Credentialed Media Seems Shocked That DeSantis Got Sanibel Causeway Open So Fast

Also, rather dismayed that DeSantis not only responded so well to Hurricane Ian, but, continues to bring success in Florida’s response

How did Sanibel Causeway open early? 4,000 tons of asphalt and an ‘ambitious road map’

The Sanibel Causeway opened for public access to the storm-damaged island on Wednesday morning.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced from the bridge that the roadway to the island, which was damaged and made unusable from Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, was repaired days ahead of schedule and would allow public crossings beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday. (snip)

Last week, DeSantis announced that earlier temporary repairs allowed work crews access to Sanibel by land and teams from Florida Power & Light, Lee County Electric Cooperative and others headed to Sanibel by land. He said that the causeway would be open for civilian use on Oct. 21.

The causeway has opened two days ahead of schedule.

“You need to get people over there on vehicles,” the governor said, adding that the Sanibel Causeway had “more significant damage than the Pine Island bridge.”

This is not the permanent repair, but, it gets residents to the island, along with all those work crews for repairs to homes, businesses, and infrastructure, as well as things like food and water. I mean, look at the before and after

https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/1582850494937980928

Can you imagine a Democrat city or state being able to do this? Oh, wait, what was that first part?

S.F. is spending $1.7 million on one public toilet: ‘What are they making it out of — gold?’

The toilet — just one loo in 150 square feet of space — is projected to cost $1.7 million, about the same as a single-family home in this wildly overpriced city. And it won’t be ready for use until 2025.

Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) secured the $1.7 million from the state for the toilet after hearing “loud and clear” from the community that families needed a bathroom. The plumbing is already there, added when the plaza was constructed six years ago, but there was never money for the actual bathroom. Until Haney stepped in.

Why is it so expensive? Well, it’s San Francisco, and

“It’s important to note that public projects and their overall cost estimates don’t just reflect the price of erecting structures,” the statement said. “They include planning, drawing, permits, reviews and public outreach.”

For a toilet? Apparently so.

An architect will draw plans for the bathroom that the city will share with the community for feedback. It will also head to the Arts Commission’s Civic Design Review committee comprised of two architects, a landscape architect and two other design professionals who, under city charter, “conduct a multi-phase review” of all city projects on public land — ranging from buildings to bathrooms to historic plaques, fences and lamps.

Good grief

The web-page describing that process states the point is to ensure “that each project’s design is appropriate to its context in the urban environment, and that structures of the highest design quality reflect their civic stature.”

Double good grief.

The city said the $1.7 million estimate “is extremely rough” and budgets “for the worst-case scenario due to the onerous demands and unpredictable costs levied by PG&E,” the possibility code requirements could change during the project and in case other unexpected circumstances come up.

So, it’ll probably end up around $2.4 million. You really have to read the entire piece. Welcome to Liberal World.

Read: Credentialed Media Seems Shocked That DeSantis Got Sanibel Causeway Open So Fast »

Your Fault: Prairie Birds Chirping Could Get Quieter From Hotcoldwetdry

If only you would trade in your fossil fueled vehicle for a much more expensive EV, put solar panels on your home, and genuflect to the climate gods

Climate change could quiet prairie birds’ chirping

A bird sings on the prairie and nobody can hear it. Forget whether it makes a sound—biologists want to know why it went unheard. Drier conditions intensified by climate change might be responsible, a new study finds, because birdsong doesn’t travel as far in dry air. That could have harmful consequences for birds trying to defend their territories or find a mate.

The study is one of the first to examine the bioacoustic implications of climate change, says Jacob Job, an acoustic ecologist who was not involved with the work. It is “at the forefront” of this emerging research question, he says.

As global warming progresses, droughts are predicted to become more frequent and severe in prairies and grasslands across the southwestern United States. A team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma (OU) wanted to know how these dry conditions might affect the way birds communicate.

To find out, the researchers simulated a prairie environment inside a computer and populated it with virtual birds. Each bird was given a set territory, within which it was allowed to rest, move, or sing. Their simulated birdsong was governed by real-world acoustic rules, meaning it carried farther in moist air than in dry air. The birds also sang less often in hotter, drier conditions in order to avoid dehydration. Finally, the researchers calculated how many of these virtual birds could successfully communicate with their six closest neighbors under different climate scenarios.

