Surprise: EV Batteries Can Be Pretty Darned Dangerous

By William Teach September 30, 2022 – 7:15 am

This is nothing new, but, it is going to get worse with so many more hybrids and EVs on the road daily. Talk to fire fighters and you’ll learn they have special protocols for dealing with these vehicles, because of the dangers of fire when in an accident. They’ve told me the dispatchers are tasked with asking what kind of vehicle is involved with the accident, as they’ll respond differently. And, of course, batteries can just combust

The Science of Why Electric Vehicle Batteries Are So Dangerous

Electric vehicleIn a recent op-ed, the Washington Post outlines how Tesla’s battery issues and fires may not just be due to poor design and manufacturing but a side effect of electric vehicles relying on lithium-ion batteries.

The Washington Post reports in an op-ed titled “Tesla’s Big Batteries Aren’t the Fire Problem. Lithium Is,” that Americans should be questionubg whether lithium-ion powerpacks should be used for applications such as electric vehicles. The piece argues that the science of lithium-ion batteries make them inherently dangerous.

The Washington Post writes:

The large-scale use comes with significant risks, although most modern power systems choose this formulation because it boasts higher energy density, as well as greater charging and discharging efficiency. However, lithium-ion batteries have a volatile, flammable electrolyte. So, while there are safeguards to avoid fires, all the combustible ingredients are still there. Flames can accelerate through chain reactions, known as thermal runaway.

Big batteries are made up of several cells packed together. Current is constantly flowing inside, which generates heat. If there are no barriers between the components, a failure in one part quickly cascades through. While elaborate (and critical) equipment for cooling the system is put in place, it draws on the energy of the actual powerpack and reduces its output. In addition, when charged, a coat of lithium metal can form on the surface and dendrites, or needle-like structures can grow, and lead to short-circuits.

Both the Washington Post piece and the Breitbart piece spend a bit talking about how dangerous the batteries are, and, quite frankly, it might be a bit overblown. Lithiums have been around for quite some time now, and, while we hear about real issues with cellphone and vape batteries here and there, with them banned from being in checked airplane baggage, it’s still rare. But, with more EVs, and mass production, could it be worse?

The Washington Post piece, which looks like it originally came from Bloomberg, does actually make recommendations on replacement technology, but, here’s the thing: none of them are truly viable at this time. And this will be used by the climate cultists to recommend that citizens be stopped from having EVs and just take mass transit, bike, or walk. That’s what they do.

Read: Surprise: EV Batteries Can Be Pretty Darned Dangerous »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Brandonconomy: Mortgage Interest Rates Jump To 6.7%

By William Teach September 30, 2022 – 7:00 am

No worries: Biden is sure to get on that when he surely heads to Delaware this weekend for a well deserved weekend off after doing little during the week

Mortgage Rates Surge to 6.7% — More than Double Since Last Year

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate surged to 6.7 percent on Thursday, more than double what it was a year ago.

According to data from Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped by 0.41 percent from a week ago. A year ago, the rate was at 3.01 percent. It is also the highest it has been since July 2007, when the subprime mortgage crisis was in its early stages.

While the federal reserve recently hiked interest rates between three and 3.25 percent, the highest since 2008, the mortgage rate is not directly tied to the Fed but rather the ten-year U.S. Treasury bond yield. (snip)

According to Bankrate.com, if an individual were to purchase a $500,000 home with a 20 percent downpayment today, they would expect to pay approximately $259,000 in interest over 30 years. However, if they purchased a home for the same price and down payment when President Joe Biden was inaugurated in January 2021, they would only be paying $189,400 in interest over 30 years.

In fairness, we can still look to China as the main responsible party for screwing the U.S. and the world with COVID-19. But, everything Biden and the Democrats have done has made things oh so much worse.

He’s pretty lost on the economy, too.

