Stephen Colbert, Comedian, Says High Gas Is No Big Deal, He Has An EV

By William Teach March 8, 2022 – 3:00 pm

Gotta love when a rich elite disses the not so well off

Colbert reportedly gets paid $16 million a year for doing his not funny late show, and rather proves what we’ve been saying: EVs are for the well off. The typical purchaser is making at least $150k-$200K a year. I’m also wondering, why does he even have a vehicle? His show is out of NYC. Why doesn’t he take all the mass transit? Or, is that too good for someone like him?

Environmental groups press California on electric car rules

Electric vehicleMore than 80 environmental groups and other organizations on Monday urged California Governor Gavin Newsom to impose tougher rules promoting electric vehicles even as the state is moving faster than President Joe Biden’s administration.

“Californians being punished by high gas prices and climate disasters deserve the fastest all-electric future Gov. Newsom can deliver,” said Scott Hochberg of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, one of the groups signing the letter.

The groups want Newsom and California air regulators to back requiring more electric vehicles faster than the current plans and to set more stringent annual emissions reductions for gasoline-powered vehicles. They called for 7% annual increases in emissions reductions for gasoline vehicles compared with 5% on average under standards adopted under President Barack Obama. (snip)

The letter, also signed by Greenpeace USA, the California Democratic Party Environmental Caucus and Friends of the Earth, want Newsom to consider requiring 80% or more zero emission vehicles by 2030.

How many members of these groups, the majority of which are California groups, have actually ditched their fossil fueled vehicles and purchased and EV? And, of course they’re pushing “equity” and such, but, people making average wages or less can neither afford and EV nor get a loan for one.

As gas prices head higher, many San Diegans are looking to trade their gas guzzlers for electric vehicles

San Diego’s gas prices hit a new record high Monday. As they did the day before, and the day before that, and what seems to be almost every day lately.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is now $5.38 a gallon in our county, and some stations are closer to $6. Prices here have risen 53 cents in the past week and $1.59 since this same time last year.

That has many San Diegans looking for ways to get around town without using gas, including electric cars. The advice from dealerships? “You gotta be patient,” said Dave McCracken, General Manager at Kearny Mesa Hyundai.

McCracken would love to have you drive off his lot today in a new electric car, but he doesn’t have a single one available, “because they’re selling as quickly as they come in.” So customers are joining waitlists.

But, few are coming in. And, again, unless you make well over $100k, you won’t be getting one, since the vast majority are outside the budget of most people. Let’s do some math (I’m not including fees, taxes, etc, and using an interest rate of 5% for 60 months) on some vehicles similar to the Hyundai Kona EV SEL

  • Honda Civic EX: $26,365/$498 a month
  • Honda Insight EX: $26,775/$505 a month
  • Honda Accord Sport Hybrid: $31,685/$598 a month
  • Kona SEL: Starting at $34,000/$642 a month

OK, so, the Kona is not super crazy unreasonable, if you can get one, right? The Kona will give you a maximum range of 258 miles. The Accord/Civic/Insight are 651/430/540. You can easily find somewhere to refuel them, right? Typically, an Accord will depreciate around 42% after 5 years. The vast majority of EVs, excepting Tesla, depreciate well over 50% in 5 years. The battery packs on a standard hybrid are rated to get 200-300k miles before being replaced. What of EVs, especially since they are in constant use? How many miles? Is $642 worth it vs an Insight, which is really more the same size a vehicle, being a compact sedan vs a Kona which is a subcompact SUV (it’ll be interesting to compare it to the HRV hybrid coming out this fall), knowing that the Insight will have much more value?

They’ll tell us “you’re saving money by going EV, since you don’t have to buy gas!” The Kona is $8220 more over 60 months. $137 a month. Are you spending that a month in gas? Will a bank give everyone a loan for $642? And, don’t forget, most EVs are above $40,000.

Read: Stephen Colbert, Comedian, Says High Gas Is No Big Deal, He Has An EV »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach March 8, 2022 – 1:00 pm

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

The blog of the day is Da Techguy’s Blog, with a post saying we’ve been played on Ukraine.

Read: If All You See… »

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Brandon Admin Orders “Broad Review” Of Cryptocurrencies

By William Teach March 8, 2022 – 10:30 am

What could possibly go wrong?

