Gore Effect: Maine Forced To Postpone Vote On Forced EVs Due To Power Outage

How will all those EVs work when the power goes out due to storms? Where’s the power going to come from for all those EVs? There can only be so many dams (and don’t forget that the eco-loons want to get rid of dams)

Maine forced to delay vote on EV mandate amid widespread power outages

A top Maine state environmental agency delayed a highly-anticipated vote to approve a sweeping electric vehicle (EV) mandate amid a storm that caused widespread power outages.

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) announced that it had indefinitely postponed the meeting, which was slated for Thursday afternoon, until further notice following the storm. Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who has pursued an aggressive green energy agenda, declared a state of emergency this week, an action that closed state government offices. (snip)

BEP, which is required to prevent, abate and control pollution in the state, voted in late October to approve the Advanced Clear Car Program, which would mimic regulations in California mandating that more than 40% of new car purchases in the state be electric by 2027 and 82% be electric by 2032. The agency was expected to finalize that mandate during the meeting on Thursday.

The state proposal, though, has faced considerable bipartisan opposition from state lawmakers led by Republicans, but also from Rep. Jared Golden, a House Democrat. Golden noted this week that a strong storm would render electric vehicles useless, given their need for reliable electricity generation and supplies.

Surprisingly, it gets pretty cold and snowy in Maine. There are lots of areas where homes and cabins are off the grid. How does an EV get there? Also, no one is asking the most important question: are the voting members of BEP owners of EVs themselves? How about Janet Mills?

Meanwhile

GM buys out nearly half of its Buick dealers across the country, who opt to not sell EVs

General Motors said nearly half its Buick dealers took buyouts this year rather than invest in selling and servicing electric vehicles as the automaker’s brands transition to all electric by 2030.

That means GM will end 2023 with about 1,000 Buick stores nationwide, down 47% from where it started the year.

Late last year, Buick said it would be asking dealers to commit a minimum investment of $300,000 to $400,000 to prepare their stores to sell and service EVs.

“Buick is transforming, launching the best vehicles the brand has ever had and is the fastest growing mainstream brand in 2023,” said GM spokesman Sean Poppitt in an email this week to the Detroit Free Press. “This all needs to be supported by the best customer experience in the transition to EVs. As stated before, this year we’ve given dealers who are not aligned with Buick’s future to exit voluntarily in a respectful and structured way; with the full support of our National Dealer Council.”

Are Buick customers clamoring for EVs?

Read: Gore Effect: Maine Forced To Postpone Vote On Forced EVs Due To Power Outage »

IDF Makes Hamas Tunnels Go Boom!

Strange how you never hear those in the Leftist media say “perhaps if Hamas didn’t spend so much money on tunnels they could make the lives of Palestinians in Gaza pretty nice

Of course, those same Leftist news outlets will complain about the IDF destroying people’s homes, infrastructure, medical facilities, schools, etc

Israel-Hamas war: IDF destroys Hamas’s Palestine Square tunnels, takes over Gaza’s Shejaia

Soldiers for the Yahalom special operations unit of the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps, along with troops from the 401st Brigade combat team, destroyed the secret underground web of tunnels seized on Wednesday by Israeli forces, the IDF said on Thursday.

The demolition of the subterranean structure followed the revelation that the IDF had taken control of Hamas’s Gaza City “senior quarter,” the IDF added. The network of tunnel branches reportedly contained apartments, offices, and living quarters of senior Hamas officials.

The tunnels led to above-ground sites in the Shejaia neighborhood’s Palestine Square.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday that Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Muhammad Deif had used this network to manage the organization’s operation and movement through the center of Gaza City, which has nicknamed the area “Commander’s Square.”

Colonel Beni Aharon noted that the tunnels were used to store equipment taken from civilians that could enable Hamas leadership to shelter there for an extended period of time.

Not anymore.

More than 400 Jewish facilities received false bomb threats this weekend, non-profit says

More than 400 Jewish facilities across the US have received false bomb threats over email since Saturday, according to the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-profit organization.

Oren Segal, Vice President of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, told CNN they believe one person or a small number of individuals were behind the series of threats.

While the threats were all deemed to be hoaxes, Segal added, “the Jewish community doesn’t take any threat lightly. We don’t have the luxury to ignore them.”

If this was being done against Palestinian organizations the FBI would be jumping in with both feet, instead of just assisting.

Read: IDF Makes Hamas Tunnels Go Boom! »

Children Just Won’t Know What A White Christmas Is Or Something

I’m actually shocked this year, because there are so few doomsday cult propaganda pieces linking Christmas and ‘climate change’

Dreamin’ of a White Christmas

To the modern ear, it sounds like a song about climate change:

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know

Where the treetops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

The song actually isn’t about climate change — the lead-in, which is much less familiar, tells us that the singer is now living in Beverly Hills , where Christmas means palm trees rather than snow. But the song could turn out to be prophetic.

As it turns out, about two-thirds of the U.S.  has a lower chance of a white Christmas compared to the 1981-2010 average, but a third of the country has an increased chance of Christmas snow cover because earlier snows are more likely to be heavy and last longer on the ground.

I mean, he’s correct about the song, everyone ignores the actual beginning, but, come on, it’s a Holocene warm period: things get warmer. Just like has happened many times since the end of the last glacial age 20,000 years ago. But, Warmists always have to find some way to fearmonger. And, only to members of a doomsday cult do the words sounds like a song about global boiling.

Of course, each winter is different. But the long term trends seem clear. For much of the country, white Christmases will become more and more rare, like the “sleigh bells” in the song.

Welcome to the future.

They probably thought the same thing back during the Medieval Warm Period, right before the Little Ice Age smacked them with the cold mackerel of truth. Or, back when the Warmists were predicting that “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.”

Read: Children Just Won’t Know What A White Christmas Is Or Something »

If All You See…

…is a world killing dog causing sea rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Pacific Pundit, with a post on pro-Hamas activists vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial.

Read: If All You See… »

Republicans Are Negotiating With DHS Chief Over Border Deal For Some Reason

I don’t get this. Congress makes the laws. The Executive Branch enforces the laws. Why would they negotiate with Mayorkas, a department head? Negotiating with POTATUS is bad enough

Republicans’ headache: Cutting a border deal with a DHS chief they loathe

Senate Republicans are working closely with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they try to craft a bipartisan border security deal.

Which creates a new problem for the GOP negotiators: If they succeed, they’ll need to sell that deal to colleagues who loathe Mayorkas and, later, House Republicans who are trying to impeach him.

Mayorkas’ role in the high-stakes border talks is confined to policy proposals, not politics. He’s participating to assess border changes without deciding what the White House might ultimately back, according to a person familiar with the talks who was granted anonymity to address them.

Which makes it worse: whatever he’s recommending the White House might well say “nope, not happening.”

At the moment, Mayorkas’ talks with Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) are advancing despite facing huge hurdles. They’ve made progress on changes to asylum standards but remain at odds over dialing back the president’s parole authority and new expulsion authority, according to a second person briefed on the talks.

It sounds like they really aren’t fully focusing on true solutions. Realistically, it all needs to be shut down, boot out every single illegal who wasn’t eligible for asylum, and no longer allow in and bring in asylum seekers or refugees. We have enough, and most are not assimilating. The US has paused mass immigration for decades to allow assimilation several times in the past. Lock down the border as much as possible.

Politically, that’s not going to happen. So, yeah, narrow the asylum standards and require all asylum claims to be processed outside the U.S. If they cross the border illegally they will be required to leave and apply outside the U.S. The GOP should be talking about keeping people out and so many measures to reduce people coming illegally.

In the House, Mayorkas’ impeachment is taking a back seat to the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden — but even GOP lawmakers who don’t favor going that far are not fans of the DHS chief. And one of Republican senators’ biggest challenges is ensuring they cut a deal that the GOP-controlled House can support.

Mayorkas’ presence is particularly tricky on that front, given that support for impeaching him is growing among House Republicans. Even former skeptics like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) are now ready to boot the DHS chief from office, and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) is working to court moderates. Gonzales and his centrist allies are some of the same Republicans whom senators hope might vote for any deal on new border restrictions.

