Squishy Republicans Give In, Pass Short Term Funding Bill

By William Teach October 1, 2023 – 7:00 am

Democrats mostly got everything they wanted, except for Ukraine funding. Which lots of squishy Republicans also wanted

Threat of government shutdown ends as Congress passes a temporary funding plan and sends it to Biden

The threat of a federal government shutdown ended late Saturday, hours before a midnight deadline, as Congress approved a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open and sent the measure to President Joe Biden to sign.

The rushed package drops aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting Biden’s full request. The bill funds government until Nov. 17.

Republicans: elect us and we’ll roll back insane spending, cut out the crazy stuff. Also Republicans: we don’t want Democrats and the Credentialed media to talk bad about us.

“We’re going to do our job,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said before the House vote. “We’re going to be adults in the room. And we’re going to keep government open.” (snip)

The package funds government at current 2023 levels until mid-November, setting up another potential crisis if they fail to more fully fund government by then. The package was approved by the House 335-91, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting. Senate passage came by an 88-9 vote.

Basically, they gave in and are spending way too much, doing exactly what their constituents did not want them to do

But the loss of Ukraine aid was devastating for lawmakers of both parties vowing to support President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his recent Washington visit. The Senate bill included $6 billion for Ukraine, and both chambers came to a standstill Saturday as lawmakers assessed their options.

“The American people deserve better,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, warning in a lengthy floor speech that “extreme” Republicans were risking a shutdown.

That’s a strange place to put that second paragraph. Does Jeffries mean Americans deserve to be spending oodles of money on Ukraine? Cocaine Mitch McConnell was upset, too, and wants more funding for Ukraine, despite opposition from the American people. Even a CNN poll has 55% saying no more funding.

Anyhow, the Senate passed it, and now it goes to Let’s Go Brandon. Will he sign it with no Ukraine funding?

Oh, and then there’s this guy, who tried to stop House business

It was Jamaal. He tried to make an excuse, but, it’s a misdemeanor in the city of DC, with a large fine and/or up to 6 months in jail. Also, didn’t people get long prison sentences for interfering with House business for J6? The police are investigating, and the GOP has articles to boot him from the House.

Read: Squishy Republicans Give In, Pass Short Term Funding Bill »

Posted in Idiot GOPer's, Politics | 18 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden To Allow Fewest New Offshore Leases Ever

By William Teach September 30, 2023 – 2:53 pm

The guy who has no problem using massive amounts of fossil fuels to take most weekends off, because they are paid for by you the taxpayer, has no problem working to skyrocket your fuel costs. Which, of course, means the cost of everything goes up

Interior plans fewest-ever offshore drilling leases

The administration plans to give the oil and gas industry up to three chances to bid on offshore drilling rights over the next five years, the fewest offshore leases in the program’s history.

The Interior Department still needs to finalize the plan in order to move ahead with offshore drilling.

The proposed plan limits offshore oil and gas leases issued between 2024 and 2029 to the Gulf of Mexico.

The proposal announced Friday can be finalized after 60 days.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland described the department’s proposal as one that furthers the offshore wind industry.

“The Proposed Program, which represents the smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history, sets a course for the Department to support the growing offshore wind industry and protect against the potential for environmental damage and adverse impacts to coastal communities,” she said in a statement.

She’s literally bragging about working to make the cost of food, energy, clothes, etc. much, much higher.

Read: Biden To Allow Fewest New Offshore Leases Ever »

Posted in Global Warming, Joe Biden | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach September 30, 2023 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Culturcidal, with a post on the death of professionalism.

Read: If All You See… »

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Bidenflation: Girl Scout Cookies More Expensive, Homes Unaffordable For Average America

By William Teach September 30, 2023 – 10:30 am

Everything is pretty much more expensive these days, so, why not Girl Scout cookies?

Girl Scout cookies are coming back, and prices are going up

Girl Scout cookies are getting more expensive. In some places, at least.

At least one New York State chapter, the Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, told troop parents and other members of the community in an email this week that all cookies will be sold for $6 per box this coming cookie season — which takes place from about January to April annually nationwide – up from $5 last year.

“In order to combat rising production and material costs, GSHH will be increasing the price of all cookie packages to $6.00,” the chapter’s interim CEO wrote, adding “we expect our neighboring councils to announce similar increases in the coming weeks and months.”