White House to order broad review of cryptocurrencies

The White House is set to release an executive order this week tasking several federal agencies with conducting a broad review of cryptocurrencies, including studying the creation of a U.S. digital currency, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The executive order, which the White House is expected to reveal in the coming days, will task the Treasury, Commerce, State and Justice departments, among other agencies, with studying elements of the fast-growing cryptocurrency market, the person said. The agencies will have roughly three or six months to conduct a review and prepare a public report with recommendations for the federal government’s approach to digital tokens.

Cryptocurrency is a name given to a broad group of digital assets, including widely held bitcoin and ether, thousands of lesser known coins and so-called stablecoins, digital assets designed to be easily redeemed for dollars. Unlike private cryptocurrencies, a U.S. digital currency would be issued by and backed by the Federal Reserve, as are U.S. paper dollar bills and coins.

The move reflects policy makers’ growing awareness of cryptocurrencies as they have exploded in value. Since bitcoin was launched 13 years ago, the federal government has taken a piecemeal approach to the asset class, with some agencies largely sidestepping it while others seek to squeeze it into existing regulatory frameworks designed decades earlier.

So, the Brandon admin just decides to do all this, and potentially create their own cryptocurrency? I’d like to ask “under what authority?”, since Congress hasn’t passed a specific law enabling this, but, Congress has passed so many broad, open ended, we’re not even sure what they do laws that the Executive Office can find a rationale to do almost anything

The White House will ask the Treasury Department to study the creation of a U.S. digital currency, a possibility that the Federal Reserve has already started to evaluate, while the Justice Department will be tasked with reviewing whether Congress would need to pass new legislation for a central-bank digital currency. The person said the order will request the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House to look at the technical considerations of creating a U.S. digital currency.

Why would they want to create their own? It couldn’t possibly be so they can control, tax, or even ban, others, right?

The White House executive order will also task the Treasury Department with reviewing the possible risks cryptocurrencies pose to broader financial stability, as well as the illicit-finance and national security risks that the tokens present, according to the person. Under the order, the Treasury Department will work with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to analyze the risks they pose to consumers.

Might they use those reasons to control or ban?

The Biden administration will review the environmental impact of mining cryptocurrencies, a process of generating revenue by using energy-intensive supercomputers to solve complicated puzzles. The administration will also look at how cryptocurrencies shape economic competitiveness as well as how foreign allies approach digital assets, according to the person.

Or for that reason? And, why is this important? There are enough problems going on without manufacturing a new one.

Read: Brandon Admin Orders “Broad Review” Of Cryptocurrencies »

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Warmist Jeff Merkley Wants To Transition To A Green Economy To Stop Russia

By William Teach March 8, 2022 – 8:02 am

It’s so cute when Democrats, who fail to give up their own use of fossil fuels, start yammering about getting off oil. Also, Merkley voted “present” when Mitch McConnell brought the Green New Deal up for a vote

Merkley: ‘We Should Have a Climate Emergency’ and Need to ‘Have the World Transition’ to Green Energy to Undercut Russia

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) argued that in order to undermine Russia’s power, we have to “end our dependence on oil and have the world transition to renewable energy.” Because Russia will be able to sell oil as long as there’s demand for oil, and called for a “climate emergency.”

Merkley said, “As long as there is a world market for oil, Russia will be able to sell its oil. And so, unfortunately, not all my colleagues yet understand that the way to undercut the power of Russia is to end our dependence on oil and have the world transition to renewable energy.”

He continued that decades ago, we didn’t know about two things: “One was [the] tremendous climate impacts of burning fossil fuels. And the second is, renewable energy was very expensive at that time, as compared to fossil fuels. Now, it’s cheaper. So, we have every reason to pivot quickly. We should be having a national American solar program. We should have a climate emergency. We should be transitioning to offshore wind, and we should be doing it in partnership and leading the world in this effort to end this addiction to oil, this damage to the climate, and the enrichment of people like Putin.”

How many years would this take if we tried it? Perhaps we could undermine Putin’s power in about 10-20 years, right? Perhaps we should be drilling our own oil and natural gas to the point of being energy independent first, which could be done much, much quicker, while at the same time working towards more efficient wind and solar. We can do both to slowly reduce the amount of oil in use.

Declaring a “climate emergency”, though, is more about empowering Government to control and tax citizens, all while the big shots like Merkley refuse to give up their own use of fossil fuels

No media outlet ever forces Warmists like Merkley to answer the questions “Have you given up your own use of fossil fuels? Replaced your fossil fueled vehicle with an EV? Stopped taking all those fossil fueled flights across the country and take the train instead?”