So…..there were no real world birds involved? Nothing other than a computer simulation based on doomy input? No listening to birds over years, doing real world experimentation? Good grief.

So far, these impacts have been explored only in the virtual prairie. The question now, Job says, is whether drought-induced communication problems “actually occur in bird species in the wild and whether it matters to them.” Pandit is now trying to answer that question by analyzing recordings of bird songs collected in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. By comparing these acoustic data with climate predictions, the research team hopes to learn how drier conditions in the future could threaten prairie chirps and cheeps.

They’re coming up with doomy prognostications and they have zero idea if it is actually happen for real? And they call this science? It’s a cult.

Read: Your Fault: Prairie Birds Chirping Could Get Quieter From Hotcoldwetdry »

If All You See…

…is a tree killed by too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Common Cents Blog, with a post on Kari Lake bringing receipts on Democrats denying elections.

Read: If All You See… »

Index Of U.S. Military Strength Rates Military As Weak

This is the result of eight years of Obama and a year and a half of Biden. And, even Trump was only able to do so much with all the Woke lunatics involved at high levels of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The only one that’s not a poop-show, yet, is the Marines

US military rated as ‘weak,’ may not be able to win one war, as tensions grow with China, Russia

The US military may not be able to win one war — let alone two — as the Pentagon struggles to keep its forces equipped against potential threats from China and Russia, according a new report on American military strength.

Years of underfunding and “poorly defined priorities” has led the military to become “weak relative to the force needed to defend national interests on the global stage,” the conservative Heritage Foundation said in its annual “Index of U.S. Military Strength.”

“[T]he current U.S. military force is at significant risk of not being able to meet the demands of a single major regional conflict,” the report said. “The force would probably not be able to do more and is certainly ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous [major conflicts.]”

At the same time, the possibility of two-front fighting has increased as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine and China grows increasingly aggressive in the Pacific, according to the report.

“In the aggregate, the United States’ military posture can only be rated as ‘weak,’” the report said.

Caring more about things like teaching CRT, allowing the gender confused in the military, reducing standards, worrying about ‘climate change’, and driving away the manly men who used to make up the backbone of the fighting force has not gone well

Across the services, the report rated only the Marine Corps as “strong” in the think tank’s assessment of force capacity, capability and readiness. While the Army achieved a “marginal” rating, the Space Force and Navy were labeled “weak” and the Air Force bottomed out at “very weak.”

Wonderful. But, hey, our nuclear forces are still rated as strong, so, that’s a good thing, right? The Army, Navy, and Air Force are having a lot of trouble with recruitment. The Marines, not as much. I wonder why?

(Deseret News) While none of the military spokespeople mentioned politics as a reason for recruitment troubles, influential conservatives have said they are frustrated with the military over a perceived turn toward “wokeness.”

In an email to Deseret News, conservative writer Rod Dreher said military policies on racial and LGBTQ issues reflect “radical leftism,” and that military leaders are no different than other “American elites.”

“One senior officer who has left the military told me that within the ranks, there is a sense that politicians are using the forces to carry out political and cultural agendas. There is a sense, I’m told, that the armed forces are the playthings of politicians, and that policies can change with each passing administration. There is no stability there,” he said.

Dreher said he has spoken to many friends who have left the military because of politics.

“I spoke only last week to an old friend who was a high-ranking officer, and who took early retirement. Why? Because, he said, the officer corps has become highly politicized, and to the left. He said he feels he can no longer be effective as a leader,” Dreher said. “And, he said, the politicization is harming readiness.”

Not mentioned that often is retention, which is also taking a big hit among those who’ve served for years, who’ve had a lot invested in their training, so, essentially a “brain drain”.

(13 News Now) Among the cited reasons are the pandemic, the economy, and the strenuous requirements for recruits to get into the Army in the first place.

“Currently, only 23 percent of 17 to 24-year-old Americans are fully qualified to serve,” said Lieutenant General Douglas Stitt, Army Deputy Chief of Staff.

