Senate Votes To Stop Biden’s WOTUS Rule

The Waters of The US rule was horrible when it was first proposed during the Obama administration, and it it even worse now. So, good news on this massive Executive Branch over-reach

From the link

U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted with a majority of Senators to overturn the Biden administration’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

The Senate voted 53-43 to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to stop the new WOTUS rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to vastly expand the federal government’s regulatory reach under the Clean Water Act.

“This rule is yet another government overreach from the Biden Administration that threatens to halt progress on necessary infrastructure projects,” Wicker said.  “Landowners and businesses need regulatory certainty, and the President has failed to provide it.  I am glad to stand with my colleagues in this effort to overturn this unlawful regulation.”

“No one needs a puddle on their property to be regulated by the federal government,” Hyde-Smith said.  “This terrible Biden WOTUS rule will affect tens of thousands of small businesses in Mississippi, which would affect how we grow crops or get permits for new projects.  What’s worse is that it would require private individuals to prove water on their land is not under the federal government’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction.  It must be stopped.” (snip)

The U.S. House of Representatives approved its WOTUS CRA on a 227-198 vote earlier this month, with the support of U.S. Representatives Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), Michael Guest (R-Miss.), and Mike Ezell (R-Miss.).

At every turn Leftists like Biden are trying to grow the federal government’s control over pretty much everything. This is a good smackdown.

Read: Senate Votes To Stop Biden’s WOTUS Rule »

Your Fault: Melting Antarctic Will Drastically Slow Down Ocean Flows

So, it’s not actually happening? It’ll just be doom in the future?

Rising Antarctic ice melt will dramatically slow global ocean flows – study

Rapidly melting Antarctic ice is dramatically slowing down the flow of water through the world’s oceans, and could have a disastrous impact on global climate, the marine food chain and even the stability of ice shelves, new research has found.

The “overturning circulation” of the oceans, driven by the movement of denser water towards the sea floor, helps deliver heat, carbon, oxygen and vital nutrients around the globe.

But deep ocean water flows from the Antarctic could decline by 40% by 2050, according to a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“That’s stunning to see that happen so quickly,” said Alan Mix, a paleoclimatologist at Oregon State University and co-author on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, who was not involved in the study. “It appears to be kicking into gear right now. That’s headline news.”

In reality, this tends to happen during warm periods, which can lead then to cooling periods, it’s just a part of the complex systems on Earth. No reason to drag witchcraft into it. But, do they really know what’s going on? Because I’ve blogged this doomy stuff several times, and we have headlines like

Oh, and

Ocean currents drive climate patterns – so what happens when they speed up?

Yeah, that was March 29, 2023.

Read: Your Fault: Melting Antarctic Will Drastically Slow Down Ocean Flows »

Kentucky Passes Big Law To Protect Kids From Groomers, Women From Gender Confused

This has obviously made the groomers very upset, like those at the Washington Post

Kentucky lawmakers pass major anti-trans law, overriding governor’s veto

Kentucky lawmakers passed a sweeping bill Wednesday that restricts how doctors and schools treat transgender youths, overriding the governor’s veto and forceful objections by state medical associations, education officials and parents with trans children.

The law — which sparked protests inside and outside the Capitol and takes effect this summer — bans access to gender-affirming health care for trans children, restricts which bathrooms and lockers they use, prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, and allows teachers to use students’ birth names and pronouns against their wishes.

“We are denying families, their physicians and their therapists their right to make medically informed decisions,” said state Sen. Karen Berg (D). She noted that the bill was introduced just weeks after her own trans son killed himself. “To say this is a bill protecting children is completely disingenuous. And to call this a parents’ right bill is an absolutely despicable affront to me personally.”

