If All You See…

By William Teach January 11, 2018 – 1:00 pm

…is a flooded drought world, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is DaTechGuy’s Blog, with a post on a view of Trump from across the pond.

Read: If All You See… »

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Walmart To Raise Starting Wage To $11 Due To GOP Tax Law

By William Teach January 11, 2018 – 10:39 am

Man, that GOP/Trump tax cuts for the rich bill just keeps giving the rich more money

Walmart to raise its starting wage to $11, give some employees bonuses following tax bill passage

Walmart’s employees will soon reap the benefits of the recent tax law changes, as the company raises its starting wage and distributes bonuses to eligible workers.

The big-box retailer announced Thursday it will be increasing its starting wage rate for hourly employees in the U.S. to $11, and is expanding maternity and parental leave benefits. Walmart also will pay a one-time cash bonus to eligible employees of as much as $1,000.

Currently, Walmart’s starting wage is $9 until workers complete a training program. Then, they receive $10.

The company is also creating a new benefit that provides financial assistance to its employees who are looking to adopt a child, giving them as much as $5,000 per child to cover expenses such as adoption agency fees, translation fees and legal costs.

Huh.

“Tax reform gives us the opportunity to be more competitive globally and to accelerate plans for the U.S.,” CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement.

“We are early in the stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates and to further strengthen our business, all of which should benefit our shareholders,” he added. “However, some guiding themes are clear and consistent with how we’ve been investing — lower prices for customers, better wages and training for associates and investments in the future of our company, including in technology.”

It’s amazing what can be achieved when the money isn’t going directly into the pockets of Government, eh?

Meanwhile, Waste Management is giving 34,000 employees special bonuses of $2,000 each thanks to the tax bill.

Read: Walmart To Raise Starting Wage To $11 Due To GOP Tax Law »

Posted in Donald Trump, GOP, Taxation | 17 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrat Leaders Facing Mutiny On DACA Deal

By William Teach January 11, 2018 – 8:12 am

Why would this be happening? Because Republicans might get something out of it

(Politico) Democratic leaders are facing a potential revolt within their ranks as they edge toward a deal with Republicans that would protect Dreamers from deportation but also include concessions to conservatives that many Democratic lawmakers say are unacceptable.

Senate negotiators say they’re inching toward a bipartisan deal that broadly mirrors the parameters laid out during a meeting this week between lawmakers and President Donald Trump at the White House. They include ensuring legal status for Dreamers, strengthening border security and making changes to both family-based migration and the diversity lottery.

But many Democrats, particularly in the House, are horrified that their leaders would even agree to discuss issues beyond legal status for Dreamers and limited measures to curb illegal immigration. The concerns span multiple factions of the Democratic conference, and, combined with opposition from Republican immigration hard-liners, they could put passage of a DACA deal at risk.

These are the hardcores who want a “clean” bill, ie, one which only deals with giving legal status to the Dreamers, with nothing else included.

“We’re willing to give a little when it comes to border security, but we’re not willing to give away the whole hog and farm,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who attended the meeting.

He and other Democrats in the opposition camp argue that wide-scale changes to family-based sponsorship laws and the visa lottery should be discussed only as part of a broader immigration deal.

“I believe we need to pass a ‘clean’ Dream Act,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said. “If we’re going to talk about, you know, all these other factors, then let’s just talk about comprehensive immigration reform.”

These Democrats know they aren’t getting a clean Dream Act. It almost appears as if they are attempting to scuttle negotiations. Why? Because then they can use that in their talking points messaging going into the mid-terms, Blamestorming Republicans. We all know the media will take the Democrats side in this, and this is what the American people will hear and read.

But, here’s an idea: let’s give them a clean bill: Dreamers get temporary protected status, having to renew every two years, and any legal violation above a certain misdemeanor level would get them deported. They would be allowed to apply for citizenship and go through the same process everyone else does after 10 years. However, the people that brought the Dreamers illegally have to leave for this to occur. They are the ones that committed the “sin.” And the parent(s) would be barred from doing anything other than coming for short visits once every two years. No chain migration.