He added: “The top disqualifiers for service are obesity, addition, conduct, test scores, medical and behavioral health conditions.”

And that’s what you get when too many leftists are trying to join: they don’t qualify.

Army’s Misplaced Priorities : Recruitment Shortfall vs. Climate Change

The Army’s plan, among other things, contains the requirement to modify unit designs to account for soldiers and civilians that hold “approved climate credentials.”

There is direction to incorporate climate change into “strategic and operational-level wargame and exercise designs.” And the most damning of all is a requirement to “ … produce a digital handbook of potential unit-level collective training modifications that would reduce direct Army [greenhouse gas] emissions.”

Reading between the lines, the Army is considering modifying its unit training programs to reduce greenhouse gases.

It’s a very long article, but, the end result is that the Army (the Army National Guard and Army Reserve are also having problems) is short of it’s manpower goal, is having trouble recruiting, and having trouble retaining, as the focus on things that do not help the mission, and drive away the people who make up the backbone of the fighting force.

Read: Index Of U.S. Military Strength Rates Military As Weak »

Bummer: 2020 PRC Wildfires Ruined Their Climate Apocalypse Actions

Well, this is a bummer. Because the People’s Republik Of California and it’s citizens have been utterly irresponsible in managing their forests and not setting fires, things are doomy

2020 wildfire season in California wiped away 16 years of climate gains

The wildfires that have scorched the West in recent years are not just a consequence of climate change, they also are an increasingly sizable driver of the problem, according to a new study.

The research paper, published Monday in the journal Environmental Pollution, finds that California’s wildfires in 2020 caused twice the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the state successfully cut between 2003 and 2019. In other words, 2020’s wildfire season, which set a record for the number of acres burned in the state, essentially wiped out 16 years of progress California had made on climate change through efforts such as replacing fossil fuels with clean energy.

Well, except for the Elites of the PRC, including folks like Gavin Newsom and his fossil fueled vacation, who drive in their big limos/SUVs, take lots of private fossil fueled flights, and live in giant mansions.

Since wood is full of stored carbon dioxide — the most prevalent greenhouse gas — it is emitted when the wood burns. As average temperatures have grown warmer, California and other Western states have experienced more heat waves and droughts, which are risk factors for wildfires. Currently, a 22-year megadrought is parching the West, forcing water authorities in parts of California to institute water usage limits for residents. The state is also experiencing intensified heat waves.

Consequently, wildfires have become more prevalent. Eighteen of the 20 largest wildfires in California’s history have occurred since 2000. The eight largest have all been since 2017, five of them in 2020 alone. The biggest fire in state history, the August Complex Fire in 2020, burned more than 1 million acres of land.

The West tends to be dry, and historical data shows that there have been points during previous Holocene warm periods of prolonged drought and wildfires. Nowadays, the eco-loons make sure that brush and dead wood cannot be cleared, sue over fire-breaks, and sue over modernization of things like transmission lines. Pretty much every wildfire can be traced back to incompetence, often with electric infrastructure, mistakes with camping fires, and straight up arson.

Now, we also know how much emissions were created by all that burning wood, and they accounted for 30% of California’s total emissions, making wildfires the second-largest source of emissions in the state, after transportation.

Well, looks like the big wigs in the PRC need to start restricting the peons from taking fossil fueled travel, require turning the heat down and the AC up, limiting their use of appliances. Just to be sure.

Read: Bummer: 2020 PRC Wildfires Ruined Their Climate Apocalypse Actions »

CDC Potentially Looking To Require Kids To Have COVID Vaccine To Attend School

I wish this was just some conspiracy theory

From the link

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting on October 19-20, 2022, will vote on adding COVID-19 shots to the schedule of childhood vaccines required of students in order to attend school.  This meeting will also discuss the COVID-19 “vaccine” safety and effectiveness in pregnant women and infants 6 months old and older.  This meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed here.  We need YOU to stop this approval!

COVID vaccines have been administered to millions of people worldwide on the premise that they were safe and effective.  There was no clinical data to support these claims.  Overwhelming evidence shows that these vaccines are neither safe nor effective in almost every age group and particularly in children and persons under 60 years.  Please read the facts below for details and to easily help you take action.

