Who’s Up For An “Obamacare” For Homeowners Insurance Due To Global Boiling?

By William Teach December 30, 2024 – 7:00 am

If you like your plumber you can keep your plumber

Opinion – An ‘Obamacare’ for homeowners insurance could protect against climate change

In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Milton and Helene, it has become painfully clear that the financial security of millions of Americans is under threat, not just from extreme weather, but from the crumbling homeowners insurance system.

These storms are the latest in a series of climate-driven disasters that have stretched insurance markets to the breaking point. As wildfires sweep through the West, hurricanes batter the Gulf and floods inundate inland areas, homeowners insurance markets are facing unprecedented disruption — and it’s only getting worse.

None of these are due to anthropogenic climate change. Weather happens, things change over time

This isn’t a crisis that will fix itself. If the U.S. doesn’t take bold steps to overhaul homeowners insurance markets, we risk a catastrophic fallout — one that could crash real estate markets, destabilize local economies and derail efforts to build resilience to climate change.

What’s happening in homeowners insurance markets today echoes the dysfunction we saw in health insurance markets before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Before Obamacare, millions of Americans faced rising costs, coverage denials for preexisting conditions and confusing, inadequate health plans. The law tackled these issues head-on with a cooperative federalism approach, leveraging both state and federal expertise to create affordable, accessible health coverage.

What could possibly go wrong with the federal government essentially taking over the home insurance market

Of course, just like with Obamacare, the idea IS to put the government in charge.

Read: Who’s Up For An “Obamacare” For Homeowners Insurance Due To Global Boiling? »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Israel Turned To AI To Help Target Islamic Terrorists

By William Teach December 30, 2024 – 6:45 am

This is from an exclusive at the Washington Post, which seems upset that Israel is killing terrorists

Israel built an ‘AI factory’ for war. It unleashed it in Gaza.

After the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces deluged Gaza with bombs, drawing on a database painstakingly compiled through the years that detailed home addresses, tunnels and other infrastructure critical to the militant group.

But then the target bank ran low. To maintain the war’s breakneck pace, the IDF turned to an elaborate artificial intelligence tool called Habsora — or “the Gospel” — which could quickly generate hundreds of additional targets.

The use of AI to rapidly refill IDF’s target bank allowed the military to continue its campaign uninterrupted, according to two people familiar with the operation. It is an example of how the decade-long program to place advanced AI tools at the center of IDF’s intelligence operations has contributed to the violence of Israel’s 14-month war in Gaza.

The IDF has broadcast the existence of these programs, which constitute what some experts consider the most advanced military AI initiative ever to be deployed. But a Washington Post investigation reveals previously unreported details of the inner workings of the machine-learning program, along with the secretive, decade-long history of its development.

Personally, I see no issue with the IDF using all the tools they can to kill members of Hamas, Hezbollah, and any associated with them.

The investigation also reveals a fierce debate within the highest echelons of the military, starting years before Oct. 7, about the quality of intelligence gathered by AI, whether the technologies’ recommendations garnered sufficient scrutiny, and if the focus on AI weakened the IDF’s intelligence capabilities. Some internal critics argue the AI program has been a behind-the-scenes force accelerating the death toll in Gaza, which has now claimed 45,000 lives, more than half of whom were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

First, no one wants to see their jobs being replaced. Second, they’ve been using the same 45K number for at least 6 months, haven’t they? Seriously, the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry is trotting out the same number month after month, and news outlets like the Washington Post keep running with the Hamas propaganda. And then wonder why they are not trusted.

People familiar with the IDF’s practices, including soldiers who have served in the war, say Israel’s military has significantly expanded the number of acceptable civilian casualties from historic norms. Some argue this shift is enabled by automation, which has made it easier to speedily generate large quantities of targets, including of low-level militants who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Those civilians are hanging with terrorists. Anyhow, once you get by the whining and support for terrorists by the WP, they do get into the meat and tell us some interesting things like

Using the software’s image recognition, soldiers could unearth subtle patterns, including minuscule changes in years of satellite footage of Gaza suggesting that Hamas had buried a rocket launcher or dug a new tunnel on agricultural land, compressing a week’s worth of work into 30 minutes, a former military leader who worked on the systems said.

But

Two former senior commanders said they believe the intense focus on AI was a significant reason Israel was caught off-guard that day. The department overemphasized technological findings and made it difficult for analysts to raise warnings to senior commanders.

It is a long, interesting piece, worth the read.

Read: Israel Turned To AI To Help Target Islamic Terrorists »

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If All You See…

By William Teach December 29, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is a super humid day from ‘climate change’, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Irons In The Fire, with a post on what the Experts say we’re allowed to eat.

