…are pine trees which will soon grow in the Arctic, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Hogewash, with a post on April 18, 1775.
Read: If All You See… »
…are pine trees which will soon grow in the Arctic, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Hogewash, with a post on April 18, 1775.
Read: If All You See… »
So, let’s see. Biden, his administration, and all sorts of Democrats basically invited people from all over the world to stream into the U.S. illegally and declare asylum, so immigration exploded. And one of the results was child labor
U.S. Was Warned of Migrant Child Labor, but ‘Didn’t Want to Hear It’
In the spring of 2021, Linda Brandmiller was working at an arena in San Antonio that had been converted into an emergency shelter for migrant children. Thousands of boys were sleeping on cots as the Biden administration grappled with a record number of minors crossing into the United States without their parents.
Brandmiller’s job was to help vet sponsors, and she had been trained to look for possible trafficking. In her first week, two cases jumped out: One man told her he was sponsoring three boys to employ them at his construction company. Another, who lived in Florida, was trying to sponsor two children who would have to work off the cost of bringing them north.
She immediately contacted supervisors working with the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency responsible for these children. “This is urgent,” she wrote in an email reviewed by The New York Times.
But within days, she noticed that one of the children was set to be released to the man in Florida. She wrote another email, this time asking for a supervisor’s “immediate attention” and adding that the government had already sent a 14-year-old boy to the same sponsor.
Brandmiller also emailed the shelter’s manager. A few days later, her building access was revoked during her lunch break. She said she was never told why she had been fired.
In fairness, Biden has no idea what’s going on. And his administration just doesn’t have the time to deal with the minutia or the fallout from policies.
Over the past two years, more than 250,000 migrant children have come alone to the United States. Thousands of children have ended up in punishing jobs across the country — working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories — all in violation of child labor laws, a recent Times investigation showed. After the article’s publication in February, the White House announced policy changes and a crackdown on companies that hire children.
But, really, not the policies which incentivize people to come to the U.S. illegally and to stop bringing the kids.
But all along, there were signs of the explosive growth of this labor force and warnings that the Biden administration ignored or missed, the Times has found.
Again and again, veteran government staffers and outside contractors told the Health and Human Services Department, including in reports that reached Secretary Xavier Becerra, that children appeared to be at risk. The Labor Department put out news releases noting an increase in child labor. Senior White House aides were shown evidence of exploitation, such as clusters of migrant children who had been found working with industrial equipment or caustic chemicals.
As the administration scrambled to clear shelters that were strained beyond capacity, children were released with little support to sponsors who expected them to take on grueling, dangerous jobs.
This is a long, long, long piece, but, at the end of the day, Biden is president. He is responsible for this. There’s lots and lots of “blameshifting” at the lower levels, but, Biden is president. He bears the responsibility, because it’s his policies causing this. There mentions of lower level people warning their bosses this was happening, and then being moved out of their positions in retaliation. Many were raising alarms. Many were ignored. Many were reassigned. Many asked for whistleblower status because of their treatment. Many left HHS. Some sued, and were paid off by the Biden admin with taxpayer funds.
But, nowhere in this NY Times piece is Biden blamed.
Read: Biden Was Warned About Migrant Child Labor And Ignored It »
Having solved all the problems in NYC, like, with all the rats, Mayor Adams has set his sights on something Important
NYC Mayor Adams vows to take a bite out of meat consumption with new carbon reduction plan
Mayor Adams promised to take a bite out of New York City’s greenhouse footprint Monday by reducing carbon output when it comes to emissions caused by the production and consumption of food — especially meat.
New data released by the city shows that 20% of the Big Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions are tied to food — the third largest source behind buildings, which contribute 34% of emissions in the city, and transportation, which causes 22%.
Adams’ goal is to reduce food-related emissions produced by city government by 33% within seven years time, and to accomplish that he and city officials are taking aim at meat. (snip)
The mayor also said he’s “challenging” the city’s private sector to reduce food-related emissions 25% by 2030, although it was not clear whether he plans to employ incentives or disincentives to help accomplish that goal. The administration official noted that those options are going to be explored as well.
Peter Sikora, the climate campaigns director at New York Communities for Change, praised the mayor’s goal as a “good, incremental step,” but said the city needs to be more explicit in its approach to reducing emissions from businesses.
“On some level, where’s the beef of dealing with the private sector aspect of this?” he said. “The rubber hits the road with the vast quantities of food that are served and consumed by the private sector and this does nothing on that.”
