Surprise: California’s Truck Electrification Plan Will Screw Small Companies

Hey, remember how Democrats always say they’re for the little guy, but, in practice they tend to help out the big companies? Here’s another case

California’s plan to electrify trucking may be hard for small companies

Before the sun rose on a cold January morning, Alex López navigated an 18-wheeler through busy traffic on the 710 freeway. He was headed to the Port of Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles, to retrieve a shipping container and haul it to a warehouse. In the eight years he’s been driving trucks, it was a process López had done thousands of times.

“There’s usually nothing new with the routine we have as truckers,” he said.

But on this day, there was something new: He was driving an electric truck.

López drives for Hight Logistics, a family-owned company that moves cargo in and out of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. In January, Hight added four battery-electric trucks to its 50-vehicle fleet. They will mostly haul containers between Hight’s warehouse and the port, a route that cuts through a cluster of communities that have some of the dirtiest air and highest rates of asthma in the country. (snip)

Hight is one of about a dozen fleets in California that have added electric trucks, a number that will grow as companies rush to comply with looming zero-emissions mandates. But as the state’s effort to electrify the sector begins, some fear it is moving too quickly and could drive small operators out of business.

But, see, it’s totally worth it to drive (no pun intended) small operators, from single truck owners to small business, out of operation as they cannot afford these trucks, and cannot deal with the short ranges and long charging times, because diesel trucks and all the infrastructure necessary is Bad for ‘climate change’ and the environment. Especially those minorities. So what if it hurts a whole bunch of working class people: they’re Saving The Planet.

Read: Surprise: California’s Truck Electrification Plan Will Screw Small Companies »

All That Backlash To COVID Tyranny Will Make Next Pandemic Tough

Listen, all you peons just need to suck it up and forget about all that was done to you since the Chinese coronavirus broke out. Just move on from being locked down, being forced to get a vaccine, wear a mask, have your kids kept out of school, seen your kids have to eat lunch outside in the cold while wearing a mask, see businesses shuttered, etc and so on. So says the Washington Post (behind the paywall, so, use this link)

Covid backlash hobbles public health and future pandemic response

When the next pandemic sweeps the United States, health officials in Ohio won’t be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks. Nor will they be empowered to force Ohioans who have been exposed to go into quarantine. State officials in North Dakota are barred from directing people to wear masks to slow the spread. Not even the president can force federal agencies to issue vaccination or testing mandates to thwart its march.

The unhinged Covid Cult writers at the WP really aren’t making the case for the government, are they?

Conservative and libertarian forces have defanged much of the nation’s public health system through legislation and litigation as the world staggers into the fourth year of covid.

I wasn’t aware of the public health system having the power to be Stalinesque.

At least 30 states, nearly all led by Republican legislatures, have passed laws since 2020 that limit public health authority, according to a Washington Post analysis of laws collected by Kaiser Health News and the Associated Press as well as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University.

Health officials and governors in more than half the country are now restricted from issuing mask mandates, ordering school closures and imposing other protective measures or must seek permission from their state legislatures before renewing emergency orders, the analysis showed.

Why is this a bad thing? I guess in Progressive (nice Fascism) World it might be. They’re really showing their true digital brown shirt colors. State general assemblies should have the ultimate power, backed by the state high courts to rule if constitutional.

The Alabama legislature barred businesses from requiring proof of coronavirus vaccination. In Tennessee, officials cannot close churches during a state of emergency. Florida made it illegal for schools to require coronavirus vaccinations.

This is what the citizens wanted, hence, laws, especially since we’ve learned that masks do not work, and the vaccines really don’t either. I’ll tell you what, WP: if churches close then newspapers and news stations close. How’s that?

The result, public health experts warn, is a battered patchwork system that makes it harder for leaders to protect the country from infectious diseases that cross red and blue state borders.

They’re Very Upset that bureaucrats cannot go all dictator on you peons anymore. It’s a really long piece that has a big problem with freedom. You’re welcome to read it.

Read: All That Backlash To COVID Tyranny Will Make Next Pandemic Tough »

John Kerry Is Upset That China Being A Bad Country Is Getting In The Way Of Solving Climate Apocalypse

All these real world issues are just so inconvenient

Kerry: China tensions hurting climate talks

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry tells Axios his work with China has stalled amid wider tensions between the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters.

