Pennsylvania Senate Passes Vaccine Passport Ban, Governor Says He’ll Probably Veto

By William Teach June 11, 2021 – 7:19 am

This is actually a good lesson in Government over-reach, refusal to give up power, and the law of unintended consequences

Gov. Wolf says he’ll veto just-passed anti-vaccine passport bill, “probably a little far”

unintended consequencesAn amendment to legislation that would prohibit “vaccine passports” in Pennsylvania is “probably a little far” and will cause him to veto it, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said Wednesday.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 29-20 Wednesday afternoon in favor of a bill, sponsored by State Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York County), to prohibit “vaccine passports” in Pennsylvania. The bill alone seemed unlikely to cause a veto threat: “Vaccine passports” — in other words, standardized proof of vaccination status that could be required to enter some places and attend some large gatherings — have generally been a political nonstarter in America overall, a popular concept among some Democrats but a battle President Joe Biden and others have concluded they won’t win and isn’t worth fighting.

Governor Wolf’s objection to the legislation?

An amendment offered by State Sen. Judy Ward (R-Blair County), whose district includes part of Cumberland County, and included in the final bill which would stop Pennsylvania’s secretary of health from requiring face masks, imposing travel restrictions, requiring social distancing and ordering private businesses to close. It would also stop publicly-funded colleges and universities from requiring students and faculty to be vaccinated.

“As I understand it, the health secretary would be prohibited from telling anybody they ought to wash their hands,” Wolf said. “I think that’s probably a little far.”

Legislators do this all the time. Have something simple, then complicate it with all sorts of other things. They just can’t keep it simple and targeted. The point here was to ban vaccine passports. That would have been accomplished, Wolf would have signed it. But, then the Senate added on the other stuff, which seemed like a good idea at the time, right? But, previous legislation ended up giving the health secretary all that extra power to do things that really shouldn’t be able to do, probably unintentionally in some legislation that was overblown and bloated. Any powers like that should be temporary as voted on per incident by the legislative branch. But, they weren’t, and the Executive Branch doesn’t want to give up it’s power, even if it was given unintentionally.

This also shows the danger of vaccine passports. It really should have been a simple, innocuous idea, something basic to get back to normal, something to show that you’ve had the vaccine or the antibodies from having had COVID19. But, due to the vast overreach and authoritarian policies of so many governments, along with a serious concern that government will mission creep, just like they do with legislation (see above), people became dead set against them. Same thing with some sort of pin, which would have helped alleviate many people’s concerns. Let’s not forget this tidbit I noted the other day on NY’s passport

(NY Times) But newly obtained documents show that the state may have larger plans for the app and that the cost to taxpayers may be much higher than originally stated.

The state’s three-year contract with I.B.M. — obtained by an advocacy group and shared with The New York Times — to develop and run the pass establishes the groundwork for a future where at least 10 million people in the state would have an Excelsior Pass. It would provide them with a QR code that would not only verify their vaccination status but could also include other personal details like proof of age, driver’s license and other health records. (snip)

But Eric Piscini, the vice president of emerging business networks at I.B.M., said in a recent interview that the state was considering broader uses. He said discussions were underway to expand the pass into a broader digital wallet that could store driver’s license information, other health information and more. He also said that other states and foreign governments were exploring ways to integrate the Excelsior Pass into their own verification systems, as New York seeks to include records from other states in its system.

Instead of just having your vaccination status, it will contain much more information. And then it will start carrying even more. That’s a serious concern.

Read: Pennsylvania Senate Passes Vaccine Passport Ban, Governor Says He’ll Probably Veto »

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Americans Totally Want China Joe To Give Them Electric Cars Or Something

By William Teach June 10, 2021 – 3:00 pm

There’s a vast, monumental difference between wanting something and actually buying something. I’d love a nice beach house, but, I don’t have$500k+ sitting around for a place I’d used every couple of weeks for a day or two. There’s also a significant difference between wanting something and being forced to get that thing, especially when it is pretty far out of your budget

Opinion: Americans increasingly want electric cars — and Biden really wants you to buy one

Electric vehicleIf I moved to Norway — it’s a wonderful country to visit — one of the first things I’d probably do is run out and buy an electric car.

Why? Two reasons: First, gasoline costs the equivalent of about $7.86 a gallon, and second, the government tosses huge tax breaks at citizens to do so.

Just one giveaway alone makes it worthwhile: An exemption from the 25% value-added (VAT) tax on new car purchases. There’s also no import tax; no emission fees; no fuel taxes; cheaper insurance; and on and on. How could you not buy one?

Because they are pretty darned expensive and inconvenient for America. If you have to add huge numbers of taxes and fees to force people to purchase them, doesn’t sound like they really want them.

