If All You See…

By William Teach May 6, 2025 – 1:00 pm

…is an island that will soon disappear from carbon pollution driven sea rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is neo-neocon, with a post on Israel occupying Gaza.

Read: If All You See… »

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Washington State Democrats Target Clergy, Removing Confession Privilege

By William Teach May 6, 2025 – 10:30 am

No one should be surprised that Democrats are going after Christianity, are they? Because the law doesn’t mention Islam

Washington Governor Signs Law Steamrolling One Of Catholicism’s Most Sacred Practices

Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a bill May 2 forcing Catholic priests to break their seal of confession in cases of alleged child abuse.

The bill, introduced in the state senate in January, requires clergymen to be added to the state’s list of mandatory reporters in cases of suspected abuse or neglect of a child, even if the information is discovered during a confessional. “Except for members of the clergy, no one shall be required to report under this section when he or she obtains the information solely as a result of a privileged communication as provided in RCW 5.60.060,” the legislation read.

Ferguson, who is Catholic, signed the bill into law and told reporters he felt it was “pretty straightforward,” KXYL.com reported.

“My uncle was a Jesuit priest for many years, (I’ve) been to confession myself – and so I’m very familiar with that,” Ferguson said. “I felt this was important legislation and protecting kids is first priority.”

You can tell your lawyer something in privilege, but, not your clergy. Which does seem to be aimed directly at Catholics. They could have used language that mentioned any religious leaders who are told things in confidence, but, they didn’t. Regardless, does this violate the 1st Amendment?

But, it was not the federal congress passing a law about religion, violating the 1st Amendment. Does Washington state passing a law violate the 1st? How about the Washington state Constitution?

Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship, shall be guaranteed to every individual, and no one shall be molested or disturbed in person or property on account of religion; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state….

In other words, the state of Washington can apparently come after the Catholic church, and any religion, if they think they are involved in, well, damned near anything if it offends the state. Per that last bit they can tell people they are not allowed to protest against LGBTwhatever and abortion and other things Democrats support.

The solution, per Washington clergy, is to hold confession without knowing who the person is. If someone wants to tell them something in privilege names and faces will be hidden. Or people just won’t be able to practice their religion. But, of course, if it is a Muslim a jihadi can tell their Imam they are planning to blow something up and it would be no legal problem.

Read: Washington State Democrats Target Clergy, Removing Confession Privilege »

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Maine Govt, Which Won’t Stop Using Fossil Fuels, Considers A “Polluters Pay” Program

By William Teach May 6, 2025 – 7:00 am

As I always recommend, but, damnit, the fossil fuels companies never listen, they should stop selling their product to the government of Maine. Let’s see how that works out, especially when all the winter weather hits

Bill to hold polluters responsible for climate change advances in Augusta

Maine may be joining Vermont, New York, and two other states in establishing a “Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program” within the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The goal is to force the world’s largest oil producers to pay for the impact of climate change. This measure seeks to force the 90 or so biggest oil and gas producers in the world to pay for the climate change they allegedly helped cause.

But getting “Big Oil” to pay Maine and other states for the impact of climate change will be no easy task. “Climate change is a global problem. And we are experiencing damage from emissions outside of Maine and outside of the United States. And in our view, we need a way to pay for that damage”, says Nick Janzen of Maine Conservation Voters, testifying Monday before members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Only companies who’ve emitted more than a billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution would pay for the damage from climate change. “The amount of their financial contribution will be determined in proportion to their share of global greenhouse gas emissions”, University of Michigan Environmental Law Asst. Professor Rachel Rothschild told the committee. The sponsors are also seeking to make the law retroactive to the mid-1990’s.

Consider that the NJ Superior Court already threw out a lawsuit as they “ruled that lawful oil companies could not be held liable for worldwide emissions.”

Maine would also have to prove these big oil companies; who are operating legally in the United States, providing a commodity we all need; are also responsible for sea level rise, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, and to what degree. Lawmakers admit proving big oil is responsible for the weather won’t be easy.

The 3 long term tide gauges for Maine show .80, .76, and .73 inches of sea rise per century with no acceleration. Less than is expected during a Holocene warm period.

Read: Maine Govt, Which Won’t Stop Using Fossil Fuels, Considers A “Polluters Pay” Program »

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Trump Admin Offers Luxury Flights For Illegals To Self Deport

By William Teach May 6, 2025 – 6:45 am

The Trump admin keeps finding new and inventive ways to get illegals out of the U.S.

Trump Promises Illegals ‘Beautiful Flight’ Out of U.S. If They Self-Deport

Illegal aliens will get a “beautiful flight” out of the United States if they voluntarily self-deport under a new program spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), President Donald Trump says.

On Monday, as Breitbart News reported, DHS announced a financial incentive program that will provide illegal aliens with $1,000 only after they verify that they have self-deported to their home country using the CBP Home mobile app.