Driving the news: “Regrettably, in the last year … what was not supposed to happen has happened, which is the climate issue has gotten mixed up into all the other tensions that exist between our countries,” Kerry said in an interview at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference.

“And so they’ve kind of pulled back a little bit, expressing the feeling that all we’re doing is bashing them and bashing them,” he said.

Why it matters: It’s impossible to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals for holding global warming in check without more aggressive steps by China, the world’s top current emitter.

It’s so terrible

China Has Disappointed John Kerry

China has disappointed John Kerry. Or has the U.S. disappointed Kerry? It’s not always clear as it should be.

Talking to Axios earlier this week, our climate Metternich expressed his disappointment that “what was not supposed to happen has happened, which is the climate issue has gotten mixed up into all the other tensions that exist between our countries.”

This is, doubtless, despite his best efforts. After all, back in late 2021, he sidestepped a question about whether he had brought up human-rights issues in the discussions he had held with Chinese leadership, issues including China’s used of forced labor in the manufacture of solar panels. The latter, of course, is a horror within a wider horror — the genocide of the Uyghurs. Kerry’s response was to say that it was not in his “lane.’ His job was to be “the climate guy, and stay focused on trying to move the climate agenda forward.”

China really doesn’t care about the climate crisis scam, except in that they can sell under-priced junk solar panels and such to 1st World nations, all while making pledges it isn’t keeping and will never keep, and offering assistance to 3rd world nations to supplant the influence of the US, European nations, and even Russia. John Kerry cares way more about the scam than China does, to the point he and the other Warmists will blow off China’s abysmal human rights record, it’s moves to take over Taiwan, it’s technology dangers, and more.

Rep. Michael Waltz has some choice words

Our country recently received a sobering wakeup call with China’s spy balloon hovering over our skies. The blatant violation of American sovereignty wasn’t just an off-hand stunt, it was emblematic of Communist China’s view that they can get away with any aggressive actions against America with little consequences.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cares first and foremost about displacing the United States from its perch among the world’s powers, and this is particularly true when it comes to powering the world. (snip)

Some on the left, however, say that we must appease China so that they will help us fight climate change. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has said that the CCP’s human rights horrors are “not my lane.”

Just last month, at a Heritage Foundation event about China and Ukraine, a protester took to the stage with a message consistent with Kerry’s actions: “China’s not our enemy, the climate crisis is.” (snip)

John Kerry is the Neville Chamberlain of climate change. China interprets this posture as weakness and is exploiting it.

The Cult is all that matters, even as Kerry flies all around the world on private fossil fueled jets.

Read: John Kerry Is Upset That China Being A Bad Country Is Getting In The Way Of Solving Climate Apocalypse »

If All You See…

…are the colors of a serious carbon polluting nation, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is White House Dossier, with a post on Biden withdrawing his FCC nominee, who was too moonbat for some Democrats to support.

Read: If All You See… »

NC Democrats Pimping Gun Laws That Would Not Have Stopped Mass Shooter

Obviously, the local news outlet, WRAL and their reporter Chelsea Donovan, failed to ask any of the Democrats how these laws would have stopped the little wackjob

‘My life forever changed’: Fiancé of Raleigh mass shooting victim advocates for gun safety bills

The fiancé of a Raleigh mass shooting victim spoke Tuesday with state Democratic leaders about proposed changes to North Carolina’s gun laws.

Rob Steele lost his fiancée Mary Marshall in the October 2022 mass shooting in Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood. Marshall was among five people killed.

“My life forever changed Oct. 13 of [2022],” Steele said of his late wife. “She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Steele joined Democratic leaders Tuesday at the General Assembly as they introduced multiple gun safety bills. It included House Bill 281– the red flag law – sponsored by state Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, that would temporarily restrict a person’s access to a gun, if they are a danger to themselves or others.

The kid was underage and did not own guns. He took them from his parents. Were there any indications that would have caused a red flag to be played? Would a red flag allow the guns of the adults to be taken? Explain how this law would have stopped the unhinged nutter.

Steele said he believes red flag laws help save lives.

“It’s time for North Carolina to have a judge that can make decisions that a gun owner is not responsible and safe to have their gun,” Steele said. “Allow a judge to take the gun for a temporary amount of time so that [the gun owner] can get help.”

The kid wasn’t a gun owner.

