State Court In Delaware Nixes Lawsuit Against Big Oil

By William Teach January 11, 2024 – 7:00 am

The fossil fuels companies should refuse to sell to the State of Delaware. It still boggles my mind that the lawyers never offer an arguement of “if fossil fuels are so bad, why is the state/company/city/group/county/individual using them?”

State court delivers major setback to Delaware in climate change lawsuit against Big Oil

A top state court in Delaware partially dismissed a lawsuit the state’s government filed against several of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies over their greenhouse gas emissions and impact on global warming.

Judge Mary Johnston, of the Delaware Superior Court, ruled that the state’s claims seeking damages from Big Oil defendants for alleged injuries stemming from out-of-state or global greenhouse gas emissions and interstate pollution are preempted by the federal Clean Air Act and are, therefore, beyond the limits of state statute. While other claims can be pursued, the ruling Tuesday significantly diminishes the case’s weight.

“We are pleased with the Delaware Superior Court’s decision holding that the ‘claims in this case seeking damages for injuries resulting from out-of-state or global greenhouse emissions and interstate pollution, are pre-empted by the’ Clean Air Act and ‘beyond the limits of Delaware common law,'” Theodore Boutrous, Jr., a lawyer for Chevron, one of the defendants, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The global challenge of climate change requires a coordinated international policy response, not a series of baseless state and local lawsuits,” he added.

Companies like Chevron aren’t really helping their case when they recommend federal and international actions. They should say “if you don’t like them do not use them.”

In addition to the court’s findings that out-of-state emissions were beyond its scope, it further dismissed the state’s claims that oil industry defendants — which include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, the American Petroleum Institute and dozens of other energy companies — have misrepresented the dangers of their fossil fuel products, including through tactics such as “greenwashing.”

And you know the people who are filing the suits are using plenty of fossil fuels themselves.

Read: State Court In Delaware Nixes Lawsuit Against Big Oil »

Posted in Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

UN High Court To Consider If Israel Is Engaged In Genocide

By William Teach January 11, 2024 – 6:45 am

Will the court also be taking up the case of a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations launching an attack on civilians, which included rape and taking children and babies as hostages?

A legal battle is set to open at the top UN court over an allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza

A legal battle over whether Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations’ top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa’s call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation.

The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa’s identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.

“I think they have come because they want to be exonerated and think they can successfully resist the accusation of genocide,” said Juliette McIntyre, an expert on international law at the University of South Australia.

South Africa post-apartheid has long been a Jew hating nation. It’s also a shithole that’s falling apart. What’s in it for them?

In a statement after the case was filed, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry urged the court to “immediately take action to protect the Palestinian people and call on Israel, the occupying power, to halt its onslaught against the Palestinian people, in order to ensure an objective legal resolution.”

It’s simple, as we’ve known all along: release the hostages and all Hamas members surrender. Don’t attack Israel and its citizens. Don’t be terrorists. It’s not for nothing that no Arab nation is willing to take Palestinians in, and Egypt has a wall between Gaza and itself.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed the case as “ meritless ” during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

“It is particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter Iran — continue to call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” he said.

Let’s not forget that none of those terrorists groups, including Hamas, are a part of the Geneva Convention, and, if they didn’t want to be on the losing side of a war, they shouldn’t have started it.

Read: UN High Court To Consider If Israel Is Engaged In Genocide »

Posted in Israel, RoP | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Only 13 EVs Qualify For Tax Credit

By William Teach January 10, 2024 – 3:00 pm

Well, this will certainly help force citizens into buying cars they cannot afford that do not give them the range they need and are problematic for them to charge

For consumers shopping for an EV, new rules mean fewer models qualify for a tax credit

U.S. consumers looking to get a tax credit on an electric vehicle purchase have fewer models to choose from under new rules that limit the countries where automakers can buy battery parts and minerals — a potential blow to efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions from autos.

The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in 2022 expanded tax credits ranging from $3,750 to $7,500 for purchases of new and used EVs, an effort by the Biden administration to stoke demand toward its goal that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. But qualifying for the credits depends on requirements related to their battery makeup and minerals that get tougher each year.

As of Jan. 1, new rules favor U.S. domestic materials and manufacture. The rules largely target battery components from nations “of concern” — mostly China, but also Russia, North Korea and Iran.

China dominates crucial parts of EV battery supply and production, even as automakers race to establish key mineral and components efforts elsewhere. As a result, only 13 of the more than 50 EVs on sale in the U.S. are eligible for the credits so far this year, down from about two dozen models that qualified in 2023.

