AP Concerned Over Petrochemicals Due To Iran War

By William Teach April 9, 2026 – 3:00 pm

Did you know that 50% of every barrel of petroleum is used for around 700 products other than fossil fuels? The AP is Very Concerned

Iran war puts focus on petrochemicals used in numerous products and a driver of climate change

The Iran war has exposed deep vulnerability in the global economy: dependence not just on oil, gas and coal for fuel, but on petrochemicals that underpin everything from food production to plastic packaging.

As disruptions ripple through energy markets, the war is highlighting how fossil fuels are embedded far beyond transport and electricity. In the short-run, the widespread reliance will lead to higher prices for myriad products, while long-term the pollution that comes from petrochemicals will exacerbate climate change.

A two-week cease fire announced late Tuesday is a hopeful sign that the war, and energy disruptions, will abate. But no matter when it finally ends, for many environmentalists to energy experts, ultimately the war is a stark sign that the status quo needs to change.

“We cannot continue relying on fossil fuels neither for energy nor for material,” said Delphine Lévi Alvarès, global petrochemicals campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law. “We cannot continue relying on fossil fuels for absolutely everything around us.”

The article was surely written on a computer made with petroleum. And being read by people using computers, phones, and tablets made with petroleum. And the clothes and hat worn by “reporter” Steven Grattan are made with petroleum. The photos I see of Ms. Alveres show her wearing glasses, for which the frames and the lenses are made with petroleum.

Petrochemicals are expected to be a central topic of discussion in Santa Marta, a northern coastal city in Colombia, where governments will gather from April 24-29 for an international conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. Experts say discussions will center on reducing demand because the sector is a major driver of future fossil fuel use. Indeed, environmentalists have long argued that fossil fuel companies, realizing that electric vehicles and green technologies like solar threaten their industries, see petrochemicals as a place for their products.

Hmm, so, all these Elites will take long fossil fueled flights on planes which are also made with lots of petrochemicals, wearing clothes made with petrochemicals, phones made with, etc and so on? Huh.

Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at the Cawthron Institute in New Zealand, said that the crisis underscores how exposed global systems remain after decades of dependence on fossil fuels.

“For me, this is like another COVID wake-up call,” she said, pointing to risks for food security and livelihoods tied to rising costs and supply disruptions.

So, an attempt by the Elites to institute authoritarianism?

Read: AP Concerned Over Petrochemicals Due To Iran War »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach April 9, 2026 – 1:47 pm

…is a horrible carbon pollution infused beer, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Wake Up America, with a post on Catholic conversion skyrocketing.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Washington Post Finally Finds Government Waste They Don’t Like

By William Teach April 9, 2026 – 10:30 am

The WP has been against demolishing wasteful spending from federal agencies like USAID, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and many, many more. Against getting rid of tons of federal govt bureaucrats who bring little to no value and/or are doing redundant jobs. Against waste in DEI, environmental justice, and grants. Against investigating all that waste in places like Minnesota and California. Waste that accounts for hundreds of billions, if not into over a trillion, dollars. But, the editorial board finally found something that upsets them

Zombie flights to nowhere

The Essential Air Service program, through which the government subsidizes money-losing commercial flights to tiny airports, was supposed to expire 38 years ago. Like so many zombie programs, this wasteful spending — nearly $700 million last year — persists because a small constituency, with outsize influence in the Senate, fights for it while few others care enough to push back.

That risks happening again. President Donald Trump’s new budget proposes $372 million in cuts to EAS, but key lawmakers in both parties declared that dead on arrival, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), a member of the committee. Their partisan affiliations are less important than the number of airports in their states receiving subsidized service: four in Maine, five in New York.

The EAS program was part of the 1978 compromise that deregulated passenger air travel, allowing airlines to compete freely on price and scheduling. Congress feared service to smaller airports would disappear without government mandates, so the deal created EAS as a 10-year stopgap to soften the transition to the free market. As the deadline approached, legislators extended it another 10 years. Then, in 1996, they made the program permanent.

Once something is created in D.C. it’s almost impossible to get rid of

It was never necessary. From 1978 to 1982, the number of passengers on flights subsidized by EAS fell by over 50 percent, even as the total number of passengers increased nationwide, suggesting that passengers did not view the “essential” service as very essential.

Nevertheless, the government continues paying to keep flights operating with barely any passengers. The floor to continue receiving subsidies is an average of just 10 passengers per day.

How dare the govt help out those rural folks!

People in communities receiving EAS subsidies frequently don’t use the subsidized flights, preferring instead to drive to larger airports with more options, according to a 2025 study by Austin Drukker, an economist at the Federal Trade Commission. The people who do take the subsidized flights tend to be from out of town and have incomes 40 percent higher than local residents.