Morey also introduced House Bill 284, which would allow law enforcement to destroy unclaimed guns, or those confiscated after crimes.

Wouldn’t have stopped the crime.

Senate Bill 210 – known as the Gun Violence Prevention Act – would require authorization to purchase an assault weapon or long gun, and require a waiting period of 72 hours before it’s delivered.

Wouldn’t have stopped it.

Read: NC Democrats Pimping Gun Laws That Would Not Have Stopped Mass Shooter »

Surprise: Government Inefficiency Slowing Up IRA Spending On Electric Lines

Not only is the Inflation Reduction Act not reducing inflation, it’s being jammed up because government is slow. And, guess which party is represented the most in the federal and state governments?

Biden’s climate chief: ‘Delays and bottlenecks’ slowing IRA spending

U.S. President Joe Biden’s top climate advisor says the United States needs to build electricity lines at double the current pace, blaming a sluggish permitting process for delaying vital arteries for the nation’s clean energy transition.

“On average, interstate gas pipelines that require environmental impact statements are approved nearly twice as fast as transmission lines requiring the same,” John Podesta told energy executives at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference on Monday. “We don’t have that time.” (snip)

However, when it comes to building new electricity lines and other projects, he describes a permitting process “plagued by delays and bottlenecks.”

“Plenty of delays happen at the state and local levels, and those need to be addressed. But there is plenty that we can do and must do federally,” Podesta said, adding that he and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm are tracking the pace of more than 20 key electricity transmission projects.

Ignoring the climate scam stuff, he does have a point on it taking too long to build new lines. Supposedly. Because we sure do not seem to have a problem here in North Carolina, where building new apartments, townhomes, and houses continues unabated. Perhaps in other states, like those run by Democrats?

Anyhow, perhaps the Biden admin should have considered upgrading the infrastructure before pushing ahead willy nilly with all their “green” projects, eh?

Read: Surprise: Government Inefficiency Slowing Up IRA Spending On Electric Lines »

Climahypocrite Senator Whitehouse Looks To Put Climate Crisis (scam) In Budget

Whitehouse has been banging his green drum for quite some time, and, in all that, he’s never mentioned what he’s done in his own life. He still lives in his big house, still drives fossil fueled vehicles, and still flies, including from Rhode Island to D.C. instead of taking the train. And now

Same Message, Bigger Audience: Sen. Whitehouse Flags Climate Costs

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, has given 287 speeches on the Senate floor raising alarms about climate change, often delivered mainly to the C-SPAN cameras in a nearly empty chamber.

But now Mr. Whitehouse has a much bigger megaphone for his zeal for saving the planet, and one with real power: earlier this year, Mr. Whitehouse became chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, which shapes federal spending and revenue. He is using his new authority to argue that a warming planet poses fiscal dangers, injecting climate change into the partisan fight over federal spending, just as economists warned that the nation is nearing a catastrophic default on its debt.

At his first committee hearing as chairman on Feb. 15, he focused on the risks of climate change to the federal budget and the global economy. He gave each of his colleagues a 615-page binder detailing the fiscal threats posed by droughts, storms, wildfires and rising seas.

The new chairman is also pushing a solution that he believes could draw support from at least a handful of Republicans, even if they aren’t eager to support climate action. It’s essentially a tariff added to imported goods like steel and cement based on the carbon emissions created by their production. Analysts project that a carbon tariff placed on imported steel and aluminum, just two of many products that would be covered, could raise tens of billions of dollars over a decade.

It will be interesting to see the final product. How much will be pure climate cult, and how much will be things that might sorta make sense, like the above? And, how much will Republicans object against the cult stuff? Because we know how they like to wilt. We’ve watched this for a long time.

Many Republicans disagree. At the Budget committee’s February hearing, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said the nation’s ballooning deficit and debt are “driven by runaway profligate spending by the federal government, not because of any effects of climate change.” Mr. Lee slammed those “on the left who seek to use climate alarmism to justify a widespread federal government takeover of our economy.”

Unfortunately, there are enough Republicans who’ll go all sorts of squishy.

Mr. Whitehouse’s counterpart in the House of Representatives, Republican Jodey Arrington of Texas, said a carbon tariff is a nonstarter. “Republicans on the Budget Committee are focused on ways to rein in spending and unleash American prosperity and energy independence,” said Mr. Arrington, who chairs the House Budget committee. “A carbon tariff would result in just the opposite — higher energy costs for consumers and more regulatory burden on an economy teetering on recession.”

