If All You See…

By William Teach September 28, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is barbed wire used to keep climate refugees out, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The First Street Journal, with a post on mass looting in Philly.

Read: If All You See… »

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Democrats At FCC Propose Bringing Back Net Neutrality

By William Teach September 28, 2023 – 10:30 am

Is this really necessary? Or, just another case of Democrats wanting to control everything?

The Biden FCC’s Plan to Brake 5G

Remember predictions that Trump Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai would break the internet by rescinding the Obama “net neutrality” rules? The internet somehow still works and is now even faster. Yet Biden regulators plan to “fix” it by re-imposing political control.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez was sworn in Monday, and Chair Jessica Rosenworcel is off and running with a new 3-2 majority. On Tuesday she announced plans to reinstate the Obama regulatory regime that reclassified broadband providers as common carriers under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act.

Net neutrality has long been a rallying cry on the left. Progressives claimed during the Obama years that broadband providers had to be regulated as utilities so they wouldn’t slow or block websites. Yet providers weren’t doing so then and haven’t since the Trump FCC scrapped the Title II regime in 2018.

Instead, Americans have experienced faster broadband speeds. By the end of 2019, 94% of Americans had access to high-speed fixed and mobile broadband, up from 77% in 2015. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of rural Americans lacking high-speed internet fell nearly 50%.

Broadband investment dipped after the Obama FCC imposed Title II in 2015. But the Title II rollback and 5G rollout have produced a surge of investment. Last year the industry spent $102 billion on capital expenditure, up from $76 billion in 2016. Prices for internet service have risen 7% since January 2020, much less than the 18.2% increase in the consumer-price index.

Consider: without any sort of Net Neutrality, Internet went from a slow dial-up with barely any content and barely anyone with it to the immense speeds available today with numerous providers. Mobile Internet went from super slow WAP at around 14.4kbs to super fast (a speed check just showed 332mps on T-Mobile). Mobile providers offer devices to use mobile service as home Internet, no hard connections required.

On of the reasons they said we needed NN was so that ISPs did not intentionally block, slow down, or charge money for specific online content. Yet, are they? No. Unless you do not pay your bill. And, yes, some content is extra. That’s life.

Contrast this high-speed U.S. leap to Europe where broadband providers are regulated as utilities. By 2020 U.S. rural fixed broadband deployment led all areas in the European Union. The digital divide between Europe and the U.S. has been growing as investment per household is three times higher in the U.S.

Americans today can enjoy streaming their favorite shows without service interruptions that are common in Europe. The faster U.S. speeds and greater broadband access have enabled more technological innovation, including in artificial intelligence. Farmers can use automated and connected equipment to collect data and grow crops more efficiently.

Why would Democrats want to go to this? For all their fancy words, it’s about control. Control of the content you see.

But Title II could provide the FCC an opening to regulate rates, though Ms. Rosenworcel says she won’t. The agency might also seek to prohibit providers from giving customers free access to streaming services on grounds that this favors some content providers. AT&T provides Max service at no charge to customers with unlimited plans.

I get Apple TV (not that there’s really content), Netflix, and the MLB package for free from T-Mobile. NN rules could kill that off.

Preventing companies from offering perks to consumers can’t be popular. Then again, as Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan showed by suing Amazon on Tuesday, progressives are happy to ignore consumer welfare. Their goal is to impose more political control over the economy, and they are dusting off ancient laws to do so.

That’s what Democrats do. And, they do not have legal authority to do so, and, if they try this, they will soon find themselves in front of the Supreme Court which will state this.

Read: Democrats At FCC Propose Bringing Back Net Neutrality »

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Your Fault: Beer Might Soon Be Endangered From ‘Climate Change

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

Here we go again. It’s always some sort of fear-mongering to get you to give up your money and freedom

One of the World’s Biggest Brewers Says Climate Change Could Cause Beer Shortages

Climate change is already impacting just about every industry, and with the way things are going, it’s only going to get much worse. When it comes to beer, the timeline of when consumers will start to see drastic shortages may come fast. The CEO of Asahi, Atsushi Katsuki, recently told the Financial Times that there’s “a risk that we may not be able to produce enough beer” in 30 years. It’s a stark statement from the leader of the seventh largest brewing company in the world by production volume.

The main issue is that today’s agricultural practices, faced with a warmer planet, means lower barley yields and lower quality hops, an analysis from Asahi found — meaning higher costs, shortages and a potential impact on flavor. Asahi’s research into climate change’s impact focused on its suppliers in Europe. According to the Financial Times, barley yield could decrease by as much as 18% in France and 15% in Poland by 2050. Extreme weather is already hurting barley yields and causing prices to rise. Hop quality could sink 25% in the hop-heavy Czech Republic, which grows some of the most hops in the world, particularly those traditionally used in lagers.