Several European countries, such as Germany and Denmark, have imposed similar policies that have been very successful in helping to reduce illegal immigration.

“What we thought we’d do is a self-deport where we’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from … it’s called self-deportation,” Trump said of his program Monday in the Oval Office.

“It’s a very difficult thing with the courts because the courts have all of the sudden, out of nowhere, they’ve said, ‘Maybe you have to have trials.’ We’re going to have five million trials? Doesn’t work … you wouldn’t have a country left,” Trump said, referring to judges preventing him from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal alien gang members.

“Hopefully the Supreme Court will save it … you know past presidents took out hundreds of thousands of people, you look at Eisenhower, you look at many of them, they didn’t go through this,” Trump continued.

Weird how there was no problem when Biden and Obama deported them quickly, eh?

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Trump Can Stop States From Doing Something About Climate Doom Or Something

By William Teach May 5, 2025 – 4:26 pm

Who says he wants to? Doing Something about climate doom is not a duty of the Legislative Branch, who make the laws. Hence, reserved for the states and the people

Why Trump can’t stop states from fighting climate change

The United States has never really cared much about tackling climate change, at least at the federal level. Up until the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA — which handed out billions of dollars for people to electrify their homes and pumped billions more into the clean energy economy — neither Congress nor the executive branch advanced truly meaningful climate policy, given the scale of the crisis.

Lots of people care, right up till they have to pay for it. The Elites care, and expect Other People to pay for it

Yet carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. have fallen from 6 billion tons annually in 2000 to less than 5 billion today. For that, the country can largely thank its states and cities, which have embarked on ambitious campaigns to, among other things, electrify transportation, set automobile pollution standards, and incentivize the deployment of renewable energy. At the same time, wind and solar are now cheaper to build than new fossil fuel infrastructure, and there’s little President Trump can do to stop those market forces from driving down emissions further.

Let them do it. Also, let them pay for it themselves.

Accordingly, Trump has set his sights on states during the first 100 days of his administration. He has tried to kill New York City’s congestion pricing, though last week the Department of Justice accidentally filed a document outlining the legal flaws with the administration’s plan. On April 8, he signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify and halt any state climate laws that she deems illegal, including California’s pioneering cap-and-trade program. That directive, though, is probably illegal itself, because the Constitution guarantees states broad authority to enact their own laws, legal experts told Grist. “This is the world the Trump administration wants your kids to live in,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “California’s efforts to cut harmful pollution won’t be derailed by a glorified press release masquerading as an executive order.”

Some things are the power of Los Federales, because of inter-state commerce.

“States have been saying since the election that they retain the authority and the ability and the ambition to drive down pollution and keep America on track to meet its goals,” said Casey Katims, executive director of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 governors (just one of them a Republican) focused on climate action. “This order is an indication that the president and this administration know that all of that is true.”

Have at it. Every experiment needs an experimental group. Just leave those of us in other states out of it. It is hilarious that they discovered States’ Rights.

Ultimately, climate action is increasingly popular among voters. A spokesperson for Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois pointed to polling that shows 65 percent of people in the state are worried about climate change and 70 percent support fully transitioning to clean energy by 2050. “Voters are smart,” the spokesperson said, “and the more the Trump administration tries to kill clean energy policies that are giving us cleaner air, good-paying jobs, and lower energy bills, the more pushback you’re going to see, because those policies are popular for a reason.”

Again, popular until they have to pay for it and their own lives are negatively affected.

Read: Trump Can Stop States From Doing Something About Climate Doom Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach May 5, 2025 – 1:00 pm

…are Bad Weather clouds from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Independent Sentinel, with a post on stupid Prince Harry.

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Politico Upset Republicans Are Close To Shredding Tons Of Regulations

By William Teach May 5, 2025 – 10:30 am

There isn’t a regulation that Democrats do not like. Well, except for regulations on the abortion on demand industry. Have you ever watched Futurama? This one (the specific part starts about 1:30)

Well, that’s what the US federal government is meant to do: have a light touch. Like a safe-cracker. Democrats want Progressivism (nice Fascism): “we’re doing this for your own good, even if you do not like it, even if it causes you problems).

Conservatives have long dreamed of passing a bill to shred tons of regulations. They may be closer than ever.

Conservative Republicans have spent more than a decade working toward a wholesale rollback of federal regulations — and now they think they have the legislative battle plan to make it happen.

Advocates of the rule-shredding proposal are seeking to give their legislation a coveted spot in the GOP’s party-line energy, tax and border security megabill, a maneuver that would defuse the filibuster threat that has repeatedly thwarted their dreams. They say they have spent the better part of the past year crafting ways to ensure their latest iteration can pass muster in the Senate.