In other words, a program created to keep people in rural communities connected to air travel is now allowing the affluent to fly in and out of remote destinations, underwritten by taxpayers.

$700 million is nothing to sneeze at, but, usually Democrats tell us this is a big nothingburger when compared to the (bloated, wasteful, insane) federal budget. Why does the WPEB have such a hate-on for this one program enough to write an editorial on it?

Trump is not even trying to eliminate the subsidies, just reduce them. If D.C. was serious about fiscal restraint, that would be on the table. Instead, the zombie flights to nowhere will continue.

Nothing like a little TDS to end the piece, trying to say Trump is not serious. Even after allowing DOGE to take a chainsaw to federal agencies and the number employed by the government, the WPEB says Trump is not serious. The thing is, DC is not serious about fiscal restraint, hasn’t been for 50 years? 100 years? Every representative and senator has their own thing they want funded. Which, really, tends not to help Americans since earmarks were eliminated (at least earmarks, no matter how wasteful, were designed to go back to districts and states, rather than overseas).

To be clear, I fully support ending the subsidy, but, now I look forward to the WPEB telling us about more wasteful spending, especially the type that goes to foreign citizens, gets used to fund Democrat campaign coffers, and bloats the federal bureaucracy.

Read: Washington Post Finally Finds Government Waste They Don’t Like »

Posted in Government | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Oklahoma Latest State To Look To Block Climalawfare Against Fossil Fuels Companies

By William Teach April 9, 2026 – 7:15 am

I think it would be more fun if they instead passed a law that said that anyone or any entity that sues fossil fuels companies must show that they have stopped using fossil fuels in their own lives. Maybe even as far as showing they are not using any plastics or one of the 700 products made with petroleum

Oklahoma bill would block climate change lawsuits against fossil fuel companies

A measure introduced in the legislature this year would prohibit anyone in Oklahoma from suing fossil fuel companies for damages related to the effects of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.

Senate Bill 1439, which would create the Energy Security and Independence Act, was authored by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton.

Fossil fuel companies violating their permits or environmental laws are exempt from the bill’s language.

That’s reasonable

Moore said the legislation would protect the industry, which includes any company working with oil and gas, coal, natural gas liquids or refined petroleum products.

“The reality is, if you were to get that judgment, billions and billions of dollars, that’s just passed on to the taxpayer — that would be passed on at the pump, that would be passed on through electricity costs, energy costs across the board would dramatically change,” he said. “There’s no reason that that has any place in any court of law, but especially in Oklahoma.”

And the people filing the nuisance suits use lots of fossil fuels themselves.

Both authors of the Oklahoma bill say there is no statewide quantifiable impact of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions. Yet researchers with federal agencies and other organizations have estimated the U.S. is burdened with billions of dollars each year because of climate-related damages and costs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re just making numbers up. Maybe they should be sued for contributing to climate doom via their own use of fossil fuels.

Read: Oklahoma Latest State To Look To Block Climalawfare Against Fossil Fuels Companies »

Posted in Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Minnesota Totally Wants Judge To Force Immigration To Stay Away From Schools

By William Teach April 9, 2026 – 7:00 am

Last time I check, it was never a law or regulation

Minnesota districts ask judge to restore limits on immigration enforcement near school

Attorneys for two Minnesota school districts and the state’s main teachers union asked a federal judge Wednesday to block a Trump administration change in policy that gave immigration authorities a freer hand to conduct enforcement actions in and near schools.

The Department of Homeland Security last year rescinded longstanding nationwide restrictions on immigration enforcement in or near “sensitive locations” such as schools and school bus stops, churches and hospitals that effectively made them off limits except in rare circumstances.

The Fridley and Duluth school districts, and the Education Minnesota union, sued to block the new policy in February, at a time when the Department of Homeland Security had sent around 3,000 federal officers into the state for Operation Metro Surge. Federal agents involved in the crackdown killed two citizens in Minneapolis in January.

The plaintiffs asked the court Wednesday for either a stay or preliminary injunction that would restore the previous restraints.

Attorney Amanda Cialkowski, who represents the district and union, told reporters afterward that it was unclear if a ruling in their favor would apply outside of Minnesota, or to other “sensitive locations” like churches and hospitals.

The “sensitive” locations restrictions was never passed by Congress. It was never a rule or regulation that went through the process, it was simply an agreement that immigration officers followed. For the most part. They would certainly go to them for the really bad people. And they still mostly stay away, but, the very notion that an illegal alien parent could be scooped up when dropping the kids off terrifies the illegals, which is the point. It’s all about freaking the illegals out, to get them to self deport.

If the wacko leftist judge in Minnesota rules to put the “restriction” back in place, which I’m sure will happen, they’ll just lose on appeal.

