Trump Signs COVID/Govt Funding Bill, Still Has Demands

By William Teach December 28, 2020 – 7:47 am

Congress was obviously going to Congress on the bill, and was happy to give citizens chump change while funding all sorts of dumb things, like ‘climate change’ idiocy and gender studies in Pakistan

President Trump signs bill that includes $900 billion stimulus deal after delay

President Trump signed legislation on Sunday evening that provides crucial government spending and $900 billion in pandemic-related stimulus after demanding that the bill be amended in various ways.

The president “has signed H.R. 133, an Act making consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, providing coronavirus emergency response and relief, and for other purposes,” White House spokesperson Judd Deere stated Sunday evening.

The entire $2.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, which funds the government through September 2021, passed both chambers of Congress on Monday night with overwhelming support.

The $900 billion coronavirus relief portion of the bill includes $600 stimulus checks, extends two federal unemployment programs, provides an additional $300 in weekly jobless benefits, and adds another round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses.

Also included is funding for vaccine distribution and schools, $25 billion in rental assistance, an extension of the eviction moratorium, $13 billion in food assistance, and $7 billion to increase access to broadband.

Trump has a few demands, but, it’s almost as if he’s washing his hands of this whole mess

In Sunday’s signing statement, the president asserted that the Senate “will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud.”

Breitbart has the full statement, and the question now becomes whether the GOP will vote for the $2,000 checks, now that there’s no need to worry about stripping the dumb crap out of the bills. The House won’t bother with either of the other two things, Section 230 being about Big Tech protections, and the Senate will most likely ignore them, as well. Per Trump’s statement, he looks to use the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which will allow him to not spend lots of the crazy money funding measures. The question then becomes, does China Joe do the same, probably by accident? Or does he go and change it and spend that money in other countries when Americans need it?

I guess we’ll know later in the day about the $2,000.

Read: Trump Signs COVID/Govt Funding Bill, Still Has Demands »

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Say, Who’s Going To Foot The Bill For China Joe’s Climate Crisis (scam) Agenda?

By William Teach December 27, 2020 – 7:25 pm

Anthony Rowley at the South China Morning Post asks a good question. It’s the answer he provides that’s rather interesting

As Joe Biden prepares to rejoin the global fight against climate change, who will foot the bill?

US President-elect Joe Biden has promised to go full tilt into action against climate change from the first day of his presidency on January 20.

But, in fighting an impending climate crisis, he and other advanced-nation leaders may encounter an unexpected enemy – a crisis of market capitalism.

The two things are closely connected, but this fact does not appear to have dawned yet on policymakers, investors and others who are raring to go into battle against climate change and other existential threats. Saving the planet is going to cost money, and no one is sure where it will come from.

In round terms, half of the multitrillion-dollar amount needed is envisaged to come from governments and the other half from financial market investors. Just how exactly this latter half is supposed to find its way from private savings into public projects is far from clear.

Um, where is the government getting the money from?

So, unless capital markets can come up with some radical new ideas on how to translate private savings into the colossal amounts needed to save the planet and its inhabitants, and do so quickly, state intervention to bypass markets will almost certainly become necessary.

That’s a mouthful, eh? They’re expecting private firms to take the money they’ve been entrusted with by private citizens to make the right decisions and dump that into Hotcoldwetdry stuff, and, if they don’t, it should be confiscated. Taken away. Think about that. Even you Warmists out there, do you want “state intervention” with your hard-earned money? Money you count on for retirement, for your kids, for whatever?

State-dominated financial systems (among which China’s is by far the biggest) seem likely – by virtue of their ability to marshal savings behind mega social and economic projects – to leave market economies behind in the race to “go green” and contribute to saving life on Earth.

Sounds like they’re advocating a takeover of the U.S. financial systems. Silly me to say this is about politics and not science.

The task needs not just a climate change tsar, such as former secretary of state John Kerry whom Biden has appointed to the task, but also a financial system tsar who can get Wall Street and other financial centres properly focused on the task in hand. That would be a good New Year resolution for Biden and other leaders.

Do you trust Government for this? Do you want the people who buy $750 hammers and fund shrimp on treadmills (insert your own example) do this? Finding creative ways to take your money?

Read: Say, Who’s Going To Foot The Bill For China Joe’s Climate Crisis (scam) Agenda? »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach December 27, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…are old buildings made for living without electricity and heating and AC, which is super awesome for other people, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Newsbusters, with a post on ABC and NBC being befuddled by Trump wanting bigger COVID checks.

It’s sundress week!

