17 Republicans Join With Dems To Pass Obamacare Subsidies Extension

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

How often do Democrats go off the reservation to vote with Republicans instead of voting 100% with what Dem leadership says?

House passes 3-year extension of ObamaCare subsidies

The House passed legislation Thursday to revive and extend expired ObamaCare tax credits in a bipartisan vote that is boosting hopes of centrist Republicans for a bipartisan deal to revive the tax credits.

The tally, 230 to 196, highlighted the tenuous grip Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has over his restive GOP conference. Seventeen centrist Republicans crossed the aisle to join every voting Democrat in support of the measure.

The measure, which would provide a three-year extension to the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that originally passed in response to COVID-19, now heads to the Senate, which defeated the same proposal last month in a largely partisan vote. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has suggested he’ll ignore the House bill altogether.

Still, lawmakers think it could light a fire and pressure the bipartisan Senate group working to reach a bipartisan deal.

From everything I’ve seen all the bill does is extend the subsidies. Doesn’t require working to fix the problems caused by Obamacare and previous massive subsidies, doesn’t take care of the problem of ever-skyrocketing premiums and deductibles. Perhaps that could be put in the Senate version? Maybe they could figure out something, because what you can now expect is that the premiums, and maybe deductibles, will continue to go up up up, just as they have been doing.

Yet even some of the most vocal supporters of the ACA subsidies say the House bill is dead in the water when it’s sent to the Senate.

“The three-year extension is never going to become law. We know that. The Senate already voted on it. They voted it down,” said Lawler, who was one of the four Republicans who endorsed the Democrats’ discharge petition forcing Thursday’s House vote. “So the question becomes, procedurally, how do you actually get to a compromise?”

Drag in professionals to figure out ways to fix the system, because, let’s face it, the chance of Ocare going away is just above zero, like every big government program that gets weaved into the fabric of society. It needs to be fixed because those rising premiums are also affecting the people not on Ocare. How about removing the forced insurance requirement? Making the tax if you don’t have health insurance so low it is meaningless? Offering catastrophic plans?

BTW, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, the entire point of the original expiring premium subsidies was to put Republicans on the hook, make them look bad.

Read: 17 Republicans Join With Dems To Pass Obamacare Subsidies Extension »

Posted in Democrat Lite, Healthcare | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Moonbat States To Sue Over $10B Cut To Welfare Funding

By William Teach January 9, 2026 – 6:45 am

Hey, I wonder if any of them have considered that it’s a mistake to run everything through Los Federales and be dependent on Los Federales for these types of programs and funding, instead of doing it themselves as the Constitution deems?

California, New York and other blue states to sue Trump over $10B cut to welfare funding

California and four other Democrat-run states are planning to sue the Trump administration over $10 billion in cuts to welfare programs.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta told POLITICO he and attorneys general for New York, Colorado, Minnesota, and Illinois will file a lawsuit on Thursday to challenge the funding freeze announced earlier this week by Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services. The cuts are in response to what federal officials have alleged without evidence is widespread fraud and waste of public funds by the states’ welfare agencies.

“They literally just targeted Democratic states because they’re Democrat,” Bonta said in an interview. “They have not one shred, not one shred of evidence, and to turn off the funding with no justification. It’s unlawful and it’s also petty.” (snip)

On Tuesday, federal officials notified the states of plans to withhold $7 billion in funding from the TANF program, as well as $2.4 billion from the Child Care and Development Fund and $870 million in social services grants for children.

Bonta accused Trump of overstepping his powers by trying to cut off money Congress had already allocated to the states.

In addition to the funding cuts Trump officials also requested data from the five states on how they administer their welfare programs. Bonta seized on the data request, saying it illustrated the administration’s misplaced priorities.

Trump didn’t just target those stays on a whim. Except perhaps Minnesota. Do they have whistleblowers? Some inside information? Obvioiusly, trying to make sure that The People’s Money doesn’t disappear into a blackhole of graft, waste, and abuse is “misplaced.”