No, they are protecting children, minors, from life altering medical procedures for which they do not have the wisdom to make, along with the poor mental health that comes with the whole fad of being “transgender.” If you want to do this as an adult, that’s your choice. Kids should not be dragged into this insanity, should not be goaded and incented into it. Let them be kids. Most of this starts with the adults. It wasn’t that long ago that if an adult treated kids like this they would have been arrested for child abuse. The kids would have been taken from the parent(s).

Remember the whole fad of young women being “bi-curious?” How many acted on it? How many became lesbian? How many got over the fad? It was mostly harmless. Trans have much higher mental disturbances, suicidal thoughts, and suicide. The medical procedures and puberty blockers and stuff cause life altering changes. Their insurance rates are higher for auto, home, and medical.

Schools should not be discussing sexual issues with children, even straight sex issues. It’s not their place.

Further, women should not have to deal with biological men with mental health issues in their safe spaces, ie, locker rooms, bathrooms, showers, and changing rooms.

Brian Wells said his trans daughter Fischer, 13, met with her endocrinologist Tuesday to figure out how they would handle her treatment going forward. Fischer is currently on puberty blocker medication, but once the law goes into effect this summer, it will be illegal for her doctor to continue that treatment.

“We’ve started looking for doctors we can drive to out of state. The closest would be in Cincinnati,” Wells said. “We’ve been talking about whether we need to move. It’s stressful, exhausting.”

That’s child abuse in a sane world. Along those lines, I’d recommend this Federalist article about it not being compassionate to feed mental illness.

Read: Kentucky Passes Big Law To Protect Kids From Groomers, Women From Gender Confused »

Pure TDS: LA Times Blames Trump For Border Policy With Canada

Does the LA Times and screed writers Karen Musalo and Audrey Macklin understand who is president now and making the decision? (paywalled LA Times piece here)

Opinion: Now Trump’s cruel border policy is spreading in Canada

At almost 4,000 miles, the United States’ northern border is about twice as long as the U.S.-Mexico border — much of it wild, unmarked and dangerously cold for half the year. And yet, human smuggling and deaths at the U.S.-Canada border have not been a major phenomenon, as they have been down south. Nor has Canada poured billions of dollars into a network of walls, fences, robotic dogs and militarized border patrol. It is also true that historically the number of asylum seekers and migrants seeking entry to Canada has been relatively low.

But the ills of the U.S.-Mexico border seem bound to spread northward, now that Canada reached a deal with the Biden administration to expand a 2004 agreement to repel Canada-bound asylum seekers back to the United States (and vice versa).

And this is Trump’s fault how, exactly? Bush 43 was president in 2004. Biden has expanded it.

As U.S. policies toward asylum seekers grew harsher from 2017 on, the number attempting to enter Canada increased. Instead of appealing to its southern neighbor to do better, Canada is coordinating with the U.S. to pass the buck on the legal obligation to protect refugees, which both countries undertook when they signed the Refugee Convention and Protocol more than 50 years ago. Their current approach foists responsibility onto poorer, less stable countries that are already doing more than their share.

That sounds more like Justin Trudeau’s fault than Trump’s. Oh, and did you notice the 50 years thing?

After Trump’s election, more asylum seekers headed north, and to avoid being sent back, they entered between official ports of entry. Biden’s failure to reverse the worst of Trump’s policies has led increasing numbers of individuals to hope for the chance of protection in Canada. In the past year, about 40,000 have crossed into Canada at an informal border crossing called Roxham Road, in Quebec.

So it was bad for Trump to tell illegals to not come, and his fault they’re going to Canada? Now, let’s say it was Trump continuing Obama’s “cruel” policies (kids in “cages”, anyone?): who would they blame?

Karen Musalo is a law professor and the founding director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Law, San Francisco. Audrey Macklin is the director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.

Read: Pure TDS: LA Times Blames Trump For Border Policy With Canada »

Climate Cult Is Now Coming After Asthma Inhalers

Sorry, people with medical issues and breathing problems, you are simply inconvenient for ‘climate change’, and will just have to suck it up

Are inhalers contributing to climate change?