Read: If All You See… »

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach December 27, 2020 – 9:19 am

patriotic pinup gil elvgren

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in America. The Sun is shining, the geese are honking, and the new year is almost here. Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas? This pinup is by Gil Elvgren, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Independent Sentinel notes John Ossoff took money from the CCP and hid it
  2. Weasel Zippers covers (fake holiday) Kwanza and Kamala Harris
  3. The Right Scoop discusses what MSNBC thinks of the selfish people having weddings
  4. The Other McCain notes a left wing journalist arrested for firebombing a police car
  5. The Last Refuge covers the FBI having a person of interest in the Nashville bombing
  6. The First Street Journal has some SJWs being butthurt
  7. Sultan Knish notes that managing people is just easier
  8. Powerline wonders if Dems are in trouble for 2022
  9. neo-neocon covers wealth extraction in San Francisco
  10. Moonbattery notes a school superintendent suspended for wearing blackface…18 years ago
  11. Liberty’s Choice features an epidemic of politics
  12. Legal Insurrection notes Detroit suing BLM protesters
  13. Jihad Watch covers CAIR and their 33 demands to China Joe
  14. DC Clothesline discusses all out war after Jan 6th
  15. And last, but not least, Chicks On The Right covers all the wasteful spending in 2020

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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Trump Rages As Congress Refuses To Remove Pork From COVID Bill In Exchange For $2,000 Checks

By William Teach December 27, 2020 – 8:04 am

When we talk about a biases, partisan, spinning media, this is a good example

Unemployment benefits expire for millions as Trump rages

Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet lapsed overnight as President Donald Trump refused to signed an end-of-year COVID relief and spending bill that had been considered a done deal before his sudden objections.

The fate of the bipartisan package remained in limbo Sunday as Trump continued to demand larger COVID relief checks and complained about “pork” spending. Without the widespread funding provided by the massive measure, a government shutdown would occur when money runs out at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s a chess game and we are pawns,” said Lanetris Haines, a self-employed single mother of three in South Bend, Indiana, who stood to lose her $129 weekly jobless benefit unless Trump signed the package into law or succeeded in his improbable quest for changes.

Washington has been reeling since Trump turned on the deal after it had won sweeping approval in both houses of Congress and after the White House had assured Republican leaders that Trump would support it.

Instead, he assailed the bill’s plan to provide $600 COVID relief checks to most Americans — insisting it should be $2,000. House Republicans swiftly rejected that idea during a rare Christmas Eve session. But Trump has not been swayed in spite of the nation being in the grip of a pandemic.

“I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill,” Trump tweeted Saturday from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the holiday. “Also, stop the billions of dollars in ‘pork.’”

That’s “raging”? Nowhere in this Associated Press article, published at ABC News, does it mention that Trump wants all the pork, all the silly stuff, pulled from the bill, which is a combination COVID and government operations bill. Seriously, as Trump said

“It’s called the COVID Relief Bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID,” Trump said. “This bill contains $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment. $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan, $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. $40 million for the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, which is not even open for business.

And $15 million for Pakistan, at least $10 million of which must be used for gender studies. Lots of folks defending the Covid bill are saying “hey, this includes a normal operations of government funding bill”. Is it necessary to add all this stuff for other countries as well as non-needed stuff to it? Even some stuff such as $1.4 billion for wall construction is not necessary at this point. Nor is $15 billion for grant programs for live entertainment venues such as Broadway, which are all shut down. It’s really all the foreign aid that is unnecessary at this time. Kill it off.

But, you know, Trump’s raging about stupid spending or something.

Read: Trump Rages As Congress Refuses To Remove Pork From COVID Bill In Exchange For $2,000 Checks »

Posted in Bat Soup Virus, Donald Trump | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

New Zealanders Are Up For Anything Goes To Stop ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach December 26, 2020 – 3:00 pm

Well, I’m sure anything but measures that hurt their own lives

New Zealand readers say ‘everything’ must be prioritised in battle against climate change

After prime minister Jacinda Ardern declared a climate emergency this month, we asked you what New Zealand should prioritise to meet its climate change goals.

The responses varied widely, although there was broad consensus that more needed to be done to reduce emissions from agriculture and transport. Some of you argued for better urban design, while others advocated the introduction of a carbon tax, investment in renewable energy and more sustainable housing, efforts to reduce plastic waste and an increase in the planting of native trees.

Many of you also urged Ardern to exhibit the same leadership she showed during the Covid-19 crisis, to be brave in making decisions and honest with New Zealanders about the changes required to meet her government’s goals.

