Bummer: Raleigh Fails Again To Find Someone To Build Bus Rapid Transit

By William Teach April 29, 2025 – 3:00 pm

The BRT for Raleigh goes all the way back to 2016, when the voters approved a plan. It’s almost 10 years later and

When planning to build something, isn’t it a good idea to have someone to actually build it before announcing you’re going to build it?

Raleigh is once again trying to find contractors to build North Carolina’s first bus rapid transit line. This time the city is trying a different strategy, one that will further delay the project.

Last year, the city twice sought bids from construction companies to build the New Bern Avenue BRT line, which will run 5.4 miles between downtown and a planned park-and-ride lot off New Hope Road. The first time, no one bid. The second attempt yielded one bid that was more than $41 million higher than the city’s estimates and was rejected.

The rest is behind a hard paywall, but, the result is no bids. Zero. No one wants to build it. Here were are 9 years later and not one project has even started. Is there a need for this on New Bern? How many people will actually ride it? Is it taking people where they want to go? Is this more about forcing the peasants out of their cars and onto buses, like we’ve seen in so many leftist cities (while the Elites travel in fossil fueled large SUVs)?

BTW, I’m reserving judgement on this, until we have more info

Read: Bummer: Raleigh Fails Again To Find Someone To Build Bus Rapid Transit »

Posted in Global Warming, NC News | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 29, 2025 – 1:44 pm

…is a world killing fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is American Greatness, with a post on Josh Hawley introducing the PELOSI Act.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 18 Comments | Trackback URL

Gov. Pritzker Calls For Violence From Democrats

By William Teach April 29, 2025 – 10:30 am

So, when citizens of Illinois commit violence in the name of Democrat policies can Pritzer be arrested for incitement?

Pritzker Calls For ‘Mass Protests,’ Says Democrats’ Strategy Is ‘Stale’

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender, called on Democrats to engage in “mass protests” during a fervid speech in New Hampshire on Sunday night, rejecting the bipartisan approach pushed by others in his party and sparking backlash from the White House.

“It’s time to fight everywhere and all at once,” Pritzker, who was on the Harris campaign’s short list for a running mate last year, told a crowd of Democratic officials and donors in Manchester.

“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,” he continued. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.”

“For far too long, we’ve been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell us that America’s house is not on fire, even as the flames are licking their faces,” he said. Democrats need to “stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump.

This is a call to violence. The funny thing, though, is that when the hardcore Democrat base gets violent they tend to destroy Democrat areas. During the George Floyd protests what areas were smashed? Who’s businesses were razed? Yeah, it was in Democrat run areas. Nothing new for Democrat

In comments to reporters Monday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller slammed Pritzker’s calls for protests.

“His comments, if nothing else, could be construed as inciting violence,” Miller said when asked if the Justice Department would “take action” against the governor. “President Trump survived two assassination attempts against his life.”

Dems like calling for violence

“He wasn’t listening to my speech at all then,” [Pritzer] said. “I was calling for people to take out their megaphones and their microphones, to stand up on soapboxes and to get to the ballot box in order to defeat the people who are trying to take so many things away from the American people. That has nothing to do with inciting violence.”

Yeah, he used a bit of language to protect himself, but, we’ve seen this schtick before, and they want violence.

Read: Gov. Pritzker Calls For Violence From Democrats »

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Earthquakes And ‘Climate Change’ Could Cause Flooding In The Pacific NW, But, Mostly Earthquakes

By William Teach April 29, 2025 – 7:14 am

Of course, the Warmists blame earthquakes on you driving a fossil fueled vehicle

Climate change is ramping up flood risk in the Pacific Northwest: Study

A powerful future earthquake, coupled with climate-driven surges in sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, a study has found.

These conditions could impact thousands of residents and their properties in Northern California, Oregon and Washington state, according to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A major earthquake could ultimately cause coastal regions to sink up to 6 1/2 feet, expanding the federal-designated coastal floodplain by between 35 square miles and 116 square miles, the study’s authors determined.

They defined the coastal floodplain as the area that exhibits a 1 in 100 chance of flooding each year.

Dura and her colleagues created tens of thousands of models to assess the amount of land sinkage that could occur after the next big Cascadia earthquake. They then used geospatial analysis to quantify earthquake-fueled expansion of the floodplain at 24 adjacent communities and estuaries.

Since earthquake timing remains uncertain, the team modeled the effects of such an event happening both now and in 2100, when climate-driven sea-level rise would exacerbate the impacts of any land sinkage.