Regardless of what you think of the vaccines, at best they’ll keep you from getting a bad case of Wuhan Flu. They really act like a flu shot: you can still get the flu, will usually just be mild. If it actually gets bad this Fall/Winter, I may get one, just to avoid getting really sick. I’ll mostly do my usual (wash my hands, avoid handshakes, and keep my distance). There is a hell of  difference between the COVID vaccines and the ones already required for school kids: those ones stop things like polio, measles, mumps, tetanus, and others. You have a 1% chance or less of getting polio with 3 shots. A 4th shot makes it almost impossible to get (you might want to get a booster later in life). COVID shots do not do this, not even close.

And, it is not a conspiracy. Here’s the official CDC webpage

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces the following meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). This meeting is open to the public. Time will be available for public comment.

The meeting will be held on October 19, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., EDT and October 20, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., EDT (dates and times subject to change, see the ACIP website for updates http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/index.html ). The meeting will be webcast live via the World Wide Web. Written comments must be received on or before October 20, 2022. (snip)

Matters To Be Considered: The agenda will include discussions on influenza vaccines, pneumococcal vaccine, meningococcal vaccines, respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, dengue vaccines, adult immunization schedule, child/adolescent immunization schedule, COVID-19 vaccines and Chikungunya vaccine. Recommendation votes on pneumococcal, adult immunization schedule, child/adolescent immunization schedule and COVID-19 vaccines are scheduled. A Vaccines for Children (VFC) vote on COVID-19 vaccine is scheduled. Agenda items are subject to change as priorities dictate. For more information on the meeting agenda visit https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/meetings-info.html .

Now, even if they approve adding Chinese coronavirus vaccines to the recommended list, it doesn’t mean states will require them. The CDC has no authority to require any of them. You can be Blue states will require them, and, despite a year and a half of having them, they are still experimental. Just say no to requiring them for kids.

Read: CDC Potentially Looking To Require Kids To Have COVID Vaccine To Attend School »

NJ Sues Fossil Fuels Companies Over ‘Climate Change’

Alternate headline: State Which Was Built On Fossil Fuels And Can’t Survive Without Them Looks To Shakedown Oil Companies

N.J. sues Exxon, Chevron over damages related to climate change

st greta carDecades-long deception by ExxonMobil, Chevron and other fossil fuel companies has exacerbated climate change and forced the state of New Jersey to pay billions of dollars to clean up after deadly disasters such as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Ida, according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The complaint filed in state court makes New Jersey the latest state or municipality to target major oil companies in an attempt to force them to help pay for the damages incurred by the severe weather made worse by climate change.

Dozens of similar suits have been filed across the country in recent years claiming the companies knew for decades about the dangers of burning oil and gas, but instead engaged in deceptive campaigns to sustain the market for fossil fuels.

New Jersey alleges that a deceptive campaign has had particularly severe impacts for the Garden State. It paid billions to clean up after Superstorm Sandy and to fortify its shores from future storms. Thirty residents died when climate-exacerbated Hurricane Ida swept through in 2021 and poorer communities with large populations such as Newark and Atlantic City are at direct risk of flooding, the suit said.

Sandy was not caused by fossil fuels, nor was Ida. Do we want to blame the huge winter storms last year on your use of fossil fuels? Fossil fuels sure were helpful in cleaning up after the storms. Really, NJ won’t survive without fossil fuels. All the airports, the commuting, the travel to places like the Jersey Shore, Atlantic City, all the fishing ships, watercraft for fun. And all the ships bringing goods into the state and shipping them out. NJ is a central travel point for so much requiring fossil fueled vehicles and big rigs. Not too mention all the refineries in the Newark area.

Will NJ’s AG Matthew J. Platkin be giving up his own fossil fueled travel? How about the governor? And all the people in the AG’s office? Of course not. This is a shakedown, and, so far, most of the fossil fueled companies have refused to play ball. Platkin will have to prove it in court, which will be rather difficult. And, let’s just say the state wins: what happens next? Well, the companies will pull their operations from the state. And you know who suffers? The working and middle class folks. And what’s left will be very expensive.

