Surprise: Republicans Have The Edge On Mid-Terms

There are three big questions on this poll. The first is the notion that many are sandbagging when asked, and that they’re really supporting the GOP much more. The second is whether the young folks will show up. The third is the notion of how this plays out in each individual district

Republicans Gain Edge as Voters Worry About Economy, Times/Siena Poll Finds

Republicans enter the final weeks of the contest for control of Congress with a narrow but distinctive advantage as the economy and inflation have surged as the dominant concerns, giving the party momentum to take back power from Democrats in next month’s midterm elections, a New York Times/Siena College poll has found.

The poll shows that 49 percent of likely voters said they planned to vote for a Republican to represent them in Congress on Nov. 8, compared with 45 percent who planned to vote for a Democrat. The result represents an improvement for Republicans since September, when Democrats held a one-point edge among likely voters in the last Times/Siena poll. (The October poll’s unrounded margin is closer to three points, not the four points that the rounded figures imply.)

With inflation unrelenting and the stock market steadily on the decline, the share of likely voters who said economic concerns were the most important issues facing America has leaped since July, to 44 percent from 36 percent — far higher than any other issue. And voters most concerned with the economy favored Republicans overwhelmingly, by more than a two-to-one margin.

Here’s what it looks like

Whites go for the GOP 55-40. Blacks go Dem 78-18, once again voting for the party that works to keep them down, stoke race hatred, and turn black neighborhoods into crime infested areas. Hispanics are 60-34 Democrat. That’s one of those that could actually be much more towards the GOP, especially in border states.

We know the 65 and up group will show up. They always do. Same with the 45 to 64. But, what about the 18-29’s, and the lower end of 30-44?

‘Voting is too dumb’: Roe is gone, student debt is piling up and young people are mad. But will they vote?

For years Amini Bonane suffered from abnormal menstrual cycles. Getting doctors to take her and her reproductive health seriously was hard, until she was finally diagnosed with fibroids.

So when the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade was announced in June, Bonane was furious. The decision, she feared, would add even more difficulty for women like herself — especially young Black women — to get the care they need.

“It’s really disheartening that there’s decisions being made by people who aren’t affected by these things,” said Bonane, a 27-year-old women’s rights community organizer.

It’s really disheartening that these young people have bought into Scaremongering from people lying to them about Dobbs, that they don’t take the time to learn the reality, and that they don’t understand that it’s all about what the state will do.

Democrats are betting that a summer of unprecedented news could motivate young people to show up and vote. The overturning of the 1973 Roe decision in particular could prompt young voters to turn out at historic levels — especially young women and other people who can become pregnant, like transgender men and nonbinary people. 

Huh what? That is just very, very stupid. But, Democrats have decided to teach Alternative Science.

But young voters are notorious for skipping the polls, especially during midterm elections, fueling worries among some activists and campaigns that even such a momentous news year might not be enough to get those ballots in.

In a series of pre-midterm polls by youth voter organizations, young people listed abortion, the economy and climate change among their top issues — all issues that Democrats have targeted ahead of November’s elections through campaigning and policy.

Until the 2018 midterms, youth voter turnout had not surpassed 26% since at least 1994, with just 20% of young people turning out to vote in the 2014 midterms, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

Will they show up? More importantly, will they show up in those close elections, or just for the ones where a Democrat is going to win anyhow? It’s a very long piece, ending with

Julia Perrotta, a 21-year-old civic engagement coordinator for IGNITE, has always been motivated to vote. She said it’s barriers to voting, such as address changes in college and understanding where to get registered and vote, that prevent many of her peers from casting ballots, not a lack of interest.

“It’s really important to break the stigma that young people don’t care because they do,” Perrotta said. “Young people care so much about politics.”

So, they really care, but, aren’t smart enough to understand how to register and vote? Huh.

Read: Surprise: Republicans Have The Edge On Mid-Terms »

Brandon White House Looks To Modify Sunlight To Cool The Earth Or Something

What could possibly go wrong?

Once a dystopian fantasy, manipulating sunlight to cool the earth is now on the White House research agenda

The White House is coordinating a five-year research plan to study ways of modifying the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth to temper the effects of global warming, a process sometimes called solar geoengineering or sunlight reflection.

The research plan will assess climate interventions, including spraying aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back into space, and should include goals for research, what’s necessary to analyze the atmosphere, and what impact these kinds of climate interventions may have on the Earth, according to the White House‘s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Congress directed the research plan be produced in its spending plan for 2022, which President Joe Biden signed in March.