Some cookies, like S’mores and Toffee-Tastic, were already priced at $6. But now the higher price will apply to other cookies that the troops sell, including the more classic varieties.

Will consumers balk at the raised prices as they’ve already balked at many discretionary items? I guess we’ll see.

Report: Home Prices ‘Unaffordable’ for Average Americans

Average Americans cannot afford to buy a home in a growing number of communities across the United States, according to a report released Thursday by real estate data provider ATTOM.

The report, CBS News noted, details how researchers analyzed 575 United States counties last year and found that 99 percent of those areas have home prices that are out of reach for “the average income earner” making $71,214 a year.

Housing experts blamed a few trends for driving up housing costs.

“Mortgage rates have topped 7%, adding hundreds of dollars per month to a potential house payment,” CBS News reported. “At the same time, homeowners who locked in at lower mortgage rates during the pandemic have opted not to sell out of fear of having to buy another property at today’s elevated rates, depleting the supply of homes for sale.”

How are people supposed to afford homes when they are considerably more expensive in the Age Of Biden? There’s one right down the road which is a bit smaller than my townhome, 1050 square feet vs my 1200, that’s listed for $255K. I bought mine in 2009 for $95K. Even by 2020 the prices hadn’t risen that much, nor in Raleigh. All those people calling and texting if I want to sell have stopped, because most of us won’t sell. Where are we going to go? Make a killing on the sale, but, now lose it for the new home, plus higher rates.

Read: Bidenflation: Girl Scout Cookies More Expensive, Homes Unaffordable For Average America »

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Climate Cult Upset NYC Has So Many Cops But Unprepared For Climate Doom

By William Teach September 30, 2023 – 7:15 am

So, this happened, in case you missed it

Plenty of videos of this, so, of course

NYC Is Totally Unprepared for Climate Disaster (but Has a Lot of Cops)

New Yorkers trying to get on the subway today faced water streaming out of station walls and ceilings, water up to their hips, and flooded, electrified tracks. The Metropolitan Transit Authority urged riders not to take the train as parents figure out how to get their children home from schools facing similarly dire conditions. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was nowhere to be seen Friday morning, as the possibly one-in-100-year storm struck. Adams’ office defended his radio silence by saying it had put out a press release just after 11 p.m. last night; Adams eventually gave a virtual press briefing around noon, 40 minutes after it was scheduled to begin. (Adams spent the night before the floods at a fundraiser where attendees were encouraged to give more than $2,000.)

As climate change turns flooding into a more regular, deadly problem for the five boroughs, Adams has seemed more concerned during the first months of his administration about inundating the subway with cops, whose main purpose seems to be the implicit threat of physical violence. There are 2,500 NYPD officers deployed in the transit system and an additional 1,000 dispatched there daily. That’s in addition to around 1,100 MTA cops and NYPD officers helping to spend down city resources with excessive overtime. In Times Square, they’ll now be joined by a 400 pound robot cop named K5, leased out from private surveillance company Knighscope for $9 an hour. For reference, as Hell Gate pointed out, just 1,200 officers patrolled the system in 1991, when there were nearly three times as many murders underground and about nine times as many felonies.

You get the point. The far, far, far Left New Republic continues to bash the NYPD and Mayor Adams, but, never considered what the city could do if they weren’t spending billions on the feeding and care of illegal aliens, being that they are a sanctuary city. If they weren’t losing tons of tax base as people and businesses leave due to soft on crime policies. And so much more crazy spending. Perhaps they would have the money for the infrastructure. Oh, and, back when CO2 was under the “safe” limit of 350ppm and fossil fueled vehicles were limited

Read: Climate Cult Upset NYC Has So Many Cops But Unprepared For Climate Doom »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Stupid Party Throws Blame At Republicans Trying To Hold The Line On Spending

By William Teach September 30, 2023 – 7:00 am

Can you imagine this happening with Democrats? No matter how extreme the bill is, no matter how crazy it gets with funding, most Democrats will rally behind the bill. You certainly won’t hear them castigating other members for refusing to go along with the Dem agenda, and they’ll essentially just bribe those folks. When you have Republicans trying to limit the insane spending, well, they’re the problem

GOP blames looming shutdown on 21 Republican holdouts

House Republicans are letting loose with criticism of their GOP colleagues who voted against the conference’s short-term funding bill with just a day and a half until a government shutdown.