Read: Warmist Jeff Merkley Wants To Transition To A Green Economy To Stop Russia »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Democrats, Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Good News: Democrats COVID Restrictions Put Children Way Behind On Reading Skills

By William Teach March 8, 2022 – 7:37 am

The Democratic Party run school system was already doing a mediocre job in teaching reading skills, particularly since the leftist schools continued to replace real-world, tangible skills and knowledge with all sorts social justice garbage. And now

It’s ‘Alarming’: Children Are Severely Behind in Reading

The kindergarten crisis of last year, when millions of 5-year-olds spent months outside of classrooms, has become this year’s reading emergency.

As the pandemic enters its third year, a cluster of new studies now show that about a third of children in the youngest grades are missing reading benchmarks, up significantly from before the pandemic.

In Virginia, one study found that early reading skills were at a 20-year low this fall, which the researchers described as “alarming.”

In the Boston region, 60 percent of students at some high-poverty schools have been identified as at high risk for reading problems — twice the number of students as before the pandemic, according to Tiffany P. Hogan, director of the Speech and Language Literacy Lab at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston.

Children in every demographic group have been affected, but Black and Hispanic children, as well as those from low-income families, those with disabilities and those who are not fluent in English, have fallen the furthest behind.

What the NY Times fails to mention is that most of the areas where reading skills are lagging are in Democratic Party run states and cities, as Republican run areas minimized the school closures, getting the schools opened as soon as they could while attempting to normalize COVID for the children. GOP areas also minimized the use of masking, so children were not stifled and could see the face and lips of their teachers. That doesn’t mean that GOP run areas are not affected, since those schools spent much of 2020 and even 2021 closed and doing hybrid learning

The literacy crisis did not start with the pandemic. In 2019, results on national and international exams showed stagnant or declining American performance in reading, and widening gaps between high and low performers. The causes are multifaceted, but many experts point to a shortage of educators trained in phonics and phonemic awareness — the foundational skills of linking the sounds of spoken English to the letters that appear on the page.

The pandemic has compounded those issues.

Perhaps young children should be taught reading skills rather than stuff on sex and raaaaacism and that white people are horrible and we’re doomed from ‘climate change’ and stuff, eh?

Even students with well-trained teachers have had far fewer hands-on hours with them than before the pandemic, which has been defined by closures, uneven access to online instruction, quarantine periods and — even on the best days — virus-related interruptions to regular classroom routines. Now, schools are under pressure to boost literacy as quickly as possible so students gain the reading skills they need to learn the rest of the curriculum, from math word problems to civics lessons. Billions of federal stimulus dollars are flowing to districts for tutoring and other supports, but their effect may be limited if schools cannot find quality staff members to hire.

Here’s an idea: drop all the other garbage and teach the core curriculum: reading, writing (not necessarily with a pen, just the ability to write/type literate, cogent, coherent sentences and paragraphs), arithmetic.

From the start of the pandemic, when schools abruptly shuttered in March 2020, math skills were clearly affected, while some early research suggested that students’ reading skills were holding steady, perhaps because more parents read with their children at home than practiced math.

Yeah, no, because, let’s be honest, most adults do not really read, either. They might have the skills, but, they do not read. Remember, all the stuff the schools did was For The Children!

Read: Good News: Democrats COVID Restrictions Put Children Way Behind On Reading Skills »

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UN Climate Doom Report Claims Humanity Near Adaption Limits Or Something

By William Teach March 7, 2022 – 3:59 pm

We can fix this with a tax and you giving up your freedom, liberty, and life choices, you know

UN report: Climate change already so severe humans nearing adaptation limits

A comprehensive new United Nations-sponsored assessment of climate change finds that global warming is reshaping the world more rapidly and severely than was known several years ago.

Why it matters: The report finds that climate change is affecting every person’s physical and mental health, and classifies nearly half of the global population as being “highly vulnerable” to climate impacts.

Importantly, the report — part of the biggest update to climate science findings since 2014 — concludes it is no longer possible to fully adapt to some global warming impacts.

So, no more fossil fueled flights in private jets to vacation spots for climate meetings?

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described the report in a statement as an “Atlas of human suffering.”

“Nearly half of humanity is living in the danger zone — now. Many ecosystems are at the point of no return — now,” he said.