But it’s artificial. Manipulating the market with these things — extortion-level fuel prices and giant tax giveaways — isn’t a sign of true demand. What would consumers do if such sticks and carrots didn’t exist?

Ya think?

Perhaps a bit more impressive is the surge we’ve seen here in the United States from consumers who are buying EVs on their own, despite far lower gasoline prices and tax breaks that, while attractive, don’t equal what’s dangled before our Norwegian friends.

Pew Research Center data says that while 7% of U.S. adults report owning an electric or hybrid vehicle now, nearly two-fifths — 39% — say they’re “very” or “somewhat likely” to seriously consider buying an electric vehicle the next time they’re in the market for some new wheels.

Considering isn’t actually buying. I’d consider getting an iPhone next time. I won’t actually get one, but, I’d consider it. Lots of people consider things, they just do not move forward. Lots consider the hybrid versions, but, then go with the regular. And, while hybrid buyers are hot to trot consider buying (from the Pew survey)

Just 7% of U.S. adults say they currently own an electric or hybrid vehicle. Most of these owners (72%) say they are very (43%) or somewhat (29%) likely to seriously consider an electric car or truck the next time around.

It doesn’t mean they will

By the way, if you’re thinking about buying a Tesla TSLA, +2.29% or General Motors GM, -1.43% EV, it looks like you won’t get any federal tax credits. That’s because both automakers are being punished for their success: Once a manufacturer sells 200,000 units, EV tax breaks go away, and both automakers have passed this cap (this tells me that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and GM’s Mary Barra need to hire some better lobbyists and get those tax breaks restored).

That’s always been that way.

In fact, there’s evidence to show that even if these less-than-Norwegian tax breaks went away, sales could collapse. At least that’s what happened in Georgia a few years back when lawmakers ended the state’s $5,000 state tax credit. EV sales crashed 89% in two months.

So people won’t buy without tax incentives? Which do not equate to actual cash, just a reduction of your taxable income.

In a May “fact sheet,” the White House said the administration will “support market demand” for EVs with “point-of-sale incentives that encourage EV deployment.”

Translating this to simple English, it sounds like it’ll take $100 billion in subsidies to support market demand. The president proposes to use dollars from Taxpayer A so Taxpayer B can buy an electric car. This isn’t real market demand, of course; it’s artificial, as it is in Norway. Is this the right way to go? It’s quite a debate.

Do we really need tens of billions in tax breaks for people to buy an electric car? If U.S. automakers can build electric cars that can compete with foreign rivals on price and performance — and I believe they can — then perhaps the president could save taxpayers a bunch of money, and we could still move toward the future the president envisions.

The majority of those tax breaks will benefit the corporations and upper middle class/rich folks. Regardless, the unero numero problem here is that China Joe and his Democrat Party Comrades aren’t just going to attempt to incentivize EVs, they’re going attempt to force people to buy them and out of their fossil fueled vehicles.

 

Read: Americans Totally Want China Joe To Give Them Electric Cars Or Something »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 10, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on the incredible arrogance of our self-proclaimed elites.

I’m wondering what she’s holding. It looks like a mouth piece connected to her phone? Especially with some dental thing on the armrest of the car.

Read: If All You See… »

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Ilhan Omar Claims She’s Getting Death Threats For Comparing US And Israel To Hamas And Terrorists

By William Teach June 10, 2021 – 10:30 am

Well, an Islamic extremist should understand death threats, because he Islamic terrorist buddies threaten people with death all the time. And want the complete death of Israel

Omar says she’s getting death threats over comparison of US and Israel to Hamas and Taliban

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Wednesday said she has received death threats over recent comments she made comparing the actions of the U.S. and Israeli militaries to Hamas and the Taliban, blaming news coverage and GOP lawmakers for encouraging the calls for violence.

Omar shared audio of a message she said her office had received, tweeting, “Every time I speak out on human rights I am inundated with death threats.”

The message includes, “they destroy heritage, they destroy history. Just like Ms. Ilhan Omar.”

“Because Muslims are terrorists,” the message continued. “And she is a raghead n—–. And every anti-American communist piece of s— that works for her, I hope you f—ing get what’s coming for you.”

Omar in a follow-up tweet argued that message was “incited directly by articles like this and far right politicians like this,” before attaching screenshots of a Fox News article referencing recent comments Omar made comparing the “unthinkable atrocities” of the U.S. and Israel with actions by Hamas and the Taliban.