“There are 21 Republicans who just voted to defund the United States military and keep the border open,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.). “They need to be called out by name. I mean, this is not a Republican shutdown. This is a shutdown — if we don’t get this done soon — that is caused by 21 individual members of the Republican conference.”

The failed bill would have extended funding until Oct. 31 with spending cuts and included a swath of border policy changes, and was intended to give the House GOP leverage ahead of negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a moderate, placed the blame for the looming shutdown directly on Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of the most prominent opponents to the stopgap who has also been threatening to vote to remove McCarthy.

“Unfortunately, a handful of people, and in particular a party of one — Matt Gaetz — have chosen to put his own agenda, his own personal agenda, above all else,” Lawler said.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? Gaetz had this to say

That’s what this fight in Congress is all about. It’s about making sure the promises we’ve made to voters are fulfilled. The Speaker made promises to me and other lawmakers in January, and I want to hold him to account. To be specific, that agreement includes a vote on term limits, a vote on a balanced budget amendment, single subject spending bills, and the full release of the January 6 tapes. (snip)

We have to stop the fiscal insanity in Washington and get our spending under control. I’m not voting for a continuing resolution that funds Jack Smith’s election interference, dangerous chaos on the southern border, and money for the endless war in Ukraine.

Just think about what it means for Congress to govern by Continuing Resolution. Every time we vote for a continuing resolution, we make no changes in policy or spending. It’s a vote to continue the status quo. If that’s all Congress is going to do, just replace us with AI bots, because we aren’t doing anything. The hearings are fun, but it’s the budgets where real policy changes are made.

The CR would just fund government at crazy levels. It would remove E-Verify. It would fund things that are not conservative. The GOP bill being floated for long term really doesn’t help, either. They can do single subject bills

Oh, and

But, see, the people who are trying for fiscal sanity, protecting the border, and helping the American people are the problem, rather than the GOPe.

Read: Stupid Party Throws Blame At Republicans Trying To Hold The Line On Spending »

Posted in GOP, Government | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

ZOMG: Global Boiling To Kill Off All Mammals!

By William Teach September 29, 2023 – 3:00 pm

All because you refuse to live in a tiny home, go vegan, and only buy used clothes

Climate change study puts expiration date on all mammals

Unprecedented global warming will wipe out all mammals during a mass extinction event in about 250 million years, according to a new study.

The world’s continents are predicted to eventually merge once again to form an ultra-hot, dry and largely uninhabitable supercontinent called Pangea Ultima, said the climate change research, published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Climate change that takes place over millennia differs from the man-made climate crisis which has been largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Supercomputer simulations of the distant future were used by scientists that included those from the University of Bristol to project how global temperatures are set to further increase as the sun becomes brighter and emits more energy.

The movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates is also expected to result in the formation of another supercontinent, which could spark more frequent volcanic eruptions to produce huge releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further warming the planet, researchers said.

Wait, wait, did they say 250 million years from now? This is quite possibly the most climate cult thing I’ve seen in all the years I’ve been watching the issue. Seriously, was there any need whatsoever to link the current climate crisis (scam) to something 250 million years from now? Any need to airdrop the talking point about burning of fossil fuels?

Life survived and thrived when Pangea was around back 230 million years ago, and, yes, they think it was mostly confined to the edges. Such was natural processes. No need to involved witchcraft into this 250 million years from now.

Meanwhile

‘Plastic air pollution’: Microplastics in clouds could be exacerbating climate change, study says

The presence of tiny plastics in clouds risks the contamination of ‘everything we eat and drink’, researchers say.

Microplastics have been discovered in clouds, where scientists say they could be contributing to climate change.

Researchers found several types of polymers and rubber in the water in cloud water surrounding Mount Fuji, Japan’s biggest mountain, and Mount ?yama.

Their study, published in the journal Environmental Chemical Letters, joins a growing body of evidence showing that plastic pollution has infiltrated most ecosystems on Earth.

Mircroplastics are a real environmental issue, there was no need to drag the climate cult into it.

Read: ZOMG: Global Boiling To Kill Off All Mammals! »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach September 29, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…are horrible Bad Weather clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on birds aren’t real.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

PRC Law Requires Fast Food Workers To Get Minimum $20 An Hour

By William Teach September 29, 2023 – 10:30 am

All the people who support this law, who cheered for it, advocated for it, will be very surprised when the number of employees at fast food locations is cut way down and they’re replaced with technology and automation. Especially surprised will be the ones who had jobs

California fast-food workers to earn minimum of $20 an hour under new law

unintended consequencesFast-food workers in California will earn a minimum of $20 an hour and have a greater say in setting workplace standards under a new bill signed into law on Thursday by Governor Gavin Newsom.

