US, Allies Upset Germany Blocking Tanks To Ukraine

By William Teach January 20, 2023 – 7:00 am

They’re still trying to get us into WWIII

U.S., allies ramp up pressure on Germany to send tanks to Ukraine

A group of European nations is working to form a coalition to pressure Berlin to allow them to send their German-made tanks to Ukraine, as frustration mounts over Berlin’s insistence that the U.S. donate their tanks first.

The group, which will likely be led by Poland, could take its first steps at a Friday meeting of 50 nations committed to helping Ukraine in Ramstein, Germany, during a regular gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The move is part of a new multi-front campaign by U.S. and Western allies to persuade German leaders to change their minds on the tank issue.

Twelve countries operate Leopard tanks, and many have said they want to donate them to Ukraine ahead of an expected spring offensive. But due to expert rules, they need Germany’s permission before they can transfer the vehicles.

A statement signed by nine NATO allies and released on Thursday said “Poland is ready to donate a company of Leopard 2 tanks with 1000 pieces of ammunition. Pending this, a wider coalition of Leopard 2 tanks donors will be established.”

Here’s the question: how does Russia react to NATO nations sending at least 14 Leopard tanks (supposedly Leopard 2’s, which are designed specifically to defeat Russian armor)? We keep being told that Putin is unstable. How well does this work out? Especially if Biden gives Ukraine main battle tanks?

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, meanwhile, is working to meet with as many of those nations as possible at Ramstein on Friday, one person with knowledge of the plan said. This person, like others who were interviewed for this story, asked not to be named in order to speak candidly about internal deliberations.

On Thursday, Reznikov tweeted a plea to those countries to join an international “tank coalition in support of” Ukraine.

This has been going on for almost a year, Russia is not really paying a price economically, and the war machine keeps marching on.

The war is entering a new phase, Kahl said, noting that the Russians are digging trenches, laying mines and fortifying their front lines. To break through these defenses, Ukrainian forces will need to attack enemy units in a deliberate way, using a combination of artillery, tanks, armored vehicles and infantry.

That’s why the U.S. is now sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which are tracked armored vehicles armed with TOW missiles and a 25mm cannon. And the Pentagon is looking at other capabilities that will help in the coming fight, Kahl said.

Digging us deeper and deeper.

Read: US, Allies Upset Germany Blocking Tanks To Ukraine »

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Brandon Admin Trots Out Program Where Citizens Can Sponsor Refugees

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 8:25 pm

Funny, the Biden admin is fine with letting enormous amounts of illegals and “asylum” seekers into the nation, but, with (possibly) real refugees, they want sponsors. How about asking members of Congress, their staffs, and high ranking members of the Executive Branch to be the first ones to sponsor them?

New program lets private citizens sponsor refugees in US

Everyday Americans will be able to help refugees adjust to life in the U.S. in a program being launched by the State Department as a way to give private citizens a role in resettling the thousands of refugees who arrive every year.

The State Department plans to announce the program, dubbed the Welcome Corps, on Thursday. The agency aims to line up 10,000 Americans who can help 5,000 refugees during the first year of the program.

“By tapping into the goodwill of American communities, the Welcome Corps will expand our country’s capacity to provide a warm welcome to higher numbers of refugees,” according to the announcement.

The State Department has traditionally worked with nonprofit groups that specialize in refugee issues to help people from around the world when they first arrive in the country and face a dramatically different way of life. Under the program being announced Thursday, five or more Americans would be able to form a group and fill this role as well.

They would apply to privately sponsor refugees to resettle in America, and would be responsible for raising their own money to help the refugees during their first 90 days in the country. Assistance would include everything from finding a place to live to getting kids enrolled in school.

Interesting. The federal government will let them in and then require private citizens to support them? Well, Congress members make some good money, right? They all surely have a spare bedroom, right?

A consortium of nonprofits with expertise in refugee resettlement will help oversee the vetting and certification of people and groups who want to be private sponsors. They’ll also offer training so private sponsors understand what’s needed to help refugees adjusting to life in America. The consortium will be responsible for monitoring the program.

Double interesting. These people will be vetted, unlike the millions showing up at the border and being let in. I’m sure Biden will get his base to put their money where their mouths are, but, will the rich supporters get involved?

Read: Brandon Admin Trots Out Program Where Citizens Can Sponsor Refugees »

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Bummer: California Floods Not Your Fault

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 3:16 pm

First up, though, it looks like the Californian Permanent Drought could be megaflood

California megafloods could be on the horizon because of climate change
With the parade of storms behind us, forecasters are looking ahead to what’s lurking sometime in our future. Darren Peck reports.

