss red flag laws in the legislature. No office of gun safety. Thoughts and prayers are not enough! It is past time for action.”

Red flag laws didn’t do a damned thing trans wacko in Nashville.

It’s not about anything else, not mental illness, not gender identity, not politics, not social media.

It’s the guns. Right now, we have almost 400 million weapons in this country. That’s more guns than people.

If it was the guns and the people who lawfully own them, you’d know it. It is the wackos.

Americans want more common sense gun control measures, like better background checks, but the corrupt figures at the NRA have too much power over our politicians. When two Black representatives in Tennessee took to the House floor with a bullhorn to bring attention to this fact, the GOP majority expelled them.

The NRA is made up of American citizens, and the background checks system fails on numerous occasions: how will an expanded system work? Why don’t they just come out and say it: they want to ban the average American from owning a firearm. Again, I’m not against certain measures. I’m even for expanding the waiting period so that a proper, Constitutional background check can be performed. But, everything the Democrats propose are just small steps towards banning and confiscation.

Also, if they want to save lives, well, at least 3-5 times more die from alcohol. Why not enforce the existing laws on firearms? Heck, the same people screeching for gun control have let Hunter Biden, who lied on his firearm application, off scott free. The same people have gone completely soft on criminals.

More: The paper has ideas for gun grabbing, er, common sense gun reform, to go with banning private ownership of “assault rifles” and large capacity magazines

Read More »

Read: Gun Grabbers Push Gun Grabbing Immediately After Leftist Nutjob Kills People »

Judge Rules Hawaii DOT Must Face Youts Climate Cult Lawsuit

I just have to wonder, why is Hawaii building new roads in the first place? The state went climahysteric over a decade ago….oh, right, they’re still loving all those tourists coming in via fossil fueled flights, and, since the state produces almost nothing, they have to import most items, which requires fossil fuels and roads

Hawaii DOT must face kids’ climate lawsuit, judge rules

A judge in Hawaii has rejected a bid by the state’s transportation department to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of 14 young people who claim it is violating the state constitution by failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Judge Jeffrey Crabtree in Honolulu ruled on Thursday the youth plaintiffs could pursue their claims. He said the Hawaii Department of Transportation is shirking its duty to protect the environment by promoting and funding highway projects that lead to more fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Crabtree rejected the state’s argument the plaintiffs had no tangible injuries on which to base their case since they claimed climate change effects are “already baked in.”

“Transportation emissions are increasing and will increase at the rate we are going,” Crabtree said. “In other words, the alleged harms are not hypothetical or only in the future.”

That looks more like a judge ruling in the case, rather than just saying the case can go to trial. I wonder how the judge gets around the state? How about the kids? Have they stopped using fossil fuels?

And what do the youts want?

The young plaintiffs were between the ages of nine and 18 when they filed the lawsuit in June, claiming the department is violating a provision of the state’s constitution that guarantees a right to a clean and healthful environment.

They said investments in infrastructure like highways run counter to state goals to reduce emissions to zero by 2045.

The lawsuit asked the court for a declaration that the Department of Transportation is violating their constitutional rights, as well as a court order telling the department to take unspecified but “concrete action steps” to reduce emissions and appointment of a special master to oversee those changes.

So, they do not really know what they want? Isn’t that rather necessary for a lawsuit? It’d be funny if the jury/judge require the kids to stop taking fossil fueled travel. Or ban the use of fossil fuels to bring in tourists and goods. Ban fossil fueled vehicles, which would destroy tourism.

BTW, where is the money coming from to pay for the lawsuit and all the lawyers? Earth Justice is a huge “non profit” Group that had over $100,000,000 in revenue last year. They made $3 million alone from their investments and they hold over $90 million in mutual funds. They’re swimming in money. It’s basically an astroturfed suit, for which Earth Justice will most likely profit.

Meanwhile, cleaning out the Pocket folder

‘I cut my home’s carbon footprint to zero – and my energy rating went down’

On paper, Christine Asher’s buy-to-let is a net zero dream. Her cottage in Dingwall, Scotland may be off-grid but it does not rely on heating oil, instead meeting its energy needs using only electricity. In 2021, Asher, 71, swapped out the property’s storage heaters for electric radiators.