Thirteen.

The Tesla Model Y SUV, Chevrolet Bolt compact car and Rivian R1T pickup truck all still qualify. But even different trim levels and variants of the same model now qualify differently; certain Teslas are no longer eligible.

Neither are the Chevrolet Blazer SUV and the Cadillac Lyriq, from General Motors; the Ford Mustang Mach-E; or the Nissan Leaf.

And it will take a while for manufacturers to comply. But, what the AP doesn’t mention is how hard it is to get those materials from acceptable nations, especially the U.S., where enviro-weenies will sue to block any mining.

One positive development for EV buyers this year is that qualifying vehicles can have the credits applied at the time of purchase, as long as the dealer fronts the cost. That means buyers can more easily afford the purchase. More than 8,700 U.S. dealers have signed up to do so, the Treasury Department said last week.

General Motors is also taking $7,500 off its models that lost eligibility, and other deals are available across the market — even as automakers continue to lose money on EVs.

How many dealers are willing to take the upfront hit, and simply wait on the federal government to reimburse them? Mind you, dealers are not owned by the manufacturer. They may have signed up, but, will they follow through? And, if GM can just take $7,500 off before a consumer even comes in, how much profit is built into the vehicle? Or, are they just taking even more of a lost? Seriously, if Americans really wanted EVs at this time no tax credit would even be needed. No coercion.

BTW, the tax credits are very complicated: if a dealer takes the hit, does this affect the tax filings of the purchaser?

Read: Surprise: Only 13 EVs Qualify For Tax Credit »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 19 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 10, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is snow that will soon disappear for good, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Diogenes’ Middle Finger, with a post on Hillary not being a lizard person.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 12 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden Wants Democrat Run Colleges To End Junk Fees

By William Teach January 10, 2024 – 10:30 am

Biden has been on a kick of trying to end junk fees from all sorts of companies. Now he’s going after those charged by colleges, which are primarily run by Democratic Party voters

Colleges charge tons of junk fees for food and books. Biden may force them to scale back.

The Biden administration is considering slapping new regulations on colleges to curb hidden fees for things such as food and textbooks.

The changes are part of a bundle of reforms the Education Department is debating this week during a fresh round of policy discussions. The talks are largely centered on heightening federal scrutiny of the higher education industry ? a priority President Joe Biden has indicated is a piece of his efforts to bring down the soaring cost of college and ease the student loan debt it causes.

Under some of the proposed changes to federal law, universities would be barred from pocketing some of the leftover money they get for low-income students whose school meal plans are paid for using federal financial aid.

At many colleges, students use special meal funds ? called “flex” accounts ? to help cover part of their food expenses (at grocery stores, for example). Money in those accounts can come from the federal government, which helps colleges with financial aid programs. But students don’t always use all their “flex” money by the end of the year, and in some cases, schools end up keeping the difference.

That’s not fair, the department is arguing. The agency says schools should give money back to students who need it.

That doesn’t look like a junk fee, that looks more like colleges stealing money from students and taxpayers. Unless the colleges can show that they are using the federal money for other students

A separate change would prevent most colleges and universities from automatically charging students for books and supplies. Under the current rules, schools can include fees for books and supplies as part of required bills for “tuition and fees,” even when students can find materials at cheaper prices from other sources.

“The department is concerned that lack of disclosure and transparency limits students’ ability to find less expensive materials or assess if their school is offering the most affordable arrangement,” the proposed rule says.

Textbook affordability advocates lauded the move. The current state of automatic billing programs means that in some cases, students are charged for resources they could have acquired for a better price, according to Daniel Williamson, the managing director of the education nonprofit OpenStax.

“Getting charged for something you can get for free, that’s the definition of a junk fee,” he said in an email.

That is pretty shady. How much does it cost students?

Other critics warned the proposal could end up raising prices for students in other ways. Robert Nelson, the president of the National Association of College and University Food Services, said although his organization hasn’t taken a stance on the plan and is still studying it, it could end up hurting students’ bottom lines.

So, what they and others is saying is if the Brandon regime ends these junk fees then the Democrat run colleges will raise their prices and screw the kiddies, many of whom are working towards silly and worthless degrees for way too much money?

Realistically, these are just periphery issues for why colleges (mostly run be Democrat voters) are so costly, and will not do much to resolve it. But, really, this is just an election year scam to buy votes from the youts.