Read: Brandonconomy: Mortgage Interest Rates Jump To 6.7% »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Butthurt Open Border Massachusetts Liberals Want Mayor Pete To Investigate The Flight To Martha’s Vineyard

By William Teach September 29, 2022 – 3:02 pm

If they were smart, they’d let this drop, so as to not appear totally hypocritical over DeSantis sending illegals to the high-toned and fancy to-do island of Martha’s’ Vineyard, where they were quickly shipped off. And give DeSantis another reason to send more

Massachusetts lawmakers ask Buttigieg to investigate DeSantis migrant flights

Massachusetts lawmakers are asking Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to investigate whether the migrant charter flights organized by GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis broke the department’s rules by allegedly misleading those on board.

Sen. Ed Markey, in a letter to Buttigieg signed by five other members of the all-Democratic Massachusetts delegation and shared first with POLITICO, invoked a charter-broker rule issued during the Trump administration that prohibits charter operators from “misrepresenting” information like the “time of departure or arrival, points served, route to be flown, stops to be made, or total trip-time.”

Markey cites the federal class action lawsuit a civil rights firm filed on behalf of the migrants last week that accused DeSantis and Florida transportation officials of coercing migrants onto planes from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard through “false promises and misrepresentations” of where they were going and what was waiting for them on the other end of the flight.

Markey and Reps. Lori Trahan, Seth Moulton, Stephen Lynch, Jake Auchincloss and Bill Keating — who represents Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, where the migrants were voluntarily moved to a military base — argue in their letter that Vertol Systems Company, which signed a contract with the state of Florida to relocate the migrants and then appears to have hired another company to operate the flights, “likely constituted a charter-broker subject to DOT rules in the transaction.”

Did any of these folks offer to house any of the illegals? Did any reporter ask them if they offered? Perhaps Mayor Pete can investigate Biden flying illegals in the middle of the night with no warning to small town America? Oh, wait, he doesn’t actually have the statutory authority to investigate either.

Read: Butthurt Open Border Massachusetts Liberals Want Mayor Pete To Investigate The Flight To Martha’s Vineyard »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach September 29, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible water intensive lawn, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Real Climate Science, with a post on the UK government wanting Africans to eat bugs.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Hurricane Ian Is Climate Crisis (scam) Or Something

By William Teach September 29, 2022 – 10:30 am

Le sigh. I just cannot ignore the climate cult insanity. There are lots of dumb articles, even while the people of Florida are dealing with Ian

Hurricane Ian bears all the hallmarks of climate change

On Wednesday, Hurricane Ian barreled ashore Florida’s Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 4 storm packing 150 mph winds, submerging coastal communities in more than 10 feet of storm surge and dumping nearly two feet of rain in some locations. Two days earlier, however, Ian was just a tropical storm, and its rapid intensification is just one of the signs of how climate change has transformed how hurricanes behave.

Over less than 22 hours, from Monday to Tuesday, Ian got 67% stronger, the National Hurricane Center said. That dramatic escalation fits the pattern of one of the characteristics of hurricanes that scientists have shown is linked to climate change.

In fact, the number of intensifying storms in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific over the last 40 years has increased by 25%, according to data from the NHC analyzed by the Associated Press.

That trend is occurring in part because ocean temperatures have risen as a result of humankind pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Except, the same cult has made all sorts of different prognostications, like, there would be a whole lot more tropical storms and hurricanes, there would be less due to wind sheer from ‘climate change’, and others, all based on what the season had done, not what they predicted. NOAA is forecasted a likely range of 14 to 21 named storms, 6 to 10 could become hurricanes, 3 to 6 major hurricanes this season. The reality? 9 named storms, 4 hurricanes, 2 that achieved major hurricane status. Only 2 affected the U.S. Most fizzled quickly.