Some of the techniques, such as spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, are known to have harmful effects on the environment and human health. But scientists and climate leaders who are concerned humanity will overshoot its emissions targets say research is important to figure out how to balance these risks against a possibly catastrophic rise in the earth’s temperature.

Great idea, screwing with the health of people and the environment to fight a mostly fake issue

There are significant and well-known risks to some of these techniques — sulfur dioxide aerosol injection in particular.

First, spraying sulfur into the atmosphere will “mess with the ozone chemistry in a way that might delay the recovery of the ozone layer,” Parson told CNBC. (snip)

Also, sulfates injected into the atmosphere eventually come down as acid rain, which affects soil, water reservoirs, and local ecosystems.

Thirdly, the sulfur in the atmosphere forms very fine particulates that cause respiratory illness.

Great idea, eh? And it’s only supposed to cost $10 billion a year, surely funneled into all sorts of political connected companies.

Doing research is also important because many onlookers expect that some country, facing an unprecedented climate disaster, will act unilaterally to will try some version of sunlight modification anyway — even if it hasn’t been carefully studied.

Looking forward to creating the next ice age, and all the acid rain.

Read: Brandon White House Looks To Modify Sunlight To Cool The Earth Or Something »

NY Times Seems Pretty Upset That Combat Veterans Would Be Running For The House As Republicans

It’s like the Grey Lady would think that all combat veterans are snowflakes and SJWs, that they think it’s great that the military is more focused on ‘climate change’, raaaaacism, CRT, and the gender confused rather than protecting the U.S., and should run as Democrats (free read at Yahoo)

New Generation of Combat Vets, Eyeing House, Strike From the Right

In early 2019, as the Defense Department’s bureaucracy seemed to be slow-walking then-President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, Joe Kent, a CIA paramilitary officer, called his wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologic technician who was still in Syria working against the Islamic State group.

“‘Make sure you’re not the last person to die in a war that everyone’s already forgotten about,’” Kent said he told his wife. “And that’s exactly what happened,” he added bitterly.

The suicide bombing that killed Kent and three other service members days later set off a chain of events — including a somber encounter with Trump — that has propelled Kent from a storied combat career to single parenthood, from comparing notes with other anti-war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to making increasingly loud pronouncements that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters are political prisoners.

In five weeks, Kent, 42, a candidate for a House seat in Washington state that was long represented by a soft-spoken moderate Republican, may well be elected to Congress. And he is far from alone.

A new breed of veterans, many with remarkable biographies and undeniable stories of heroism, are running for the House on the far right of the Republican Party, challenging old assumptions that adding veterans to Congress — men and women who fought for the country and defended the Constitution — would foster bipartisanship and cooperation. At the same time, they are embracing anti-interventionist military and foreign policies that, since the end of World War II, have been associated more with the Democratic left than the mainline GOP.

In other words, they’re mirroring the true Conservative base, who do not want all the unnecessary interventionism, who are pushing for freedom, liberty, and limited government, who are tired of all the elites, including the Republican elites, ie, GOPe, and want to stand up for We The People. This makes Elites like the NY Times upset.

Beyond their right-wing leanings, all share in common a deep skepticism about U.S. interventionism, borne of years of fighting in the post-9/11 war on terrorism and the belief that their sacrifices only gave rise to more instability and repression wherever the United States put boots on the ground.

Where earlier generations of combat veterans in Congress became die-hard defenders of a global military footprint, the new cohort is unafraid to launch ad hominem attacks on the men who still lead U.S. forces.

“I worked for Milley. I worked for Austin. I worked for Mattis,” Don Bolduc, 60, a retired brigadier general challenging Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said of Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the current and former defense secretaries, Lloyd Austin and Jim Mattis. “Their concerns centered around the military-industrial complex and maintaining the military-industrial complex, so as three- and four-star generals, they can roll right into very lucrative jobs.”

It is time to stop intervening in everything, and, when we do get involved, it needs to make sense, be targeted, and go there to win. Going after Afghanistan and Iraq were the right things to do: how we did it was the problem. We weren’t there to kick ass and take names, we were there to “nation build”, which is why we were in Afghanistan for 20 years. And pretty much nothing to show for it.

It’s a long, long piece, and, reading between the lines, a hit job, painting them all as far right wackjobs who Hate Democracy. It’s all the NY Times knows.

Read: NY Times Seems Pretty Upset That Combat Veterans Would Be Running For The House As Republicans »

If All You See…

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

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post updating on the Australian permanent drought.