It’s simply a cult fearmongering video from CBS News. Hey, remember when the Australian Permanent Drought because Other People drove fossil fueled vehicles became all sorts of rain? Anyhow, the LA Times pours cold water (sic) on the climate doom notion

For all their ferocity, California storms were not likely caused by global warming, experts say

As California emerges from a two-week bout of deadly atmospheric rivers, a number of climate researchers say the recent storms appear to be typical of the intense, periodic rains the state has experienced throughout its history and not the result of global warming.

Although scientists are still studying the size and severity of storms that killed 19 people and caused up to $1 billion in damage, initial assessments suggest the destruction had more to do with California’s historic drought-to-deluge cycles, mountainous topography and aging flood infrastructure than it did with climate-altering greenhouse gasses.

Although the media and some officials were quick to link a series of powerful storms to climate change, researchers interviewed by The Times said they had yet to see evidence of that connection. Instead, the unexpected onslaught of rain and snow after three years of punishing drought appears akin to other major storms that have struck California every decade or more since experts began keeping records in the 1800s.

Well, now, that’s a bummer.

Mike Anderson, official state climatologist for California, suggested that the recent series of atmospheric rivers — long plumes of vapor that can pour over the West Coast — was a grim reminder that in a place so dry, sudden flooding can bring catastrophe.

“Each of the recent atmospheric rivers were within the historical distribution of sizes of atmospheric rivers,” Anderson said, “It will take further study to determine how warming temperatures influenced the sequence or the sudden transition from dry to wet and soon back to dry.”

Do warming temperatures play a part? Possibly. That doesn’t mean it has anthropogenic causation, other than things like land use.

(Enterprise-Record) I’m delighted that weatherman Anthony Watts has spot-lighted California’s “Great Flood” of 1861/62, because so few Californians know about it.  I taught about it in an OLLI class I called “Megageology.”

That winter, an atmospheric river brought 43 days of rain, killing thousands of people, drowning 1/4 of all livestock, destroying virtually all bridges and roads, and placing Sacramento under 10 feet of water for six months. The capital was moved to San Francisco, the state was bankrupted, and government workers received no pay for nearly a year! Much of our Central Valley became a lake — 300 miles long; up to 40 miles wide.

Geologists have drilled/core-sampled San Francisco Bay, plus lake and marsh sediments throughout California, to positively identify the stream gravels deposited by the 1861/62 flood.  Drilling deeper, they discovered that similar and even more devastating flooding occurred here in AD212, 440, 603, 1029, 1418, and 1605 — roughly every 200 years.

It’s not unusual, due to the location, for the People’s Republik Of California to go through drought then flood. However, if Warmists are so concerned then they should all give up their own use of fossil fuels, go vegan, move into tiny homes, and live like it’s 1499.

Read: Bummer: California Floods Not Your Fault »

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil pool off of an evil golf course, causing temperatures to spike, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Flopping Aces, with a post on Merrick Garland approving Biden’s lawyers sanitizing his homes

Read: If All You See… »

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Lockdown Queen Jacinda Ardern To Resign

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 10:30 am

While many are spinning this as having been from a nasty slip of the tongue, “calling opposition leader David Seymour an “arrogant p—-“” on hotmike, really, it’s that the citizens of New Zealand lost all faith and trust in her

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigns a month after hot mic insult

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that she would not seek re-election and will be stepping down next month.

Ahearn made the shocking announcement at her Labor party’s annual caucus meeting, saying she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job.

“I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility,” she said. “The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”

Her resignation takes effect Feb. 7.

Ardern became prime minister in 2017 and led New Zealand through a period of major incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic and an attack on two mosques in Christchurch in which 51 people were killed. During the pandemic, she imposed some of the strictest lockdown rules in the world.

In August 2021, the country was put on lockdown for at least three days after a single case of the coronavirus was found in one community.

New Zealand was one of the worst in the world for their Wuhan Flu lockdown measures, and her party is paying the price for it, trailing badly in the polls, especially with their economy in the dumps.

(UK Daily Mail) New Zealand’s borders closed on March 20, 2020, and returning citizens had to endure two weeks of hotel quarantine.

A nationwide lockdown began on March 26 and lasted until May 27, so strict that Kiwis couldn’t even buy takeaway food like they could in Australia and other countries in lockdown.

More lockdowns followed in specific regions over the next year including two lasting several weeks across Auckland, NZ’s biggest city.

She and her party won in 2020 and 2021, but, the citizens became tired of this, along with the mask and vaccine mandates. Even The NY Times has noticed

The pandemic in particular seemed to play to her strengths as a clear and unifying communicator — until extended lockdowns and vaccine mandates hurt the economy, fueled conspiracy theories and spurred a backlash. In a part of the world where Covid restrictions lingered, Ms. Ardern has struggled to get beyond her association with pandemic policy.