There aren’t many really long term tide gauges for Washington and Oregon, but, here’s Astoria, which has “The relative sea level trend is -0.14 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.29 mm/yr based on monthly mean sea level data from 1925 to 2024 which is equivalent to a change of -0.05 feet in 100 years.” Three of the other 4 gauges show a decline for Oregon. Neah Bay, Washington, shows “-0.56 feet in 100 years.” Seattle shows “0.69 feet in 100 years.” Friday Harbor has “0.39 feet in 100 years.” Seattle is the outlier for the long term, and short term, stations.

There is no anthropogenic, or natural, sea rise doom in the future.

If a major earthquake occurred now, the scientists determined an additional 14,350 residents, 22,500 structures and 777 miles of roadway would fall within the postevent floodplain zone — more than doubling flood exposure.

Potential flooding would affect five airports; 18 “critical” care, rescue and education facilities; eight wastewater treatment plants; one electricity substation; and 57 possible contamination sources, such as animal feeding operations, gas stations and solid waste sites.

“Today, and more so in 2100 as background sea levels rise, the immediate effect of earthquake-driven subsidence will be a delay in response and recovery from the earthquake due to compromised assets,” Dura said.

It’s like they felt it was their cult duty to throw ‘climate change’ into the mix, when it’s really about the danger of earthquakes.

Read: Earthquakes And ‘Climate Change’ Could Cause Flooding In The Pacific NW, But, Mostly Earthquakes »

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

LOL: Trump Admin Puts Photos Of Illegal Alien Criminals On White House Lawn

By William Teach April 29, 2025 – 7:00 am

Oh, the caterwauling this has created amongst the Democrats. MSNBC is absolutely losing it over this, if you can take watching the video

White House lawn displays yard signs featuring migrant criminals: ‘we will hunt you down’

The White House on Monday debuted a display of yard signs featuring several illegal migrant criminals who had been arrested under the Trump administration.

Each sign includes the migrant’s mugshot, their crime and a tag which reads “arrested.” Among the crimes listed are “rape,” “homicide” and “distribution of fentanyl.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a video via X showing at least 90 signs on display.

“We will hunt you down,” the White House wrote via X. “You will face justice. You will be deported — and you will never set foot on American soil again. Oh, and your mugshot may just end up on a yard sign at the White House.”

Do the Democrats really want to assail Trump and his people over this? Do they want to get into high dudgeon over showing the faces of illegal aliens, many let in by the Biden regime, who were rapists and murderers? Is this your hill?

Leavitt also announced during a morning press briefing President Donald Trump would sign an executive order targeting sanctuary cities throughout the U.S. The order would allow law enforcement to “pursue criminals and protect innocent citizens.”

I disagree with this: go after the illegals in non-sanctuary jurisdictions first. The ones Biden shipped around the nation to small town USA. Let Democrats deal with the criminal illegals in their cities for the time being. They can be last.

Read: LOL: Trump Admin Puts Photos Of Illegal Alien Criminals On White House Lawn »

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Study: People Understand Climate Doom When Exposed To Lying, Doomy Material

By William Teach April 28, 2025 – 3:00 pm

The amazing thing is that the climate cult has been Spreading Awareness for 35+ years, and, yet, still have to push it because not enough people are buying into Doom. When they started they weren’t even a cult

People Better Understand Climate Change When Shown Stark, Binary Data

Slowing human-caused climate change requires decisive action, but the slow upward creep of global temperatures contributes to apathy among people who don’t experience regular climate-driven disasters, psychologists say. In a new study from UCLA and Princeton, researchers looked into ways to communicate the true impact of climate change and found a solution.

Because a rise of 1.7F since 1850 is something to be freaked out over, right? No. Hence, apathy. Further, I’d posit that if all you have to offer is extreme gloom and doom, and that the fixes are more taxes/fees, more authoritarian government, and a loss of freedom and life choices, well, ‘climate change’ may be a big concern in theory, but, not in the real world.

Showing people continuous data, such as temperature increases in a town, left people with a vague impression of gradual change, but showing binary data for the same town, specifically whether a lake froze or not each winter, brought home the striking shift, said incoming UCLA communications professor and cognitive psychologist Rachit Dubey.

“People are adjusting to worsening environmental conditions, like multiple fire seasons per year, disturbingly fast,” said Dubey, senior author of the study. “When we used the same temperature data for a location but presented it in a starker way, it broke through people’s climate apathy. Unfortunately, compared to those who looked at a clearer presentation of the same information, those who only looked at gradual data perceived a 12% smaller climate impact and cared less.”