There should be no amnesty. No free citizenship. If Dreamers want it, they have to earn it.

Read: Democrat Leaders Facing Mutiny On DACA Deal »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

New York City, Which Uses A Lot Of Fossil Fuels, Decides To Sue Fossil Fuels Companies Over Climate Change Scam

By William Teach January 11, 2018 – 7:53 am

How would NYC run without fossil fuels? Police cars, ambulances, garbage trucks (when they aren’t on strike), inspector vehicles, buses, meter maids, the mayors limo. And so much more, and that’s just city operations. How about all the private operations? How about all the taxis, limos, and other conveyances. How about all the trucks which bring in materials that allow all those people to eat? How about all the airplanes at the airports? You know, the ones that all Bill De Blasio to jet off to ‘climate change’ meetings in foreign nations?

New York City sues Shell, ExxonMobil, and other oil majors over climate change

The New York City government is suing the world’s five largest publicly traded oil companies, seeking to hold them responsible for present and future damages to the city from climate change.

The suit, filed Tuesday against BP, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, claims the companies together produced 11 percent of all of global warming gases through the oil and gas products they have sold over the years. It also charges that the companies and the industry of which they are part have known for some time about the consequences but sought to obscure them.

“In this litigation, the City seeks to shift the costs of protecting the City from climate change impacts back onto the companies that have done nearly all they could to create this existential threat,” says the lawsuit brought by New York corporation counsel Zachary Carter, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

These are shakedown suits, much as we’ve seen with all the ones filed by California municipalities, and, once again, these companies should pull their operations out of NYC. Refuse to sell gasoline to the City of New York government. Refuse to sell jet fuel to the airports in NYC. Which we know won’t happen, sadly. But, they could threaten. And, they could call out De Blasio for his own use of fossil fuels, like for his limo, and flying to climate change conferences. Call out the city for their use of fossil fuels.

“To deal with what the future will inevitably bring, the City must build sea walls, levees, dunes, and other coastal armament, and elevate and harden a vast array of City-owned structures, properties, and parks along its coastline,” the suit details. “The costs of these largely unfunded projects run to many billions of dollars and far exceed the City’s resources.”

The suit does not specify precisely how much money it is asking for from the oil companies in what it calls “compensatory damages,” saying that should be established in the case.

In other words, they’re trying to shakedown the companies. However, we saw ExxonMobil respond to the California suits by demanding discovery of documents, to “depose California state officials and others involved in bringing the cases for “potential claims of abuse of process, civil conspiracy, and violation of ExxonMobil’s civil rights.””

Exxon and the others shouldn’t let the suits be settled or ended or dropped: they should force the cities, like NYC, to go through the whole process, and, if they get dropped, sue back. Why? Because the Warmists lose almost every time, because they cannot provide rock solid scientific proof that ‘climate change’ is mostly/solely caused by Mankind.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: New York City, Which Uses A Lot Of Fossil Fuels, Decides To Sue Fossil Fuels Companies Over Climate Change Scam »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 18 Comments | Trackback URL

Snow In Sahara Desert Totally Proves Global Warming Or Something

By William Teach January 10, 2018 – 3:11 pm

Is there anything that doesn’t prove anthropogenic global warming/climate change in the anti-science minds of Warmists?

From the article

Increasingly frequent snowfalls in the Sahara Deseret are evidence of the much talked about global warming trend, just like the unusually warm winters in Russia, bitter cold spells in the US and floods in Europe, Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Roman Vilfand told TASS.

On January 7, snow blanketed the Sahara Desert north of Algeria’s city of Ain Sefra. The snow cover was about 40cm deep but melted by night. A year earlier, in December 2016, snow fell in the region for the first time since 1979.

“Such situations, including snowfalls in Sahara, a long cold spell in North America, very warm weather in the European part of Russia and sustained rains which sparked flooding in Western European countries, have been occurring more frequently. The high recurrence of these extreme (weather) conditions stems from global warming. It is not just my standpoint, but an opinion shared by members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” Vilfand said.