The proposal would turn Congress into a gatekeeper for certain major rules and allow lawmakers to roll back countless regulations for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term, drastically transforming the way the federal government oversees everything from businesses and banks to health care and energy development. The House Judiciary Committee advanced it last week as part of the Republicans’ broader budget reconciliation package — a potentially major step toward finally catapulting the deregulatory proposal to Trump’s desk.

“For those who say it would make a radical change, a radical departure from the status quo of rulemaking, I’d say, ‘Thank heaven above for that,’” said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah).

The language moving forward is based on the “REINS Act” — short for “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny” — which has become a rallying cry for the Republican base.

Well, look, Republicans have themselves to blame, too. It’s not just Democrats. They write legislation that is not specific and targeted, giving their power to the Executive Branch. This one was not on Republicans, but, consider, where did the Contraception Mandate in Obamacare come from? You won’t find it in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (sic). So, how did HHS come up with? We don’t know. The legislation gave the Exec tons of authority to make rules, such as with the fines and time without health insurance. Democrats and Republicans fail to do their job: legislation should be what makes rules. Oh, they do not have the experts? Perhaps they should partner with experts before passing legislation!

The legislation would also allow Congress to repeal numerous recently finalized regulations through the use of a single resolution rather than repealing them one by one, as is current practice.

“It would be a war on regulations,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the minority whip. “To take that authority away from the executive branch would be a serious mistake.”

Does Dick understand the job of the Legislative Branch? And I’m doubting most Americans are thrilled by all these regulations created by unaccountable bureaucrats. Are they thrilled with regulations putting gender confused men in women’s showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms, as well as their sports teams?

Read: Politico Upset Republicans Are Close To Shredding Tons Of Regulations »

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Huh: 35 Democrats Voted With GOP To Kill California EV Mandate

By William Teach May 5, 2025 – 7:00 am

Remember, the EV mandate was enacted by the California Air Resource Board, a group of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats, and it has the force of law in California

35 Democrats vote with GOP to block Biden rule allowing Newsom’s gas car ban

Thirty-five House Democrats are rebuking the Biden administration’s 11th-hour waiver that cleared a path for California to enact a full ban on gas cars by 2035.

A Republican resolution aimed at repealing the Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) move passed by a 246 to 164 vote on Thursday morning.

Notably, two California House Democrats were among the 35 who voted to rescind their own state’s clean energy waiver — Reps. Lou Correa and George Whitesides.

It was a stunning repudiation of their own former party leader’s policies targeting one of Democrats’ largest strongholds.

Republican leaders, meanwhile, cheered the resolution’s passage.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said of the California waiver, “This radical measure bans the sale of gas-powered vehicles, forcing electric vehicles on the American people and taking away consumer choice.”

Too bad the resolution didn’t include anything about the members of the CARB, Gavin Newsom, the members of his admin, and the general assembly not driving EVs themselves

A resolution of disapproval, under the Congressional Review Act, allows lawmakers a mechanism to oppose unilateral rules made by federal agencies.

With 35 Democrats voting for the resolution, will the media whine about the Republicans using CRA again?

Read: Huh: 35 Democrats Voted With GOP To Kill California EV Mandate »

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Trump Directs DOJ To Reopen Alcatraz

By William Teach May 5, 2025 – 6:45 am

Oh, yeah, this is creating Category 5 Moonbattery

(San Francisco Standard) President Donald Trump says he wants to turn Alcatraz Island — a museum and tourist destination for decades — back into a federal prison.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm,” he wrote on Truth Social. “No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”

Created in 1934, the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary held some of America’s most famous criminals, such as Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, until it shut down in 1963 due to high operating costs and structural damage.

Given its remote location and the cold waters around it, escape from the prison was nearly impossible — and Alcatraz gained the reputation of being the highest security lockup in the country.

Right now it is a visitors center via the Nation Parks Service.

(The Hill) The Bureau of Prisons notes on its website that “USP [United States Penitentiary] Alcatraz closed after 29 years of operation” due to soaring costs.

“An estimated $3-5 million was needed just for restoration and maintenance work to keep the prison open. That figure did not include daily operating costs — Alcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other Federal prison,” the bureau says.

It would cost a hell of a lot more now. And, knowing the government, it would take 15 years to get it back open. It’s rusted, the walls are falling apart, it’s decrepit. You would have to really tear it all down. Getting everything out and bringing stuff in would be difficult and expensive. Getting water and power in would be incredibly difficult. A lot of people actually escaped. Probably be better starting fresh using an island off the coast of Alaska.

But, I suspect this is more about winding up Democrats.

Read: Trump Directs DOJ To Reopen Alcatraz »

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St. Greta Almost (not really) Killed On Ship Heading To Help Hamas

By William Teach May 4, 2025 – 10:22 pm

Just gonna leave this here

Um, she wasn’t even on the ship yet. This also happened at Malta, which is halfway across the Mediterranean from Israel. It is below Sicily.

Read: St. Greta Almost (not really) Killed On Ship Heading To Help Hamas »

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