“People personally invested in her, that has alway been a part of her appeal,” said Richard Shaw, a politics professor at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

“She became a totem,” he added. “She became the personification of a particular response to the pandemic, which people in the far-flung margins of the internet and the not so far-flung margins used against her.”

When new, more transmissible variants made that impossible, Ms. Ardern’s team pivoted but struggled to get vaccines quickly. Strict vaccination mandates then kept people from activities like work, eating out and getting haircuts.

The question now is, do other leaders and parties pay the price? Australia and Canada would be two to consider. None here in the states seem to be paying the price, because there is just too much partisanship. Hey, the wackos re-elected Gretchen Whitmer, who was one of the worst in the U.S.

Read: Lockdown Queen Jacinda Ardern To Resign »

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Warmists Looking To Replace Agricultural Fields With Solar Panels

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 7:00 am

They’re not really considering that while some farms might be having issues now, the climate of California flips back and forth

Want to solve climate change? This California farm kingdom holds a key

climate cowThe barren dirt is littered with petrified carrots, blackened and barely recognizable after four years baking in the Imperial Valley’s legendary heat. The August sun is starting to set, but it’s still 113 degrees in California’s hottest, driest county.

Ralph Strahm tried his best to make money off this ground. In addition to carrots, the soft-spoken 66-year-old grew alfalfa and Sudan grass, using Colorado River water that originated as Rocky Mountain snowpack hundreds of miles away.

But the sandy, gravelly soil refused to cooperate. The economics were no good.

So the third-generation Imperial Valley farmer decided to sell — to a solar energy developer.

By year’s end, a field of solar panels should cover this land, sending clean electricity to San Diego. A giant battery will help the coastal city keep the lights on after dark. None of the infrastructure will destroy pristine wildlife habitat.

Of course, if you’re trying to grow food in an area that tends to be hot and dry, that could be a problem

Clean energy advocates see Imperial as an ideal place for solar farms and battery projects that can help solve the American West’s energy and water crises. The land is flat; the sunlight, abundant. The Colorado River desperately needs relief. And Imperial is one of California’s poorest counties, its agriculture-heavy economy practically crying out for diversification and higher-paying jobs.

This area is still extremely productive for foods like lettuce. How soon till the solar companies, and government, are trying to force the farmers out?

Speaking of farming

French Dairy Giant Considers Cow Masking to Tackle Methane Emissions

French dairy giant Danone said Tuesday it wants to slash methane emissions by 30 percent within seven years, pointing to the way the cows it uses are raised, handled, and milked as ripe for change.

AFP reports Danone said it would seek the cuts by 2030 using cow breeds that emit less methane, improving cow diets, prolonging their milking periods and capturing emissions from manure to be used for biogas, for example.

The company is also looking at innovative solutions to help reduce emissions including a cow mask that can trap burp gases, the report continues.

Sigh. Crazy people.

Read: Warmists Looking To Replace Agricultural Fields With Solar Panels »

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Brandon Admin Argues For Forced Masking On Airplanes

By William Teach January 19, 2023 – 6:45 am

I’m confused: mask mandates on airplanes in the U.S. are long gone, and even longer in other countries. So, what the heck is Biden trying to do?

DOJ defending mask mandate on planes months after Biden said pandemic is ‘over’

The Biden administration is fighting to maintain a federal mask mandate for air travel and other methods of transportation even after President Biden said months ago the pandemic is “over,” and despite calls from travel associations to end mask mandates.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on Tuesday from the Biden Justice Department on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to reinstate a mask mandate for air travel, after a federal judge in Florida struck down the mandate last April.

“The Department continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health. That is an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve,” DOJ said in a statement at the time of the ruling.

The legal fight comes almost six months after the president declared that the pandemic was “over” in a television interview. (snip)

“The Biden administration is trying to paper over an illegal, sweeping mandate on Americans that is full of massive legal and scientific holes,” HFDF founder and President Leslie Manookian said in a press statement. “That a federal agency should be able to just usurp the power of Congress, and violate fundamental individual rights is not only at odds with the law – it defies basic common sense.”

Is the Brandon admin trying to have the power to reinstate mask mandates on airplanes (and trains and buses) right now, or simply trying to keep the power for the future?

Meanwhile, the Credentialed Media is Very Upset over Ron DeSantis trying to kill mandates

DeSantis calls for permanent ban on COVID mask and vaccine mandates. Here’s what that means

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he wants to permanently ban all mandates related to COVID-19.

In a press release, DeSantis, a Republican, said he is proposing legislation that will prevent employment decisions based on COVID-19 vaccination status and prevent schools or businesses from requiring face coverings.

The legislation would specifically prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports in Florida; prohibit vaccine and mask requirements in Florida schools; prohibit masking requirements by businesses; and prohibit employees from being hired or fired based on whether or not they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

This makes the Covid Cult really upset.