Could, might, maybe, 30 years from now. It’s all doomy prognostication.

Except, barley production is doing just fine, and is extremely adaptable. But, if Katsuki is concerned, then, perhaps the country should stop all production of their beer since it involves vast amounts of carbon dioxide and fossil fuels.

Read: Your Fault: Beer Might Soon Be Endangered From ‘Climate Change »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Greg Abbott Visits SCNY, Laughs, Slams Biden And Democrats

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

“Owning” someone was really more of a 2000’s kind of thing, but, this is the definition of owning someone

Abbott visited New York City. He didn’t take pity on its migrant surge.

Everything’s bigger in Texas — including the humanitarian crisis of helping migrants.

That was the message from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as he spoke Wednesday in Manhattan, where leaders have blasted his continued efforts to ship migrants from the southern border to blue states, particularly the biggest of them all: New York City.

Abbott both defended his program bussing migrants from the border to sanctuary cities like New York and trivialized Mayor Eric Adams’ complaints about the strain it has put on the city’s resources.

“What’s going on in New York right now might not be the common circumstance or what you were looking for,” Abbott said at a breakfast hosted by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. “But what is going on in New York is calm and organized compared to the real chaos of what we see on the border — not every day, but every hour of every day.”

Of course, SCNY Mayor Eric Adams got a little snippy

“New Yorkers deserve better than being trapped between a vicious game of political hot potato,” a spokesperson for Adams said. “When thousands of asylum-seekers arrived at Governor Abbott’s doorstep in pursuit of the American Dream, he chose to use them as political pawns.”

In other words, “stop making us actually be a sanctuary city. This is supposed to happen Somewhere Else”

In fact, Abbott never directly attacked Adams during the nearly one-hour program, and he was eager at times to note their points of agreement — something that Republicans have done regularly with Adams, who has sparred with the White House over the issue.

“This is something that’s unsustainable. I think those are the words of your mayor. Those are the words of the mayor of Chicago and LA. Those are the words of the governor of Texas,” he said.

Abbott went on to say that the lead importer of illegals/migrants to New York and SCNY is Joe Biden, not Texas. Of course, Let’s Go Brandon wants Congress to change the laws. Sadly, the GOP doesn’t have the cajones to simply crack down. End Asylum claims, immediately deport anyone caught crossing the border. Go back to the times in the past when the US allowed lots of migrants then shut immigration off for a few decades to allow people to assimilate. But, still, deport anyone caught in this nation illegally. Require all here to learn English, take US civics, become a part of the US. If they are just here for free stuff and not because they love the US, boot them.

Read: Greg Abbott Visits SCNY, Laughs, Slams Biden And Democrats »

Posted in Democrats, GOP, Illegal Immigration | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Excitable James Hansen Makes More Dire Predictions

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

The grift is strong with this one

NASA scientist issues grim warning 35 years after his original prediction: ‘[W]e knew it was coming’

James Hansen, who was a NASA climate scientist when he first warned the world that the planet was heating in 1988, is back with another stark warning — this time hoping for different results.

When Hansen appeared before the United States Senate in June of 1988, the world had just experienced the warmest first five months of any year in recorded history, The New York Times reported at the time.

Up until that time, scientists had been cautious about blaming the warming of the planet on pollutants put into the air by human activity. But Hansen told the committee that NASA was 99% certain that the warming trend was caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. (snip)

In a recent statement released by Hansen alongside two other scientists, Hansen predicted the warming of the planet to accelerate in the coming years, musing about a “new climate frontier.”

“There’s a lot more in the pipeline, unless we reduce the greenhouse gas amounts,” Hansen told the Guardian. “These superstorms are a taste of the storms of my grandchildren. We are headed wittingly into the new reality — we knew it was coming.”

This is really like a bad SyFy channel movie (do they even make movies anymore, or, is it just wrestling?). A clock is always right twice a day, and every once in a while these climate hysterics are able to see a storm and say “look, we told you so! We weren’t able to predict when, but, we knew it was coming at some point over the previous 35+ years!!!!!!”