What caused

  • 1523 – Two ships and their crews are lost during a hurricane on the west Florida coast.[2]
  • 1553 – A hurricane affects the state, killing fewer than 700 people.[3]
  • Around 1553 – A hurricane hits western Florida, resulting in about 700 casualties.[3] Some modern researchers estimate this is the same storm as the previous event, as some early storms affecting more than one locale may have multiple listings if the storm track is unknown.[1]
  • 1559 – A hurricane off northwestern Florida sinks six Spanish ships.[2]
  • August 20, 1559 – Around 500 people are killed by a hurricane offshore at western Florida.[3]

Did fossil fuels cause that? And there are a lot more. That’s just the start of the list

(WIOD) Since hurricane tracking was first reported in 1851, a total of 36 major hurricanes, cat 3 or above, have made landfall in Florida. That means Florida averages a major hurricane landfall every 4.75 years. In that regard, a cat three hurricane making landfall isn’t at all unusual. And as Ian approaches the state it’s almost as if it’s right on cue. The last major hurricane landfall in Florida was Michael in 2018. But of course, not all major hurricane landfalls are created equal. There’s a huge difference based on geography both in terms of potential impact of the hurricane to size of the population. And that’s where the characterization of a potential 100-year storm may not be off base.

And this doesn’t take into account all those pre-1851 systems, when the population was very low and they weren’t really being measured.

(ABC10) 2. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

According to the Associated Press, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 was a category 5 storm that devastated parts of the Florida Keys. It is believed to have been the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States, based on barometric pressure. AP reports the hurricane killed more than 400 people and became on the 10 deadliest storms in U.S. history.

Click here to read reports from AP first published on Sept. 2, 1935.

Fossil fuels weren’t all that prevalent in 1935, and CO2 was well below the “safe” level of 350ppm. Was that hurricane ‘climate change’? If not, why? The answers will have not actual basis in science. And this all creates a problem, as I’ve written time and again: so many Skeptics agree with many of the end goals, but, we do not agree with the means, and all this cult insanity makes it hard to agree with doing anything. I’ve said I agree with going EV in the future, as fossil fuels are kinda dirty, excluding “carbon pollution.” I do not agree with the government forcing We The People to do this.

And, if fossil fuels are so bad, then why

300K barrels of diesel arriving to help power Puerto Rico after Fiona, Biden admin says

The Biden administration said Wednesday it had granted approval of a limited exemption in federal regulations on cabotage — or the transport of goods — in order to allow a foreign ship to bring 300,000 barrels of diesel to Puerto Rico days after Hurricane Fiona battered the U.S. territory.

Why aren’t they sending wind turbines and solar panels? And EVs? It’s almost like fossil fuels are valuable, dependable, and easy.

Read: Hurricane Ian Is Climate Crisis (scam) Or Something »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Addiction To Parking Lots Is Bad For ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach September 29, 2022 – 7:00 am

How dare you!

Americans’ Addiction to Parking Lots Is Bad for the Climate. California Wants to End It

st greta car“Parking minimums” may not sound exciting. But if you live in the U.S., they have likely shaped your city. For the better part of a century, in a bid to make driving easier, almost every town in the country has forced developers to build a minimum number of parking spaces at almost every kind of building, from apartment blocks to abattoirs. Planning experts say those requirements have gobbled up precious urban land—as much as 5.5% of it nationwide by some estimates—incentivized car ownership, and limited enthusiasm for public transit. The policy is a key finger of the vice-like grip that private vehicles hold over U.S. cities.

But that grip is finally loosening. From January 2023, cities in California will no longer be able to impose parking minimums for housing, retail, or commercial developments that sit within half a mile of major public transit stops, per a state law signed last week by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. The move will encourage developers to build more affordable homes for people who don’t want a parking space, and generate “more walkable neighborhoods and public transit,” Newsom said. “It’s a win, win.”

Do you think land developers want higher priced homes and shopping centers with enough parking, or low income housing which will turn into a slum and be dangerous? Do you think most people want want to buy/rent domiciles and businesses that do not have enough parking?

The shift is heartening for climate advocates who believe redesigning cities and how people move around them must be a critical part of the country’s efforts to reduce its outsize greenhouse gas emissions from cars. It comes after a summer of announcements prioritizing the U.S. pivot to electric vehicles (EV)—including EV incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and California’s own plans to massively expand its charging network. “I very much agree with the messaging that’s happening on EVs, but there needs to be more of a conversation about reducing car trips too,” says Laura Jay, North America director at C40, a group of climate innovator cities. “I really hope other states follow California’s path, because it could be game-changing.”