In fairness to Adams, he says he eats a mostly vegan menu. That’s still no excuse for forcing everyone else to eat that way, like how he made the default menu at the city’s Health + Hospitals network plant based. As Sikora makes clear, force will be applied, which would kill off so many eateries, from food carts to Michelin star restaurants. Adams can talk about incentives and challenges, but, when no one complies we’ll see taxes and mandates. But, hey, citizens of NYC should keep their complaints to themselves, since they voted for this.
Read: NYC Mayor Excited To Reduce Meat Consumption For The Peasants »
One would think this would have been big news, rather than a piece at Axios, and a discussion of it at The UK Telegraph. According to WHO, there have been 6.9 million deaths around the world, and you know Russia and especially China under-reported their numbers (while the US numbers are surely inflated, where people died with COVID, not of COVID)
Covid pandemic sparked by accidental leak from Wuhan lab, US investigation concludes
The pandemic was probably the result of a “research-related incident” at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, a lengthy US Senate report concluded.
It said the theory that Covid-19 jumped from animals to humans in a market no longer deserved the “presumption of accuracy”.
The 300-page report, released to Axios, was the full version of a 35-page summary published in October by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
It said: “The Covid-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.
“New information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment.
“However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”
It went on to say that those pimping the spillover theory needed to pony up some evidence, rather than just making claims
The report said there were “anomalies” between Covid-19 and other diseases that have spilled over naturally from animals to humans.
And it said, three years on, no critical evidence had been found proving there was a natural spillover.
It added that there had not been spillovers of the virus in numerous places at numerous times, as might be expected if that was the cause.
We’ve heard a few times that there have been some jumps to deer, and I read about testing of bears and a few other animals, but, if it was so potent, why not a lot? And why aren’t we seeing lots of bats, pangolins, or racoon dogs (the latest scapegoat) with it?
The report also noted that the type of bats carrying the closest virus to Covid-19 lived over 1,000 miles away from Wuhan.
However, the lab had collected over 200 coronaviruses, and employees had been photographed handling bats with inadequate protective gear, the report said.
That lab has had plenty of leaks, and didn’t exactly follow proper scientific protocols. Lefties will refuse to even consider this, because Trump did say it was most likely a lab leak. They’ll always take the the other side. Seriously, we all thought the most likely starting point was the lab, whether by accident or intentional. A virus that mostly targeted the old and with pre-existing conditions, but, not the young? Chinese may revered the old, but, the Communist leaders did not. If they weren’t productive, they were a drain.
Anyhow, another “conspiracy theory” that is most likely the truth.
Read: Senate Report Concludes COVID Came From Accidental Lab Leak »
(I brilliantly had this set to autopost on the 27th, rather than today)
The NY Times is oh-so-close to getting what the problem is, who’s responsible, and the solutions (non-paywalled here)
‘Kids Can’t Read’: The Revolt That Is Taking on the Education Establishment
In suburban Houston, parents rose up against a top-rated school district, demanding an entirely new reading curriculum.
At an elementary school in Hutchinson, Minnesota, a veteran teacher is crusading for reform, haunted by the fear that, for 28 years, she failed children because she was not trained in the cognitive science behind reading.
And Ohio may become the latest state to overhaul reading instruction, under a plan by Gov. Mike DeWine.
“The evidence is clear,” DeWine said. “The verdict is in.”
A revolt over how children are taught to read, steadily building for years, is now sweeping school board meetings and statehouses around the country.
The movement, under the banner of “the science of reading,” is targeting the education establishment: school districts, literacy gurus, publishers and colleges of education, which critics say have failed to embrace the cognitive science of how children learn to read.
Research shows that most children need systematic, sound-it-out instruction — known as phonics — as well as other direct support, like building vocabulary and expanding students’ knowledge of the world.
I wonder why the kids are having such a tough time reading these days? Back in my day we spent time reading. In every damned subject. We further had to read fiction books, even during times like Christmas and Spring break. Also, we had summer reading to do for the next school year. Now, there are certainly those who did not continue reading for pleasure, but, I do not know many who are Gen X and Boomers who can’t read if they want to.
About 1 in 3 children in the United States cannot read at a basic level of comprehension, according to a key national exam. The outcomes are particularly troubling for Black and Native American children, nearly half of whom score “below basic” by eighth grade.
“The kids can’t read — nobody wants to just say that,” said Kareem Weaver, an activist with the NAACP in Oakland, California, who has framed literacy as a civil rights issue and stars in a new documentary, “The Right to Read.”
How much are we spending on schools?
In 2000, at the behest of Congress, a National Reading Panel recommended many strategies being argued for today. And the Bush administration prioritized phonics. Yet that effort faltered because of politics and bureaucratic snafus.
