…is a park that would be perfect for solar panels, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is This ain’t Hell…, with a post on the Secretary of Defense wanting to keep the vaccine mandate.
I forget to mention yesterday that it is redheads week.
Read: If All You See… »
The Supreme Court already ruled back in 2018 that there is religious freedom in the People’s Republic Of Colorado, when they ruled in favor of a religious baker who did not agree with gay marriage. Colorado apparently did not listen
Supreme Court to Hear Case of Web Designer Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday over whether a graphic designer in Colorado has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex weddings based on her Christian faith despite a state law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The case, a sequel to one from 2018 involving a Colorado baker that failed to yield a definitive ruling, is likely to settle the question of whether businesses open to the public and engaged in expression can refuse to provide services to potential customers based on their religious or other convictions.
The case concerns Lorie Smith, who owns a design company that says it serves gay customers but intends to limit a proposed wedding-related service to celebrations of heterosexual unions. She argued that requiring her to provide those services to gay and lesbian couples violates her right to free speech.
“If a client who identifies as gay asked her to design graphics for his animal rescue shelter or to promote an organization serving children with disabilities, Smith would happily do so,” Ms. Smith’s lawyers told the justices in a brief. “But Smith will decline any request — no matter who makes it — to create content that contradicts the truths of the Bible, demeans or disparages someone, promotes atheism or gambling, endorses the taking of unborn life, incites violence, or promotes a concept of marriage that is not solely the union of one man and one woman.”
A Colorado law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation by businesses open to the public as well as statements announcing such discrimination. Ms. Smith, who has not begun the wedding business or posted such a statement for fear of running afoul of the law, sued to challenge it.
Interestingly, the Court only accepted this on a free speech basis, not religious. Also
(CNN) On one side of the dispute is the designer, Lorie Smith, whose business is called 303 Creative. She says she has not yet moved forward with an expansion into wedding websites because she is worried about violating a Colorado public accommodations law. She says the law compels her to express messages that are inconsistent with her beliefs. The state and supporters of LGBTQ rights respond that Smith is simply seeking a license to discriminate in the marketplace. (snip)
When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in February, the justices sidestepped whether the law violated Smith’s free exercise of religion. Instead, the court said it would look at the dispute through the lens of free speech and decide whether applying the public accommodations law “to compel an artist to speak or stay silent” violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.
The suit is pre-emptively going after the state, which might not be a bad idea, since you know that the Usual Subjects will attempt to ask her to make designs for gay weddings, and the state would most likely go after her.
In court papers, Smith’s lawyer, Kristen K. Waggoner, said that the law works to “compel speech the government favors and silence speech the government dislikes” in violation of the First Amendment. She said the state could interpret its law to allow speakers “who serve all people to decline specific projects based on their message” such a move, she contended, would stop status discrimination “without coercing or suppressing speech.”
It looks like the suit is coming after the law itself, since it allows no public accommodation. And Free Speech is Free Speech.
Climate cultists: we love green energy! We need to have lots and lots of it replacing fossil fuels, coal, and nuclear! Also climate cultists: how dare you build green energy projects!
Biden admin. names Nevada toad endangered, hampering construction of geothermal plant
Not the actual type of amphibian
Nevada’s Dixie Valley toad has been declared an endangered species.
Last spring, wildlife officials had temporarily listed the speckled, black-eyed toad on a rarely used emergency basis.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that the ruling makes the final listing.
The amphibian is at risk of extinction mainly due to the approval and commencement of geothermal development, but other threats include groundwater pumping, agriculture, climate change, chytrid fungus, disease and predation from invasive bullfrogs.
“Due to the imminent development of a geothermal project in Dixie Meadows, Nevada, and the potential resulting effects to the geothermal springs relied upon by the Dixie Valley toad, there is a significant risk to the well-being of the species,” the agency said then. “We find that emergency listing is necessary in order to provide the protective measures afforded by the Act to the Dixie Valley toad.”
Environmentalists who filed a lawsuit in January to block construction of the geothermal plant east of Reno – the only place the toad is known to exist on Earth – applauded the Biden administration.
“We’re pleased that the Biden administration is taking this essential step to prevent the extinction of an irreplaceable piece of Nevada’s special biodiversity,” Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin regional director for the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Associated Press.
Why does it seem as if the enviro-weenies sue to block almost every single “green” energy project? There always seems to be some Reason. How is it possible to replace coal with solar, wind, geothermal, and hydrothermal if they block it? Where do they think power comes from? Unicorn farts and jelly beans?
Read: Brandon Admin Blocks Geothermal Plant With Designation Of Toad As Endangered »
I linked to a few bloggers on Sunday in the Patriotic Pinup post, but, it deserves to be reiterated, and a lot of the comments at Breitbart were very upset that they would dare run a story on it, saying Breitbart has gone to the dark side, that it is no longer Conservative
Trump Suggests ‘Termination’ of U.S. Constitution Allowable over 2020 Twitter Scandal
Former President Donald Trump suggested the “termination” of the United States Constitution could be allowable in response to the bombshell report that the Democrat Party colluded with Twitter to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election.
The former president made his observation via his Truth Social account on Saturday following journalist Matt Taibbi’s thorough report on Twitter’s internal communications during the 2020 elections at the behest of newly-minted CEO Elon Musk.
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION?” Trump said.
Putting the Founding Fathers in quotes — “Our great ‘Founders’” — the president then essentially seemed to suggest the “termination” of the U.S. Constitution could be allowable.
Look, the Democrats, the Biden campaign, and Trump hating federal agencies were in bed with Twitter and other social media companies. The 2020 elections were quite a bit bullshit. But, this is just nutty, beyond the normal nutty of Trump, and it goes right to electability. No matter what you think of what Trump wants to do, He. Can’t. Win. This isn’t like in 2016, when so many said he wouldn’t win, and a lot of us were wondering if he was trying to lose. This is more like a “there’s no way Michael Dukakis can win” situation. He’s not going to get Independents or flipper type soft Democrats. They’ll be a lot of Republicans who may not vote Democrat, but, won’t vote Trump.
Electability matters. The DNC wouldn’t put up nuts like AOC and Ilhan Omar if they weren’t electable in their districts. They wouldn’t have any backing in more purple districts. Trump will not win. As Nina Bookout at Victory Girls Blog wrote
Quite honestly, this is the absolute worst thing he could’ve posted about. During his 2016 campaign and beyond, Trump was one to talk about and work to keep our Constitution intact. But NOW, with this latest about Twitter actively throttling information at the behest of the Biden campaign and DNC operatives, he lashes out and wants the Constitution dumped so he can dictatorially be President again?
This is NOT how this works. Period. Full. Stop. Is there NO ONE in his inner circle who has the brass balls enough to tell him to put a freaking sock in it?
Trump was already facing an uphill battle. We’re just beyond the 22 midterms and he’s already committed multiple Gaffes, which you can bet will be brought up during the 2024 system. This country cannot afford a Democrat win in 2024. We do not need a repeat of putting someone up who can’t win, like Romney in 2021.
Read: Trump Goes On Rant About Doing Away With Constitution For 2020 Twitter Scandal »
…is a horrible bench made from killing a carbon pollution sucking tree, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Blazing Cat Fur, with a post on Canadian officials granting bail to 22 out of 23 involved in a child porn ring.
Read: If All You See… »
Happy Sunday! Another fine day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the NJ Devils are serious road warriors. This pinup is by Gil Elvgren, a real old one, with a wee bit of help.
What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15
As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader
Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!
Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?
Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.
Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »
Can you take a guess at how much fraud they think occurred from all the PPP loans? And, by loan, it was really money that would never be paid back
Congress is shocked, shocked by the COVID fraud it created
Like Captain Renault in the gambling casino in “Casablanca,” congressmen are “shocked, shocked” by all the fraud spawned by the trillions of dollars in COVID handouts they approved.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis issued a report Thursday blaming fintech firms for the pilfering of Paycheck Protection Program loans that began in 2020. But the real fraud is the illusion that members of Congress give a damn about plundering American taxpayers.
PPP was enacted in March 2020 and eventually provided $800 billion in loans to more than 11 million businesses. Congress designed the program to carpet-bomb the nation with federal tax dollars.
The Small Business Administration, which administered the plan, effectively told people, “Apply and sign and tell us that you’re really entitled to the money,” said Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. He testified PPP was an invitation to fraudsters because there weren’t “even minimal checks to make sure that the money was getting to the right people at the right time.”
Is this going to look like the United Nation’s Oil For Food program, where they said “oh, just 10% was a problem”?
Government investigators estimate up to $100 billion in PPP loans was fraudulent. The feds gave 342 people who said their name was “N/A” PPP loans. Dozens of New York City and New York state employees were arrested this week for their role in a multimillion-dollar PPP fraud scheme.
$100 billion out of $800 billion. So, worse than OFF. It’s fantastic that people are being arrested (anyone shocked by government employees being involved?), but, will the government claw back The People’s money? Probably not.
Happily, a scapegoat has been found. According to the new congressional report, the problem was that the financial-technology companies (fintechs) that handled PPP-claims applications failed to show due diligence. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the select subcommittee’s chairman, declared that “many fintechs … refused to take adequate steps to detect and prevent fraud despite their clear responsibility to safeguard taxpayer funds.”
Who authorized this? Who in government was tasked with, as we say in the private sector, “inspect what you expect”? Let me tell you a little story about what happened at a little wireless company I worked for in the 90’s. The 2 owners hired a guy to manage their Greenville store. After around 6 months, I started noting the huge number of missing payments on pagers from that area. And problems with ordering of phones and accessories. After about 9 months they closed that store, because it was just losing money. A lot. The manager then started working in the Cary store as assistant manager. One day a Pitt County Sheriff deputy and Wake County Sheriff deputy walked in with arrest warrants.
They had authorization to open the guy’s car trunk. Because his mom authorized it, since the guy fraudulently purchased it in his mom’s name. There were warrants from Pitt and Wake, along with areas in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. He was a massive con artist. The deputies explained a bunch to us. He ripped off his mom, his mom! for about $120K. Guess who the owners blamed? Their accountant. Fired him. He was a good guy. The thing is, the owners failed to do any background check, and barely paid attention to what was going on at the Greenville store. His trunk was full of cash and check pager payments, along with lots of inventory, probably around $30k worth.
It was their fault for failing to inspect. Just like Congress, which failed to set any measures to safeguard the “loans”.
The select subcommittee sifted through 83,000 pages of internal documents from private companies to compile its 120-page report. But it would be far more interesting to see a report excerpted from tens of thousands of PPP-related emails, texts and letters from members of Congress, their staff and their campaign operations.
When did our “best and brightest” recognize PPP would be the biggest boondoggle of the century? Did they take any steps to fix the problem or curb the looting? (Did hell freeze over?) How many members of Congress sought campaign contributions as a result of the geyser of COVID spending they unleashed?
That would be a good investigation for the GOP led House. Of course, how many of them took advantage, because, politicians will be politicians.
Read: Congress Seems Surprised By All The Wuhan Flu Fraud They Enabled »
We told you this would happen, namely that, after passing the IRA which requires all sorts of green production from American sources, that Democrats would never allow mining of the necessary minerals and metals on American soil
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended prohibiting the operators of Southwestern Alaska’s Pebble Mine from disposing of waste material in the nearby Bristol Bay, a regulation that would prevent the mine from opening. However, the mine could generate billions in revenue by producing minerals that are crucial in supporting the Biden administration’s “clean energy transition.”
The EPA said Pebble Mine’s potential waste discharges would threaten nearby sockeye salmon fisheries by polluting the water and preventing the fish from spawning and reproducing, according to an agency proposal released Thursday. Despite this, the mine would extract about 1.5 billion tons of copper, molybdenum as well as other critical minerals and could deliver more than $8 billion to Southwestern Alaska, according to a report published by Northern Dynasty Minerals, the mine’s owner.
“This isn’t just about Pebble … the precedent this is setting is frightening and will be used going forward by those wanting to stop projects and will send an absolutely chilling message to the investment world about opportunities in the U.S.,” Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
As a true environmentalist, it does seem disturbing that the mine could dispose of its waste right into the water, causing problems for salmon, right?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that Pebble Mine “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay,” in its final environmental impact statement published in July 2020. However, the EPA stated that mining waste would result in the total loss of aquatic habitats important to the sockeye salmon’s survival.
I’m not even finding an actual study from the EPA which provides the reason for their opinion. The extreme-enviros and climate cultists in agencies like the EPA, and groups that will sue to stop mining, will do everything they can to stop mining. How will the economy and energy sector move to being “green” without? Are we just supposed to get it from 3rd world nations, letting children dig it out?
Hat tip to @TXOdysseus for pointing out in this thread that there aren't enough vital minerals in the entire world to "replace" the internal combustion engine with batteries. It's an empirically demonstrable fact. Those profiting from the "EV revolution" are well aware of it.
— Andrew Tate (@Cobretata) December 1, 2022
I, and so many other Skeptics, have been saying this for a long time. Heck, even before the big push for EVs. The Elite Warmists have long wanted to force the peasants out of having their own cars, forcing them to take the bus, trains, riding bikes, or walking.
Read: Surprise: Brandon Admin To Kill Off Mine Necessary For Green Agenda »
Yes, yes stuff like this matters. The Elites think it is just A-OK for them to have massive carbon footprints. It’s you that must be forced to have your life and lifestyle changed
Environmental activist Meghan Markle seen boarding private jet following female empowerment event
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was photographed Tuesday boarding a private jet in Indianapolis after headlining a female empowerment conference.
Markle was seen exiting an SUV before boarding the plane located at an area hangar also used by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, according to video footage obtained by Fox News Digital. Markle had arrived just three hours earlier to speak at an event hosted by the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana.
Markle and her husband Prince Harry, meanwhile, have been vocal environmental activists. The pair committed through their private organization in November 2021 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.
For them, net zero means purchasing offsets, rather than changing their lives. They are just Too Important to reign in their excesses.
Meghan Markle plans on reaching "net zero" carbon emissions by 2030, but just used a private jet to fly to and from a three-hour visit to Indianapolis. https://t.co/kLhzXpLYgA
— OutKick (@Outkick) November 30, 2022
It’s pretty easy to spread awareness, call for action, demonize other people, but, then be complete hypocrites
Read: Surprise: Climahypocrite Meghan Markle Caught Boarding Private Jet »
Trackback URL
…is a wonderful plant taking carbon pollution from the air, you might just be a Warmist
The blog of the day is Bookworm Room, with a post Twitter revelations.
Doubleshot below the fold, check out Bustednuckles, with a post on the Biden admin constantly asking Twitter to remove Tweets.
Read: If All You See… »
All posts here are my views. None represent my employer. If ye can prove me wrong, so be it. Ye can rant and rave at me, but be mostly polite to any other commentors. I will put up with quite a bit, but be mostly respectful to others.
NOTICE In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., section 107, some material on this web site is provided without permission from the copyright owner, only for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of federal copyright laws. These materials may not be distributed further, except for "fair use" non-profit educational purposes, without permission of the copyright owner.
Pirate's Cove by Pirate's Cove is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