Piss off. Mind you’re own f’ing business. Do you own these properties? Have a financial stake in them? No? Then it isn’t your business. Stop trying to get government to force your cult beliefs on Other People. Where will people park these EVs? Oh, right, the climate cult is pivoting to Other People not having their own private transportation.

BTW, the parking lots are not ‘climate change’, they are land use. So, a localized effect. And, yes, they can artificially increase the local temperature. Maybe there are some alternative ways? For one, do not use asphalt.

Read: Your Addiction To Parking Lots Is Bad For ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 23 Comments | Trackback URL

Brandon Gives $41 Million To Leftist Group Protecting Illegal Aliens

By William Teach September 29, 2022 – 6:45 am

Isn’t against federal code to give aid and comfort to people illegally present in the United States? Pretty sure it is

Biden admin awards $41M in contracts to new left-wing group that helps illegal immigrants fight deportations

Biden Brain SlugThe Biden administration awarded $41 million in taxpayer-backed government contracts to a new liberal nonprofit working to help illegal immigrants fight deportation amid the escalating border crisis, Fox News Digital has discovered.

The Acacia Center for Justice, a Washington, D.C.,-based nonprofit born from a partnership between the Vera Institute of Justice and Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR), has received six “legal services” contracts from the Department of Justice that carried start dates of Sept. 1, according to records.

The multimillion-dollar contracts began just months after the under-the-radar nonprofit received a July 29 determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service, which stated the group’s effective date of tax exemption was Dec. 29, 2021.

“The objective of the Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) is to expand on Vera’s work over the past twenty years in providing legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country,” the group’s website states.

One would also think that it is against federal law for the government to provide funds to protect illegal aliens from deportation, when the Constitution tasks the government to stop invasion, to control the borders, and deport those illegally present in the U.S. Essentially, you have the government fighting the government when it comes to deporting illegals.

I’d love to know where this money is coming from. What legislation authorizes it? And which politician will benefit from it monetarily?

Read: Brandon Gives $41 Million To Leftist Group Protecting Illegal Aliens »

Posted in Illegal Immigration, Joe Biden | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Your Fault: Stinkbugs Could Make It Far Inland In The Northwest

By William Teach September 28, 2022 – 3:00 pm

If only you were willing to give up all fossil fueled travel and just ride a bicycle we could fix this

Climate change could make stink bugs more common in the Inland Northwest

Some smelly creatures could become more common in the Inland Northwest because of climate change.

According to a new study from Washington State University, changing weather could increase the suitable habitat for the brown stink bug in the U.S. by 70 percent.

This stink bug is normally found in gardens and is known to feast on 170 different types of plants. They also like to make their way into people’s homes in the winter to avoid the cold.

Researchers say rising temperatures will allow the bug to thrive in new locations, including California and some parts of Idaho.

In some states, one of them being Washington, officials are using a natural predator — samurai wasps — to try and cut down on their numbers. Wasps will lay their own eggs inside of stink bug eggs. This not only destroys the affected eggs but when the wasp larva hatch, they eat the developing stink bugs.

Um, OK? Who would think that things on Earth could change? Might have to burn a few witches.

Read: Your Fault: Stinkbugs Could Make It Far Inland In The Northwest »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach September 28, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is an area drying out from too much carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A Bad American (new to the feedreader, go ahead and follow), with a post on the MSM being stupid over the Italy election.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: There’s A Big Uptick In Women, Minorities, Liberals Buying Firearms

By William Teach September 28, 2022 – 10:30 am

It’s rather surprising that CNN isn’t losing their minds over this

Liberal, female and minority: America’s new gun owners aren’t who you’d think

Several times a week you can hear gunfire echoing from Brandi Joseph’s scenic Southern California property. A licensed firearms instructor and dealer, Joseph decided to open Fortune Firearms in December to serve a growing and rapidly changing clientele.

“There is a huge uptick in female owners,” Joseph said. “Women are getting trained; women are carrying… liberal and conservative.”