Y’all need to stop eating burgers and replace your fossil fueled vehicle with a bicycle so that the Elites can cruise in their megayachts

Zoom in: The report notes that we are past the point where “minor, marginal, reactive or incremental changes” will adequately prepare society for the climate impacts that are in store. Instead, it calls for larger-scale shifts “in most aspects of society” to reduce climate risks and enhance resilience, among other goals.

See? This is totally about Science and not about politics at all!

Ukraine makes case for ending fossil fuels

You probably didn’t see it — not with the understandable 24/7 coverage of Russia’s barbaric assault on Ukraine — but there was some bombshell news Monday about the world’s slower-motion apocalypse: climate change.

The world’s top experts convened by the United Nations to study the effects of greenhouse-gas emissions by humans — the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC — said the dreaded effects, such as deadly droughts and floods and rapidly rising sea levels, are already here and likely to become worse than earlier predicted. The UN secretary general António Guterres put it bluntly when he said “people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.”

Blah blah blah. I’m wondering if Will Bunch and the Las Vegas Sun have given up their own use of fossil fuels? And, we can all figure out that Las Vegas collapses without fossil fuels.

Read: UN Climate Doom Report Claims Humanity Near Adaption Limits Or Something »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach March 7, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is an umbrella to guard against carbon pollution driven Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Chicks On The Right, with a post on an incredibly dumb tweet from the NFL on the war.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Capitol Police Declare “State Of Emergency” Over Protest By Truckers

By William Teach March 7, 2022 – 10:30 am

Interestingly, this never occurred during all the George Floyd and other BLM/Antifa protests, which led to arson, violence, and looting. But, some truckers just driving around and wanting to meet with their Representatives, invoking their Rights of Free Speech, petition for redress of grievance, and protesting peaceably, drives Democrats crazy, because these truckers are protesting against Government restrictions

Capitol Police issues emergency declaration over trucker convoy

The Capitol Police Board on Sunday issued an emergency declaration as truck drivers protesting COVID-19 policies gather in the D.C. area, according to reports.

The protests, which began Sunday and slowed traffic outside the capital, have been dubbed the “People’s Convoy” and could last several days.

The emergency declaration allows police to ask for help from the National Guard in addition to permitting payment for officers’ hotel and food costs, according to Bloomberg.

CNN reported that the declaration was announced by House Sergeant at Arms William Walker.

“The Capitol Police Board has issued an emergency declaration to ensure that the US Capitol police are able to operate and respond as necessary,” Walker wrote in a letter, advising Congress members and their staffers to take an alternate path via public transit to work or to consider working remotely, CNN reported.

They’ve never really stated why they want all those members of the National Guard, just, “traffic control”. Looks more like an attempt to intimidate truckers, and have bodies available to arrest truckers if they want to. Who does the House Sergeant really work for? Nancy Pelosi, at this time. Might be a little more difficult to invoke an emergency decree which allows mass arrests, seizing trucks and money, as Commissar Justin Trudeau did

Capitol Police leaders have reportedly voiced concerns about the truckers and other vehicles potentially causing shutdowns of various roads and highways and creating a situation similar to the Freedom Convoy that shut down parts of Canadian capital Ottawa over similar concerns.

They didn’t seem too concerned when the BLM/Antifa protests created all those problems in D.C., including assaulting Capitol Police officers.

In February, temporary fencing was put up around the Capitol in response to reports of disruptive truck convoys potentially arriving in Washington to protest COVID-19 restrictions.

Don’t want those icky peons getting close to the Congressional buildings, protesting and demanding lawmakers hear them, eh?

(NBC News) The U.S. offshoot of the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” reached the nation’s capital Sunday.

The trucker-led convoy group, which was organized on pro-Trump and anti-vaccination channels on the Telegram messaging app, drove around the Capital Beltway, which surrounds metropolitan Washington, D.C. Their plan was to circle the interstate twice and then return to Hagerstown, Maryland, where they gathered Saturday night, to regroup.

And that’s what they apparently did, on I-495, which never enters D.C. And do so again Monday. What authority does the Capitol Police have, since it never enters D.C., staying solely in Maryland and Virginia? It’s great that they’re “anti-vaccine”, eh, when it’s really “anti-forced vaccination. But, that’s the media Narrative

Brian Brase, a convoy co-organizer, said he plans to take members of the protest group to meet with lawmakers Tuesday. NBC News has not verified any planned meetings with lawmakers.