Also James Hansen (who actually hasn’t worked for NASA since 2013. His current gig is being a paid activist at Columbia U)

  • (CEI) 1988: James Hansen forecasts increase regional drought in 1990s
  • (Heartland) In 1988, NASA’s James Hansen predicted that by 2010-2020, global temperatures will be 4 to 6 degrees warmer than 1958.
  • In 1989, NASA scientist James Hansen predicted New York City’s West Side Highway would be underwater by 2019 among other never-happened calamities.
  • (Washington Examiner) James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies beginning in 1988 predicted major droughts and up to six feet of sea level rise in the 1990s.
  • (Master Resource) “We have at most ten years—not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions.” (that’s from Hansen’s 2006 book)

He’s not very good at this prognostication stuff. Oh, hey, maybe he should talk to Brandon

Read: Excitable James Hansen Makes More Dire Predictions »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

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

…is a mountain missing its glacier from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post on Poland wanting the Canadian Nazi extradited.

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PRC Looks To Be Sued Over New Gun Restrictions And Taxes

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

How soon will the lawsuits be filed?

New gun control laws in California ban firearms from most public places and raise taxes on gun sales

Two new laws regulating gun control in California were signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. The laws prohibit people from carrying firearms in most public places and doubles the taxes on guns and ammunition sold in the state.

The federal government currently taxes gun and ammunition sales at a rate of 10% or 11%. The new law adds another 11% tax to sales. This makes California the only state with a separate tax on guns and ammunition, according to Brady, a gun control advocacy organization.

The money generated from gun and ammunition sales will fund several different programs in California. The first $75 million will go towards funding the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program.

$50 million generated from taxes will go towards increased security at public schools. The money will fund physical security improvements, after-school programs and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other employees.

How many will simply go out of state to purchase ammo? Any lawsuit over being taxed that heavily over a Constitutional Right, being treated differently for their purchases, may not only affect the California tax but the federal excise tax. The current Supreme Court may rule, will probably rule, against California for targeting a Constitutional right.

The new law prohibits people from carrying guns in 26 places, such as public parks, public demonstrations and gatherings, amusement parks, churches, banks, zoos and “any other privately owned commercial establishment that is open to the public,” according to the bill.

A simple question that needs to be asked is “will any of this stop criminals from using guns for criminal activity?” Does California have any data that shows it will do anything other than increase revenue for legal, Constitutional right purchases? Gavin Newsome said “The carnage, it’s too much. We can’t normalize it, we can’t accept it,” Newsom said. “This is a small price to pay.” But, the criminals will not be paying it.

(AP) The California Rifle and Pistol Association has already sued to block one new law Newsom signed on Tuesday that bans people from carrying guns in most public places. The law overhauls the state’s rules for concealed carry permits in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

It specifically bans people from carrying guns in 26 places, including public parks and playgrounds, public demonstrations and gatherings, amusement parks, churches, banks, zoos and “any other privately owned commercial establishment that is open to the public” unless the owner puts up a sign saying guns are allowed.

“These laws will not make us safer. They are an unconstitutional retaliatory and vindictive response to the Supreme Court’s affirmation that the Second Amendment protects an individuals’ right to choose to own a firearm for sport or to defend your family,” said Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association. “They are being challenged, and the second they are signed, the clock starts ticking towards a judgment striking them down.”

Lawsuits should be expected on the ammo and gun taxes, as well, soon.

Read: PRC Looks To Be Sued Over New Gun Restrictions And Taxes »

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NYC Businesses Look To Get Climate (scam) Regulations Rolled Back

By William Teach September 27, 2023 – 7:15 am

It would be interesting to know how many of these business owners have voted for Democrats over the years

NY businesses launch $1M push to roll back climate-change laws that left city ‘at a crossroads’

New York businesses are launching a $1 million campaign to push Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to ease anti-pollution laws battling climate change — arguing the regs are too costly to them and consumers.

The groups — representing many of the largest Empire State employers — gripe that New York’s 2019 “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” requiring greenhouse gases be cut 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 could lead to blackouts and soaring electric bills and have “adverse impacts” on economic growth.

“New York is at a crossroads,” warned Heather Mulligan, who leads one of the groups, the Business Council of New York State, on Tuesday.

“Let’s be clear: It is essential to push a green economy. It is also essential to make sure we can reach our environmental and clean energy goals without severely damaging New York’s families and businesses as well as jeopardizing the reliability of New York’s energy infrastructure,” she said.

Dottie Gallagher of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership added bluntly, “Continuing to implement climate policy without regard to energy affordability and reliability is guaranteed to raise prices on all New Yorkers, weaken our economy, and accelerate New York’s nation-worst outmigration trend.”

How many of these companies supported the “green” push back in 2019? But, now they’re seeing the negative consequences, which they should have known about back in 2019, but, they were excited and went with it. Now it’s costing them a lot of money, both in their businesses and at their homes.

Kathy Wylde, the head of the Big Apple’s chief business group, the Partnership for New York City, noted in a statement that her organization supported the state’s 2019 climate-change law — but said it needs more cautious “implementation paths” to “protect the economic vibrancy of the state.”