It’s a good week to do some running to lose some weight with the New Year coming.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach December 29, 2024 – 9:28 am

Patriotic Pinup

Happy Sunday! Another fine day in the Once and Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and just a few days from the new year. This pinup is by Henning Ludvigsen, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogpshere? The Fine 15

  1. IOTW Report: France’s ‘Christian Terrorist’ Turns Out to Have Been a Muslim All Along
  2. Jihad Watch: Only Man Ever to Head Both FBI and CIA is Against Trump’s Appointees, and That’s Good
  3. Legal Insurrection: Will NPR and PBS Survive the Trump-Musk Era? Maybe Not
  4. Moonbattery: Happy Festivus, Tax Slaves
  5. neo-neocon: When is an insurrection not an insurrection? When the left does it
  6. Pacific Pundit: Left wing filth rag The Hill calls for an insurrection to stop Trump from becoming president again
  7. Sultan Knish: The End of Never Trump
  8. The First Street Journal: Today’s left are crying about increasing homelessness while supporting the policies which increased homelessness
  9. The Gateway Pundit: Disney Producers ‘Devastated’ at Decision to Axe Trans Character From Animated Series – Claim Trans Character Would Have ‘Saved Lives’
  10. The Lid: Microsoft Billionaire Bill Gates Wants to Destroy Vax Skepticism with Artificial Intelligence Censorship
  11. This ain’t Hell…: Getting Mexico’s attention with “military strikes” mention
  12. Victory Girls Blog: Joe Biden: China Lies Unmasked
  13. Independent Sentinel: What European Woke Looks Like
  14. Gates Of Vienna: A Slap on the Wrist for the Jew-Hunters
  15. And last, but, not least, No Tricks Zone has New Study Finds 1970s-Present Antarctic Ice Loss Is ‘Unexceptional’ And Not Due To ‘Climate Change’

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014, so, most are hosted internally). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Trump Advisor Warns PRC Not To Interfere With Deportation Orders

By William Teach December 29, 2024 – 7:00 am

Everything will be fun and games for Democrats as they try and stop illegal alien criminals from being deported right up till they are arrested for violating federal law. Those in the People’s Republik Of California should be careful, because the Trump admin is not messing around

Top Trump advisor warns California cities not to block immigration enforcement

California officials, along with dozens of others across the country, received letters this week from Stephen Miller’s nonprofit, America First Legal, warning them of the consequences for interfering with or impeding illegal immigration enforcement.

Miller has been named President-elect Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy. In a written statement, the nonprofit said it had sent 249 letters to elected officials in states and cities with sanctuary policies.

The officials who received the letters include Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell, San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, among others.

The letters, all dated Dec. 23, state that people living in the country illegally are subject to removal and that it is a crime to conceal, harbor or shield them.

“As Attorney General, on December 4, 2024, you stated that the State of California will not enforce federal immigration laws, encouraging defiance by all California jurisdictions,” the letter to Bonta reads in part. “… This rhetoric illustrates the State’s intent to blatantly violate federal law. Such lawlessness subjects you and your subordinates to significant risk of criminal and civil liability. Accordingly, we are sending this letter to put you on notice of this risk and insist that you comply with our nation’s laws.”

I am so looking forward to what comes next, when they FAFO, not think that the Trump administration will actually enforce federal laws against Them! How dare they!

“The fact of the matter is that you and the other officials who support or enforce sanctuary laws, policies, and regulations have a very personal stake in the matter — you each could face criminal prosecution and civil liability for your illegal acts,” the letter concludes.

The look of shock on the face of the first charged/arrested will be priceless, as well as the looks on the faces of other Democrats who’ve been attempting to jam up deporting illegal aliens. But, really, the mass deportation, especially of the criminals, should start in the states that voted for Trump. Get them out of the Blue states and let the Red states deal with the illegal aliens, especially the criminals, they are trying to protect till the end.

Read: Trump Advisor Warns PRC Not To Interfere With Deportation Orders »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

ClimaTalking Point Today: You Caused Earth To Have 41 More Days Of Dangerous Heat Or Something

By William Teach December 28, 2024 – 3:00 pm

This tidbit is making all the rounds through the climaCredentialed Media

Climate change added 41 days of dangerous heat around world in 2024

Once upon a time Scientists say human-caused climate change added an average of 41 days of dangerous heat worldwide in 2024. The analysis from World Weather Attribution and Climate Central comes after a year likely to be the world’s hottest on record. The heat scorched everywhere from cities in North America to West Africa to the Acropolis in Greece and even South and Southeast Asian countries. Some areas saw 150 days or more of extreme heat due to climate change. The scientists also said that climate change worsened much of the world’s damaging weather throughout the year.

People around the world suffered an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat this year because of human-caused climate change, according to a group of scientists who also said that climate change worsened much of the world’s damaging weather throughout 2024.

The analysis from World Weather Attribution and Climate Central researchers comes at the end of a year that shattered climate record after climate record as heat across the globe made 2024 likely to be its hottest ever measured and a slew of other fatal weather events spared few.