When you think of climate change you might not think about people who suffer from asthma, but many of the inhalers that help people with lung issues breathe can create greenhouse gasses.

St. Luke’s Regional Health System is holding a series of talks on medicine and climate change and the first one, “Climate Smart Asthma Care” is happening on Wednesday and will include some possible alternatives that might reduce the carbon footprint of folks with asthma.

In fairness, many studies show that dry powder inhaler better than pressurised metered dose inhalers, and the dry are supposedly better than pressurised for Hotcoldwetdry. But, not for all, and, regardless, the climate cult doesn’t care about people with asthma, and dry ones are much more expensive.

Meanwhile

Yellen calls climate change ‘existential threat’ after GOP lawmaker labels it ‘Trojan horse’ for spending

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday pushed back against a GOP congressman who voiced skepticism about the threat of climate change, suggesting the issue was being used by the Biden administration to secure funding and was not a serious concern.

“Can you provide to me, or do you know any research on your own to justify this drastic climate change that we have to do today or the next four or five years this world’s going to come to an end?” Rep Jerry Carl (R-Ala.) asked Yellen at a hearing on the banking system.

When Yellen pointed to an “enormous amount of research” summarized by a United Nations group about the threat of climate change, Carl claimed that the global organization “makes a lot of money off the climate change scenario.”

Perhaps she should be worried about her job, which on the treasury.

‘How do you laugh about death?’: the comedians tackling climate change

When David Perdue applied to be part of a climate comedy program, he felt a little out of his element: “I couldn’t recall one time I’d ever had a conversation with my friends about climate change,” said the Atlanta-based comic. Perdue, who is Black, added, “But I knew it was an issue that was going to affect people who look like me, so I wanted to use comedy to address that.”

Perdue was one of nine comedians who took part in a nine-month fellowship where they learned about climate science and solutions and collaborated on new, climate-related material. The Climate Comedy Cohort produced shorts, toured together, and pitched ideas to television networks. Their work is part of a broader effort to bring some levity to a topic that is increasingly present in everyday life.

For Perdue, that meant bringing race into the conversation about sustainability and clean energy. “[Solar power] is free labor, and the most American thing to do is to use free labor,” he says in one of his sets. “We just have to tell people the sun is Black.”

The cult even has to ruin comedy.

Read: Climate Cult Is Now Coming After Asthma Inhalers »

If All You See…

…is concrete cracking due to carbon pollution Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on the Nashville wackjob potentially ignoring another target because of too much security.

Read: If All You See… »

WWIII Watch: Ukraine Is Already Out Of Ammo

What happened with all that $100+ billion the U.S. gave them, plus all the aid from EU countries? Oh, right, a lot of it was for paying government employees and elected officials, rather than fighting a war. And all the siphoning off, graft, etc, particularly since the money and aid have not been tracked

Zelensky Admits Ukraine Already Ran Out Of Ammo

The US-led West’s Mainstream Media (MSM) began reporting more accurately on the military-strategic dynamics of the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine since the start of the year, but the true test of their comparatively improved integrity will be whether they raise awareness about Zelensky’s latest damning admission. In an interview with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, he candidly told his interlocutors that “We do not have ammunition. For us the situation in the East is not good.” (snip)

The very fact that Ukraine is out of ammunition proves that the West’s defeat in its self-declared “race of logistics” with Russia might already be a fait accompli by this point since it’s clear that Kiev can’t keep pace with its opponent despite being backed by all of NATO’s military-industrial capacity. Zelensky almost certainly didn’t realize that his candid admission essentially amounted to this, but it’s presently unclear whether the MSM will inform their audience about this or not.

On the one hand, doing so could contribute to his forthcoming begging campaign, but it could also backfire if taxpayers start asking whether it’s worth ponying up even more money if Ukraine already ran out of ammo despite the over $100 billion in aid that it’s received thus far. After all, if that astronomical sum wasn’t enough to keep their guns firing, then there’s no telling how much will be needed for Kiev to reconquer more of its lost territory like it intends to do.