The statewide coalition urging the slowing down of the new restrictions also includes the chambers of commerce in Westchester County, Rochester and Albany.

Yeah, well, you wanted this, now you have it. Do they think the Elected Elites will slow down? Hell no.

Read: NYC Businesses Look To Get Climate (scam) Regulations Rolled Back »

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Target To Close Nine Stores In Democratic Party Run Cities

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

Can you guess which cities are on the chopping block?

Target closes 9 stores in response to retail theft, adds locked cases at some stores

Target is taking action in response to retail theft.

On Tuesday the big box retailer announced plans to close nine stores, effective Oct. 21.

“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the company said in a statement.

The stores set to close include one in Harlem, N.Y; two in Seattle, Wash.; three near San Francisco and Oakland, Calif.; and three in Portland, Ore. All “eligible” employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to other Target locations, the company said.

The decision to close stores came after the company reported that inventory shrinkage — mostly the theft of merchandise — would cut profits by $500 million this year. In 2022, profits took a $700 million hit from inventory shrinkage.

There are only three in Seattle, three in Portland, and three in Poop City, er, San Francisco. You can bet the ones staying open are in the nicest areas of the cities. This is a direct result of hardcore Progressive policies on crime. This has nothing to do with Republicans, they have zero power in all those areas.

At some hard-hit stores, Target is finding ways to stem the losses, such as locking cases for merchandise categories that are “prone to theft,” as pictured below.

Shoppers have to ask for assistance from employees to open the cases. At this particular location in New Jersey, sections that were locked up included toiletries and higher-priced detergents.

Did anyone think that it would be necessary to lock those up? Good job, Democrats.

At the end of the day, it is the employees of those stores who will pay the price for the policies of Democrats. Do you think they will be able to move or travel far for work? But, then, how many of them voted Democrat constantly?

Read: Target To Close Nine Stores In Democratic Party Run Cities »

Posted in Democrats, Economy | 17 Comments | Trackback URL

Lego Gives Up On “Green” Recycling, Makes No Difference On CO2 Emissions

By William Teach September 26, 2023 – 3:00 pm

The shameful thing here is that Lego only seems to care about their “carbon footprint”, not whether recycling plastics makes sense for real environmentalism

Green Fail: Lego Abandons Bricks Made of Recycled Plastic Bottles for Failure to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Danish toymaker Lego has halted its initiative to create its iconic bricks from recycled plastic bottles, citing the failure of the prototype to reduce carbon emissions.

CBS News reports that Lego recently admitted that its ambitious project to manufacture Lego bricks from recycled plastic bottles, specifically polyethylene terephthalate (PET), will not progress further. This decision comes after more than two years of meticulous testing and experimentation, which concluded that the material did not meet the company’s sustainability goals, particularly in reducing carbon emissions.

Despite the setback with the PET prototype, Lego remains unwavering in its commitment to sustainability. The company claims it has invested more than $1.2 billion in various sustainability initiatives, aiming to transition to more sustainable materials and achieve a 37 percent reduction in its carbon emissions by 2032.

Lego is currently exploring a range of alternative sustainable materials, including green methanol and bio-polypropylene, for developing Lego bricks. Green methanol, also known as e-methanol, is a sustainable compound composed of waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen, created using renewable energy to split water molecules. Bio-polypropylene is a sustainable and biological variant of polyethylene, a plastic used in various applications, including consumer and food packaging.

It’s all a scam. Recycling is a good thing, but, they’re doing it for the wrong reasons, and I suspect the price to do this is pretty high. Of course, did they really try, or was this all “greenwashing”, putting out statements and press releases, promising to be more sustainable, doing the minimal, all in an attempt to placate the climate cult?

Oh, and then there’s this

(Watts Up With That?) Ford said dropping the [British] 2030 deadline would be a mistake, and hinted it could put further investments at risk.

“The UK 2030 target is a vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future,” Ford UK chair Lisa Brankin said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”

That’s an excerpt from a Reuters piece, leading Eric Worrall, who wrote in his headline that Ford is relying on government coercion, to opine

Is anyone awake in shareholder land? Who put the fools who bet the futures of their businesses on the trustworthiness of politicians in charge of major automobile companies?

Without government mandates, which they do not want to call mandates, so, let’s call them decrees or orders, EVs will be nothing more than niche vehicles for the foreseeable future. Few are clamoring for them. The majority who buy them make between $150k and $300K. The rich folks mostly buy super luxury cars. The working and middle class cannot afford them.

Read: Lego Gives Up On “Green” Recycling, Makes No Difference On CO2 Emissions »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL
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