“The new tenant told me how good they were,” she says. “Meanwhile the tenant in the attached house next door, still on the system of old storage heaters, said his house was never as warm as my cottage.”

When the tenant moved out, Asher decided it was time to check she had done all she could to make her home energy-efficient.

Guess what? She spent a lot of money, and her rating did not go up at all. And would cost a lot of money to make it rise. And this same issue is causing a lot of issues for a lot of landlords.

Climate change adding 50 homers a year in MLB, study says

Climate change is making major league sluggers into even hotter hitters, sending an extra 50 or so home runs a year over the fences, a new study found.

Hotter, thinner air that allows balls to fly farther contributed a tiny bit to a surge in home runs since 2010, according to a statistical analysis by Dartmouth College scientists published in Friday’s Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. They analyzed 100,000 major league games and more than 200,000 balls put into play in the last few years along with weather conditions, stadiums and other factors.

“Global warming is juicing home runs in Major League Baseball,” said study co-author Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth climate scientist.

Sounds like slight warming is making the game fun. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with stronger players, better conditioning, could it?

Read: Judge Rules Hawaii DOT Must Face Youts Climate Cult Lawsuit »

If All You See…

…is a sea wall needed for when the seas suddenly rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is This ain’t Hell…, with a post on Congress quietly getting what amounts to a raise.

Read: If All You See… »

Washington Senate Passes Big Gun Banning Bill

I’m sure all the criminals will not use these banned weapons, right?

Senate passes ban on assault weapons. Here’s what would be banned under the law

Senate lawmakers voted 27-21 Saturday afternoon for House Bill 1240, which bans the purchase and sale of assault weapons in the state of Washington.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, and co-sponsored by 25 other Democratic lawmakers in the House at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

“Young people are taking to the streets and will hold us accountable if we don’t do something,” said Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue. “When we’re talking about mass shootings and the killing of people quickly and without warning, we’re talking about assault weapons. And that’s why we’re here today, we’re here to say: enough is enough.”

The bill will need to go back to the House chamber where it originated for concurrence on Senate amendments before it can be signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. The legislation contains an emergency clause that would render it effective immediately upon a signature from the governor.

HB 1240 would prohibit the “manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault weapon.” Some exceptions for licensed firearm manufacturers and dealers are baked into the legislation, allowing law enforcement agencies to continue to purchase from firearms dealers and manufacturers, for instance.

Exceptions are included for those who inherit an assault weapon, and the bill would not regulate possession for Washingtonians who currently own an assault weapon.

There’s a long list of firearms that will no longer be allowed to purchased in the state. Notice that you, the private citizen, are banned, but, dealers can still sell to Government, like, say, for protection of the members of the general assembly and the governor. It would be fun if all the dealers in the state refused to sell to government. Same with manufacturers.

The legislation further defines assault weapons as “semiautomatic rifles with an overall length of less than 30 inches; conversion kits and parts that can be used to assemble an assault weapon or convert a firearm into an assault weapon, if the parts are in the possession of or under the control of the same person; semiautomatic centerfire rifles that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic centerfire rifles with a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than ten rounds; semiautomatic pistols that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic shotguns that have one or more additional features listed in the bill.”

It really won’t interfere with pistols, but, there’s already a lot of laws that make it really difficult for citizens to purchase them, and, hey, the GA will get around to working on bans soon. There’s a list of those rifles banned, and many are never used by nutjobs, such as the Heckler & Koch PSG-1, which is a semi-auto sniper rifle. Which goes for $12k-$15k, and there are only around 400 in the US, mostly in law enforcement hands. And the Springfield Armory M-21 sniper, the newest version of the old M14. Most of these rifles are never used for any crime.

This will all make zero difference in criminals using firearms for crime.

Read: Washington Senate Passes Big Gun Banning Bill »

Good News: Brandon’s CAFE Standards To Drastically Increase

This is going to make vehicles a great deal more expensive, making it harder for the working class and middle class afford vehicles, even used ones. Of course this is being pushed by rich folks who do not have to worry about all this. Oh, and many of them, like Joe Biden, are not even driving compliant vehicles

EPA MPG Rules for 2027–32 Cars, Trucks, SUVs Getting (Way) Tougher

Cleaner air and more electric vehicles are the goals of a move expected next week when the Biden Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reportedly will announce what insiders are already calling the toughest-ever emissions rules for new cars and light trucks. The Associated Press reported on the planned announcement, having talked to people familiar with details of the proposal and who asked not to be named because it hasn’t yet been made public.