Here is a selection of your answers:

Most of the answers are about Government needs to do something, not about “hey, I’ll happily give up my own use of fossil fuels and make my life carbon neutral. Sure, I’m good with paying a lot more for energy and all goods and services. Sure, I’m good with rolling blackouts. Yes, I think we should stop all fossil fueled flights from coming to New Zealand with vacationers and goods. Sure, we should stop all fossil fueled ships that bring goods to New Zealand.”

Like the rest of the world it [NZ’s climate response] needs to do everything. Climate change is complex and there’s no easy fix. The solution is to reduce emissions across the board, and that means moving away from a lifestyle based on individual “success” to one based on collective wellbeing. That means bigger government, with more regulation and a stronger influence on what people and businesses do. It means a fairer distribution of wealth, better education, better public facilities (including transport), more emphasis on quality of life and less on material wealth, less “development” and more “conservation”. To put it simply, less greed and more sharing. It means changing society, and you can’t do that by focusing on one or two things.

Early on, when I started blogging, plus yapping on chat boards, people said I was crazy for saying that ‘climate change’ had little to do with science and everything to do with far left politics. I’ve told skeptical scientists and such that their focus on disproving the crazy science of the Cult of Climastrology was a waste, because this isn’t about science, and no matter what, Warmists will find a way. This is about politics.

Read: New Zealanders Are Up For Anything Goes To Stop ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach December 26, 2020 – 1:00 pm

…is an inland sea created by climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lid, with a post on NYC’s population continuing to amscray.

Read: If All You See… »

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Politico Basically Admits That Lockdowns And Closing Businesses And Such Doesn’t Work

By William Teach December 26, 2020 – 10:30 am

There have been lots of different methods tried early on to limit the spread of Wuhan-Flu. California went the draconian route, and still is trying. Yet

From the link

California has had some of the toughest restrictions in the country to combat the coronavirus, from a complete ban on restaurant dining to travel quarantines and indoor gym closures.

It hasn’t been enough.

America’s most populous state has become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the disease, setting new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths almost every day. Things are so bad in Southern California that some patients are being treated in hospital tents, while doctors have begun discussing whether they need to ration care.

The turnabout has confounded leaders and health experts. They can point to any number of reasons that contributed to California’s surge over the past several weeks. But it is hard to pinpoint one single factor — and equally hard to find a silver bullet.

So, perhaps all the restrictions weren’t necessary, because it sure looks like a resurgence is happening all over the world, not just the country

At more than 100 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, California’s case rate is second only to that in Tennessee, according to the nonprofit tracking site Covid Act Now — though it’s a state that does not mandate mask wearing and allows indoor gatherings of up to 10 people. The website Covid Exit Strategy shows a 97 percent rise in Covid throughout California, which has gone in the opposite direction from its West Coast counterparts, Oregon and Washington.

And Tennessee is just barely ahead of California, despite not having mask mandates. But, people voluntarily wear masks in Tn, because it’s this year’s fashion statement, you know.

After early success, S. Korea sleepwalks into virus crisis

South Korea had seemed to be winning the fight against the coronavirus: Quickly ramping up its testing, contact-tracing and quarantine efforts paid off when it weathered an early outbreak without the economic pain of a lockdown. But a deadly resurgence has reached new heights during Christmas week, prompting soul-searching on how the nation sleepwalked into a crisis.

The 1,241 infections on Christmas Day were the largest daily increase. Another 1,132 cases were reported Saturday, bringing South Korea’s caseload to 55,902.

They had some social distancing restrictions, and then loosened them, but, did not destroy their economy. And, like pretty much most 1st world nations, and, heck, 3rd world nations, they are seeing a big resurgence. There never was a reason to ruin economies. And most often, it was those with no skin in the game, those who weren’t missing paychecks, those not having their jobs deemed non-essential, who pushed the hardest for all the hardcore lockdowns and such.

Read: Politico Basically Admits That Lockdowns And Closing Businesses And Such Doesn’t Work »

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China Joe Could Possibly Get Surprising Allies For Climate Crisis (scam) Fight

By William Teach December 26, 2020 – 8:33 am

If Joe says “come on, man” enough times everyone will just fall in line. BTW, are you ready to be treated to a steady diet of the word “historic”? Everything Joe does will be considered historic by the Credentialed Media, unlike, say, Team Trump negotiating all sorts of deals between Israel and Muslim nations

In pursuing historic climate change agenda, Biden may find surprising ally

President-elect Joe Biden has made no secret that tackling climate change will be one of his top priorities. But to enact his platform to reduce global warming he may find an unexpected ally: Republicans.