Of course, those looking to foment WWIII really push hard

The West Must Give Ukraine the Weapons It Needs to Win

For the past four months, people around the world have witnessed the macabre process of Russian forces making repeated assaults near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut for only the tiniest of gains. By some counts, Russia has lost about five of its soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier lost—to say nothing of massive equipment losses. Although in theory a country can win a war by using its military forces to make forward assaults against an enemy’s forces, that’s just not a smart way to fight. Military technology long ago evolved to arm both sides in conflicts with extremely lethal weaponry, and any army that tries to approach this machinery head-on is likely to suffer major, and in some cases horrific, losses.

Far more effective is to weaken your opponent’s forces before they get to the battlefield. You can limit what military infrastructure they’re able to build, make sure what they do build is substandard, hamper their ability to train troops to operate what they build, and hinder them from deploying their resources to the battlefield. These steps are doubly effective in that they save your own forces while degrading the other side’s. Over the past two centuries, the powers that have emerged triumphant have been the ones that not only fought the enemy on the battlefield but also targeted its production and deployment systems—as the Union did by controlling the waters around the Confederacy during the Civil War and as the United States and Britain did from the air against Nazi Germany.

In light of such dynamics, the manner in which the West is supporting Ukraine’s war effort is deeply frustrating. Though NATO countries have a variety of systems that can target Russian forces deep behind their lines, recent aid has been overwhelmingly geared toward preparing Ukraine to make direct assaults against the Russian army. The most widely discussed forms of equipment—such as Leopard 2 tanks, Bradley armored personnel carriers, and even Archer long-range artillery—are not the kinds of systems that can disrupt or degrade Russian forces far behind the front lines.

So, what does Phillips Payson O’Brien at the Atlantic suggest? Missile systems that can strike Russia well behind their lines, even into Russia, in the form of “longer range systems.” I just don’t get why so many want to start WWIII, all for a non-strategic nation.

Read: WWIII Watch: Ukraine Is Already Out Of Ammo »

We’re Saved: UN Holding Big Climate (scam) Meeting In Chile

I wonder if they will blame all the earthquakes on ‘climate change’?

UN meeting on climate change kicks off in Chile

Experts from all over the world convened in Santiago, Chile, Monday for the opening day of a United Nations (UN) week of adaptation to climate change to address impacts and challenges, it was reported.

Global warming is already causing losses and damage, the Chilean government said. “The intensification of droughts, forest fires, and extreme weather events, the loss of our biodiversity, the degradation of our lands and our forests, are just some of the challenges we face today as a country,” Chilean Environment Minister Maisa (short for María Heloísa) Rojas said in her speech at the opening ceremony.

Rojas also pointed out that several developing countries have been affected by the climate crisis, especially those with fewer resources and less capacity to adapt to these onslaughts.

They claim that around 400 people are attending. How many took very long fossil fueled flights to get to Santiago? How many on private jets? How many will be demanding the 1st world give lots and lots of money with no strings attached?

Read: We’re Saved: UN Holding Big Climate (scam) Meeting In Chile »

Democrats Enticing People To Come To U.S. Illegally Creates Deadly Logjam

The NY Times are oh so close to the truth, but, their job is to protect Biden and Democrats

U.S. Border Policies Have Created a Volatile Logjam in Mexico

A series of tough new border policies have sharply reduced the number of migrants crossing into the United States to their lowest levels since President Biden took office, but the measures have created a combustible bottleneck along Mexico’s northern border, with tens of thousands of frustrated migrants languishing in overcrowded shelters from Tijuana to Reynosa.

The situation exploded on Monday when a protest at a government-run migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez led to a fire that killed at least 40 people. But scenes of overcrowding and desperation have been unfolding in recent weeks along the length of the border as the Biden administration prepares for yet another surge in migration this spring.