Read: Brandon Admin Argues For Forced Masking On Airplanes »

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Wackadoodle Extinction Rebellion Nuts Dance And Wacko, After Saying They’d Take A Break

By William Teach January 18, 2023 – 3:00 pm

This was just at the beginning of January

UK climate group calls temporary halt to disruptive protests

The U.K. division of climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion says its activists would temporarily stop blocking busy roads, gluing themselves to buildings and engaging in other acts of civil disobedience because such methods have not achieved their desired effects.

And now

(UK Daily Mail) Extinction Rebellion activists let off smoke flares and poured black paint outside the Home Office today in the eco-mob’s latest stunt.

The group of around 10 eco-zealots was surrounded by police as they held placards and lay on the ground next to the building in London. Two men were arrested.

Protesters poured the black paint out of plastic buckets which had ‘end coal’ written on the side, while two of the activists appeared to have attached themselves together with a large tube.

Met Police were called to the Home Office at around 11am to disperse the group, arresting two men on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

The two demonstrators on the ground set off flares and shouted as they sat next to the Home Office entrance.

Other protestors at the demonstration were dressed as yellow birds, while one man was dressed as a skeleton.

Who’s surprised that the pledge to not be nuts didn’t last?

Read: Wackadoodle Extinction Rebellion Nuts Dance And Wacko, After Saying They’d Take A Break »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach January 18, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is a bird whose descendants will be either bigger or smaller due to ‘climate change’, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Climate Depot, with a post on the Scottish government looking to cut down the vehicle travel by the peasants.

BTW, are things a bit more stable? I deactivated a plugin that tracks how much ram is used by plugins, because I see its name come up sometimes as an error instead of the Cloudfare notice.

Read: If All You See… »

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Hot Takes: Biden Could Declassify, His House Wasn’t An Official Residence

By William Teach January 18, 2023 – 10:30 am

The Credentialed News is working overtime to protect Brandon…well, when they actually have an article about what’s going on with the document issue. There are zero web front page pieces, even in opinion, on the documents issue. Nor at the Washington Post, for which the current POTUS’ name is mentioned zero times. Nor at the LA Times

Fact check: Biden did have the authority to declassify documents as vice president

The claim: Biden did not have the authority to declassify documents as vice president

A Jan. 12 Instagram reel (direct link, archived link) shows a clip of President Joe Biden answering a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy about a batch of classified documents that were found at Biden’s home.

“This Clown show is going to need a bigger tent,” reads the post’s caption. “Biden did NOT have the authority to declassify documents that were classified in his position of Vice President during the Obama administration. Only the President can declassify, classified documents, not the Vice President. So why were these documents in his possession?”

The USA Today rates this as false, because

Legal experts told USA TODAY that Biden had the authority to declassify documents as vice president as the result of a 2009 executive order signed by President Barack Obama. (snip)

McClanahan, who also teaches at the George Washington University Law School, said that under a 2009 executive order signed by Obama, the vice president is included in a list of “original classification authorities,” meaning Biden had the power declassify anything he classified.

The Washington Post also reported vice presidents have the authority to declassify anything they classified. The New York Times similarly reported that the vice president has the power to declassify, while noting the scope of that authority “has never been definitively tested.”

Both the Times and Washington Post (which is a “fact check” by so often wrong and utterly biased Glenn Kessler) are using the same rational. But, consider, it was an executive order, not by law. So there’s challenge there. Further, the VP can only declassify what he classified in the first place. We know nothing of these documents found in all sorts of places. Were they ones Biden classified first? Were the appropriate federal agencies, including the National Archives, informed? Where is the paper trail of this being done? None of these pieces ask that relevant question.

There’s a simple reason Biden didn’t keep visitor logs at the Delaware home where he held classified documents — it’s not an official residence

The White House has said there are no visitor logs at Joe Biden’s Delaware home, after Republicans demanded to see them.

It came after Republicans pressed for more information after learning that classified files dating from Biden’s time as vice president were being wrongly kept there.

However — per the White House, no president in recent history has logged who comes and goes from their private home. Those records are only kept for official locations like the White House.

This, though, is true. There are most likely Secret Service logs, but, they are private. Except, the uber-leftist group CREW sued to get the visitor logs from Mar-A-Lago, and a judge required that they be released for a time period.

The Secret Service also says that it doesn’t keep visitor logs at Biden’s personal residences, and that it does not keep permanent records of visitors to his properties it screens, NBC News said. 

So, it probably notes who’s coming and going, then purges that data when they deem it no longer necessary at private residences. That said, since Biden is probably doing absolutely nothing but resting and taking his medications when he travels to one of his Delaware houses, there are probably no visitors.

Read: Hot Takes: Biden Could Declassify, His House Wasn’t An Official Residence »

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