Brase acknowledged the end to many mandates throughout the country. “What the People’s Convoy’s looking for is, we’re looking for immediate end to the state of emergency,” he said. “We don’t believe there is an emergency any longer.”

Democrats are removing most of their restrictions, because this is a mid-terms year, and removing them now allows people to forget about them by November, but, they could come roaring back in an instant.

BTW, have you ever noticed that left leaning protests rarely fly American flags or talk about freedom?

Read: Capitol Police Declare “State Of Emergency” Over Protest By Truckers »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Bat Soup Virus, Current Affairs | 13 Comments | Trackback URL

British House Of Lords Tells Young Climate Cultists Should Pay For Their Beliefs

By William Teach March 7, 2022 – 7:00 am

It’s super easy for young Warmists, indoctrinated by adults, to recommend that Something Be Done about the climate crisis (scam). It’s something else when the young Warmists actually have to practice what they preach

Young People Should Pay the Costs of Green Agenda, Says House of Lords

The economic burden of Boris Johnson’s ‘Build Back Better’ green push towards a net-zero economy should be borne by younger generations as older Britons will not benefit from the schemes, a House of Lords committee has suggested.

A report from the Industry and Regulators Committee in the upper house of the British parliament claimed that it will cost the government some £321 billion to reach the goal of transitioning the British economy to net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. This figure is hotly contested, however, with a recent report from the House of Commons stating that the government itself has “no reliable” estimate of the costs for government and indeed consumers of the green agenda. (snip)

In order to pay for the massive overhaul of the economy the chairman of the committee, Lord Hollick, said: “The amount that can realistically be raised via surcharges on energy bills is not enough.

“Bills are regressive as the poor pay more of their income on energy costs. It is also unfair to the current generation, as we are asking current billpayers to cover the huge costs of something that is designed to mainly benefit future generations.”

The House of Lords peer suggested, therefore, that the government should look to incur more debt through public borrowing to pay for the “long-term infrastructure costs” and pass on the costs to future generations.

While the over 70 crowd has the money to be able to afford all the taxes and such, they are also the least likely to believe in ‘climate change’. The young want this so bad, why do they not move from believing it in theory and putting it into practice?

The ones who believe in the climate scam should be dared, triple dog dared into practicing what they preach. No fossil fueled vehicles, flights, or boats. Move into tiny homes. No ice makers. Hand wash clothes. All the rest. I’ve never understood why the big shots with big perches never go after the Warmists like that.

Read: British House Of Lords Tells Young Climate Cultists Should Pay For Their Beliefs »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Biden Plans On Approaching Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, To Pump More Oil

By William Teach March 7, 2022 – 6:45 am

Let’s see: because Brandon spiked lots of new domestic production, the U.S. is buying around 600K barrels of oil from Russia, and working on a plan to get more from Iran. And now

From the link

President Biden’s advisers are discussing a possible visit to Saudi Arabia this spring to help repair relations and convince the Kingdom to pump more oil, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: A hat-in-hand trip would illustrate the gravity of the global energy crisis driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden has chastised Saudi Arabia, and the CIA believes its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was involved in the dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. (snip)

Zoom in: Bin Salman isn’t making it easier on Biden to repair their relations.

He appeared to go out of his way to aggravate the White House during an interview with the Atlantic published last week.

Between the lines: Sanctions against Russia’s oil exports — including a possible ban on importing Russian oil into the U.S. — would both elevate worldwide gas prices and stoke domestic inflation.

If this happens, the Saudi’s are going to make Joe beg. And

(CBS News) Senior American officials are in Venezuela this weekend to meet with the government of Nicolás Maduro, whose authoritarian rule of the oil-producing country has meant no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries since 2019.

News of the trip was first reported by The New York Times. That report prompted Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees and a vocal critic of the Maduro regime, to criticize the trip.

“Joe Biden using #Russia as an excuse to do the deal they always wanted to do anyway with the #MaduroRegime,” Rubio tweeted Sunday morning. “Rather than produce more American oil he wants to replace the oil we buy from one murderous dictator with oil from another murderous dictator.”

Why don’t we just do like Rubio, and pretty much every sane thinking person, thinks, and produce our own? Oh, and remember this?

Read: Biden Plans On Approaching Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, To Pump More Oil »

Posted in Energy, Joe Biden | 5 Comments | Trackback URL
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