Well, while that could have happened, with a Leftist like Ilhan that message is most like a fake hate hoax. But, hey, when you do things like this, you make people mad

She wants to Blame right wing outlets for daring to highlight her hatred of America and Israel, and not just in the above tweet. She’s especially gone after Israel and Jews, using language that could be construed as wanting Israel wiped off the map, which is a threat of violence. When she takes the side of Hamas, Iran, and other Islamist states and groups, she’s advocating violence against Israel, Jews, and the United States.

BTW, there’s no mention anywhere that Ilhan refered the calls to the FBI or any law enforcement. I mean, if she thinks they are death threats, why not do so? Oh, because she wants to play the Victim

Somehow Schneider’s message is now “Islamophobia”. Victimhood. Nutjob.

Read: Ilhan Omar Claims She’s Getting Death Threats For Comparing US And Israel To Hamas And Terrorists »

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Climate Cult: We Need To Stop Feeding People To Solve ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach June 10, 2021 – 8:17 am

I’m sure they would be very happy with cutting off the food supply to those pesky “minorities” in 3rd World Nations. The Cult of Climastrology has always been primarily made up of uber white Leftists in 1st World nations. It’s easy for them to be Concerned about the climate crisis scam, as they’re lives are rather easy. So, hey, let’s complain about food

Feeding people found to emit far more greenhouse gases than once thought

Emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases from activities connected to growing and consuming food have been significantly underestimated, and may be twice as large as previously thought, new research finds.

Why it matters: Agriculture is already known to be one of the largest contributors to human-caused global warming. If the sector’s emissions are larger than thought, it could mean the world will see more warming than anticipated.

Driving the news: Through a series of research reports and commentary published in the journal Environmental Research Letters on Tuesday, scientists mapped out which parts of the food system are the most emissions intensive, which provides a blueprint for prioritizing emissions reduction efforts.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they mention the “issues” they think are a problem, and state that emmissions are worse in 1st World countries than 3rd world shitholes developing nations, so, we need to Do Something. Though, you don’t see Warmists giving up their own eating of all this Big Farm, industrial produced foods. They just want Government way more involved. By, don’t call that Socialism!

Interestingly, so many of the things mentioned have nothing to really do with anthropogenic climate change, and are more environmental.

The analysis of global food system emissions finds that activities connected to food production and consumption — everything from chopping down forests to clear land for cattle to transporting food from a farm to the grocery store, amounted to the equivalent of 16 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2018.

Researchers found that the largest source of food system-related emissions between 1990-2018 was converting natural ecosystems to agricultural croplands or pastures, at about 3 billion metric tons per year.

During the 1990 to 2018 study period, land use change emissions decreased while pre- and post-production emissions, which includes making fertilizers, transporting food, disposing of waste, as well as refrigeration, increased.

Those are primarily environmental, but, notice the use of the phrase “land use.” That’s a localized effect, not global, where the weather patterns can be changed due to how the land is changed. But, what do they want us to do, stop growing so much food to feed people? Go back to the way food was grown a thousand years ago? I agree, fertilizers are bad, as they get in the water ways and cause issues. That’s environmental. It would be wiser to control those much better, and they have been over the years. This has nothing to do with ‘climate change’, just a bunch of unhinged, 1st World hysterics yammering about doom.

Read: Climate Cult: We Need To Stop Feeding People To Solve ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Food and Drink, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Next On Agenda For Democrats: Forcing States To Allow Unfettered Abortion

By William Teach June 10, 2021 – 8:03 am

Climate change? Nah. Equity? Nope. Equality? Uh huh. Minorities? Nyet. Illegal immigration? Non. Keep going down the list of things Democrats say they care about and none are more important than abortion on demand. It is their number one thing

More Than 220 Democrats in Congress Back Bill to Guarantee Nation-Wide Abortion Access

More than 80 percent of Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate are backing legislation that would block states from adopting strict abortion regulations—an effort abortion rights advocates say is needed before the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court takes its next action on state-level abortion laws.

“Our rights shouldn’t depend on what state we live in at the time,” U.S. Representatives Judy Chu, a California Democrat, told reporters in a briefing on what’s been dubbed the Women’s Health Protection Act. “Today the fight to protect abortion rights for all Americans is more critical than ever.”

That’s insane, and Constitutionally illiterate. There is no right to an abortion in the Constitution. None. Just one of the worst reasoned Supreme Court decisions in the history of the nation. The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, essentially say what duties the Federal government is given and what rights the federal government may not interfere with, and all others are reserved to The People and the States. Henceforth, it’s up to the hands of the states to approve of whether they allow abortion, and to what extent.