Read: Snow In Sahara Desert Totally Proves Global Warming Or Something »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach January 10, 2018 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Bunkerville, with a post on Trump potentially caving on amnesty.

Read: If All You See… »

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EPA Looks To Replace Obama Era Climate Change Regulations In 2018

By William Teach January 10, 2018 – 10:45 am

Elections have consequences, and one of those is watching Obama’s expansive regulation world go kaput

(Reuters) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will replace Obama-era carbon and clean water regulations and open up a national debate on climate change in 2018, part of a list of priorities for the year that also includes fighting lead contamination in public drinking water.

The agenda, laid out by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in an exclusive interview with Reuters on Tuesday, marks an extension of the agency’s efforts under President Donald Trump to weaken or kill regulations the administration believes are too broad and harm economic growth, but which environmentalists say are critical to human health.

”The climate is changing. That’s not the debate. The debate is how do we know what the ideal surface temperature is in 2100?… I think the American people deserve an open honest transparent discussion about those things,” said Pruitt, who has frequently cast doubt on the causes and implications of global warming.

Pruitt said among the EPA’s top priorities for 2018 will be to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama’s centerpiece climate change regulation which would have slashed carbon emissions from power plants. The EPA began the process of rescinding the regulation last year and is taking input on what should replace it.

“A proposed rule will come out this year and then a final rule will come out sometime this year,” he said. He did not give any details on what the rule could look like, saying the agency was still soliciting comments from stakeholders.

Also on the docket is rewriting Obama’s crazy Waters of the USA rule, hopefully doing away with that expansive, massive big government control rule, which allowed the government regulate every pond, every puddle, every stream.

Pruitt is also looking at biofuels rules and laws. And, cutting the number of employees at the EPA, getting rid of the dead wood.

Read: EPA Looks To Replace Obama Era Climate Change Regulations In 2018 »

Posted in Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Aren’t Giving Up On Reinstating The Big Government Net Neutrality

By William Teach January 10, 2018 – 8:26 am

If there’s a program that gives Los Federales more power, Democrats love it (excluding any restrictions on abortion, along with deporting illegal aliens). Net Neutrality does that. It also rewards certain Big Companies which vote Democrat and give Democrats lots of money. Democrats want it back

(The Hill) Democrats are promising a showdown on the Senate floor over net neutrality, betting that the issue will give Republicans headaches ahead of the midterm elections.

Using an obscure procedural tactic, the Democrats are moving to force a floor vote on a resolution that would block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from repealing net neutrality rules. Those rules, passed under former President Obama, required internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally.

The FCC’s decision last month to roll back the rules sparked a massive uproar, creating an issue that Democrats believe could prove politically potent in November.

By forcing a roll call vote on protecting the rules, Democrats are hoping to redirect public outrage — especially among young voters — toward congressional Republicans.

So, let’s see: Democrats were very upset by the GOP tax cuts, which put more money back in the pockets of the majority of Americans, and the want to re-enact a rule, initially passed by a small group of un-elected, un-accountable bureaucrats, which gives the federal government massive control over the Internet and rewards Democrat companies

“Millennials were born into a world with a free and open internet,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s as integral to their daily lives as a morning cup of coffee,” he said. “So when the administration rips it from their hands and hands it over to the big [internet service providers] on a silver platter, millennials will know that Republicans were responsible — you can bet Democrats are going to make sure of that.”

Interestingly, they were born into an era without Obama’s Net Neutrality, as in the rule passed in 2015 by the FCC, which made the Internet into a public utility, much like 1940’s telephones. Things were just fine before NN was passed. And just fine now

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/951077498959343616

Now, as usual, squishy Susan Collins is willing to vote with the Democrats, so, Dems would need just one more Republican to betray their voters, and freedom, in the Senate. However, there’s no way to get a simple majority in the House, so, this push is DOA from the start. Democrats would be using the Congressional Review Act, which gives lawmakers a chance to review, and kill, regulations that have just been passed.