What the new rules won’t do is ban new internal-combustion-engine vehicles outright or force people to buy electric vehicles. Instead, they’d the next logical step in the U.S. government’s overall push to clean up our transportation system. President Biden’s official target is for half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be zero-emission vehicles, which for the government means all-electric, plug-in-hybrid, or fuel-cell vehicles.

The stricter rules will affect model year 2027–2032 vehicles and deal with carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and other greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Los Angeles Times, automakers have been pushing behind the scenes to delay implementation of the new emission limits for “a few years,” but we won’t learn more until the proposed rules are released this week.

Automakers know the customer base. They know what people can afford, and have already been pushed too far since the start of COVID. Will their own banks start doing 7 years plus loans as business as usual? This will destroy leasing for the average American, and making financing costs too high for most to afford.

This couldn’t possibly be the next step in forcing the peasants out of their privately owned vehicles and onto mass transit, could it? Nah, that would be a crazy thought.

You can bet that the White House’s vehicles will be exempt.

Read: Good News: Brandon’s CAFE Standards To Drastically Increase »

DOD Assistant Secretary For Readiness More Concerned About Appeasing Gender Confused

It’s no wonder Biden and so many others seem intent on getting the US into a nuclear war: our actual military readiness is in the toilet

DoD’s highest-ranking trans official: ‘Ostracizing anybody’ will hurt military readiness

Shawn Skelly was a Navy commander working to help fend off roadside bomb attacks when she came to a realization about herself — one that meant her career in the military was over.

It was 2006, and “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which permitted gay and lesbian Americans to serve in the military as long as they kept their sexual identity under wraps, was still in effect. Skelly had identified as a man up until that point and — now that she felt she could no longer do so — decided to retire from military service as soon as possible. (snip)

Now she’s back at the Pentagon, this time as a civilian. As assistant secretary of defense for readiness, Skelly oversees military preparedness for warfighting, including training programs, equipment safety and munitions supplies.

And Skelly has a message for Republicans accusing the Department of Defense of promoting diversity and inclusion in the armed forces at the expense of military readiness: their campaign is what’s hurting the military’s warfighting capabilities.

In case you missed it, she’s actually a he. There is no “identifying”: you’re either biologically male or biologically female (with a few outliers, of course). Skelly is a dude with mental illness, and is part of the command for readiness.

“If you want to be ready, then you have to ensure that everybody that is in your force can be their best selves and contribute as a member of a team and be seen as valuable,” said Skelly, speaking at the Pentagon in her first in-depth interview since taking the job in 2021.

Nothing better than having people in the military who have a higher rate of mental health issues, suicidal thoughts, and attempted suicide, and having them around military grade weapons. And genuflecting to them. Elevating them while minimizing people who are there to fight, rather than trying to get the military to pay for their gender confused medical procedures. And equally wacked having one of the people in charge of readiness wooing the wackos.

It’s part of a larger push by some Republican lawmakers who argue that personnel policies like diversity trainings, racial justice education and events like a recent drag show on a military base alienate some potential recruits and distract from the forces’ main mission: fighting wars and protecting the homefront.

“When I talk to people and say, ‘Well, why aren’t you looking to join the military?’ A lot of them say, ‘Well, the military has been over-politicized. Well, the military has gone woke,’ said Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) during a March 9 hearing with the military’s senior enlisted leadership. “We’re saying that this new focus, this new shift, this new kind of woke ideology is not impacting recruitment and not impacting our readiness and lethality? I have a hard time believing that.”

It’s mostly not leftists joining the military, but, patriotic Republican voters. Or, at least, it used to be, because all four branches are missing their recruiting goals, and having trouble retaining existing members. So is the Coast Guard. And 31 states missed their National Guard goals. The people who love this nation are not going to join a military who’s leadership hates them. Especially with mentally ill people at the top.

Read: DOD Assistant Secretary For Readiness More Concerned About Appeasing Gender Confused »

If All You See…

…is an Evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Jihad Watch, with a post on Easter tradition being banned at an Austrian school.

It’s tight dresses week.

Read: If All You See… »

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