Read: Biden Wants Democrat Run Colleges To End Junk Fees »

Posted in Joe Biden | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Brandon Admin To Give NC $26.7 Million For 114 Electric Buses

By William Teach January 10, 2024 – 7:15 am

I’ve very much looking forward to see how well they handle the NC heat

Let’s find out more

(WRAL) More North Carolina school buses are going electric.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Grant Program is giving $26.7 million in federal funds to buy 114 electric school buses, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Tuesday.

Durham Public Schools will get 38 of those buses, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will get 27 of those buses. The buses will be distributed to lower-income, rural and/or tribal communities, according to Cooper’s office.

The EPA touts electric school buses for their reduction in asthma-linked exhaust, lower emissions, reduced maintenance and fuel costs, and their ability to provide power during outages.

Will they remember to build chargers for the buses, especially those out in the middle of nowhere? Oh, and it comes to $230K per bus, when a normal bus costs $80K-$100K. Buses that can easily be fixed. The range is poor due to the weight (the average is around 100 miles), and heat can reduce that. And, it’s not just temperature: it’s the Sun shining on them. I always tell people that 50 in NC is different from 50 in NJ, because the Sun warms you up a lot more. How will they do on fast roads (many of the roads from rural areas to cities are 45mph and up)? We already know that electric buses have significant issues and lots of downtime. The infrastructure needs to be built out. Mechanics need to be trained. And what happens with the existing buses which still have lots of lifetime? What’s their lifespan? A typical fossil fueled bus lasts 12+ years.

All for a scam.

Read: Brandon Admin To Give NC $26.7 Million For 114 Electric Buses »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming, NC News | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

Hot Take: Texas Shipping Illegals To SCC Is Attacking Leaders Of Color

By William Teach January 10, 2024 – 7:00 am

I’m surprised it took this long for someone to truly play the Race Card. Here’s Sanctuary City Chicago Mayor Let’s Go Brandon Jr.

Mayor Johnson argues Gov. Abbott is intentionally ‘attacking’ ‘leaders of color’ by bussing migrants

Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, in a recent MSNBC appearance, arguing he has been “attacking” cities run by Black leaders with waves of migrants.

In an effort to show the seriousness of the border crisis, Republican governors like Abbott have sent buses of asylum seekers to Democrat-controlled states and sanctuary cities. Republicans have argued the action is necessary to show the rest of the country what border states are dealing with due to the surge of migrants. (snip)

MSNBC host Al Sharpton spoke to Johnson about the migrant crisis Sunday, noting that as it goes on it “puts a tremendous burden on [Johnson] and other Democratic mayors, I might add, many Black mayors have been the focal of this. In fact, on Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams filed a $700 million lawsuit against 17 charter bus companies who transported migrants from Texas.”

“What are your thoughts about the case, and is this an action you would consider taking as well?” Sharpton asked.

“You’re absolutely right about the intentions of Gov. Abbott,” Johnson replied. “He is attacking democratically-run cities, and particularly cities that are being led by Black leaders or leaders-of-color. This is unconscionable. I mean, it’s a very raggedy approach. And quite frankly, not only is it reckless and raggedy, but it is evil-spirited.”

Attacking black leaders, folks, attacking! Shouldn’t Johnson be thanking Greg Abbott for giving SCC the opportunity to be beneficial to all those illegals/migrants (who are mostly young, military age males) just looking for a better life?

Read: Hot Take: Texas Shipping Illegals To SCC Is Attacking Leaders Of Color »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Surprise: Climate (scam) Czar John Kerry Hides All Names Of Employees

By William Teach January 9, 2024 – 3:00 pm

It’s not a heck of a lot of money in government terms, but, these are government employees, not secret police

John Kerry’s Climate office costs taxpayers $4.3M a year, yet he refuses to divulge names

John Kerry climateJet-setting climate czar John Kerry doles out six-figure salaries to all but one lone “policy analyst” in his office who just misses the lofty mark in the first public records release to the Herald from the notoriously secretive presidential envoy.

It’s a rare glimpse into Kerry’s fiefdom that hits up taxpayers for $4.3 million in pay per year, according to records obtained using the Freedom of Information Act.

Kerry, however, does not reveal the names of anyone on his staff and redacts the titles of eight top aides paid up to $186,680 a year.

The 27 entries include brief titles — from “policy analyst” to “senior advisor” — and bi-weekly pay. It’s unclear if Kerry is on the list. Kerry’s Climate website does list Rick Duke and Sue Biniaz as as deputy special envoys, yet the FOIA release does not.

An equally reticent State Department told the Herald they “considered the foreseeable harm standard” in exempting names of government employees and some titles.