It’s sweater week!

Read: If All You See… »

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and….hmm, Devils lost their 2nd game, but, it’s a long season. Dodgers blew it and are out. But, my Pirates won a triple OT thriller, so, there’s that, and the Giants have a chance today. This pinup is by Peter Driben, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. American Power discusses temporary Republicans saving us from the Left
  2. Blazing Cat Fur notes a Colorado school recruiting drag queens as crossing guards
  3. Chicks On The Right covers CNN whining that people care more about inflation than J6
  4. Da Techguy’s Blog highlights the Navy having racial/gender quotas
  5. Dissecting Leftism discusses being told that vaccines prevent transmission
  6. Gates Of Vienna has Elites saying “let them wear sweaters”
  7. Gen Z Conservative features the cancel culture nuts coming after Gwen Stefani
  8. Jihad Watch highlights the difference in treatment over protesting school parents and Muslim parents
  9. Legal Insurrection features Biden clinging to his public health declaration
  10. Moonbattery covers the rational for forcing vaccines was a lie
  11. neo-neocon points out Dems want parents prosecuted for not affirming their child’s gender delusions
  12. Pacific Pundit covers the NBA giving out warning cards if you’re mean to players
  13. Powerline wonders what comes next for Tulsi Gabbard
  14. Sultan Knish notes Marxists killing each other to control America’s cocaine trade
  15. And last, but, not least, The American Conservative highlights abortion safe zones in the UK

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 »

Sanctuary City Of D.C.’s DA To Open Investigation On Migrant Busing

It’s almost like all the open borders liberals in D.C. like illegals/migrants in theory, but, not practice, at least when they end up in the liberal sanctuary cities, eh?

DC attorney general opens investigation into migrant buses that arrived in capital

Attorney General Karl Racine (D) has opened an investigation into whether migrants sent north by southern governors were misled when they boarded transportation taking them hundreds of miles away.

The Texas Tribune and ProPublica co-published an article on Friday that Racine’s office is looking to determine if trip organizers deceived the migrants into getting on buses that took them to D.C. in recent months.

Racine told the outlets that migrants have “talked persuasively” about being misled with promises of “services” to be provided in interviews with investigators. He did not provide them with more specifics about the probe, including whether it is a criminal or civil matter.

Deceived? You mean like how the open borders advocates have essentially enticed hundreds of thousand, if not millions, to head to the U.S. for easy money, housing, clothing, food, education, medical care, and citizenship, even though that is against U.S. law? That all these illegals/migrants are super-welcome, as long as they go to non-Democrat cities? How about all the illegals Biden flies in the middle of the night and dumps in small town America?

Abbott’s press secretary told The Texas Tribune and ProPublica that no deceit was used in sending the migrants north. She said the migrants signed a voluntary consent form that was available in multiple languages upon boarding.

A spokesperson for (Arizona gov) Ducey told the outlets that Arizona is working with a regional health center to ensure the migrants are treated well and get to their destinations.

They dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s, and sanctuary cities like D.C. are just upset that they’re getting a small taste of what border cities have to deal with. And the more they whine the more Florida, Texas, and Arizona will send the illegals to sanctuary cities.

Read: Sanctuary City Of D.C.’s DA To Open Investigation On Migrant Busing »

How Will The Poor Afford EVs In The People’s Republik Of California?

Obviously, through massive government help. Government creates the problem, then provides the “solution”

California wants everyone to drive EVs. How will low-income people afford them?

Electric vehicleWhen Graciela Deniz worked as a health educator at a medical office in Kerman, California, it seemed like all the doctors drove Teslas.

Deniz, 32, assumed electric vehicles were a luxury reserved for those with high incomes, until she started a new job last year as a community health worker at the Central California Asthma Collaborative. The organization was involved with the EV Equity program, an initiative to help low-income residents in the San Joaquin Valley buy electric vehicles.

By switching to an EV, Deniz hoped to save money on gas and reduce her contribution to the San Joaquin Valley’s high levels of air pollution, which contribute to some of the highest asthma rates in the state. Right around that time, her own daughter was diagnosed with asthma. “I knew about the link between the environment and health,” Deniz said. “But that was when it really came full circle for me.”

That would be smog, not CO2

The EV Equity program helped Deniz find an electric vehicle that fit her needs and guided her through the process of applying for two income-based grants from California’s Driving Clean Assistance Program (DCAP) and the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP). She received a total of $9,500 for a down payment and purchased a Chevrolet Bolt EUV in July 2021. With one fewer gas-powered car, Deniz and her husband were able to cut their fuel budget by half.