Can you guess what is missing from this and all the other doomy articles? Actual data. There is no mention of what they consider “dangerous heat” and how much more there was. Where was it? North Carolina didn’t seem anything but usual. How does this all compare to previous Holocene warm periods?

Millions of people endured stifling heat this year. Northern California and Death Valley baked. Sizzling daytime temperatures scorched Mexico and Central America. Heat endangered already vulnerable children in West Africa. Skyrocketing southern European temperatures forced Greece to close the Acropolis. In South and Southeast Asian countries, heat forced school closures. Earth experienced some of the hottest days ever measured and its hottest-yet summer, with a 13-month heat streak that just barely broke.

Do they understand that this is the way averages are made? 4+2 is 6. The average is 3. Right? Oops, sorry, I keep forgetting that this has all become a doomsday cult, and facts, figures, reality, history, science, none of that matters to them.

Read: ClimaTalking Point Today: You Caused Earth To Have 41 More Days Of Dangerous Heat Or Something »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach December 28, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…are rough seas from climate change driving wind, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Geller Report, with a post on Palestinians attacking a Bethlehem church.

Read: If All You See… »

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Republicans Note That Trump’s “Imperialist Crazy” Is Negotiation Tactic

By William Teach December 28, 2024 – 10:30 am

I mean, Politico is hitting the nail on the head, but, they do not really believe it

‘Crazy worked just fine the first time’: Why some Republicans see Trump’s imperialist musings as an act of negotiation.

Donald Trump is heading into 2025 with imperialism on the brain.

Since his November victory, the president-elect has suggested the U.S. should own Greenland, annex Canada and reclaim the Panama Canal — an expansionist air he doubled down on in a spree of Truth Social posts on Christmas Day.

But if Trump’s overtures are evidence that his America First policy agenda may have an interventionist component, they also served as an early reminder of how the incoming president conducts foreign policy: Lots of threats, confusion, freewheeling and a dose of unpredictability. And Republicans are largely writing it off as saber rattling, an approach that sometimes helped Trump get what he wanted out of allies and adversaries during his first term, but also at times threw his administration into chaos or sowed confusion like the famous late-night “Covfeve” tweet.

“I was there at the State Department when a tweet would be issued, and then, every intellectual in the building had to somehow figure out if there’s any logical sense to this and policy to this and if there’s any upside, or if this actually is Covfefe,” said Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and appointee in Trump’s first administration.

Well, yeah. The lefties at Politico and other Credentialed Media outlets just do not seem to get that Trump is not a career politician: he’s a businessman who ran for office, and mostly sticking with those private sector business tactics. Sure, they do not always work. That’s life. The moonbats think Trump actually wants to invade and take over Greenland, Canada, and Panama. No. Just sabre rattling. And he keeps them all guessing, unsure of what he will do, because the people Trump is speaking to are career politicians and bureaucrats, who do not understand business, just Politics Speak. They do not do things this way in Politics Speak world.

“But from a foreign policy context, crazy worked just fine the first time,” he said. “If leaders are like, we may not respect you but we absolutely think that you’re bonkers, and we don’t know what’s coming at us next, great. Full send. And if that leads to better peace and prosperity in Ukraine, in Israel, with terrorists on watch, with foreign states. Great. They should be put on notice.”

It mostly worked just fine during the first Trump term, while, during the Political Speak term of Biden-Harris things got a whole lot worse, as they did during the Obama-Biden years.

Dave Carney, the longtime Republican strategist who served as senior adviser this year to the pro-Trump Preserve America super PAC, said Thursday that Trump may be “trying to soften the ground for negotiations,” recalling his threats during his first term to withdraw from NATO — which some Republicans credited with pressuring other countries to increase their defense spending. He said Trump’s unpredictability can be an asset in some scenarios.

“With the president, there’s, I think, always the possibility that other countries think, ‘holy shmoly, he may actually do that, we should try to accommodate him,’” he said.

Correct.

But Trump’s freewheeling nature has also spelled trouble for his administration in the past, prompting concerns from foreign policy and national security experts. His abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria in 2018 was made without consulting his national security team or allies, stunning lawmakers and his own Cabinet when he reportedly reached the decision after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And Trump regularly used Twitter during his first term to issue nuclear threats against countries or orders to the military, a habit that spurred chaos and confusion throughout the ranks of command.

In other words, the career politicians and bureaucrats did not like it. Surprise, and, oh, well.

Read: Republicans Note That Trump’s “Imperialist Crazy” Is Negotiation Tactic »

Posted in Donald Trump | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

New York Governor Finally Signs Laws Making Businesses Pay For Climate (scam) Emissions

By William Teach December 28, 2024 – 7:00 am

What could possibly go wrong with this?