Getting rid of Mayorkas won’t stop the issues, because Biden will replace him with someone who will do exactly the same. Any border measures should be written in plain, simple language that allows no latitude, no extra creativity for Mayorkas and others in the Biden regime to blow off.

And until Biden gives more forceful direction to Democrats, Republicans don’t see the border talks concluding with them cutting a deal with Mayorkas, anyway.

“I’m told that he’s trying to help. He’s very knowledgeable. But he doesn’t have any authority,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “We’re not going to reach any kind of agreement until the president tells us what, if anything, he’s willing to do to secure the border.”

He’s doing as directed by the Biden regime. Why Trump didn’t boot him I have no idea. He may be knowledgeable, but, he was always incompetent. Now we just wait to see how badly the GOP messes this all up.

Read: Republicans Are Negotiating With DHS Chief Over Border Deal For Some Reason »

Cool: Now College Democrats Are Blasting Biden For Climate Doom Indifference

So, let’s see, Biden’s already losing all the unhinged Palestinian/Hamas supporters, and probably a lot of Jews. Not so much because Joe hasn’t been pretty decent at supporting Israel, but, because so many elected Democrats, Democrat talking heads, and Democrat supporters are being pure Jew haters. He’s losing supporters because his economy is harming so many middle and working class folks. And now

College Democrats blast Biden for climate ‘indifference’ after COP28

College Democrats demanded the Biden administration end the Willow Project, cut oil drilling on federal lands and zero in more on tackling climate change, blasting the president’s “indifference” toward climate change in the wake of the COP28 conference.

The college outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee urged the administration to deliver on its climate promises and demanded Congress pass pro-environmental legislation in a letter to President Biden shared with The Hill Wednesday.

“With every waking moment of indifference in regards to the issue of climate change, we sink progressively deeper into a global environmental crisis,” the group wrote. “Its impacts, ranging from rising sea levels, unprecedented climate shifts, increased frequency of natural disasters, and worsening of air and water quality, have placed the planet that young people are destined to inherent in jeopardy.”

President Biden, who previously attended previous two climate summits, did not travel to the U.N. climate conference in Dubai.

I wonder how many of those students traveled all the way to Dubai for COP28? How many of them take fossil fueled travel to their schools, to spring break, to places to take their selfies and videos? Who have big carbon footprints?

“Failure to avert climate disaster is a failure of the state,” the student organization wrote in the letter. “Hence, we call on our elected leaders of all levels to leave the world to their children, grandchildren, and young people throughout the nation in the same pristine condition they inherited.”

Funny how it always comes down to government authoritarianism, eh?

Read: Cool: Now College Democrats Are Blasting Biden For Climate Doom Indifference »

Texas Starts Sending Illegals To Sanctuary City Chicago By Airplane

SCC has decided to go after the bus operators which were chartered to bring illegal aliens from Texas to a declared sanctuary city, because, of course, SCC is being forced to deal with illegals in practice, not just theory

I like how Gov Abbott is using my terminology, now, if only he’d use the acronym

Private plane from Texas drops off over 100 migrants at O’Hare Airport, city officials say

A private plane from Texas dropped off over 100 migrants at O’Hare Airport Tuesday evening.

After the flight landed at O’Hare, airport police received a call around 7:15 p.m. about asylum seekers being dropped off at Signature Flight, a spokesperson for the City of Chicago said in a statement Wednesday.

The plane came from El Paso, Texas, and it was chartered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management, according to the spokesperson.

Two people who were on the flight fled the scene in an Uber vehicle before police arrived, the statement said.

On Tuesday morning there were 200 migrants being housed at O’Hare Airport. That number has now jumped to 296, courtesy of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose office said this is just the first flight he intends to send Chicago’s way.

Now that’s funny. Seriously, SCC mayor Brandon Johnson has been whining about a storm recently, hence why Abbott is sending him so many. He should learn to shut up, and Abbott will send them to other Democratic party sanctuary cities.

Abbott’s office issued a statement about the flight:

“Because Mayor Johnson is failing to live up to his city’s “Welcoming City” ordinance by targeting migrant buses from Texas, we are expanding our operation to include flights to Chicago, like the Biden Administration has been doing across the country. Governor Abbott launched the border bus mission in April 2022 to provide support to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities as the Biden Administration leaves thousands of migrants in their towns. Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue taking historic action to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.”