“The future happens here first,” Newsom said at an event in Los Angeles, with labor officials and fast-food workers flanking him.

“The future is fewer jobs” would be a wonderful campaign slogan for Democrats, eh?

The legislation emerged as part of a broader compromise in which fast-food companies agreed to remove a 2024 ballot referendum asking voters to repeal a law aimed at improving wages and working conditions for employees.

Labor unions, meanwhile, dropped their push to hold fast-food corporations liable for violations committed by their franchisees.

The median fast-food worker in the U.S. earned $13.43 an hour in 2022, while those in California made an average of $16.60 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The new minimum, which takes effect in April, equates to an annual salary of $41,600.

The compromise will lead to more stores replacing workers with electronic ordering boards and methods to make the food autonomously. And price hikes. Don’t forget price hikes! San Francisco and LA are already the most expensive in the country.

There are more than 550,000 fast-food workers at 30,000 locations statewide, Newsom said. The majority are the primary providers for their families – contrary to the perception that fast-food workers are teenagers in their first jobs – while 80% are minorities and two-thirds are women, he added.

I wonder how many there will be within a year? How many will close? And how soon till the same people demand $25 an hour?

Also in California

(Fox11) A woman accused of shoplifting at a nail supply store in California returned to the building after realizing she left her phone there.

The woman, who was with a second suspect, targeted the nail supply store in Murrieta on September 19.

According to the store owner, the two women went into the store pretending to buy the supplies. When it came time to pay, the suspects instead ran out of the building with about $600 worth of items.

One of the suspects returned to the store after realizing her phone and her ID were still at the business she allegedly shoplifted. She demanded her phone back, but the store owner and the clerk told her she can get her phone back if she returned the allegedly stolen items.

Instead of making peace, the suspect threw the owner to the ground and roughed up the cashier who was pregnant.

Both were arrested, but, will probably be released under California’s soft on criminals policies.

Read: PRC Law Requires Fast Food Workers To Get Minimum $20 An Hour »

Posted in Democrats, Economy | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

New EV Battery Plant Requires Coal Plant To Keep It Running

By William Teach September 29, 2023 – 7:15 am

Well, sure, why not, because there’s no way wind and solar will be able to power all the EVs (via Jo Nova)

EV Battery Factory Will Require So Much Energy It Needs A Coal Plant To Power It

electric vehicleA $4 billion Panasonic electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, will help satisfy the Biden administration’s efforts to get everyone into an EV.

It also will help extend the life of a coal-fired power plant.

Panasonic broke ground on the facility last year. The Japanese company was slated to receive $6.8 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been pouring billions into electric vehicles and battery factories as part of its effort to transition America away from fossil fuels.

The Kansas City Star reports that the factory will require between 200 and 250 megawatts of electricity to operate. That’s roughly the amount of power needed for a small city.

In testimony to the Kansas City Corporation Commission, which is the state’s equivalent of the Wyoming Public Service Commission, a representative of Evergy, the utility serving the factory, said that the 4 million-square-foot Panasonic facility creates “near term challenges from a resource adequacy perspective,” according to the newspaper.

As a result, the utility will continue to burn coal at a power plant near Lawrence, Kansas, and it will delay plants to transition units at the plant to natural gas.

Huh. What a bummer. All to make batteries for vehicles that most do not want. Too bad all the greeny-weenies are against nuclear power.

Also, continuing in the article

A 15-pound lithium-ion battery holds about the same amount of energy as a pound of oil. To make that battery requires 7,000 pounds of rock and dirt to get the minerals that go into that battery. The average EV battery weighs around 1,000 pounds.

All of that mining and factory processing produces a lot more carbon dioxide emissions than a gas-powered car, so EVs have to be driven around 50,000 to 60,000 miles before there’s a net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

So, people are really going to have to keep their forced vehicles for a lot longer than they usually would. The average time people keep cars is 4 years. And this will mean that the residual values for leasing will be horrendous. Combine that with much higher money factors (that’s essentially what you call the APR for leasing), and leasing costs will not be attractive.

Read: New EV Battery Plant Requires Coal Plant To Keep It Running »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 26 Comments | Trackback URL
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