Read: NJ Sues Fossil Fuels Companies Over ‘Climate Change’ »

If All You See…

…is the need to live in the mountains to escape fossil fuels driven sea rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is American Greatness, with a post on a Christian teacher fired for refusing to read hyper-sexual LGBT books to young children.

Read: If All You See… »

Bidenconomy: Halloween Candy And Ice Cream Prices Spike 13%

Well, you know, candy is bad for the planet because obesity is bad for ‘climate change’, and being overweight puts a strain on the health system, but, of course, that’s body shaming

Inflation Causes Halloween Candy Prices to Soar 13.1 Percent

Handing out Halloween treats is going to be trickier this year.

The cost of candy and chewing gum soared 13.1 percent compared with a year earlier in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the highest increase ever recorded.

The surge in candy prices is being driven by rising costs of ingredients, such as sugar and flour. Sugar is 17 percent higher than last year, and flour increased even more, to 24 percent higher. Cakes, cupcakes, and cookies are also up by 16 percent.

According to Bloomberg, a drought in the northern states affecting beet-sugar crops has contributed to the increase in production costs for sugar this year.

Supply chain woes from the pandemic and Ukraine were also noted to be contributing to a shortage of essential ingredients for chocolate, such as cocoa, which recently prompted the CEO of Hershey to announce that company is anticipating a candy shortage this year.

In fairness, it’s not all Biden’s fault. It goes back to China screwing around with coronaviruses, but, Biden has done little to help alleviate the price spikes. Nor have Democrats. Most of them just don’t care.

I’ve mentioned it sometime in the past that a carton of Blue Bell ice cream used to be $5.99 at my Walmart, and now it’s $7.99. Breyers has gone up, as has Turkey Hill.

Read: Bidenconomy: Halloween Candy And Ice Cream Prices Spike 13% »

Brandon Admin Warns About Higher Energy Prices This Winter

The administration failed to mention that much of that cost is due to their own policies

US government says all Americans will pay much more for natural gas this winter

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released data on projected energy costs, indicating that Americans can expect to pay higher fees for natural gas for the upcoming winter.

The EIA said it forecasted that U.S. households that primarily use natural gas for heating will spend an average of $931 on heating this winter – a whopping 28%, or $206, more than last year.

Nearly half of all U.S. homes rely on natural gas as the primary heating fuel, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.

The expected increase in natural gas bills, according to the EIA, is due to higher retail natural gas prices. The agency said it expected retail natural gas prices to rise 22%, from $13.02 per thousand cubic feet (McF) last winter, to $15.95/McF this winter.

It’s not like the Brandon admin hasn’t worked hard to cause the price of natural gas to spike or anything, right? But, see, the climate cultists want the high prices to happen

(Energy News Network) With natural gas prices climbing, clean energy advocates say regulators need to reconsider a Nixon-era practice that lets utilities pass along fuel costs to customers with little regulatory oversight.

Since the early 1970s, ratepayers have typically been the ones to pay — or benefit from — fluctuations in power plant fuel prices, which often show up on customers’ bills on a separate line called a fuel adjustment clause. It has been a good arrangement for customers for much of this century as the fracking revolution drove down natural gas prices and replaced more expensive coal.

Clean energy advocates say the passthrough nature of fuel costs means utilities have little motivation to change their generation mix in response to rising prices. As a result, critics say there’s less incentive for utilities to seek lower-cost alternatives to natural gas and coal such as wind and solar.

Except, they aren’t lower cost, they aren’t reliable, and aren’t dependable. But, if natural gas continues to spike in price, the climate cult can make solar and wind look better. Of course, it won’t work in the parts of the country that get really cold. Those people can just suffer for the beliefs of the climate cult, who tend not to live in those really cold areas.

(Real Clear Energy) But voters see and feel the downsides of Biden’s war on fossil fuels: the high costs of gasoline, electricity, and other utilities, which in turn increase the costs of food, rent, and consumer goods. Those effects, moreover, coincide with high general inflation, a cratering stock market, and negative GDP growth in two consecutive quarters. Biden tries to blame Vladimir Putin and Big Oil for America’s energy woes. That is nonsense, and the public isn’t buying it.

The Elites do not care.

Read: Brandon Admin Warns About Higher Energy Prices This Winter »

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