However, there have been arguments that CRA doesn’t apply, since what the FCC did was not enacting a new regulation, but rescinding one. And, this stunt could stifle the chance to pass a bill that would be a compromise from Obama’s net neutrality, putting in certain protections without all the government control.

It could also mean that people take the time to learn what Net Neutrality really did, which was not good. People obtaining knowledge can be dangerous for people.

Read: Democrats Aren’t Giving Up On Reinstating The Big Government Net Neutrality »

Posted in Democrats, Web/Tech | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Surprise: Democrats Admit They Support Legalizing Dreamers For The Votes

By William Teach January 10, 2018 – 8:02 am

As Jazz Shaw notes, this is something we were all thinking, but couldn’t prove. Till the Daily Caller got their hands on this memo

The Center For American Progress (CAP) Action Fund circulated a memo on Monday calling illegal immigrants brought here at a young age — so-called “Dreamers” — a “critical component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success.”

The memo, co-authored by former Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri, was sent around to allies calling on Democrats to “refuse to offer any votes for Republican spending bills that do not offer a fix for Dreamers and instead appropriate funds to deport them.” (snip)

“The fight to protect Dreamers is not only a moral imperative, it is also a critical component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success,” reads Palmieri’s memo, obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“If Democrats don’t try to do everything in their power to defend Dreamers, that will jeopardize Democrats’ electoral chances in 2018 and beyond,” reads the memo. “In short, the next few weeks will tell us a lot about the Democratic Party and its long-term electoral prospects.”

While it doesn’t say it in plain language, the implication is quite clear: the Democrats need the votes from illegal aliens given free citizenship with the ability to vote. And the majority of illegals will vote Democrat. Certainly, you can read this as them meaning that if the Democrats don’t vote for full citizenship for Dreamers, then typical Democrat voters will be turned off and not vote Democrat, but, that wouldn’t happen. Sure, the base which supports people who are unlawfully present would be upset, but they’d still show up to vote. This is all about the 800,000 or so Dreamers. Nothing else.

Democrats only truly care about the Dreamers in the way they care about other minorities, women, and so forth: as voting blocks. Once you get beyond the typical talking points about caring and morals and the rest they yammer about, everyone is put in a Box and pandered to to get their vote. Beyond that, most Dem policies are not good for people in the long run.

Meanwhile, the Democrats finally found a judge (Clinton appointed, in San Francisco) to put a hold on DACA, an extra-legal, un-Constitutional program, which Obama even admitted to, from ending

(Reuters) A U.S. judge in San Francisco temporarily barred President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday from ending a program shielding young people brought to the United States illegally by their parents from deportation.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled in San Francisco on Tuesday the program must remain in place while the litigation is resolved. The ruling could complicate negotiations between Trump and congressional leaders over immigration reform.

Alsup ruled that the federal government did not have to process new applications from people who had never before received protection under the program. However, he ordered the government to continue processing renewal applications from people who had previously been covered.

“DACA gave them a more tolerable set of choices, including joining the mainstream workforce,” Alsup wrote. “Now, absent an injunction, they will slide back to the pre-DACA era and associated hardship.”

This is like a judge ordering the government to stop arresting people involved in petty crime, simply because it might cause a hardship to petty thieves.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Surprise: Democrats Admit They Support Legalizing Dreamers For The Votes »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Those Horrendous GOP Tax Cuts Cause Power Bills To Be Lowered

By William Teach January 9, 2018 – 2:37 pm

So, let’s see, we have tons of companies giving bonuses and stuff to their workers. Now this (via Twitchy)

Kinda the opposite of when Democrats raise taxes and the minimum wage: bad things happen. A good recent example is this piece from Canada.

Read: Those Horrendous GOP Tax Cuts Cause Power Bills To Be Lowered »

Posted in Taxation | 3 Comments | Trackback URL
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