Where are they charging it?

But much has changed since Deniz purchased her EV – two of the state-funded assistance programs for low-income buyers have shut down after running out of money. The average price of an EV in the US reached $66,000 this summer, and lower earners are struggling to compete for cars in a hostile market with high markups and sparse inventory. Strong demand for EVs has been exacerbated by gas prices that again averaged as much as $6.43 a gallon in California last week.

If you notice, the vast majority of EVs being released are in what’s called “high-line”, ie, BMW, Mercedes, Lincoln, etc. There aren’t that many for the average working and middle class folks, who can’t really charge them at their apartments.

Low-income households in the US spend a much higher percentage of their income on transportation. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the lowest quintile of households in terms of earning spent 26.9% of their income on transportation in 2021, almost twice the nationwide average of 13.9%.

This economic burden is being exacerbated by the sharp rise in gas prices. “Inflation is crazy, and they don’t have enough money to be paying for gas,” said Irvin Rivero, beneficial electrification associate at Acterra, a Bay Area non-profit that helps income-qualified buyers apply for the incentive programs. “And if they’re low-income, they usually tend to travel pretty far to their work, so they’ll be filling up a lot.”

Not mentioned is that the cost of energy is spiking, too, which means it will cost more to charge them.

But EVs are still largely unaffordable for lower earners, even if they are pre-owned. The average price for a used EV surpassed $40,000 this July, according to Recurrent, a tech startup in the used-EV industry. Financial assistance in the form of upfront grants can provide a crucial way to close the affordability gap.

And there it is: just give them money. Make them more dependent on Government, after Government created the problems.

Quentin Nelms, 43, a low-voltage technician for the Tulare school district in the San Joaquin Valley, qualified for the $5,000 CVAP grant in January, before the program closed. But when he began shopping, Nelms found that the prices of EVs at dealerships that participated in the grant program were marked up by as much as $12,000.

“I started telling the dealers, ‘I don’t think it’s fair that you guys are part of this program and you are now charging a markup,’” he said, “‘because I put in time and work into this grant program and you’re absorbing the whole grant.”

You can tell them whatever you want, they don’t have to listen. If the government gives all this money, the price of those goods will go up. That’s economics. And $5k won’t make all that much difference with an average price of $40k for used.

Read: How Will The Poor Afford EVs In The People’s Republik Of California? »

If All You See…

…is a world killing dog causing temperatures to spike, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A Bad American, with a post on groomers in the classroom.

Read: If All You See… »

Raleigh Shooter In Critical Condition, Timeline Of Shooting Details Being Released

The slightly more official timeline seems to confirm some of the way I’ve seen it, based on the things I’ve read and seen

Raleigh mass shooting leaves 5 dead, 2 injured; 15-year-old suspect in critical condition

Raleigh Police Department said a 15-year-old was responsible for the mass shooting that killed five people and injured two others Thursday night.

The shooting started around 5 p.m. in the Hedingham neighborhood near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive. Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said Friday morning that the crime scene spanned around 2 miles across the neighborhood.

The suspect first shot a relative of his inside their home. Then he went outside and shot two women in the streets of the neighborhood before running toward the Neuse River Greenway Trail. Before getting to the trail he shot Officer Gabriel Torres, who was on his way to start his shift with the police department.

“He’s an off duty Raleigh police officer. (The shooter) shot him for no reason. He’s bleeding from his chest,” a caller told 911.

Next, the teen made his way onto the greenway trail where he opened fire, killing two more people.

That house was the one I mentioned yesterday, where the police had it taped off and were searching it. They had a huge section of Hedingham blocked off for much of yesterday. And the police were sitting on my road all night down near the curve, where there’s an entrance to the Neuse River greenway.

They were there till around 2 or so. That greenway runs north and south of that spot, so, he would have accessed it south of there (to the right), and probably shot the two ladies near that access point. Hence why so many overhead shots were of my road, focusing on that access point. And why there were so many cops when I tried to get home. At that point, he would have kept going north. There’s a bridge that crosses to the other side of the river maybe 200 yards from that access point. Then he would have had lots of access to the woods for pretty far. My theory is he cut through the woods almost immediately, which would have taken him to the Hidden Cove Mobile Estates, then to Tarheel Clubhouse Road and up to the where he was caught. He might have stayed on the road or cut through, because there is not much over there

Eventually an RPD K-9 officer tracked the suspect to a shed where he barricaded himself after the shootings. During the standoff the K-9 officer (handler) was wounded and taken to a hospital where he was treated and released. Shortly after 9:30 p.m., the teen was taken into custody at Old Milburnie Road and McConnel Oliver Drive. He had life-threatening injuries when he was brought in — investigators said he was in critical condition at WakeMed.