Speaking of graft, waste, and abuse, otherwise known as “what could possibly go wrong”

Read: Moonbat States To Sue Over $10B Cut To Welfare Funding »

Posted in Democrats | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Cultists Say Trump Pulling Out Of UNFCCC Will Set Back Progress

By William Teach January 8, 2026 – 3:22 pm

There’s a very simple fix for this (it’s Axios, so, their weird formatting which I’ve mostly removed)

Trump’s UN climate exit will set back progress, advocates warn

President Trump’s decision to yank the U.S. from UN climate change agencies will set back international progress on addressing the climate, observers say. (snip)

Driving the news: Trump on Wednesday night announced a pullout from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the foundation of most global climate work, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which regularly assesses climate science. (snip)

Zoom in: Climate advocates were dismayed after Trump withdrew a second time from the Paris Agreement upon taking office. But they said the latest move still stings.

“Pulling out of the UNFCCC is a different order of magnitude from the Paris Agreement,” said Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“It removes the U.S. completely from the global climate framework and negotiations.”

Avoiding climate talks “will only isolate the United States further, undermine our global stature with allies around the globe, and cede the field to China,” said Kaveh Guilanpour, vice president for international strategies at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

If they’re so concerned why do so few Warmists practice what they preach? Per their dogma, if they all gave their own use of fossil fuels the Earth would be saved from global boiling, right? Maybe if the Warmists, like Jean Su, didn’t take long fossil fueled trips to climate conferences (she was there in Brazil) we could erase .0000005 of the temperature rise since 1850.

I’m fine with isolating the US from the authoritarian doomsday cult. Go practice what you preach. Leave the rest of us the F alone.

Context: In all likelihood, U.S. scientists can’t be fully barred from participating in IPCC reports. But those working for federal agencies could face repercussions if they do.

They’re welcome to do it on their own time, not the government’s. But, will they, if they aren’t getting lots of taxpayer money?

Read: Climate Cultists Say Trump Pulling Out Of UNFCCC Will Set Back Progress »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

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

…is a field perfect for a solar farm far from the big cities so you don’t have to see it, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Common Cents Blog, with a post on the new dietary guidance.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Idiot Woman Gets Herself Killed By ICE, Left Wing Lunatics Protest (more)

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

There are three reactions when a car is moving to hit you: freeze, try and jump out of the way, or shoot the driver. In North Carolina attempting to hit someone with a vehicle is assault with a deadly weapon, running anywhere from an A1 misdemeanor to a class E felony

Familiar groups mobilize immediately after ICE shooting of Minnesota protester

Within hours of a Minnesota protester being fatally shot after allegedly attempting to run over ICE agents, a familiar network of far-left protesters for causes ranging from communism to climate change mobilized across the country.

The deceased, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by the Minneapolis City Council on Wednesday afternoon, was killed at the wheel of her SUV just after 11 a.m. ET.

Federal authorities said she had tried to run over ICE agents who were part of a 2,000-strong team sent to the Twin Cities to round up and deport illegal immigrant criminals.

“This appears to be an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference late Wednesday in Minneapolis. “The ICE officer, fearing for his life and the other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.”

A typical AWFL: Affluent White Female Liberal. Renee Nicole Good. She chose to place herself in this position as she protested in favor of people who are in the US illegally/committing massive fraud (the Somalis). Do not run attempt to drive away from law enforcement, do not hit them with your vehicle. Training kicks in and they might shoot you, especially when the uber-white Leftists have been attacking and threatening federal immigration forces

Almost immediately, various groups with causes as diverse as socialism, communism, climate change, Palestinian rights and the Democratic Party launched what seemed to be coordinated protests online and in American streets, using similar language.

The effort by left-wing groups with no obvious shared cause echoed protests over the weekend, when many of the same groups sprang into action in the hours following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

“It’s the same network of people that have thousands of Americans blocking the streets, waving communist and terrorist flags and attacking law enforcement and innocents,” said Brandy Shufutinsky, director of the Education and National Security Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “They are stoking the grievance industry that they built.”

Leftists are certainly happy Good put herself in a position to be killed. Because these people are nuts.

Sure, maybe the officer could have just jumped out of the way, but, these left wing nuts continue to threaten federal law enforcement, continue to be violent. All to protect criminals.

Leftists are against law enforcement enforcing laws. I wonder how he would react if his own armed security did the same as he travels around in a large, fossil fueled SUV?

Minnesota criminal code: 609.2113 CRIMINAL VEHICULAR OPERATION; BODILY HARM.

Subd. 3. Bodily harm. A person is guilty of criminal vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both, if the person causes bodily harm to another as a result of operating a motor vehicle:

(1) in a grossly negligent manner;

Good was grossly negligent.

Read: Idiot Woman Gets Herself Killed By ICE, Left Wing Lunatics Protest (more) »

Posted in Unhinged Tools | 42 Comments | Trackback URL

Climaheartache: Trump Quits UN Framework On ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach January 8, 2026 – 7:15 am

Forget pulling out of the Paris (scam) agreement, this is huge

Trump quits pivotal 1992 climate treaty, in massive blow to global warming effort

The announcement to sever ties with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change came as Trump quit dozens of international organizations that the White House says no longer serve U.S. interests by promoting radical climate policies and other issues. It was outlined in a memo by the White House. Trump has called on other countries to abandon their carbon-cutting measures, and the move appears to be his latest attempt to destabilize global climate cooperation.

The 1992 UNFCCC serves as the international structure for efforts by 198 countries to slow the rate of rising climate pollution. It has universal participation. The U.S. was the first industrialized nation to join the treaty following its ratification under former President George H.W. Bush — and it will be the only nation ever to leave it. The move also marks Trump’s intensifying efforts to topple climate efforts compared to his first term, when he decided against quitting the treaty.

“Many of these bodies promote radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength,” stated a White House fact sheet.

This is awesome. Incredible. What seemed like a good idea in 1992 quickly morphed into a push for soft authoritarianism.

(NRDC) It takes one year after the United States formally submits its paperwork to the United Nations to no longer be a party to the UNFCCC. No country has ever taken this radical step to completely withdraw from all international climate efforts. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC solidifies this administration’s stance as a global pariah on climate change.

So, it takes a year? But, to rejoin, it would be immediate. Damned big reason to make sure a Republican wins in 2028.

Read: Climaheartache: Trump Quits UN Framework On ‘Climate Change’ »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

NY Times Super Concerned What Europeans Think About Trump After Maduro Capture

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

These would be the same Europeans who said that Maduro stole the 2024 election and that he was not the legitimate president? Who were just fine with Biden’s $25 million bounty on Maduro (which the Trump admin bumped to $450 million)?

Europe and Rest of World Try to Come to Terms With Trump the Imperialist

It had the makings of one of the most awkward trans-Atlantic meetings in a long time.

European leaders are said to be privately angry and even panicky about President Trump’s new threats to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, after his military intervention in Venezuela. But they need the United States to ensure credible security for postwar Ukraine against any further aggression by Russia — a vital strategic interest for Europe

With that backdrop, European leaders met in Paris on Tuesday with senior American negotiators to discuss how to secure a peace settlement in Ukraine. They jointly announced progress on security assurances for a postwar Ukraine, but any cease-fire seems distant, given that Russia is not part of the talks.

Even with those outward displays of European-American unity, underlying everything is Mr. Trump’s sudden return to a more imperialist era. Europeans who consider the American intervention in Venezuela a violation of international law see a U.S. president newly empowered and enthralled by military action, which he compared to watching a television show. He comes across as a largely unpredictable force capable of causing enormous disruption — in NATO, in Ukraine, in Iran, in Gaza — as his eye swings from one imagined prize to another.

Let’s see, which nations has Trump launched a full scale war on? Was it Libya? Syria? How many nations is Trump bombing continuously? Iran was a quick one. So was Venezuela. The idea is that Trump threatens and cajoles. I don’t remember the Times complaining about Obama being an “imperialist”, including when he sent the military into Pakistan without their consent, a nation that was a nominal ally (which, again, I had no problem with). And then there was Biden trying to start WWIII. Anyhow, while the Times and the Europeans are whining

Huh. Too bad they didn’t include Brazil, which has about a half million Venezuelans in refugee status. BTW, I would highly recommend reading this tweet from a Venezuelan.

Read: NY Times Super Concerned What Europeans Think About Trump After Maduro Capture »

Posted in Current Affairs | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 7, 2026 – 3:26 pm

…is a village which will soon be wiped out by Bad Weather flooding, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is the First Street Journal, with a post noting you will own nothing and like it.

Sorry, got distracted before work trying to learn Cat Scratch Fever on guitar, forgot I never finished this.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

Say, How Can Cities Adapt To The Climate Crisis (scam)?

By William Teach January 7, 2026 – 3:23 pm

Can you guess what’s coming?

How cities can adapt to climate change without starting over

Local governments make infrastructure decisions all the time – rebuilding roads, expanding housing, and updating public services. A new proposal argues those everyday choices could also become some of the most effective climate actions communities have.

Instead of treating climate adaptation and emissions cuts as separate goals, the approach urges cities to link them.

By “urge” they mean force

The pitch starts with a reality check. Many cities aren’t planning for climate change as a distant possibility. They’re already responding to it.

They’re dealing with storms, flooding, heat, and shifting population patterns that force practical decisions about where people live and what infrastructure can handle.

“Local governments are already dealing with the impacts of climate change,” said Christopher Galik, a professor of public administration at NC State.

“There are more extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and flooding, which force municipalities to make decisions about how, where, and – in some cases – whether to rebuild.”

First, there aren’t more. However, because of expansion with poor planning it looks like more. Streets, sewers, etc, that are not set up for the number of buildings and cars. Instead of putting in some single family homes they build massive apartment and townhouse complexes. There is no way for the normal rain to run-off correctly, so, you get flooding. Clearcut properties, all the concrete and paving instead of ground. Tiny young trees replacing old growth. Giant factories, storehouses, and so forth, all jammed in. Limited roads. We have a big problem in the South with this where growth radiates out from the center in a circle, limiting primary and secondary roads. It’s the problem of land use. I’ve seen floods where I never saw them before because of new apartment complexes. Anyhow

The power of forced decisions
Municipal change is rarely easy, even when it’s clearly needed. Updating zoning or construction requirements can trigger fierce debates, and it often costs money up front.

The paper argues that climate disruption, ironically, can create windows where change becomes more realistic because the alternative is rebuilding the same vulnerabilities again.

“Instituting new policies and regulations that govern zoning, construction requirements, and so on, can be expensive and politically challenging,” Sanchez said.

“But if communities are already having to build or rebuild in response to climate change, implementing compound resilience policies may be more feasible.”

In other words, you will comply, Comrades. Like it or not, you will comply. It all sounds so non-authoritative, but, that is what they want: total governmental control.

Read: Say, How Can Cities Adapt To The Climate Crisis (scam)? »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Gas Prices Expected To Dip Below $3

By William Teach January 7, 2026 – 10:30 am

Weirdly, there’s one name not mentioned anywhere in this NBC News article

Average nationwide gas prices will dip below $3 per gallon this year, GasBuddy projects

For the first time since 2020, the annual average price of gas is projected to fall below $3 a gallon in 2026, the price-tracking group GasBuddy said in a new report Tuesday.

At $2.97, GasBuddy’s projected average for the year is 13 cents below the average price per gallon nationwide in 2025, which was $3.10.

“The world has spent years recovering from the economic whiplash of the pandemic and the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the situation has been improving quietly since 2022,” Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, said in a statement.

GasBuddy calculated the average by determining a monthly price range, averaging that and then taking the average of all 12 months. Full results were included in the group’s 2026 fuel price outlook report.

The last year that average annual gas prices nationwide were as low as GasBuddy projects for this year was 2020, when the Covid pandemic kept millions of Americans working from home and schools largely virtual.

It was $2.17 in 2020. $3.03 in 2021, $3.98 in 2022, $3.54 in 2023, $3.32 in 2024, $3.13 in 2024. Thanks to COVID and the policies of Biden and his Democrat Comrades it spiked hard and then was slow to come down. Now it’s up to Trump to set the conditions to get more drilling going and get the refineries working.

The events unfolding in Venezuela won’t immediately change anything for consumers at the pump, however.

“A lot of Americans may think there’s going to be some sort of overnight or even weekly or monthly improvement in Venezuela’s oil output, but this is really a clock that’s going to tick much slower,” De Haan told NBC News.

“Gas prices almost always start going up in the spring,” he added. “What’s happening in Venezuela is not going to stop that seasonal trend.”

Well, they sure went up quickly, but, yeah, harder to bring down, just like most goods.

Read: Gas Prices Expected To Dip Below $3 »

Posted in Donald Trump, Economy | 18 Comments | Trackback URL
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