Abbott really sends a busload to Rehoboth Beach, dropping them off on a Friday morning, right before Joe gets there.

Read: Texas Starts Sending Illegals To Sanctuary City Chicago By Airplane »

Do You Know Why Democrats Are Fleeing Democratic Party Run Cities? Global Boiling Or Something

This is probably your fault for driving a fossil fueled vehicle, eating meat, and not giving your money and freedom to government. Definitely not because of Democrat policies on taxation, crime, illegal immigration, safety, sanitation, etc

Nolte: Study Blames Flight from Democrat-Run Cities on Climate Change

Far-left Axios is gushing over a new study that blames climate change for people fleeing Democrat-run cities like the “metro areas of Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. (specifically, Alexandria, Va.).”

“Climate migration is already taking place within American communities, new data finds, as people flee flood-prone areas, and create ‘climate abandonment’ zones,” writes an unquestioning Axios.

“The study constitutes the latest warning sign of the effects of climate change,” Axios continues without skepticism. “Population shifts, and a larger reckoning for real estate, are only expected to worsen as global average surface temperatures rise.”

But then the premise of the study undercuts itself in a big way with the admission that “Americans are leaving the Rust Belt in droves and heading to areas of greater climate risk in the South and Southwest[.]”

What’s more, “cities with high flood risks, like Miami and Houston, are still pulling in more people than they are losing,” the study admits. “But these areas are growing more slowly than they would be if flooding weren’t such a threat, the study shows.”

In fairness, many are abandoning certain Dem run cities, especially in the Northeast, North central, and California for Dem run cities in the South that are not always as wacky, but, they’re not abandoning Dem run cities because of climate. Heck, if you lived in Chicago wouldn’t it be great if winters weren’t as bad? Same with Boston. And neither Beantown nor NYC are going to be going underwater anytime soon.

But, Dems need a reason to Blamestorm people escaping their created hell holes.

Read: Do You Know Why Democrats Are Fleeing Democratic Party Run Cities? Global Boiling Or Something »

If All You See…

…is a consumerist Christmas tree, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Outside The Beltway, with a post on Biden’s approval rating.

Switching to Christmas theme.

Read: If All You See… »

New York Thinks They Can Make Chik-Fil-A Open On Sundays

Will the NY general assembly also attempt to force Muslim owned business serve pork? Lefties have always had hissy fits over Chik-fil-A because of their Christian beliefs, and, rather than just “change the channel”, they go after the company

New York bill would bar Chick-fil-A from major highway over Sunday closures

A proposed bill in New York state would result in Chick-fil-A being forced to leave a major highway system unless it opened on Sundays, a rule that would run afoul of the chain’s decades-old policy of closing on the Christian Sabbath.

The bill, listed on the state Legislature’s website last week, dictates that “any contracts entered into by the New York State Thruway Authority for the operation of food services at public transportation facilities” shall require that those services “be provided every day of the week.”

The Thruway is a hundreds-of-miles-long network of state highways that run from New York City to the Pennsylvania border. It has existed in New York since the mid-1950s.

memo accompanying the bill says that “while there is nothing objectionable about a fast food restaurant closing on a particular day of the week, service areas dedicated to travelers is an inappropriate location for such a restaurant.” The memo specifically references Chick-fil-A.

This bill was written by unhinged Democrat Tony Simone, who identifies as gay, and doesn’t like that CFA holds their Christian beliefs on LGBTwhatever. This has nothing to do with CFA being closed on Sundays, just pure typical hatred from Democrats. There are a total of 9 locations, and Simone and a few others are having hissy fits over this. But, the thing is, CFA has a long contract with NY, and could sue the heck out of the state for breach of contract. The state knew what they were getting into when they signed the contract, and there are other eateries at the rest stops. This would seem to be an ex post facto law, oh, it specifically targets CFA, which is an abuse of governmental power, and, oh, yeah, that whole freedom of religion thing as written in Article I, Section 3 of the New York Constitution.

The Governor also has Ideas on other stuff, having solved all of NY’s issues

Read: New York Thinks They Can Make Chik-Fil-A Open On Sundays »

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