That standard did not stop former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh from sharing his staff names, titles, and pay this summer. Walsh, the former mayor of Boston now NHL Players’ Union executive director, earned $203,100 as Labor Secretary.

Pretty much every other federal employee is named, excepting certain intelligence agency employees, like those for the CIA, DIA, and NSA. Are we equating these employees the same as intelligence employees?

James Rosenbaum, branch chief of Statutory Compliance for the State Department, cites the exemption that argues adding names of Kerry’s employees “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s personal privacy.”

Federal government watchdog Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, said it all is in lockstep with Kerry’s disdain for transparency.

“Once again, the lack of transparency from John Kerry’s secretive State Department Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate is not only stunning but, sadly, par for the course,” said Chamberlain.

“What little information this document does reveal is that the median salary of folks who work for him hovers around $170,000 per year. And what does the American public get for that?” he added, saying that Kerry’s “disturbing level of influence on foreign policy to powerful left-leaning special interests” should not go unchecked.

This also makes it a lot harder to track where all the other money for this group is going to. What are they spending, and spending it on? Not just salaries. What deals and such are they negotiating with other countries that we know nothing about? What are they doing overall? We do not know. It’s all secret. Why?

Read: Surprise: Climate (scam) Czar John Kerry Hides All Names Of Employees »

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

If All You See…

By William Teach January 9, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is a ski resort that will soon have no snow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Da Techguy’s Blog, with a post on COVID for the 2024 election.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 28 Comments | Trackback URL

Voters Are Totally Worried About “Losing Our Democracy” In New Hampshire Or Something

By William Teach January 9, 2024 – 10:30 am

USA Today is super excited about this being a bad thing for Donald Trump, coming from third least diverse state in the U.S., one which is not being over-run by illegal aliens and crime like other Democrat run states

Exclusive: It’s not the economy, stupid. In NH, democracy is the top issue for Dems, independents

For Democratic and independent voters in New Hampshire this year, the most important issue facing the United States isn’t the economy, the sort of kitchen-table quandaries that more often than not determine presidential elections.

It’s the future of democracy.

A new USA TODAY/Boston Globe/Suffolk University Poll two weeks before the Granite State’s pivotal primary finds half of Democrats (49%) and nearly three in 10 independents (29%) rank that solemn and even philosophical issue well above such concrete concerns as health care or crime ? defying the conventional political wisdom of decades, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The survey was taken amid a series of stress tests for the nation’s democratic institutions, including a federal appeals court hearing slated for Tuesday to consider whether Donald Trump should be immune from criminal prosecution for actions he took while president. A few weeks later, the Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in a case that considers whether Trump can be bumped off state ballots because of a constitutional ban on insurrectionists.

On Monday, President Joe Biden delivered his second speech in four days on concerns about democracy and freedom, speaking from the pulpit of the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., site of mass shooting by a white nationalist.

Democracy is doomed is Biden’s theme for the election, provided he doesn’t get replaced, because he looked lost before, during, and after the speech. And then he left in his 28 fossil fueled vehicle motorcade.

“It’s really just all morphed into saving democracy,” Christine Hayes, 50, a nurse from Rochester, N.H., said in a follow-up interview after being called in the survey. An independent, she plans to vote for former UN ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican primary and then President Joe Biden in the general election. “We need democracy to be protected in this world, and so that then we can fight for reproductive freedom, so that we can work on climate change, so that we can have conversations.

Well, it just shows that there are a bunch of morons who vote Democrat, not know we are a federal republic, and advocating for ever increasing governmental power, especially at the federal level

Overall, from a list of nine issues, democracy was chosen by 30% as the most important, followed by immigration by 24% and the economy by 17%. No other issue broke into double digits.

Realistically, Trump will not win New Hampshire for the general election. Not even close. Democrats have won the last 5, and 7 of the last 8. Though, Trump did make it close in 2016. New Hampshire’s motto is “Live Free Or Die”, yet, they are advocating more governmental control over their lives. What Trump needs to stop doing is his revenge tour schtick, drop the smears and insults, and focus on the issues. Focus on solutions. And turn the “democracy is doomed” meme from Biden and his Democrat Comrades around. Tell people how Biden’s version of Democracy means more and more governmental control of their lives.

Take EVs, for instance. Trump could talk about how they are the future, but, that it should be the choice of individual citizens to get one, not the federal and state governments forcing citizens to get one.

But, Trump won’t. Which is the danger. He hasn’t changed his campaign style since 2016. He hasn’t learned.

Read: Voters Are Totally Worried About “Losing Our Democracy” In New Hampshire Or Something »

Posted in Politics | 24 Comments | Trackback URL
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