That would be called fearmongering, using massaged data. Further, why can’t the changes be mostly natural, with some land use, urban heat island effect, and, yes, some greenhouse gas output included? I know Raleigh is generally hotter than when I moved here in 1994, but, much of that is the growth, and that the growth and urban pollution at the lower lever keeps nights from getting cooler. I haven’t really noticed hotter summer days, though, yeah, it can get hotter earlier in the year. It’s a Holocene warm period.

Dubey studies how people reason about climate change, how to communicate about it and how to improve climate communications. He noted how heavily political and personal experiences influence risk perceptions around climate change, and how quickly people redefine “normal.” A Vox article reporting on climate apathy in 2020 inspired Dubey to look deeper into the human tendency to adjust to change, even as science has proven that humans’ greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change and increasing disasters like wildfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, and sea-level rise.

If you cannot simply give the facts, but, have to change how you communicate, then it really isn’t that doomy or that big of a deal. Eric Worrell notes

The obvious interpretation for climate apathy is the climate change people are experiencing is not a big deal compared to other issues they deal with in their daily lives, and is not disruptive enough make people care. That “apathy” is ordinary people correctly concluding global warming is way down on their list of priorities.

But instead of accepting climate change isn’t a problem for the people they investigated, the scientists concluded they have to spice up the message, to make the data look more frightening.

In real life it is a minor issue. Hell, even most of the Dem voters I know never mention it, and aren’t interested in discussing it when I make a joke that “this is all your fault for driving a fossil fueled vehicle, when are you getting an EV?”

Read: Study: People Understand Climate Doom When Exposed To Lying, Doomy Material »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 28, 2025 – 1:00 pm

…is an ocean that will soon rise up and swamp the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Evil Blogger Lady, with a post on drone jammers at the Pope’s funeral.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

NY Times Has Dumbest Headline/Subhead On Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame Inductions

By William Teach April 28, 2025 – 10:30 am

Every year, about this time, I rage like a moonbat about the insanity of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame inductions. I’ve already run across dozens of pieces on the ‘net and Twitter. Then, while searching for a news story to post, there’s this

Chubby Checker, Outkast and the White Stripes Will Join the Rock Hall
Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company and Soundgarden — but not Oasis or Phish — are also part of the 40th anniversary class.

Also? Also for Joe Cocker and Bad Company? Chubby Checker definitely deserves to be there, but, to call Cocker and Bad Company are “also”? Bad Company should be the headline for the Rock N Roll HOF. And should have been in 20 years ago. Outkast has no business being in, just like so many non-Rock artists. It’s not that their not good (though, not my type of music), it’s that they are not rock.

Chubby Checker is finally joining the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 65 years after “The Twist” became a No. 1 hit and an international dance craze.

Checker, 83, who has campaigned for decades to be admitted to the pantheon — at one point taking out a full-page ad in Billboard magazine that said “I want my flowers while I’m alive” — is part of the 40th annual crop of performer inductees. He is joined by Joe Cocker, the White Stripes, Outkast, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company and Soundgarden, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced on Sunday evening, after a Rock Hall-themed segment on ABC’s “American Idol.”

Checker, Cocker, Outkast and Bad Company were all accepted on their first nomination.

That Checker, Cocker, and Bad Company were never nominated is a travesty. Kool and the Gang? Mary J Blige? Missy Elliot? Dolly Parton? Eminem? Jay Z? And so many more? Not rock. Country. Hip Hop. Rap. Not rock. Heck, there are plenty of rock acts that really should not be in there. Ones who are good, but, not HOF worthy.

Heck, the Times doesn’t even really talk about the inductees except Checker. Sorry, but, Bad Company is the biggest name this year

Other nominees who didn’t make the cut include Mariah Carey, the Black Crowes, Billy Idol, the Mexican rock band Maná and the linked British groups Joy Division and New Order.

Mariah doesn’t belong in it. Billy does. Black Crowes? Meh. But, without Iron Maiden, the whole thing is a joke. Without Motorhead (not my favorite, but, no one can overstate their influence), Thin Lizzy, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Motley Crue, Boston, Blue Oyster Cult, and so many others, the HOF is a joke. Judas Priest is in their as a performing artist, but, not as an artist, the main category. That’s absurd.

