GOP Approves Resolution To Probe Weaponization Of Government

By William Teach January 11, 2023 – 7:00 am

This makes the people who weaponized the federal government to go after Republicans and average American citizens very unhappy

House GOP approves resolution to create panel to probe ‘weaponization’ of federal government

Republican lawmakers on Tuesday gave their approval to a new House subcommittee designed to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government, giving the panel access to sensitive intelligence and the power to oversee ongoing criminal investigations.

The resolution passed in a party-line vote, 221-211.

Of course Democrats would vote against this

The subcommittee, part of the House Judiciary Committee, is expected to be chaired by the full panel’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Such a move would give broad authority to Jordan, an ally of former President Trump who has railed against current and prior investigations of the former president.

“This is about the First Amendment, something you guys used to care about. And I’d actually hoped we could get bipartisan agreement on protecting the First Amendment — the five rights we enjoy as Americans under the First Amendment,” Jordan said during debate on the House floor Tuesday.

“We don’t want to go after anyone, we just want it to stop. And we want to respect the First Amendment to the Constitution that the greatest country in the world has. That’s what this committee is all about, and that’s what we’re gonna focus on, that’s what we are going to do,” he later added.

But, now we wait to see how hardcore the GOP goes after the FBI, DOJ, etc. Will they be asking pointed questions, holding people accountable, or simply bloviating too much, as members of Congress tend to do? Will they be demanding answers when federal employees try to skate around the questions?

For his part, Jordan pushed back against arguments the subcommittee was purely political.

“A ploy? It’s not a ploy when the Department of Justice treats parents as terrorists,” he said, referencing a memo that asked the FBI to consult with school boards as members faced an increasing number of violent threats.

“It’s not a ploy when the Department of Homeland Security tries to set up a disinformation governance board because we all know that the Department of Homeland Security can tell what’s good speech and what is bad speech,” he added later.

We’ll have to see how it goes.

Read: GOP Approves Resolution To Probe Weaponization Of Government »

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Bummer: PRC Gov Newsom Proposes Climate Crisis (scam) Program Cuts

By William Teach January 10, 2023 – 3:04 pm

It’s a real shame when the real world intrudes and the money is drying up to deal with a scam, eh?

Newsom proposes cuts to climate change programs amid cloudy economic outlook

Facing a projected $22.5-billion budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced plans to reduce investments in the state’s move to zero-emission vehicles, make cuts to other climate change programs and delay funding for 20,000 new child-care slots as California transitions from a time of economic surplus to shortage.

The governor’s administration blamed high inflation, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and volatility in the stock market as the major forces causing state revenues to drop well below projections from last summer when he anticipated an $100-billion surplus in the current budget year.

His $297-billion budget plan for 2023-24 relies on delaying multi-year investments and shifting funding to bonds to offset the shortfall. Newsom said he was careful to preserve the state’s rainy day fund and its other budgetary reserves given warnings about a nationwide recession and possibility that California’s financial problems could become more dire in the months and years ahead.

But, since California has mismanaged itself from a budget surplus to a deficit

The governor said he was hopeful that federal funding would supplant the cuts proposed to climate programs and he promised that those reductions would be restored in the future if the state’s revenues turn around.

LOL. Good luck with the GOP House giving you money for your scam, Gavin. Anyhow, Gavin realized that there are real world things, like the massive amount of homeless people, that need dealing with first.

Read: Bummer: PRC Gov Newsom Proposes Climate Crisis (scam) Program Cuts »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 10, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…are horrible carbon pollution infused drinks, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Geller Report, with a post wondering when the FBI will raid Biden’s home.

Read: If All You See… »

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Enviro Group Wants Wind Turbine Construction Halted Over Whale Deaths

By William Teach January 10, 2023 – 10:30 am

The same people who Demand renewables replace fossil fuels also demand the projects be stopped

Groups seek probe of NY-NJ whale deaths amid wind power prep

Environmental groups and opponents of offshore wind energy want a federal investigation into the deaths of six whales that have washed ashore in New Jersey and New York in little over a month

Groups seek probe of NY-NJ whale deaths amid wind power prepBy WAYNE PARRYAssociated PressThe Associated PressATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — As the stench of a dead whale hung in the air, environmentalists and opponents of offshore wind stood on a beach where the marine mammal lay buried Monday and called for a federal probe into a spate of whale deaths in New Jersey and New York.

Groups from the two states wrote President Joe Biden requesting a probe of the deaths of six whales that washed ashore over the last 33 days in areas being prepared for large-scale offshore wind farms. They also are asking for a halt to site work until the causes are determined.

Cindy Zipf, executive director of New Jersey-based Clean Ocean Action, called the rate of whale deaths in the two states unprecedented.

“Is it an omen?” she asked. “Is it an alarm? Never before have we had six whales wash up in 33 days.”

Oh, they wrote Biden? Like he’s ever going to see it. They think a little highly of their little groups.

And a federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that to date, no humpback whale — the species accounting for most of the recent whale deaths in New Jersey and New York — has been found to have been killed due to offshore wind activities. (snip)

Orsted, the Danish wind power developer that will build two of those three approved projects, said its current work off the New Jersey coast does not involve using sounds or other actions that could disturb whales.

First, the extreme-enviro groups won’t care. Second, they couldn’t use an American company?

At Monday’s news conference, the groups said offshore wind developers have applied for authorization to harass, harm or even kill as many as 157,000 marine mammals off the two states.

So, next comes the lawsuits to stop these projects. Renewables seem to be popular in theory for these extreme groups, not in practice.

Read: Enviro Group Wants Wind Turbine Construction Halted Over Whale Deaths »

Posted in Energy, Enviroweenies | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Say, Are The California Storms Climate Doom?

By William Teach January 10, 2023 – 7:15 am

This keeps happening. There’s some sort of storm, the Usual Cult Members blame it on ‘climate change’, and then the media comes along to say “it’s complicated” afterwards

Are California’s storms normal, or is climate change making them worse? What experts say.

climate cowCalifornia faces a “parade of storms” over the next several weeks, on top of recent deluges that have killed at least 12 people, caused flooding, knocked out power and forced evacuations and school closures up and down the coast.

Given the Mediterranean climate of the state’s coastal areas, wet winters and dry summers are a natural part of California’s weather patterns going back millennia.

But are this year’s storms something out of the ordinary, and something that can be attributed to climate change? In a state home to almost 40 million people with a $3.6 trillion economy – on track to be the fourth biggest in the world – the weather matters.

Here’s what to know. (snip)

Are California’s storms normal?

California’s coastal climate is naturally marked by wet winters and dry summers but that pattern contains a large amount of variability. The historical record as well as paleoclimatological studies looking over millennia show periods of severe drought and periods of extreme wetness.

So, yeah, normal.

What does climate change have to do with the California storms?

It’s too soon to say if this spate of winter storms is part of a larger climate change-driven shift or were just the luck of the draw. However, climate scientists are clear that overall, the state’s weather is becoming more variable and more intense, which is very much a long-predicted effect of global warming.

The natural variability of the state’s climate has masked the increases, said Swain.

Climate scientists in California are calling this “precipitation whiplash,” where when it rains, the rains are heavier and more catastrophic at the same time that droughts can become longer and more intense.

That’s because the overall heating of the atmosphere creates greater variability. Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, the world’s temperature has already increased by about 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit, with more increases coming.

It’s too soon to say, but, they’ll blame it on anthropogenic global warming. Surprise! Even though the records, such as they are, show extremes in the past.

Read: Say, Are The California Storms Climate Doom? »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

House GOP Passes New Rules Package, Especially Ending Proxy Voting

By William Teach January 10, 2023 – 7:00 am

This is going to upset many of the Democrats who are still voting by proxy while off doing other things other than the job they ran for

(Time) Some members have capitalized on their ability to vote by proxy to hit the campaign trail. Democrat Karen Bass voted by proxy this year while engaged in her successful bid for Los Angeles Mayor. Three Democrats who used proxy voting frequently in 2022—Reps. Charlie Crist of Florida, Tom Suozzi of New York, and Kai Kahele of Hawaii—did so while running for governor of their respective states. The Honolulu Civil Beat reported earlier this year that proxy voting allowed Kahele to avoid Washington for months as he not only campaigned, but worked as a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines.

In fairness, Democrats were also joined by some Republicans, but, Democrats took way too much advantage of this, and, apparently, ending it is a “far right” thing

House Republicans approve new rules package filled with concessions to hard-right members

House Republicans approved a sweeping rules package Monday that includes many of the provisions sought by right-wing lawmakers in exchange for their support of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

The new package for the 118th session of Congress was approved in a nearly party-line vote, with 220 Republicans backing its passage and 212 Democrats and one Republican voting against it. The package, which lays out how the lower chamber will conduct its business for the next two years, contains key provisions that McCarthy negotiated with far-right members of his party in order to win the speaker’s gavel — including making it easier for those same lawmakers to seek to remove him from power.

According to the new rules, it will now only take one lawmaker to propose removing the speaker from power, instead of five. The package also puts an end to pandemic era voting by proxy, which had allowed members to cast votes without being in Washington. It creates a special committee to investigate the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement, a common complaint from conservatives about the Department of Justice, which has prosecuted supporters of former President Donald Trump for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and launched an investigation of Trump himself. The new rules also require that all pending legislation must be posted 72 hours before voting begins to allow the public (and lawmakers) time to review it.

Proxy would be fine if the people getting paid by the taxpayers were in their districts meeting with constituents. But, they don’t.

What’s wrong with the Legislative Branch providing oversight over the out of control Executive Branch agencies, as required by the Constitution? What’s wrong with giving lawmakers, and citizens, time to see the legislation? Is that “hard right?”

Read: House GOP Passes New Rules Package, Especially Ending Proxy Voting »

Posted in Constitution, GOP | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

Harry And Meghan -Peak Victimhood Culture

By William Teach January 9, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Back in 2015 Conor Friedersdorf wrote this piece for the Atlantic

The Rise of Victimhood Culture
A recent scholarly paper on “microaggressions” uses them to chart the ascendance of a new moral code in American life.

…

When conflicts occur, sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning observe in an insightful new scholarly paper, aggrieved parties can respond in any number of ways. In honor cultures like the Old West or the street gangs of West Side Story, they might engage in a duel or physical fight. In dignity cultures, like the ones that prevailed in Western countries during the 19th and 20th Centuries, “insults might provoke offense, but they no longer have the same importance as a way of establishing or destroying a reputation for bravery,” they write. “When intolerable conflicts do arise, dignity cultures prescribe direct but non-violent actions.”

We’ve all engaged in these actions.

The aggrieved might “exercise covert avoidance, quietly cutting off relations with the offender without any confrontation” or  “conceptualize the problem as a disruption to their relationship and seek only to restore harmony without passing judgment.” In the most serious cases, they might call police rather than initiating violence themselves. “For offenses like theft, assault, or breach of contract, people in a dignity culture will use law without shame,” the authors observe. “But in keeping with their ethic of restraint and toleration, it is not necessarily their first resort, and they might condemn many uses of the authorities as frivolous. People might even be expected to tolerate serious but accidental personal injuries.”

But, now, in the Victimhood Culture, people have to play the Victim for the slightest of slights. Everything is The Worst Ever, and requires that everyone know about it, heap “I’m so sorry this happened to you’s” on the Victim, and extoll how Brave they are for coming forward. People will literally make up things so they can be a Victim, which makes them a hero these days. It makes them empowered. Someone said something mildly mean on social media? Well, clap back, and it ends up in the news with the Victim being put on a pedestal and the meanie being shamed. The meanie needs to be destroyed, you know. I could keep going, but, you get the idea, and you know most of this.

Which brings us to Meghan and Harry. We often talk about Peak this and Peak that. But, there’s always a new peak, though, right? I do believe we have strictly hit Peak Victimhood

Those are headlines from just one British news outlet. Plenty of others have tons more in a similar vein. The only one that seems to be sympathetic to Harry is the UK Guardian, and just barely. Why am I watching this stuff? It’s like the biggest of race crashes of all time. And the crashes just keep happening almost daily. Which is pretty amazing for two people who claim they just want their privacy, right?

Here you have a guy born into privilege, as part of the British monarchy. He never wanted for anything. Other than Princess Diana, of course. His life was one of luxury. He was well respected in the military. He married a low level but somewhat know actress in a fairytale wedding. Then blew it all up. And is living in a $15 million, 14,500 square foot house in the People’s Republik Of California with 9 beds, 16 baths, a pool, tea house, tennis courts, and a children’s cottage, on 7.4 acres. They’re being given millions and millions by Netflix and for books, all sorts of media appearances. Living in the lap of luxury, and still f’ing playing the Victim. Seriously, is there anyone more Peak Victimhood Culture right now than Meghan and Harry?

Read: Harry And Meghan -Peak Victimhood Culture »

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 9, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful jungle sucking carbon pollution from the sky, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Flopping Aces, with a post on the media lying over Biden’s immigration “pivot”.

Read: If All You See… »

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Surprise: Eco-Weenies Try And Stop Lithium Mine Needed For Biden’s EV Push

By William Teach January 9, 2023 – 10:30 am

I told you this would happen, namely that the same people who were super excited about Biden trying to force everyone into EVs would also work hard to stop mining necessary to build the EVs (via Greenie Watch)

Biden Agenda Collides with Liberal Sacred Cows Over Nevada Lithium Mine

st greta carOpponents of the largest lithium mine planned in America urged a federal judge in Nevada on Thursday to vacate the federal government’s approval of the project until it completes additional environmental reviews and complies with all state and federal laws.

A district judge, Miranda Du, said after a three-hour hearing at Reno that she hoped to make a decision “in the next couple months” on how to proceed in the nearly two-year-old legal battle over the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the mine Lithium Nevada Corporation plans near the Nevada-Oregon line.

Lawyers for the company and the Bureau of Land Management insisted the project complies with American laws and regulations. But they said that if Judge Du determines it does not, she should stop short of vacating the agency’s approval and allow initial work at the site to begin as further reviews are initiated.

Lawyers for a Nevada rancher, conservation groups and Native American tribes suing to block the mine said that should not occur because any environmental damage would be irreversible. (snip)

Lithium Nevada and the Bureau of Land Management say the project atop an ancient volcano is critical to meeting the growing demand for lithium to make electric vehicle batteries — a key part of President Biden’s push to expedite a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

How do you get all the EV batteries without all the lithium? This is nothing unusual. You have the eco-wackos screaming that we need solar, wind, geothermal and water power, then suing to stop all the projects.

Opponents say it will destroy dwindling habitat for sage grouse, Lahontan cutthroat trout, pronghorn antelope and golden eagles, pollute the air and create a plume of toxic water beneath the open-pit mine deeper than the length of a football field.

“We need a smart energy future that transitions our economy from fossil fuels to renewables without sacrificing rare species in the process,” said the deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, Greta Anderson. The group also petitioned in September for protection of a tiny nearby snail under the Endangered Species Act.

They always have a Reason

The Bureau of Land Management fast-tracked the project’s approval during the final days of the Trump administration. The Biden administration continues to embrace it as part of the president’s clean energy agenda.

Demand for lithium is expected to triple by 2030 from 2020. Lithium Nevada says its project is the only one on the drawing board that can help meet the demand.

And you know this will happen for all the other metals needed.

Read: Surprise: Eco-Weenies Try And Stop Lithium Mine Needed For Biden’s EV Push »

Posted in Enviroweenies | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Coastal Residents Who Aren’t Leaving Say The Ocean Is Coming For Them

By William Teach January 9, 2023 – 7:00 am

It’s a funny thing: so many of the same Leftist whining about sea rise doom from ‘climate change’ are buying homes at the shore/not moving away

Coastal residents on climate change: “The ocean’s coming for you”

Thirty years ago Jim Hartshorne looked out at the endless expanse of blue water and decided North Carolina’s Outer Banks felt like home. He said that back in 1993, sea level rise was not a concern. “I didn’t think it would happen quite as quickly as what it did,” he said. “I thought it wouldn’t happen in my lifetime; I’d let the kids worry about it. But I’ve had to worry about it here the last ten years.”

The ocean has become an increasingly greedy neighbor. Storms are more frequent, and more fierce. Parts of these Barrier Islands have retreated more than 200 feet in the last two decades. Some beaches are now losing about 13 feet a year, according to the National Park Service.

This past summer, video of the Atlantic claiming yet another beach house in Rodanthe, just up the road from Hartshorne, went viral on Twitter.

They’re called “barrier islands.” They move. They’re supposed to move. Not be stationary. Construction on the islands actually interferes with the natural ability.

Hartshorne said, “You gotta take the good with the bad. It’s wonderful to be out here. It’s pretty. But you have to know the ocean’s coming for you.”

He’s trying to delay that day by reinforcing the pilings that hold up his house, and rebuilding a staircase; the old one washed away during a recent storm. He said he’s spent between $20,000 and $22,000 this year alone repairing storm damage.

Hartshorne and his neighbors are getting help from North Carolina’s Dare County, which is spending $25 million to widen 12 miles of coastline along the Outer Banks.

So, not leaving?

“You’re not going to stop the ocean; you’re not going to completely engineer your way out of this challenge,” said Reide Corbett, who runs the Coastal Studies Institute on the Outer Banks. “We will have to think about how we move infrastructure, how we move people.

“Yes, sea level has changed in our past, but it’s changing at a rate that we haven’t seen before.”

Corbett took “Sunday Morning” out to the marsh where he and other scientists collect soil samples that are a peek into the past. He says their research shows the rate of sea level rise here has doubled in the past 100 years.

Really? Yet, zero evidence was provided to uphold this assertion. But, they never do.

“Yeah, and we’re just starting to see the ramp,” Corbett said. “We’re looking at a foot rise in the next 30 years. That’s going to impact most homeowners on the Outer Banks during their mortgage. And so, it’s not about putting it off to the next generation. It’s happening today. We’re seeing those impacts today.”

Pretty bold statement, when there hasn’t even been a foot of sea rise in the last 120 years. What happens if this does not happen? Who pays the price for scaremonger?

Read: Coastal Residents Who Aren’t Leaving Say The Ocean Is Coming For Them »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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