Migrants have been waiting in anticipation of a major policy shift, expected in May, when the United States plans to lift a pandemic-era health policy that has allowed U.S. border authorities to swiftly expel many unauthorized migrants crossing the border from Mexico.

Wait, so this is Biden’s fault?

Separate new entry restrictions that have already taken effect require most migrants hoping to win U.S. asylum to apply for an appointment at a port of entry. Problems with the new mobile app have left thousands trying in vain for an appointment while stranded in Mexican border towns, where many have already been waiting for months.

“What we have in Tijuana and other Mexican border cities is a bottleneck,” said Enrique Lucero, director of the migration services office for the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego. “Thousands of migrants are waiting for the opportunity to enter the U.S., and more keep arriving.”

The vast majority do not qualify for asylum, but, they’ve been led to believe by Democrats that if they just show up at the border, if they cross illegally, that they will be allowed to stay and receive lots and lots of free stuff. Democrats created this situation with their lax border policies and invitations. And now Mexico has to deal with this, which is rather ironic, no?

“It’s desperation,” said Ricardo Samaniego, the county judge in El Paso, which lies across the border from Ciudad Juárez. “You dangle the end of Title of 42 and then you say, ‘Nevermind,’ and people get stuck.”

He said he had learned through his counterparts in Mexico that shelters and detention centers in Juárez were at near capacity and that they were bracing for yet another surge in the days and weeks to come with plans to lift Title 42 on May 11.

This is decades in the making.

Read: Democrats Enticing People To Come To U.S. Illegally Creates Deadly Logjam »

Climate Cult Democrats Want You To Ride An Electric Bike

Interestingly, the people pushing this the hardest are the ones who do not ride them

Democrats want to make electric bikes much cheaper by giving you up to $1,500 to buy one

Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill last week that would give Americans up to $1,500 off the purchase of an electric bicycle. The legislation, the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act, is a new version of a 2021 bill with the same name and offers a more generous tax credit to more Americans for a broader range of bikes.

The new and expanded legislation would give Americans who earn up to $150,000, or up to $300,000 for joint tax filers, a refundable tax credit of 30% off, up to $1,500. The credit applies to e-bikes that cost under $8,000.

Wait, how much? You could buy a nice scooter/moped for much less.

The new E-BIKE Act, which was introduced in both the House and Senate on March 21, is backed by a much larger set of environmental groups, and is sponsored by more lawmakers. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, Mike Thompson, and Adam Schiff of California, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, and Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii introduced the bill.

“Many people are looking to get out of their cars and get on to e-bikes not just for recreation, but also for transportation purposes,” Rep. Panetta said in a statement. “By incentivizing Americans to own and use e-bikes, we are allowing them the chance to help improve the quality of life in our communities and tackle the climate crisis in our country.”

They are? Then why do the bike ride-share businesses keep collapsing in big cities? In fairness, if I lived near the beach, I might consider one, though, I’d probably get a scooter, but, it wouldn’t be for replace my car, just for cruising up to the beach. Southern cities are not set up for biking as such. It would be good to reduce the use of private vehicles in big cities like D.C. and NYC.

While this year’s bill has more support both in and outside the halls of the Capitol, it will need Republican backing to pass the House, and it remains to be seen whether that will materialize.

I don’t see what it would hurt to vote for it, but, passing it will most likely cause the price of the ebikes to go up. And a bike that costs thousands of dollars is a perk for rich folks, not the working class and middle class.

E-bikes have increasingly been embraced by environmental advocates as the best alternative to cars and a key way to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. If people rode an e-bike instead of driving a car just 15% of the time, it would reduce emissions by 12%, a study found in 2020.

The general population hasn’t embraced them. Perhaps they should push them for health benefits, but, then, the same wackos also try to normalize obesity.

Read: Climate Cult Democrats Want You To Ride An Electric Bike »

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