Why would Sheldon and his Democrat Comrades care? They’re rich. It won’t hurt them.

Read: Climahypocrite Senator Whitehouse Looks To Put Climate Crisis (scam) In Budget »

Crime Is So Bad In NYC That Mayor Adams Wants Retailers To Tell Patrons To Take Their Masks Off

NYC mayor Adams was a big supporter of forced masking, and, after that ended, telling people they should wear a mask. You know, those masks which really do nothing, but, if they did make a difference, wearing them inside around others would be where you’d wear one

New York mayor says retailers must force shoppers to remove masks when entering stores to prevent crime. ‘It’s not about being fearful of a pandemic.’

New York Mayor Eric Adams has a clear message for retailers: If you want to prevent theft, don’t allow shoppers to enter with face masks on.

“Do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face masks,” Adams told a local radio station Monday. “When you see these mask-wearing people, it’s not about being fearful of a pandemic. (They’re) fearful of the police catching (them) for their misdeeds.”

Adams said that stores need to be able to use technologies to “identify those shoplifters and those who have committed serious crimes,” but that face masks — an item that has become commonplace, albeit decreasingly so, due to the coronavirus pandemic — make it hard to do so. He added that once in the store, shoppers can feel free to wear face masks.

Adams’ comments come as retailers have sounded the alarms about above-average theft rates for months. Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon said in December 2022 that stores would close and prices would rise if theft levels did not drop.

Very interesting. Adams is putting this on the stores, rather than the government policies which enable shoplifting, how the city restricts police officer actions, demonizes cops so they leave and aren’t replaced, prosecutors releasing criminals that were caught, and, you know the rest. Masks helped inflame the crime.

Adams probably witnessed what happened to Lori Lightfoot in Chicago and doesn’t want to lose his cushy gig, but, he shouldn’t put this on the stores who are under assault. Will stores post someone at the door to tell people to lower their masks? Will they require old folks with canes to take their masks off? Even if some of the “youths” drop their masks for a bit, they’ll still steal. If they have their faces recorded, will cops do anything, and, more importantly, will the prosecutors?

Read: Crime Is So Bad In NYC That Mayor Adams Wants Retailers To Tell Patrons To Take Their Masks Off »

The Way You Eat Is Bad For The Climate Or Something

It’s always something doomy, and always about you being forced to change your life

How could the way we eat contribute to global warming?

Greenhouse gas emissions from the way humans produce and consume food could add nearly 1 degree of warming to the Earth’s climate by 2100, according to a new study.

Continuing the dietary patterns of today will push the planet past the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit of warming sought under the Paris climate agreement to avoid the worst effects of climate change, according to the study published Monday in Nature Climate Change, and will approach the agreement’s limit of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The modeling study found that the majority of greenhouse gas emissions come from three major sources: meat from animals like cows, sheep and goats; dairy; and rice. Those three sources account for at least 19 percent each of food’s contribution to a warming planet, according to the study, with meat contributing the most, at 33 percent.

Well, good luck with this. Do you think that most people will give these up? Try forcing Asians to give up rice. Muslims and Africans to give up sheep and goat. People around the world to give up cow, deer, etc. Kids to give up milk.

“I think the biggest takeaway that I would want (policymakers) to have is the fact that methane emissions are really dominating the future warming associated with the food sector,” said Catherine C. Ivanovich, a climate scientist at Columbia University and the study’s lead author.

If you’re aiming this at lawmakers, it is a political document, attempting to get politicians to pass laws which restrict you, the Citizen.

Ivanovich and colleagues from the University of Florida and Environmental Defense Fund calculated the three major gases produced by each type of food over its lifetime based on current consumption patterns. Then they scaled the annual emissions over time by gas based on five different population projections.

Interesting. They worked with a hardcore leftist Authoritarian group, the EDF, to come up with this.

A major question that remains is whether food producers and consumers can change their behavior in order to achieve the reductions in greenhouse gases laid out in the study. There’s a roadmap, but will it be followed?

Well, we’re not seeing the climate cultists and casual Warmists really change their own lives, are we?

Read: The Way You Eat Is Bad For The Climate Or Something »

If All You See…

…are Evil fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on DaleyBabes Asians.

Read: If All You See… »

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