Read: NY Times Has Dumbest Headline/Subhead On Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame Inductions »

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Hawaii Legislature Tells Insurers To Sue Big Oil

By William Teach April 28, 2025 – 7:00 am

The island of Hawaii would be basically 3rd world without fossil fuels. How would anyone get there without fossil fueled flights? No one is going to take a 2,000+ mile trip on a sailboat to go somewhere with no energy, no modern buildings, no transportation. And where does most of the food come from? Products and goods? Fossil fueled ships and planes. Are they willing to give that all up?

Hawai?i lawmakers call for Big Oil to pay for rising insurance costs

The catastrophic Maui wildfires of 2023 made it clear: Hawai?i is on the front lines of the climate crisis. Now its residents are feeling some of the economic consequences, including massive spikes in the price of home and property insurance — with peoples’ bills going up by as much as 1,000%.

Why should Hawai?i residents be forced to shoulder these costs alone? Big Oil knew decades ago its products would worsen these kinds of extreme weather disasters, but lied to the public.

Yeah, a 300 page report about the fire stated

The fire was initially blamed on the combination of high winds and dry weather. However, the investigation found that the widespread destruction was caused by a single fire that started by the “undetected re-energization of broken utility lines, which caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation,” Maui Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said during a press conference Wednesday.

So, not ‘climate change’

Last week Hawai?i took an important step toward climate accountability, becoming the first state in the nation to endorse the idea that the fossil fuel industry bears financial responsibility for the rising cost of home insurance in the state. A joint resolution passed by the state House and Senate calls on the state’s insurance providers to limit rate increases on Hawai?i families by taking the fossil fuel industry to court for damages from climate disasters.

But, weirdly, the resolution doesn’t recommend that the state stops using fossil fuels. That they demolish the airports. No planes or helicopters. No fossil fuels for all those boats. Or the vehicles taking tourists around. Nor did the elected lawmakers pledge to end their own use of fossil fuels. Of course, they couldn’t bring in EVs, because that would require fossil fueled transport ships.

With constituents struggling under relentlessly rising housing costs, state lawmakers are starting to respond. Hawai?i’s resolution comes after a similar bill requiring insurers to seek damages from the fossil fuel industry passed the state Senate. California legislators are also considering legislation that would allow insurers and climate disaster victims to recover their losses during climate disasters from fossil fuel companies.

Funny how it’s California and Hawaii with rising rebuilding costs, but, not having that trouble in Western NC. It’s almost like hardcore Leftists enact policies that are bad for building homes. You know how many have been rebuilt in Maui?

A year and a half since fires devastated the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii, only six houses have been rebuilt—six out of more than 2,000.

Why is the recovery effort taking so long? Initially, the biggest hurdles were the pace of debris removal and damage litigation. Both were overcome only last month. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleared the final lots on February 19, while the Hawaiian Supreme Court ruled that a $4 billion settlement for victims can begin to move forward.

Think on that. Certainly, easier to do in Western NC than Maui, but, 6.

Read: Hawaii Legislature Tells Insurers To Sue Big Oil »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Huh: Gavin Newsom To Give Murderous Illegal Alien Up To ICE

By William Teach April 28, 2025 – 6:45 am

I’m guessing that Gavin doesn’t want to be the governor who let this illegal free when he runs for president

Newsom agrees to help feds after outrage exploded over his own prison system releasing killer illegal immigrant after only 3 years

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has agreed to help the Trump administration pursue federal charges against an illegal immigrant being freed early after killing a young couple in a horrific drunk driving crash.

Newsom’s office promised the state would comply with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  detainer to ensure the killer, Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano, does not end up back on US streets after his controversial early release.

“After being deported in 2013, this individual unlawfully re-entered the US & committed heinous crimes,” the governor’s office said in an X post.

“[California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] will again coordinate with ICE — as they have w/ 10,000+ inmates — to transfer him before release.”

Ortega-Anguiano, 43, was convicted of vehicular manslaughter over the fiery 2021 wreck that left 19-year-old Anya Varfolomeev and her boyfriend, Nicholay Osokin, dead.

The victims’ families were alerted over the weekend that he would be eligible for release come July after serving just 3.5 years of his decade-long sentence.

Though, it is wild how many Democrat voters are livid at Gavin for giving a convicted killer up to ICE. What makes them want to support this guy? It can’t just be Trump Derangement Syndrome, can it?

Unfortunately, the feds are considering sticking Ortega-Anguiano in federal jail for coming back after deportation. I’d rather we just fly him to the tip of South America and drop him off.

Read: Huh: Gavin Newsom To Give Murderous Illegal Alien Up To ICE »

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