Biden campaigned on the most ambitious climate agenda in history: one that included plans for pioneering green energy and infrastructure projects and proposals to address environmental racism. Large chunks of his “Build Back Better” economic agenda are explicitly tied to climate-related policies. (snip)

But what comes after that will be the hard part: trying to implement his climate agenda through legislation.

And that’s where he may find a partnership with Republicans on Capitol Hill.

While some in the GOP remain in steadfast denial that human-caused climate change even exists, dozens of Republican lawmakers have acknowledged that the time has come to address the crisis and have put forward policies that have gained some degree of bipartisan traction. (snip)

Interviews with lawmakers from both parties and climate advocacy organizations on both ends of the political spectrum suggest the appetite in both parties for climate change policy is robust, making the topic a likely, even if unexpected, area for bipartisan cooperation under the new president.

If Republicans start crossing the aisle and signing on to this cult garbage, they can kiss 2022 and future elections goodbye. Even if it’s something like trying a bit of “we’ll give you this and you give us that,” they’ll lose. We’ve seen it with illegal immigration and so many other big issues, where they give Dems what they want in exchange for something Republicans want, but, the things for Republicans never materialize. Unfortunately, there are some Big Government Republicans who are fans of a national carbon tax scheme

The Growing Climate Solutions Act, sponsored by Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., focuses on capturing carbon technologies in the agricultural sector, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Whitehouse have put together another bipartisan bill focused on increasing carbon capture methods that occur naturally within ocean and coastal ecosystems.

Earlier this year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., began pushing a new conservative climate policy effort along with seven of his Republican colleagues — meant to rival the progressive “Green New Deal” — including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Tex., who introduced legislation, titled the New Energy Frontier, focused developing carbon-capture technologies.

Carbon capture? Doesn’t really exist, it would be just another government spending boondogle. The climate policies by McCarthy and Crenshaw basically say that the government should keep their hands off. And are big mistakes, because you never want to open the door even a crack to Democrat ideas, because then they will demand more and more.

But, if the media and Democrats think Republicans will roll over and actually implement China Joe’s massive Progressive (nice Fascism) climate scam agenda, they should think again.

Read: China Joe Could Possibly Get Surprising Allies For Climate Crisis (scam) Fight »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming, GOP, Joe Biden | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Record Outside Cash Pouring Into Georgia Senate Races

By William Teach December 26, 2020 – 8:18 am

This is not a good thing

Record cash pours into Georgia Senate races, with a large chunk from California

With early voting well underway and both sides expecting extremely close races, record amounts of money continue to pour into Georgia’s twin Senate runoff campaigns, including a large chunk of cash from donors in California, new Federal Election Commission filings show.

The two Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, shattered all-time fundraising records over the last two months. Their Republican opponents, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively, hold a financial edge, however, thanks to outside Republican groups that can raise massive sums mostly unconstrained by federal campaign laws.

Much of that outside money comes from donors whose identities remain undisclosed.

Warnock brought in just over $103 million in the two months from mid-October to mid-December, according to his filing. Ossoff raised even more — almost $107 million. Perdue raised $68 million and Loeffler, $64 million.

All four candidates have received much of their money from out of state, with California donors contributing the most.

All four surpassed the previous fundraising record for a Senate candidate — the $57.9 million that Jaime Harrison, a Democrat, raised in the third quarter this year in his campaign to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. Of course, Harrison lost, a reminder that more money provides no guarantee of victory.

First off, I thought Democrats were against all that dark money? No? Oh, right, only when it isn’t coming to them.

Second, and more important, how does this serve the People of Georgia to have the candidates be essentially be beholden to individuals and entities not from Georgia? This is a big problem in our Federal Republic, where everything is national and the political parties take precedence over the citizens in states and districts. That senators and representatives, and, heck, even state and local politicians, are getting enormous amounts of money from outside their cities, states, and districts, perhaps even a majority of their campaign funds. At that point, do they care about their constituents, or the big money donors? Not necessarily picking on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, I just remember see the statistic, but, 80% of her 2018 election funding came from outside her district. Does she serve the people in her district or those donating big money?

And, yes, I have been down this road long ago: I would disallow all campaign funding from outside the sphere of election. For a US senator, nothing from outside the state, federal representative, nothing outside the district, etc. Yes, there would still be some games played. A company could say “well, we actually have operations in that city/district/state, so, we can donate.” It wouldn’t be perfect, but, it would certainly help, because too many politicians do not represent their voters.

And get rid of the 17th Amendment, institute term limits for Congress.

Read: Record Outside Cash Pouring Into Georgia Senate Races »

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