New York to charge fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change

Large fossil fuel companies would have to pay fees to help New York fight the effects of climate change under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The new law requires companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to pay into a state fund for infrastructure projects meant to repair or avoid future damage from climate change.

Lawmakers approved the bill earlier this year to force big oil and gas companies to contribute to the cost of repairs after extreme weather events and resiliency projects such as coastal wetland restoration and upgrades to roads, bridges and water drainage systems.

“The Climate Change Superfund Act is now law, and New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable,” said state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat who sponsored the bill.

I wonder if Hochul and Krueger have given up their own use of fossil fuels? Nah. We know they haven’t.

The law won’t start penalizing companies immediately. Instead, the state must come up with rules on how to identify responsible parties, notify companies of the fines and create a system to determine which infrastructure projects will be paid for by the fund. Legal challenges are expected.

They’ll have to figure out how much the cost of living will go up from this law, and how many companies will leave NY. Let’s go back to when they were discussing this earlier in 2024

New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie threw cold water on a bill that would require major energy companies to pay for climate change remediation, saying the measure could ultimately result in higher costs for utility ratepayers.

The Climate Change Superfund Act would require companies that contributed significantly to the buildup of greenhouse gases to pay for part of the mitigation efforts to offset climate change, including major infrastructure projects like water barriers.

The measure was approved in the state Senate, but has stalled in the Assembly.

Heastie says he’s concerned that it would result in higher utility prices, as the energy companies pass down the costs of the new requirements to ratepayers.

“I’ve never in my life seen corporations choose the ratepayer over the stockholder,” Heastie said. “Asking these companies to pay more, it’s going to be, of course, taken out on the ratepayer.”

It’s unknown if they managed to figure out a way to make it so the fees/taxes can’t be passed on, but, that would mean more companies leaving. They will be passed on. Hopefully those companies that stick around really sock it to the government for government purchases.

Read: New York Governor Finally Signs Laws Making Businesses Pay For Climate (scam) Emissions »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Upset That Deporting Illegals Could Mess With Agriculture

By William Teach December 28, 2024 – 6:45 am

There was a time when there was a pretty big business in migrants with visas coming up from Mexico and Central America to work agriculture, then going home when the job was done. Or even being in the US for a few years on a legal visa. Now, Democrats just want all the illegals and fake asylum seekers to clean their homes, do their yards, and pick their veggies and fruits

Trump migrant deportations could threaten states’ agricultural economies

If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants, it could upend the economies of states where farming and other food-related industries are crucial — and where labor shortages abound.

Immigrants make up about two-thirds of the nation’s crop farmworkers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and roughly 2 in 5 of them are not legally authorized to work in the United States.

Agricultural industries such as meatpacking, dairy farms and poultry and livestock farms also rely heavily on immigrants.

“We have five to six employees that do the work that nobody else will do. We wouldn’t survive without them,” said Bruce Lampman, who owns Lampman Dairy Farm, in Bruneau, Idaho. His farm, which has been in the family three decades, has 350 cows producing some 26,000 pounds of milk a day.

“My business and every agriculture business in the U.S. will be crippled if they want to get rid of everybody who does the work,” said Lampman, adding that his workers are worried about what’s to come.

OK, so, is Lampman employing people not authorized to work in the U.S., be it due to being unlawfully present or fake asylum seekers? That would be illegal. If they are authorized to work, not problem. Unless they are a criminal. Does Lampman, and other companies, want murderers, rapists, child abusers, thieves, etc., working for them? Because those are whom the Trump admin will go after first.

Anita Alves Pena, a Colorado State University professor of economics who studies immigration, noted that many agricultural employers already can’t find enough laborers. Without farm subsidies or other protections to make up for the loss of immigrant workers, she said, the harm to state economies could be significant.

Well, how about getting legal migrant workers? What they really want is to pay these people minimum wage or less to do the job. Are they saying their business model relies on illegal aliens?

How about having those sentenced to jail work the fields? Do the agriculture business owners want these people?

You want them, business owners?

Meanwhile

Migrants can accrue profound emotional trauma when journeying to the US. Mental health workers are stretched thin.

There’s a phrase in Haitian Creole that describes feelings of extreme stress, anxiety, or depression that are all too common among the thousands of new migrants arriving in Massachusetts: tet chaje.

The literal translation is “burdened head,” a feeling of being overwhelmed. People who work with the state’s surging number of new arrivals, a majority of whom are from Haiti, hear the term often.

Migrants may accrue profound emotional injury both in their home nations, where gang violence or state-sponsored oppression are common, and through the journey to the United States. Many experience rape and assault or witness the deaths of fellow travelers.

Can anyone think of a solution so they do not that profound emotional trauma?

Read: Democrats Upset That Deporting Illegals Could Mess With Agriculture »

Posted in Illegal Immigration | 5 Comments | Trackback URL
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