The proposal, which is unlikely to pass Congress in the near future, aims to ultimately outlaw several restrictions that have been put on abortion access, largely across the South and the Midwest. It comes as the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy—a case that’s seen as a possible effort to upend the historic Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

“It could not only chip away but potentially overrule Roe v. Wade—at the very least do profound damage to it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters Tuesday. “It’s needed now more than ever before.” (snip)

If the WHPA were to pass, states wouldn’t be able to require mandatory waiting periods before an abortion could be performed, set restrictions on how late into pregnancy an abortion can be obtained or require counseling to try to discourage women from getting an abortion, among other changes directly targeting laws states have tried to enact.

These insane Democrats, and, interestingly, it seems male Dems are some of the most vocal supporters of abortion on demand, do not want any restrictions. Late term right up to birth? Fine with them. Treating abortion clinics with the same standards, such as cleanliness, as any medical facility? Nope. They do not even want them inspected for standards as a tattoo parlor. Parental rights, not allowing a child to be taken across state borders for an abortion, no federal funding for abortion, allowing doctors to no be forced to perform abortions, and so much more, these are all things Democrats object to. They want zero restrictions. If you offered them tons of firearms restrictions in trade for common sense abortion restrictions, they would give a hard pass.

This really does have no way of passing, so, it says a lot about unhinged Democrats are about abortion on demand that Forty-eight senators and 176 members of the U.S. House have signed on as cosponsors, with zero Republicans.

Read: Next On Agenda For Democrats: Forcing States To Allow Unfettered Abortion »

Posted in Democrats, Unhinged Tools | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Because You Ate A Burger 167 Million Homes Could Be Wiped Out By Climate Emergency

By William Teach June 9, 2021 – 3:00 pm

We’ll also blame your great great grandparents for daring to innovate and move prosperity forward with the industrial revolution

Climate change: 167 million homes could be wiped out by 2040, warns charity

The world could lose 8.4 million homes a year between now and 2040, if extreme weather events continue to increase at current rates, new analysis has warned.

That would total 167 million homes, which is the equivalent of every home in the UK being wiped out six times over, according to new data published by disaster relief charity ShelterBox.

It estimates that during the three days of this week’s G7 summit in Cornwall, 69,000 homes could be lost to extreme weather globally, which would be the same as a quarter of all families in Cornwall being forced to flee. (snip)

Professor Andrew Collins at Northumbria University, who helped draw up the data, said it should “be taken extremely seriously now rather than any later”, since the estimates of the loss of homes is based on extrapolation from real data already accumulated.

“As the current state of climatic impacts already reveals, and as experienced by billions of people all over the world through the current pandemic, to ignore the warnings in the data complete with its uncertainties is to walk ill-prepared into catastrophic loss and damage,” he said.

So, what’s the consequences to ShelterBox when they are proven wrong? Anything? What about for Sky News and others who gleefully print this bit of cult propaganda, which uses “extrapolated” data? And seems to be blaming every single weather event that occurs. Things that have been happening for thousands and millions of years are now Your Fault for refusing to give up your fossil fuels and modern lifestyle.

Hey, perhaps don’t build a house in a place that could be prone to flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Things that have been happening longer than humanity.

Read: Because You Ate A Burger 167 Million Homes Could Be Wiped Out By Climate Emergency »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach June 9, 2021 – 1:00 pm

…is a fish that is surely smaller because of the climate emergency, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Bunkerville, with a post on Clueless Kamala debuting her schtick on illegal immigration.

Read: If All You See… »

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China Seems Upset At America First Technology Bill

By William Teach June 9, 2021 – 10:30 am

Hey, remember the days when Democrats said that America First policies were racist, xenophobic, evil, and so forth?

China denounces US bill aimed at boosting competitiveness

China Votes BidenBeijing has denounced a U.S. bill aimed at boosting U.S. technology to improve American competitiveness, calling it a thinly veiled attack on China’s political system and an attempt to hinder its development.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s ceremonial legislature, the National People’s Congress, issued a scathing statement on Wednesday expressing its “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.” The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate on Tuesday.

“This bill seeks to exaggerate and spread the so-called ‘China threat’ to maintain global American hegemony, using human rights and religion as excuses to interfere in China’s domestic politics, and deprive China of its legitimate development rights,” the statement said.

Oh, hey, remember when Democrats were saying that anything negative about China was racist?

The statement also attacked provisions of the bill expressing support for Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory; references to Hong Kong, where Beijing is accused of rolling back democracy; and criticism of Chinese policy in the northwestern territory of Xinjiang, the site of mass detentions of minority Muslim groups.

It’s almost like China wrote this story for the Associated Press? Anyhow, nice to see Congress showing support for Taiwan. Republicans have, now Democrats are.

The 68-32 Senate vote demonstrated how confronting China is a rate issue that can unite both parties in Congress at a time of intense partisan division.

But Senators have sought to call attention to China’s growing influence without stoking anti-Asian rhetoric at a time of rising hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Almost all those hate crimes have occurred in Democrat run cities by Democrat Party voters.

The centerpiece of the bill is a $50 billion emergency allotment to the Commerce Department to support semiconductor development and manufacturing through research and incentive programs previously authorized by Congress. The bill’s overall cost would increase spending by about $250 billion, with most of the outlays in the first five years.

Not really helpful if Democrats won’t let us mine the necessary metals on American soil. It’s also the federal government getting too involved in private business.

Other parts of the bill spell out national security concerns and target money-laundering schemes or cyberattacks by entities on behalf of the Chinese government. There are also “buy America” provisions for infrastructure projects in the U.S.

Wait, that’s racist!

It’s unclear whether the measure will find support in the Democratic-led House, where the Science Committee is expected to soon consider that chamber’s version.

So, Democrats do not want to support America over China? Huh.

Read: China Seems Upset At America First Technology Bill »

Posted in Current Affairs | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Wants To Force You Out Of Your Fossil Fueled Vehicle, Change Your Life

By William Teach June 9, 2021 – 7:14 am

The original headline of this opinion piece was “To Fight Climate Change, Replace Fossil Fuels At Home And Work”, which was probably considered a little too scary even for NY Times readers. And would lead to inconvenient questions like “has Senator Heinrich given up his own use of fossil fuels at home and work? How about the rest of his elected climate cult Comrades?”

Your Next Car and Clothes Dryer Could Help Save Our Planet

Our future depends on our acting now to confront the climate crisis by enacting policies to convert our economy from fossil fuels to clean energy. By making this switch, we will also create millions of new jobs, save American households money on their energy bills and protect lives by improving the air we breathe in our homes and workplaces.

To get there, we need to begin by electrifying large parts of our economy and changing the supply of all that electricity from polluting fuels to clean energy. We must start with our homes and vehicles because, according to research from Rewiring America, a nonprofit organization focused on the widespread electrification of the U.S. economy, 42 percent of all of our energy-related carbon emissions come from the machines we have in our households and our cars. To keep global warming at livable temperatures, we need to replace existing machines that use fossil fuels with clean electric substitutes when they reach the end of life.

Deep decarbonization analyses, such as a recent report by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, conclude that working to electrify our vehicles, homes and businesses is a critical part of achieving economywide net-zero emissions by 2050.

The jobs thing again, which barely seem to materialize. And, perhaps you will save one energy bills. But that won’t be for a while, as the cost to replace the vehicles and appliances will be expensive to start with. Has Martin done this in his own life?

Rewiring America offers one blueprint for this transition that underscores its enormous scope — and the benefits that will result. The group has calculated that we must replace or install one billion machines. More than half of those would replace the ones we now have in our homes that burn fossil fuels — including our space-heating machines like furnaces, water heaters, cars, and clothes dryers. What if we build those electric appliances in America? That’s a lot of manufacturing.

That’s a lot of manufacturing, yes. Who’s going to do it? China? America doesn’t make most of this stuff anymore, sadly. It would cost thousands to replace my natural gas heating and gas fireplace: how long would it take to recoup that money in electric bill savings? Oh, wait, gas is actually cheaper than electricity.

The other close to half a billion machines are the infrastructure we must install to generate and distribute that electricity — breaker boxes, batteries, rooftop solar systems and vehicle chargers. To power those billion machines, we will need to greatly increase the amount of electricity we produce, and do so cleanly.

Where’s it coming from? Perhaps if we build lots of nuclear power plants, won’t happen with wind and solar.

We need to get started today. And that requires three things. First, we need to invest in upgrading the breaker boxes in American homes so that they can take higher-capacity electrified appliances. These new breaker boxes will help to manage the load on a decarbonized grid. Second, we need to bring down the upfront costs of electrified appliances through rebates, incentives and low-cost financing to encourage consumers to buy them. Fossil-driven machines may be cheaper initially, but operating electrical machines will be cheaper far into the future, and their price will come down with economies of scale.

More government handouts with what is actually the People’s money. And borrowing. Lots of borrowing. From China?

Last, we need to help organize very fragmented local markets, train workers, reduce regulations that make electrification and distributed generation more expensive, and encourage business models that make it easy and intuitive for homeowners to replace and install their share of these one billion machines.

So, government control over the “local markets”? And the economy? What has Martin done in his own life?

Read: Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Wants To Force You Out Of Your Fossil Fueled Vehicle, Change Your Life »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Democrats, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL
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