It’s a very, very long piece, and Times almost has. “Politics”. Which political party pretty much runs the schools, staffs, the schools, and are the teachers in the schools? Why political party runs the teacher’s unions? Which political party makes up most of the employees at the state and federal education departments? Who’s spending too much time on CRT, social justice, climate crisis (scam), transgender garbage, drag shows, and teaching sexuality to young kids who should be learning to read (and math, science, art, etc)? The solution is really to get back to basics. Teach the basics. Forget all that other stuff. Which is tough, because now you have two generations who have large amounts of people who cannot read at their age level.
Teach the kids early, rather than spending time on computers, parents should keep them off the games and phones. There should be basic lessons incorporating phonics, spelling and vocabulary should be done daily. Schools are places of education. Educate. No investing time on personal things of what they believe to be important.
Read: Surprise: School Kids Can’t Read »
Does anyone else see the big problem with what the Reuters headline implies?
Ukraine will ‘test and use’ any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea: official
Ukraine will “test and use” any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the head of its National Security and Defence Council said on Friday.
Oleksiy Danilov’s comment comes with Kyiv expected to mount a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months aimed at retaking Russian-held territory in the south and east.
“Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories,” he tweeted.
Kyiv’s Western partners have provided crucial military support, including modern battle tanks and armoured vehicles, since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.
OK, there’s a little bit more than what’s in the headline, but, really, Ukraine is absolutely no closer to kicking Russia out than when Russia invaded. To think they would then be able to go and retake Crimea (which Russia took with ease, all while Obama, with Biden as VP because of his “foreign policy experience”, stood by and did nothing that made a difference) is absurd. Russia has quite a bit of defenses built up. Without help from Biden, Canada, the UK, and a few other EU nations, Russia would already have conquered Ukraine. And many of the nations supplying arms and money (where’s that money going?) are getting squishy.
The news media isn’t really talking that much about Ukraine anymore, especially in terms of them winning. The NY Times has these two articles
Russian Invasion of Ukraine Revolutionizes NATO Military Strategy
The first looks more like NATO working towards direct confrontation. Scrolling way down the Washington Post we see
Ukraine accuses Russia of undermining deal on grain shipments
Same at so many outlets. The Economist, though, is yammering about Ukraine’s counteroffensive drawing near. Glad they could let Russia know it’s coming. The Financial Times is talking about how the war is dividing the world.
Would the small number of nations offering material support continue if Ukraine retook Ukraine and then tried to go after Crimea? Doubtful.
Read: WWIII Watch: Ukraine To Test And Use Non-Banned Weapons To Regain Crimea (?) »
…is an Evil plastic gun, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on how the squishy Republicans in Florida are feeling about DeSantis.
Read: If All You See… »
The political party that calls anyone who disagrees with them a Fascist is in their banning something stage again
In 1961 at age 37, Jean Nidetch, who struggled with her weight for most of her life, signed up for a 10-week program offered by the New York City Board of Health called the “Prudent Diet.” Nidetch lost 20 pounds, but she grew disillusioned — to keep going, she would need the kind of motivation that she believed could only come from community. Borrowing the central tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous, she began inviting friends in a similar predicament to weekly meetings at her Queens apartment, where they would talk about the emotional roots of overeating and generally buttress one another in a shared commitment toward what was then so often pitifully called “reducing.”
A half-century later, the notion of watching your weight, of subjecting your body to daily metric surveillance for the sole purpose of becoming thin, had come to seem retrograde — a capitulation to the debased mandates of the patriarchy, another useless foray into self-reproof. In 2018, in an effort to meet the moment, Weight Watchers rebranded as WW, with the tagline “Wellness that works.”
Even if the move fooled no one, it affirmed that norms and ideals had shifted. In 2004, Dove broke out its Real Beauty campaign, featuring women in a wide range of shapes and sizes in its advertising. Three years ago Lizzo appeared on the cover of Vogue. It is now inconceivable that any fashion magazine editor would be caught talking about her own eating habits the way that Helen Gurley Brown did decades ago when she said that dinner when she was not dieting typically consisted of “muesli with chopped prunes, dried apricot, six unsalted almonds, a dusting of Equal and a cup of whole milk.”
Yeah, and all those brands who trot out “body positive” folks to advertise their wares, has it helped? Or turned people off? The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue used to be the biggest single magazine sale of the year. Now, with fatties, trans, burkas, few care. These people are celebrating being obese, mainstreaming it, making it seem OK, when, in fact, it’s very unhealthy. But, the Progressive lunatics do not care if it makes sense to push people to be healthy
But had we really swayed far enough in the other direction, toward genuine acceptance, away from the view that a low body mass index was something to venerate? Fat activists believe that we have not, which is why there are proposed laws at the New York City Council and state Legislature that would make weight (and height) discrimination illegal, particularly as it relates to employment and housing (exceptions would be made for certain occupations).
They really do want to make it illegal in this manner, and then move towards making “fat shaming” illegal in other venues.
Whatever progress has been made, prejudice against the overweight has hardly been eliminated. Four years ago, researchers at Harvard published a study in the journal Psychological Science that looked at data from 4 million tests taken between 2004 and 2016 examining long-term changes in attitude toward historically marginalized groups. The study found that while explicit bias against the overweight had decreased by 15%, this represented a much slower decline than similar shifts in attitude toward gays and lesbians, where the figure was 49%. This may be because, unlike race or sexual orientation, weight is thought of as mutable. The only barrier to losing it, presumably, is a weakness of will.
Business leaders, who point to higher health care costs for obese workers, have predictably expressed concern that legislation of the kind under consideration would unduly burden the courts because of all the resulting litigation. In truth, these cases are very hard to push forward. We know this because Michigan has had a weight discrimination law on the books since the mid-1970s. (The state of Washington, the only one to have followed, added one a few years ago.)
It’s really, really difficult to sue companies over this, but, the first time a company or landlord is sued and they lose, you’ll see more businesses leave New York/NYC. Liberals want to control what you do, what you say, and what you think. It’s what they do. It would make more sense to say “look, don’t be mean. Don’t fat shame, give them positive affirmations to help them lose the weight.” If I see a fatty at the gym I might think “yo, wearing workout clothes that tight and skimpy is a big no-no”, but, I’ll also think “way to go, guy/girl, you’re trying to get healthy. Good for you!”
There is no disputing that significantly overweight people are less productive in jobs that require physical labor. They are also more likely to miss days due to poor health. Obesity is just as dangerous for our health as smoking. Hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, the list goes on. And then there are 1st Amendment rights to consider.
Read: Freedom Loving Democrats Want To Ban “Fat Shaming” By Law »
Once again, I’ll mention that I am not against EVs. Heck, for most of my driving one would serve me well. It’s only on those trips to the beach or up to NJ that would be a problem. Like this
Electric cars are quick, quiet, and kind to the planet, but limited range and lengthy charging times mean road trips aren’t exactly their strong suit.
That’s what I learned when I took Toyota’s new bZ4X SUV from New York to Washington D.C. one weekend in early April. The 500-mile journey wasn’t some epic coast-to-coast adventure, but rather the kind of long-haul drive someone might casually take a few times per year and not think twice about — if they’re behind the wheel of a regular gas car.
In a battery-powered vehicle, though, things aren’t always that simple.
Here we go
Every EV has a maximum charging rate, expressed in kilowatts (kW), that governs the amount of power it can accept from roadside fast chargers. For the bZ4X AWD Toyota provided, that’s an uncompetitive 100 kW. The higher an EV’s rating, the faster you can hypothetically charge — so long as you find a charging plug whose rating is equal or greater.
And the faster it can charge the more expensive the vehicle is. Most of what is considered “affordable”, in the $30K range, can take an hour at a fast charging station.
But you don’t always achieve that max charge rate due to the charger, the temperature of the battery, or, in my case, settings built into the vehicle itself. During my trip, the car never got close to 100 kW, leading to some excruciating charging times.
Or, you can pull up to a gas station, put your card in, put the pump in the filling spout, take 5 minutes or so, and you’re on your way, regardless of anything, except possibly waiting for an open pump. You can run in and grab a drink and snack and be on your way.
On the way down to DC, I pulled into an Electrify America station with a 37% charge, looking to add just enough energy to make it the rest of the way. The Toyota refused to pull more than 35 kW, so just getting to 74% took a full 45 minutes of waiting around — not exactly something you want to do at night when you still have hours of driving ahead of you.
That stint added 95 miles of range, according to the SUV’s estimates. But highway speeds sap energy quickly, so in real-world terms, it was probably more like 75.
I get 33mpg in my Civic Hatchback EXL. 90% of my driving is around town, so, I know I’ll get much better on the highway. I do not have to worry about losing a lot. Here we go
Total it all up and charging stops added two hours of travel time on top of the roughly nine-hour trip.
And, as the article continues, you realize just how much you have to plan and keep an eye on things for long drives. Maybe the climate cultists should back off and push for more non-plugin hybrids.
But the electric future seems inevitable at this point, so we might as well learn to live with it.
Why should we have to learn to live with it when it’s not ready for prime time? Last I check, America is the land of freedom, and we do not have dictators.
…is a high area that might be safe from sea rise, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on Biden returning then going on vacation.
It’s fun loving ladies week.
Read: If All You See… »