School districts across the Twin Cities area saw absenteeism spike during the crackdown. In St. Paul, over 9,000 students were absent in mid-January, more than a quarter of the district, according to attendance data obtained by The Associated Press.

Minneapolis Public Schools had over 8,000 students stay home on the last school day in January, close to 30% of students. And Fridley saw attendance drop by nearly a third, according to court filings.

That should tell you how many illegals are in the Twin Cities area.

Immigration arrests of people without criminal convictions have increased eightfold under Trump, report says

Arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions by ICE have surged 770%, while street arrests saw a more than 1,000% increase during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

You know, this could have been avoided had Democrats not allowed millions and millions of illegals to stream into the U.S. under Biden, along with all the TPS folks who should have been returned to their nations, all the Haitians, and so many more, and then demand that the US taxpayer pay for everything, all while Americans were suffering, and focus all their attention on the illegals/fake asylum seekers. It could have been avoided if Democrats turned the criminals over easy peasy, rather than trying to shelter them. So, guess what? Now ICE is going to get them all.

Read: Minnesota Totally Wants Judge To Force Immigration To Stay Away From Schools »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

The World’s Held Hostage By Fossil Fuels Or Something

By William Teach April 8, 2026 – 3:00 pm

Hmm, is this an Excuse by the climate cult, claiming that they do not have a choice on using fossil fuels, much like a hostage doesn’t have a choice in doing what the hostage taker tells them to do?

World held hostage by reliance on fossil fuels, Christiana Figueres warns – and climate health impacts are ‘mother of all injustices’

Countries are being “held hostage” by their reliance on fossil fuels, a former UN climate chief has warned, describing the health impacts of climate change as “the mother of all injustices”.

Christiana Figueres, an international climate negotiator who helped deliver the Paris agreement signed in 2016, made the comments as she was announced on Wednesday as co-chair of a Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality.

Lancet Commissions are international collaborations that analyse major global health issues and influence policy. This commission will examine legal frameworks to hold countries accountable for the health harms of sea-level rise. It will report by September 2027.

While the timing of the announcement – amid the US-Israel war on Iran – is coincidental, Figueres said the fuel crisis was “dramatic proof” of the global dependence on fossil fuels that is driving geopolitical instability and the health impacts the commission will examine.

Funny how they are always looking for ways to take Other People’s money and implement authoritarian controls, eh?

The commission comes after Pacific island health ministers called for greater global focus on sea-level rise as a health and justice issue, as well as an environmental challenge.

Sea rise is exactly average for a Holocene century, hence, far below where it should be for a war period. Also, those islands would be utterly undeveloped and living like it’s 1499 without fossil fuels.

“We in the climate community are very guilty of explaining things in way too esoteric terms, as though climate change were something that is not happening now,” Figueres said.

“So framing these issues in terms of health, in terms of dignity, in terms of livelihoods, in terms of identity and cultural continuity … provides a much better context to the challenge of reducing emissions, because we then understand that this really is about the human experience on this planet …

Cute words to use in order to take people’s freedom and choices.

“That is why it is important to to lay bare the consequences of inaction,” Figueres said, adding: “Companies should understand for their business continuation, they should reduce emissions. Governments should understand that in order for them to stabilise their economy, and protect their people, they should reduce emissions.

“I just think that enlightened self-interest based on scientific facts – which is what the commission is going to put forward – is a much more effective route to emission reductions than a legally binding agreement from which anybody can withdraw.”

If it was a scientific fact than why did 50K+ take fossil fueled trips to Brazil for the last UN climate conference? What are they all doing there, other than hobnobbing? They add zero value. Figures was there herself. And she takes lots of fossil fueled trips. This is all about suing and stuff while the biggest Warmists refuse to modify their own behavior/

Read: The World’s Held Hostage By Fossil Fuels Or Something »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach April 8, 2026 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Green Jihad, with a post on climate predictions vs weather forecasts.

Read: If All You See… »

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

Good Grief: Duckworth Calls For Return To Taking Off Your Shoes At Airport Security

By William Teach April 8, 2026 – 10:30 am

Really? Really? This is what she’s all butthurt about? Let’s not forget that members of Congress are usually given an escort to skip the security line

TSA urged to bring back controversial airport security rule abandoned last summer: ‘Reckless act’

A Democratic senator has called on the Department of Homeland Security to re-introduce the controversial “shoes off” rule for travelers at airports – branding the decision to ditch it as “reckless and dangerous.”

Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) blasted former Secretary Kristi Noem, who announced last July the policy had been abandoned almost 20 years after it was first rolled out at US airports.

“Secretary Noem’s decision to implement a shoes on policy on July 8, 2025, likely without meaningful consultation with TSA [Transportation Security Administration], was a reckless act,” she wrote in the letter addressed to its acting administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, seen by CBS News.