Proof of that change pulled up Joseph’s long, dusty driveway in the San Jacinto Valley just before 10 a.m. for a Saturday social, of sorts. A group of seven African American women stepped out of their cars seemingly eager to start their first firearms training session.

“Our society and climate is changing… it’s just better to be prepared for your own safety and protection. That’s how we feel,” Laronya Day, who organized the outing, said.

Especially if you are living in a liberal area where the government enables criminal behavior

“Do you have some friends who would be totally turned off by this?” we asked Charlean Ward. “Absolutely,” she responded. “That’s their choice; I’m exercising my choice.”

Good for you, Charlean. And this could become a big problem for the Democrats looking to band/limit/tax lawful firearms owners and purchasers

About an hour east of Los Angeles, Yessica Mendez and her wife Crisia Regalado met with their instructor Tom Nguyen at Burro Canyon Shooting Park. But Regalado, 25, admits she at first wanted nothing to do with guns.

“Just the sounds… the vibrations of each impact… made me very jittery and shaky and I had to excuse myself out of the range,” Regalado recalled. “I don’t know, it just triggered something inside of me and it made me scared.”

Mendez, 30, was equally disinterested in guns at first. But in recent years she’s felt a growing need for self-protection.

“I’m a Mexican woman in a same-sex relationship; I need to feel safe. I need to feel protected,” Mendez said. “And right now the laws and the things that are going on don’t make me feel safe and don’t make me feel protected.”

It would be great if we only needed firearms for hunting and having fun at the range. Of course, there are always Bad People out there, and Democratic Party policies makes them more prevalent.

“I never intended to become an instructor, but the need from the community was there,” Nguyen said. “And there’s also folks from my own liberal community who see me as, ‘oh you like guns you must be a gun nut.’ But that’s not really it at all.”

Nguyen says his clients are mostly liberal and from all backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations. He prides himself on creating an inclusive student base.

“The more I educate those who are formally anti-gun the more they actually realize that there’s more nuance to it,” he said.

The nuance is that you have the Constitutional Right to a firearm

Both Mendez and Regalado now have their own guns and are working toward getting their concealed carry permits. But they avoid talking about their guns with friends, who they say are firmly anti-gun.

“They’re really not open to understanding,” Mendez said. Adding that she feels more comfortable discussing her same-sex relationship with friends than her guns. “I definitely am more closeted being a gun owner, for fear of retaliation.”

If your friends won’t accept you, then they aren’t really your friends, and don’t believe in the Constitution

Both Mendez and Regalado at first worried about the type of people they encounter at the gun range, many of whom, they say, advertise their conservative politics in what they’re wearing or listening to.

“It’s mostly all men, mostly all white men, older men like 70s, 80s,” Mendez said. “Seeing people looking at us, and kind of just staring… It always makes us more uncomfortable. Because we’re like, ‘oh my God are they going to come and tell us, like, get out of here… you don’t belong here.’”

Instead, they’ve gotten a different reaction.

“They’re like, ‘Hey, you’re doing well, but can I show you something that might help you more?,” Mendez said.

Mendez says not only has it changed her impression of those individuals, but she also believes it’s given some a different perception of people like her.

“When I (came) back the next day, (one of the men) was like, ‘Hey! I saw your wife out there – she looks nice. Tell her I said ‘hi’.”

And right there is a big problem: liberals, mostly the more hardcore, do not think they can be friends, or even friendly, with people who do not have the same beliefs. The Otherize them, and the Others are verboten. Republicans are considered to be Evil. Most Republicans couldn’t care less. We only care if you’re trying to get government to tell us how we live our lives.

The article goes on to note the high rate of purchase by blacks, Asians, Latinos, and that around half of them in the past few years are women. And a goodly chunk are being quiet about it, because they are Democratic Party voters. Good for them. Many Conservatives were originally liberals, who were boned by liberal policies. Like Democratic Party soft on crime policies.

Read: Surprise: There’s A Big Uptick In Women, Minorities, Liberals Buying Firearms »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Liberal World | 34 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove