Black Farmers Sue Feds Over Loss Of Promised Debt Relief

By William Teach October 13, 2022 – 10:30 am

Well, Democrats sure made a mess of this with their virtue signaling

‘We’re facing extinction’: Minority farmers sue government over scrapped plan to give $5B in aid

John Boyd Jr., who has been a farmer for over 40 years, said Wednesday that the promises made in the American Rescue Plan Act gave farmers of color hope and finally addressed the racial injustices Black farmers have experienced for decades.

But when President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law in August, the legislation repealed Section 1005 of the ARPA, directly affecting farmers of color.

Whoops! Probably should have read the legislation, considered the implications of what it would do, prior to voting on it

In a statement Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture said they were prepared to provide funding to farmers of color under the American Rescue Plan Act, but court challenges to the program prevented the government from providing the payments.

“USDA strongly supported the ARPA Section 1005 program and was ready to make payments to direct-loan borrowers. However, the $5 billion that was intended to help farmers was frozen by three nationwide injunctions that prevented USDA from getting payments out the door. The government vigorously defended this program in the courts but because of these injunctions, the $5 billion provided in ARPA remained frozen. This litigation would likely have not been resolved for years,” Marissa Perry, Department of Agriculture press secretary, told Yahoo News.

Court challenges, eh? I wonder why

In response, midwestern white farmers filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that ARPA was discriminatory because they couldn’t participate in it. The plaintiffs of the suit included farmers from Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Ohio, according to ABC News.

“Were [the] plaintiffs eligible for the loan forgiveness benefit, they would have the opportunity to make additional investments in their property, expand their farms, purchase equipment and supplies, and otherwise support their families and local communities,” the lawsuit said. “Because [the] plaintiffs are ineligible to even apply for the program solely due to their race, they have been denied the equal protection of the law and therefore suffered harm.”

Yeah, it violated the Constitution. While there may be some racism in modern farming, most is simply perceived, meaning, it’s not happening, it’s just business. The IRA, which does nothing to reduce inflation, now allows any to apply based on social justice perceived discrimination.

While farmers of color have been disadvantaged for decades, the new debt relief does not solely focus on Black, American Indian, Hispanic, Alaskan native, Asian American and Pacific Islander farmers.

“They believed the U.S. government’s promises. They took Congress and the administration at their word, expecting that the government would pay off their debt, as the USDA promised in writing. Instead, it was 40 acres and a mule all over again, 150 years later — broken promises that doomed generations of Black farmers to become sharecroppers and robbed Black families of billions in intergenerational wealth,” Crump said.

In other words, it’s reparations for things that happened a long time ago to other people. Nowhere in this story does it lay out what those racial injustices are, other than the 40 acres and a mule thing from back just after the Civil War.

Read: Black Farmers Sue Feds Over Loss Of Promised Debt Relief »

Posted in Democrats | 35 Comments | Trackback URL

Politico Europe Names Putin Number One On It’s Best Green List

By William Teach October 13, 2022 – 7:15 am

Nothing gets in the way of a cult, not even a brutal dictator who’s invaded Ukraine, threatened nuclear war, and is round up dissidents

From the cult screed

It took a war criminal to speed up Europe’s green revolution.

By invading Ukraine and manipulating energy supplies to undermine European support for Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved something generations of green campaigners could not — clean energy is now a fundamental matter of European security.

The political response from the EU was swift: Within weeks of the February 24 invasion, a plan was sketched out aimed at unhooking the Continent’s energy ties from Moscow. It leaned on three pillars: cutting oil, gas and coal supplies from Russia; getting gas and other fossil fuels from elsewhere; and massively speeding up the roll out of renewable power and energy saving measures.

“Renewables give us the freedom to choose an energy source that is clean, cheap, reliable, and ours,” EU Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans said less than two weeks after Putin’s tanks rolled in.

Seriously, where does one go with this? I’ve seen some seriously wackadoodle stuff from the climate cult, this is definitely up there

The green acceleration doesn’t mean Europeans will avoid a succession of brutally cold and expensive winters. This crisis also means that governments across the bloc have been preoccupied with short-term measures to stave off blackouts, rather than doing their utmost to aid the longer-term energy shift. (snip)

While Ukrainians are the primary victims of the war, Europeans have been hit hard by Putin’s weaponization of energy. But the consequences mean an EU that becomes greener, faster, than before Russian troops marched across the Ukrainian border. That impact will be more than a footnote in the history of the war.

Meh, f*** those Europeans, they can just suffer to get the “green” economy, and Politico will thank Putin for it.

Of course, let’s consider that Warmists are, at their hearts, authoritarians, and want to force Everyone Else to do as they say.

Read: Politico Europe Names Putin Number One On It’s Best Green List »

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

Good News: Bidenflation Driving Cost Of Veggies Even Higher

By William Teach October 13, 2022 – 7:00 am

But, hey, remember, the Inflation Reduction Act is going help climate!

None of the other tweets mention the IRA bringing down inflation, cost off food, etc

No Veggies for You! Food Inflation Surges as Eggs, Pasta, Vegetables, and Grains Get Even More Expensive

Food prices surged in September, propelling the producer price inflation gauge higher than expected.

The Department of Labor said on Wednesday that its producer price index rose 0.4 percent compared with the prior month, twice what economists had expected. A big part of the gain stemmed from a rapid rise in food prices.

Consumer food prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent compared with the prior month. Compared with a year ago, consumer food prices are up 12.1 percent.

  • Fresh and dried vegetables: up 15.7 percent for the month and 40.2 percent for the year.
  • Grains: up 10.7 percent for the month and 30.4 percent for the year.
  • Fresh eggs: up 16.7 percent for the month and 97.3 percent for the year.
  • Bakery products: up 0.8 percent for the month and 14.0 percent for the year.
  • Pasta: up 1.1 percent for the month and 34.1 percent for the year.
  • Processed fruits and vegetables: up 2.6 percent for the month and 16.0 percent for the year.
  • Dairy products: down 1.6 percent for the month but up 18.2 percent for the year.
  • Fresh fruits and melons: down 1.2 percent for the month but up 20.7 percent for the year.
  • Turkey: up 0.5 percent for the month and 38.2 percent for the year.

Not all food prices are soaring. Beef and veal prices fell for the second consecutive month and are down 23.0 percent. Fresh chicken prices fell 3.7 percent but remain 4.6 percent higher than the year ago level. Shortening and cooking oils fell 1.9 percent but are still up 12.4 percent from the year ago level.

Democrats like to yammer about “food deserts”, areas where people cannot easily get affordable, healthy foods like fruits and veggies. They’re trying to turn everywhere into one. Should make Thanksgiving dinner fun

(CNN) Just 22% of Americans rate economic conditions in the country as good, with 41% calling conditions somewhat poor, and another 37% saying they’re very poor. The percentage saying conditions are good is a slight uptick from 18% this summer. The public’s short-term outlook is somewhat more positive, with 40% expecting that economic conditions in the country will be good a year from now, and only 26% expecting them to remain very poor. That optimism is driven mostly by Democrats, 63% of whom expect economic conditions to improve to that level by next year. Most independents and Republicans, by contrast, expect conditions to remain poor over that time.

That does not bode well for Democrats in the mid-terms.

Biden’s ratings for dealing with economic issues, while improved from CNN’s last survey, remain lower than his approval rating overall. Just 32% of the public approves of his handling of inflation (up from 25% in summer) and 36% of his handling of the economy as a whole (up from 30%). Roughly 4 in 10 Americans currently approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy (37%), immigration (38%), helping the middle class (41%) or foreign affairs (42%), with a 55% majority approving of the way he’s handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

There’s a lot more bad news in that poll on a range of other issues, but, this is about the economy. And people see this every day when they go to the grocery store.

Read: Good News: Bidenflation Driving Cost Of Veggies Even Higher »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 17 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 12, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a wonderful forest, ripe for a carbon pollution caused wildfire, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Victory Girls Blog, with a post on the Brandon admin suddenly knowing what a biological male is.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 26 Comments | Trackback URL

UK House Of Lords Recommends Using COVID Lessons For Climate Crisis (scam)

By William Teach October 12, 2022 – 1:00 pm

All the lessons, like “wash your hands, keep your distance, don’t touch your face, cover your coughs”, or, “lock people down, don’t even let them in their front yards, treat them like criminals“? Or maybe “fill in skateparks”? Arrest people paddleboarding on the ocean with no one anywhere near them? Restrict their movements? Assault them for refusing to wear a mask? Or, perhaps, dictate what the plebes must do while doing differently as a big wig?

Use Covid lessons to curb climate change, Lords tell government

Information campaigns like those used in the Covid-19 pandemic would help individuals act on climate change, a House of Lords report has said.

To meet climate goals, a third of cuts to UK emissions by 2035 must come from people changing their behaviour, it says.

It calls the government’s current approach “seriously inadequate”.

In response the government said it is fully committed to its legally binding net zero climate goals.

The House of Lords report also advises government to financially support people to move to greener diets, transport and homes.

But calls to drive behaviour changes are at odds with Prime Minister Liz Truss’s focus on not intervening in people’s lives.

So she says, but, government is government

“People will have different lifestyles and make different choices about what changes they need to make, but we’re quite clear that people need to be helped to take this forward,” Baroness Kate Parminter, chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, which wrote the report, told BBC News.

In other words, they want to make this happen. Remember, COVID started with the recommendations, including stay at home as much as you can, and quickly morphed into government mandates

The Covid-19 pandemic provided important lessons in how to communicate clearly, using science, to the public, she said.

“Covid was a crisis, the climate is a crisis. We can learn some very important messages around the communications and the scale of the problem,” she adds.

Transport, food and energy are the key areas where we will need to change our behaviour, the report says.

They might start with nagging campaigns (despite people mostly having never moved from theory to practice after 35 years of spreading awareness): how soon till it truly moves to force? A lot of those bits of force are already in place in the UK, among others.

Read: UK House Of Lords Recommends Using COVID Lessons For Climate Crisis (scam) »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Bat Soup Virus, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Brandon Admin Proposes New Gig Worker Rule That Will Harm Small Businesses

By William Teach October 12, 2022 – 10:30 am

They didn’t learn the lesson from the fiasco in California (AB5 then Prop22), which created all sorts of problems and reduced the number of gig workers? The government needs to stop messing with things they do not understand, things that are working

Biden’s proposed gig worker rule could deal a major blow to small businesses

The Biden administration has proposed a new rule that could re-classify millions of gig workers as employees, a move that could deal a significant blow to small businesses across the country.

The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a new proposal that would make it more difficult for companies to classify their workers as independent contractors — a change that could have major consequences for ride-hailing, delivery and other industries that depend heavily on gig workers.

Companies are required to provide certain benefits and legal protections to employees but not contractors, making employment of those types of workers more expensive. That includes minimum wage, overtime, Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation insurance.

In determining whether a worker qualifies as an independent contractor or not, the Labor Department said it would take into consideration the worker’s “opportunity for profit or loss, investment, permanency, the degree of control by the employer over the worker, (and) whether the work is an integral part of the employer’s business,” among other factors.

Which would require a heavy hand from the federal government over small businesses. Which would mean a lot of small businesses would simply opt out of using gig employees. It won’t give millions employment status, it will give them unemployment

While the proposal could give millions of workers employee status, it could also have potentially catastrophic consequences for small businesses already struggling with the hottest inflation in four decades and a persistent labor shortage.

“This is a rule that’s only going to make it more challenging for small businesses to operate in today’s already difficult economy,” Beth Milito, executive director of the National Federal of Independent Business’ legal center, told FOX Business.

Businesses say their operating costs could surge if they are required to classify gig workers as employees, and as a result, employers could be forced to cut payroll or freeze hiring in order to keep their bottom line strong. They have also noted that some employees like the flexibility that gig work provides, including the option to work for different companies if they choose to do so.

It could raise operating costs 20%-30%, meaning fewer employees. And small businesses will just simply not want to deal with it all, because they just do not have the time. It could mean that many would be limited to part time hours to avoid all the benefits. It’ll be a big mess.

And, beyond that, this seems more of making law with such a huge, encompassing law, something that the duly elected Legislative Branch should do. At least in California the general assembly passed AB5, then Proposition 22 via direct voting of the citizens. The Supreme Court has already ruled that major, heavily impactful rules are unconstitutional, should go through the Legislative Branch.

Read: Brandon Admin Proposes New Gig Worker Rule That Will Harm Small Businesses »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

PRC To Now Ban Plastic Bags Used To Protect Produce And Meat

By William Teach October 12, 2022 – 7:15 am

It’s always something with these loons in the People’s Republik Of California

California banning another popular plastic bag from all grocery stores

California is phasing out the single-use plastic bags commonly used to protect produce and meats from being damaged or contaminating other foods in a shopper’s cart.

“It helps consumers be a lot more educated about which products that claim compostability are actually compostable,” Legislative Director at Californians Against Waste Nicole Kurian told KGO last week. “[It] helps them collect their organics, so this is a win-win bill on multiple different sides.”

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law at the end of September, which will require grocery stores across the state to phase out the small bags, typically found on produce and meat aisles in grocery stores, by Jan. 1, 2025.

California is the first state in the nation to phase out such bags, according to The Seattle Times. The traditional bags will be replaced with recycled paper bags or bags that are compostable.

Well, this should go swimmingly, right? Using paper will work wonders for meats, right?

“This kind of plastic film is not recyclable. It’s a contaminant in almost any bin you put it into,” said Nick Lapis, director of advocacy for Californians Against Waste, told The Seattle Times.

“It flies around landfills and flies out of trucks. It gets stuck on gears at recycling facilities. And it contaminates compost. It’s a problematic product we want to get rid of.”

On that, I’ll agree. But, perhaps we should look for better methods. Maybe talk with the professionals to come up with a good solution before just banning things. Oh, he, when will they ban single use bottles?

The bill was opposed by the California Grocers Association, which sent a letter to the bill’s author, state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, requesting grocery stores have until 2025 to switch to compostable bags instead of an original 2023 timeline. The request was granted.

That would have made sense, listening to the professionals, but, hey, keep dumping the solar panels in landfills.

Read: PRC To Now Ban Plastic Bags Used To Protect Produce And Meat »

Posted in Enviroweenies | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Hot Take: Harris Accuses Abbott Of Dereliction Of Duty For Busing Illegals To Sanctuary Areas

By William Teach October 12, 2022 – 7:00 am

I’m guessing Abbott will send another bus load of illegals to Kamala’s DC residence shortly

Border Czar Kamala Harris Accuses Abbott of ‘Dereliction of Duty’ for Busing Migrants Out of Texas

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tapped by President Biden to address the ongoing crisis at the Southern border, lashed out at Texas governor Greg Abbott for busing migrants to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers Monday, accusing the border-state governor of “dereliction of duty.”

“I just think it’s an absolute dereliction of duty. If you see a problem and we agree that we need to address it, then if you’re a leader, participate in a solution, right?” Harris said. “They’ve fled great harm and they are coming here seeking refuge. Talk about political theater.”

Harris has overseen skyrocketing rates of illegal migrants crossing the border since being made border czar. This April, nearly a quarter-of-a-million migrants were apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border, nearly half of whom were released internally. Yet, Harris still insisted in the interview that the border is “secure” and that Abbott should work on constructive solutions instead of “this gamesmanship with real human beings who trust us.The comments come after Abbott sent a bus full of migrants to Harris’s official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., last week. The bus was just one of many that the governor has shipped to Democratic-controlled cities as part of Operation Lone Star. He announced Monday that the state has sent 8,200 migrants to D.C., 3,200 to New York City, and 920 to Chicago since the program began in the spring.

The comments come after Abbott sent a bus full of migrants to Harris’s official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., last week. The bus was just one of many that the governor has shipped to Democratic-controlled cities as part of Operation Lone Star. He announced Monday that the state has sent 8,200 migrants to D.C., 3,200 to New York City, and 920 to Chicago since the program began in the spring.

This is the border czar who’s never been to the border during her time as vice president. Complaining about Abbott. Funny no mention of the Democratic Party mayor of El Paso, Oscar Leeser, who’s sent 60 busloads to sanctuary cities. But, it is fantastic that Democrats are whining up a storm over being forced to confront the open borders they say they support.

Read: Hot Take: Harris Accuses Abbott Of Dereliction Of Duty For Busing Illegals To Sanctuary Areas »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Doom: ‘Climate Change’ Made Drought 20 Times More Likely Or Something

By William Teach October 11, 2022 – 3:00 pm

Say, what about the big drought in the 30’s, when carbon pollution was well below the “safe” limit of 350ppm?

Climate change made this summer’s drought 20 times more likely, study finds

Rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels made this summer’s brutal droughts across the Northern Hemisphere — which dried up rivers, sparked unprecedented wildfires and led to widespread crop failure — 20 times more likely, according to a new study.

Climate change is rewriting normal weather patterns in real time, said the study by World Weather Attribution, a consortium of international scientists who examine the link between rising average global temperatures and extreme weather. The droughts that affected North America, Europe and Asia this summer were so extreme that they would normally be considered a 1-in-400-year event, the study found, but due to climate change, the planet can now expect a repeat of those conditions every 20 years.

This isn’t journalism, it’s propaganda. No proof is required, no skeptical eye involved, no attempt to ask for alternative viewpoints. It’s simply a cult. If people cannot deal with a slight 1.5F increase in global temperatures since 1850, perhaps other factors are in play?

But, um

The Mississippi River basin is getting wetter as climate change brings era of extreme rain, floods

In the early morning hours of July 26, many St. Louis-area residents awoke to floodwater filling their homes, or to the din of blaring car alarms from vehicles getting overtaken by murky brown water. Too much rain was falling far too fast.

The weather system dumped more than 9 inches on St. Louis – about a quarter of the city’s annual average – compressed largely within a few hours. That same week, torrential rain storms settled on Eastern Kentucky, where up to 16 inches fell and water rushed into people’s homes so swiftly that many didn’t get out in time.

Longtime residents in both regions, no strangers to severe storms and flooding, said they’d seen nothing like it before – and they’re right.

The rainfall totals obliterated previous records in each area by a margin that was difficult for some experts to fathom – topping St. Louis’ single-day record by more than two inches, for instance. It was yet another example that rain isn’t falling the way that it used to, with both the magnitude and intensity of extreme rain events increasing throughout recent decades, across a large part of the country.

So, is it drought or flood caused by the burning of fossil fuels? Oh, right, it causes everything, because this is a cult.

Read: Doom: ‘Climate Change’ Made Drought 20 Times More Likely Or Something »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 11, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…are trees changing late due to carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Weasel Zippers, with a post on a VP who used to jail people for small marijuana infractions saying no one should go to jail for marijuana infractions.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 9 Comments | Trackback URL
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