Investigators have not said whether the suspect injured himself or was injured by officers taking him into custody. His identity has also not been released, although ABC News has confirmed that he was a relative of one of the victims he killed.

There were different, and, unconfirmed reports, that brain matter was showing. And, based on info I was given, I knew the last name was Thompson. Their house was being searched, and, that was the name of the 16 year old who was killed. Just didn’t know the shooters first name. Eventually they released it, probably because a lot of people were figuring it out. The name is Austin Thompson. He’s 15. And going to be charged as an adult.

And, of course, lots of hot takes wanting to ban assault rifles, including this jerk, who couldn’t even wait till the bodies were cold

Biden Again Calls on Congress to Pass Assault-Style Weapons Ban in Wake of North Carolina Shooting

President Joe Biden urged Congress on Friday to pass a ban on assault-style weapons, which he called a “commonsense action to get weapons of war off our streets” in the wake of a shooting in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“For the lives we’ve lost and the lives we can save, I took historic action to stop gun violence in our nation, including signing the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years,” Biden said in a statement Friday, pointing to a gun safety package that passed on a bipartisan basis in June. “But we must do more. We must pass an assault weapons ban.”

Biden noted that the North Carolina shooting, where at least five people were killed and others were injured, is just the latest in a string of mass shootings this year that have shaken the nation – from Uvalde, Texas, to Buffalo, New York.

“Enough,” he said. “We’ve grieved and prayed with too many families who have had to bear the terrible burden of these mass shootings. Too many families have had spouses, parents, and children taken from them forever.”

Except, every eyewitness report says it was a shotgun. It might have been a regular long gun. If it had a been a scary looking assault weapon someone would have said so. They’re rather distinctive, right? I’ll tell you what: I’ll consider a 10 year sunset bill if all the law enforcement who protect Biden, Harris, Congress, and federal agencies are all restricted from using “assault rifles”, many of which are fully automatic. Why should they have them when Citizens don’t?

Anyhow, hopefully the kid lives, so we might find out the answer to “why?”

Read: Raleigh Shooter In Critical Condition, Timeline Of Shooting Details Being Released »

“Developing Nations” To Demand More Money For ‘Climate Change’

Yeah, this is the norm each year as the UN IPCC Conference On The Parties approaches, wanting so free, easy money with no strings attached, because they are “owed”

Developing nations suffering from climate change will demand financial help

The chairperson of an influential negotiating bloc in the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Egypt has called for compensation for poorer countries suffering from climate change to be high up on the agenda.

Madeleine Diouf Sarr, who chairs the Least Developed Countries group, told The Associated Press that the November conference — known as COP27 — should “capture the voice and needs of the most climate-vulnerable nations and deliver climate justice.”

Sarr said the group would like to see “an agreement to establish a dedicated financial facility” that pays nations that are already facing the effects of climate change at the summit. (snip)

“We have delayed climate action for too long,” Sarr said, pointing to the promised $100 billion a year in climate aid for poorer countries that was pledged over a decade ago.

“We can no longer afford to have a COP that is ‘all talk.’ The climate crisis has pushed our adaptation limits, resulted in inevitable loss and damage, and delayed our much-needed development,” added Sarr.

The COP27 President also said this year’s summit should be about implementing plans and pledges that countries have agreed to at previous conferences.

And even if they get all that money, they’ll never develop. It’ll just go into the pockets of the big wigs of those countries. Just like always.

Meanwhile

20 Nations at High Risk From Global Warming Might Halt Debt Payments

Twenty countries most vulnerable to climate change are considering halting their repayment of $685 billion in collective debt, loans that they say are an “injustice,” Mohamad Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives said on Friday.

When the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund conclude their annual meetings in Washington on Sunday, Mr. Nasheed said he would tell officials that the nations were weighing whether to stop payments on their debts. The finance ministers are calling instead for a debt-for-nature swap, in which part of a nation’s debt is forgiven and invested in conservation.

It’s always something.

Read: “Developing Nations” To Demand More Money For ‘Climate Change’ »

Pirate's Cove