Duckworth issued the blistering warning – just months after an investigation by DHS’ internal watchdog found scanners could not screen shoes effectively.

“Allowing a potentially catastrophic security deficiency to remain in place for seven months and counting betrays TSA’s mission,” the lawmaker blasted.

I typically fly at least once a year, visit the parents for Christmas, maybe fly somewhere else for vacation. I haven’t been required to take off my shoes for like 4 years at Newark. RDU for like 3 years. They’ve stopped requiring separate bins for computers and stuff. Do not even have to take the computer out of the bag. Is Tammy butthurt because Noem under Trump put this policy in place?

Seriously, after putting in the shoes policy in 2006 has anyone been caught with a bomb or anything else?

The policy, which had been in place since 2006, was ditched just months before millions of tourists are expected to flock to the US for America 250 celebrations and the World Cup.

Officially ditched, because airports around the country have quietly ditched the policy. Most nations do not require taking shoes off. Those who did generally only required if taking an international flight to the US. And, really, if someone wanted to have shoe bombs, they could have just used TSA PreCheck, which doesn’t require taking shoes off for scanning.

I know, let’s make Tammy go through security just like the rest of us and make her take her shoes off.

Read: Good Grief: Duckworth Calls For Return To Taking Off Your Shoes At Airport Security »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Democrats | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Oh, Noes, Dung Beetles Having A Tough Time With ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach April 8, 2026 – 7:00 am

Does the US Today really think this is going to move the needle?

Dung beetles have a tough life. Climate change is making it worse

A recent study in Peru’s Amazon found that rising temperatures from climate change are pushing dung beetles beyond their thermal limits, reducing species diversity at both low and high elevations and threatening their ecological roles.

Not exactly the poster child for cute animals, dung beetles now join the list of species affected by human-caused climate change.

Indeed, the long tentacles of climate change now extend all the way into the dreary lives of dung beetles in the Amazon rainforest, a new study suggests.

“With ongoing climate change, rising temperatures may push dung beetles beyond their physiological limits,” said study lead author Kim Lea Holzmann of the University of Wurzburg in Germany, in an e-mail to USA TODAY.

“May.”

Besides their important role in ecosystems, dung beetles are an excellent model group for ecological research because their biology and ecology are relatively well understood, Holzmann said. “This makes them a valuable study system. They can be sampled using standardized trapping methods worldwide, since they are easily attracted to dung and carrion, which allows for comparable data across different regions.”

In addition, dung beetles are highly sensitive to environmental disturbances such as habitat loss, land-use change, and climate shifts. Because of this sensitivity, they serve as strong bioindicators, meaning changes in their communities can reflect broader ecosystem changes.

Well, they seem to have survived numerous Holocene warm and cool periods, so, enough with the scaremongering.

Read: Oh, Noes, Dung Beetles Having A Tough Time With ‘Climate Change’ »

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

Washington Post Very Upset ICE Possibly Shot Someone In California

By William Teach April 8, 2026 – 6:45 am

I mean, this isn’t even much of a story at all for the San Francisco media (the San Fran Chronicle seemed more concerned about the road delays), but, of course the Washington Post has to get hysterical

ICE officers fire at suspect during vehicle stop in California
The agency did not say whether the man was struck. The shooting comes amid mounting scrutiny over the tactics of federal immigration officers.

And, of course they want to position this as “ICE Bad!” in the headline and subhead

A man was taken to the hospital Tuesday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers fired at him during a targeted vehicle stop in Patterson, California, federal authorities said.

The officers were seeking to arrest Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez when the shooting took place, acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement. The statement described Mendoza Hernandez as an undocumented immigrant. Lyons said he was a gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in a murder investigation but did not provide evidence to back up that allegation.

Lyons said Mendoza Hernandez “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over,” prompting officers to fire “defensive shots to protect themselves, their fellow agents and the public.”

He did not say whether the man was struck by the bullets or provide the status of his medical condition.

Well of course the WP goes with “did not provide evidence”. Maybe they could have reached out to the El Salvador government for confirmation? That’s what reporters do.

The incident follows months of mounting scrutiny over the tactics of ICE officers and other federal immigration personnel, including the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. In more than a dozen shootings by federal officers since last summer, the Trump administration has accused those who were shot of being the aggressors, saying many used their vehicles to try to injure federal officers.

This has what to do with anything? You’d think Americans would be happy that a member of a violent gang wanted on a murder charge was detained. But, not when Orange Man Bad is in office. These people are seriously broken.

Read: Washington Post Very Upset ICE Possibly Shot Someone In California »

Posted in Illegal Immigration, Wonky Media | 7 Comments | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove