California Labor Group Pushing For $20 Restaurant Minimum Wage For All Workers

Even after watching the results of the restaurant wage bill, with all the layoffs and price increases, the head honchos will get the peasants to push for this. Which is easy, because the peasants see easy money for low skilled work and head honchos won’t lose their own cushy, over-paid jobs

Labor group demands California’s $20 minimum wage for fast food workers extend to all sectors

A fair wage advocacy group is demanding that California’s new $20 minimum wage law for fast food workers be extended to all sectors to help working-class people who are struggling with the state’s high cost of living.

FOX Business spoke with Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage to discuss what she described as the skyrocketing levels of home insecurity and food insecurity post-pandemic.

Fast food workers winning a $20 minimum wage, she said, “was just the beginning.”

Jayaraman pointed to the exorbitantly high cost of living in the Golden State where, in some counties, an individual would need a $40 an hour salary to live comfortably.

“People are leaving the state or are not having children, not having families. These are all the very basics we should be thinking about for humans living in California and needing to survive,” Jayaraman told FOX Business. “I mean the level of crisis that people have been enduring since the pandemic is severe.”

Which comes first, the government intervention which causes prices to rise or the prices rising causing government to interfere and make the situation worse? Either way, government interference in the manner the Democrats in California tend to implement always makes things worse, in the manner of “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” And the governments, from local to county to state, of the People’s Republik Of California will almost always listen to the left wing labor groups, because they bring in big money and votes to the politicians.

Jayaraman has dismissed these concerns (of layoffs and job losses), arguing that such dire predictions have not been born out in past minimum wage increases.

“That is the argument they always make. Every single time the minimum wage goes up, they always say it’s going to kill business, jobs will be lost, and we’ve never seen it happen. Not in California, not in any other state. It has never happened,” said Jayaraman, who is also the Director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Except, it’s actually happening right now. Not too mention the price increases, which is a big part of previous increase. There is a point of labor cost where companies just cannot afford the full staff, and have to take measures. Previous wage increases have seen prices rise and some workers replaced with automation. This one saw massive decreases in labor and companies simply closing.

(Fox Business) With hot inflation numbers to prove it, one hacked-off Gen Z American took to TikTok, where he detailed a “struggle to survive” and pay for everyday items.

“Can somebody explain to me in crayon-eating terms why I make over three times the federal minimum wage and I cannot afford to live?” the user allegedly named Nic started to say.

“And I do not want to hear the ‘Pull yourself up from your bootstraps, work 90 hours a week.’ That’s not the goal, guys,” he continued ranting. “A one-bedroom apartment, $1,800. Two-bedroom apartment, $2,200. Who the f*** can afford that? It is embarrassing to come out and say that it is a struggle to survive right now. But I know so many people are struggling.”

Meanwhile, consumer price index data released by the Labor Department on Wednesday showed inflation accelerated in March for the third straight month, keeping prices painfully high for millions of Americans and likely delaying any interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. (snip)

Housing and gasoline costs were the biggest drivers of inflation last month, accounting for more than half of the total monthly increase.

Well, you can bet the Gen Z voted Democrat and supports all the Democrat initiates, and got what he voted for. The inflation started with the Chinese coronavirus, then exploded thanks to so many governments in the U.S. and around the world shutting down industry, then Biden doing everything wrong to deal with the aftermath. You voted for this. And you’ll probably vote for it again.

Read: California Labor Group Pushing For $20 Restaurant Minimum Wage For All Workers »

Hawaii Water Shortage From Climate Doom Puts Them On “Verge Of Catastrophe” Or Something

Perhaps if they’d shut down all their airports things would get better

Hawaii is “on the verge of catastrophe,” locals say, as water crisis continues

In Hawaii, one of the most important sayings is ola i ka wai, “water is life” — a phrase that not only sums up what it means to exist on an island, but what it means to live, period. But now, one of the largest of the island chain’s land masses is facing a triple threat to its sole freshwater source, and if it isn’t addressed soon, one community member says, “we’re in deep trouble.”

Despite being surrounded by seemingly endless ocean, freshwater on Oahu, the third-largest of Hawaii’s six major islands, is not easily accessible. The island relies on an underground aquifer for its water supply. Replenishing that aquifer is a decades-long natural process, as it takes a single drop of water roughly 25 years to make it there from the sky.

And recent years have seen compounding problems: less rain, leading to significant droughts, and repeated jet fuel leaks and PFAS chemical spills contaminating water systems. All of this significantly limits available water use for locals, many of whom say tourism is only worsening the situation. Just months ago, the world’s largest surfing wave pool opened up on the island — filled with freshwater.

Why would they need a wave pool in Hawaii? Anyhow, if they’d just ban all those fossil fueled airplanes bring tourists and goods to the island, as well as the ones, along with helicopters, which shuttle people around. And all those fossil fueled ships bringing goods. And all the fossil fueled boats ferrying tourists and catching fish. They could get rid of all those giant, water intensive hotels, since there would be no tourists or companies coming for vacations and conferences.

The state could also ban the use of fossil fueled vehicles for all residents, right?

Currently, the entire island of Oahu is considered “abnormally dry,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. “Severe and persistent droughts,” prompting water conservation measures, are not uncommon, Giambelluca said. While officials could work to desalinate ocean water, “that’s not the preferred way to get drinking water,” he added.

“It’s very energy-intensive, and so that would be in opposition to our goals of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels in Hawaii, reducing our emissions,” he said.

And as global temperatures continue to rise, that will only get worse — not just on Oahu, but across Hawaii.

Well, sorry cupcakes, things change on Earth, as warm and cool periods come and go.

Read: Hawaii Water Shortage From Climate Doom Puts Them On “Verge Of Catastrophe” Or Something »

Sanctuary City Denver To Cut Police, Fire Department Budgets To Cover Illegal Aliens

Let’s not forget that SCD has already cut hours for Parks and Recreation and the DMV (weird that that’s not a state function), and are even cutting some employees hours to zero (though it is not a “layoff”). What’s next?

(Daily Caller) The Democratic-run city of Denver, Colorado, plans to defund its police department to pay for illegal immigrants.

Denver, which is commonly referred to as a “sanctuary city,” announced on Wednesday that it will spend $89.9 million on services for incoming illegal migrants, pulling some of the funding from roughly $45 million in public programs and services. Denver’s police department will be hit with an $8.4 million reduction — about 1.9% of its total operating budget, the city confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Denver became the top destination per capita for incoming migrants in 2023, having had more than 40,000 arrive that year alone — putting the total migrant population at roughly 710,000, according to NBC News. Denver already spent over $42 million in 2023 in housing and medical services for migrants and plans to spend over $100 million on similar costs in 2024.

The fire department will also suffer a $2.5 million reduction, or about 0.8% of its total operating costs, the city told the DCNF. Half of those reductions will also come from vacant positions.

It might not seem a lot, but, you probably think Denver is a safe city, right? The city leaders want to keep it safe because it’s a big vacation city, right? Except, it’s not. Neighborhood Scout considers it a 1, meaning it is safer than 1% of U.S. cities. Both violent crime and property crime are out of control. You have a 1 in 16 chance of being the victim of a property crime. It’s crime rate is worse than Baltimore, which is a 3. One would think increasing the police budget would be wiser.

One of the most severe cuts will come from Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, which will lose about $335,155 in funding for the plan, or about 9.6% of its total operating budget, according to 9 News. Among other cuts being made are a budget reduction of 2.2% to the Sheriff’s Department, 1.9% to the Department of Public Health and Environment, 2.4% to the Executive Director of Safety and 3.8% to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, according to Fox 31 Denver.

Why not just increase taxes, such as property and sales? The residents overwhelmingly vote Democrat and were happy to call the city a sanctuary for illegals, so, they’ll be happy to pay more, right? Must suck when your beliefs come back and smack you with the cold dead mackerel of reality.

Read: Sanctuary City Denver To Cut Police, Fire Department Budgets To Cover Illegal Aliens »

Good Grief: Biden To Send $100K In Taxpayer Money To Teach Pakistani Leaders About Hotcoldwetdry

Sure, it’s not that much money in terms of government expenditures, but, why are we wasting taxpayer money in Pakistan like this? How about spending the money so that they aren’t so extremist?

Biden administration to drop up to $100,000 teaching Pakistani leaders about climate change

The Biden administration is set to spend between $70,000 and $100,000 on a little-known program teaching religious leaders in Pakistan how to fight climate change, federal funding documents show.

The taxpayer-backed initiative is through the State Department and is expected to begin in October 2024 for at least one year, according to the records. It is aimed toward “50 religious leaders” because “they have the moral authority to call on people and businesses to consider the environmental impact of their activities, to reduce their carbon footprints and to find ways to cope with the growing impact of climate change,” the Daily Caller reported.

“The project intends to educate clerics and religious leaders of different faiths — including Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about climate change and to create awareness about its impact,” the State Department said in grant documents. “These clerics will serve as messengers, imparting the knowledge to congregations through Friday sermons, Sunday masses and other religious gatherings. By seamlessly integrating climate change education into religious discourse, the project will promote sustainable practices and a culture of environmental consciousness throughout KP.”

Does the Biden regime understand that over 96% of Pakistanis are Muslim? Because that’s a pretty stupid statement from the federal government agency that should kinda know this stuff. Sikhs? There are supposedly about 20,000, but, no one really knows, because Pakistan excluded them from the last census. Anyhow, considering that the climate cult has done a great job in turning people into haters of the 1st World, might this cause Islamic extremists to hate the 1st World more and attack more Western individuals and companies because they are “bad for ‘climate change'”?

“Religious leaders play influential roles in approving government initiatives and social norms,” the State Department said. “Credible and trustworthy, these clerics are respected opinion leaders and can play a larger role in effective outreach to combat climate change.”

Pakistan is certainly one of the nations most involved in Islamic extremism from the Sunni point of view. They certainly tolerate a wide range of Islamist groups, and still find that apostasy is grounds for death. This is who Biden is giving money to.

Read: Good Grief: Biden To Send $100K In Taxpayer Money To Teach Pakistani Leaders About Hotcoldwetdry »

If All You See…

…is a palm tree that will soon grow in Antarctica, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is A View From The Beach, with a post on Thursday tanlines.

Read: If All You See… »

LGB Regime To Close So-Called “Gun Show Loophole”

As Bearing Arms notes, almost no criminal is getting their gun via private sellers at gun shows. There really aren’t that many at gun shows (I’ve been to a few at the State Fairgrounds), and many times they are selling older stuff. But, could there be something more nefarious at play?

Biden Administration to close ‘gun show loophole’

The Biden Administration on Thursday announced they are closing what is often known as the “gun show loophole,” by tightening up the definition of what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has just implemented a change in the federal register language, which was previously more specific to who was selling guns, and the agency did it in accordance with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed in 2022.

The administration rolled out the proposed rule in September 2023, taking in over 300,000 comments from the public.

Prior to the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, those “engaged in the business” of firearms dealer were required to register to become a federally licensed firearm dealer, according to the language previously used. The definition that ATF is implementing on Thursday is more specific to better regulate the market in accordance with the new federal law, according to the White House.

The rule now explicitly lists the types of commercial activities that indicate whether a person should become a federally licensed dealer and thus be required to run a background check; prevents people from evading the licensing and background check requirements by claiming that they are just selling a few guns, according to the White House; and prevents people from falsely claiming that guns are part of a personal collection and exempt a seller from running a background check on a buyer.

The thing here is, the rule may well cover a person selling their guns to people they know or others outside of a gun show. The rule covers pretty much an financial transaction if a profit is being made.

“This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons. And my Administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives,” he said. “Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.”

Look, I’ve never been against requiring a background check for any gun transfer, but, can the Biden Regime provide hard data that guns sold without a check are getting into bad people hands?

There are over 80,000 licensed gun dealers in America. The Department of Justice estimates that there are over 20,000 unlicensed sellers who are selling firearms through online advertisements, gun shows and other means, according to the White House.

Estimates? They’re passing a rule without data? Huh. Over to that Bearing Arms article

Hidden in the text was a bit that basically paved the way for bigger and more intrusive restrictions. In particular, a bit that seemingly set the stage for universal background checks via executive fiat.

How does the DOJ and other federal agencies know about a transfer unless they know who has what guns?

This is about making things more onerous for law-abiding, responsible citizens who want to buy and sell pieces of their collections to other law-abiding, responsible citizens. It’s about making it look risky for us not to go through an FFL, thus creating a paper trail that can, in time, potentially be turned into a gun registry.

That’s the only way. And criminals, thugs, and gang members will still get their guns through means like theft.

Read: LGB Regime To Close So-Called “Gun Show Loophole” »

Your Fault: Ants Are On the Move, Loons Are In Trouble

Have you ever noticed that the doomsday climate cult’s Media virtually never offers up any good news? How it’s always doom and gloom?

Ants in Colorado are on the move due to climate change

On a hot summer day in 2022, Anna Paraskevopoulos found herself trekking through forests and shrubs in Gregory Canyon near Boulder, flipping over rocks and logs to look for any signs of ants.

About six decades before that, a team of entomologists had walked on the same trails to record the local ant species, but what Paraskevopoulos saw was very different. Over the past 60 years, climate change has forced certain ant species, unable to tolerate higher temperatures, out of their original habitats in Gregory Canyon.

The resulting biodiversity change could potentially alter local ecosystems, according to Paraskevopoulos, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU Boulder. Her research findings appear April 9 in the journal Ecology.

Like all insects, ants are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature, metabolism and other bodily functions depend on the environment’s temperature. As a result, ants are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, making them a good marker to study the impact climate change has on ecosystems.

It’s like these cultists expect everything to always stay the same. What did the ants do during the Little Ice Age? How about during the previous Holocene warm periods? If you cannot offer that data than the study is incomplete.

Climate change threatens loon population, new study shows

Famous for their nocturnal calls, loons are aquatic birds often described as icons of the Northwoods. But new research shows climate change impairs their ability to feed their young.

A climate-induced decrease in water clarity could be a cause for the loon population decline in Wisconsin and more broadly across the northern United States, according to a new report from the academic journal Ecology.

Researchers used satellite imagery to study water clarity in 127 lakes across northern Wisconsin from 1995 to 2021. Increased rainfall in July each year reduced water clarity in loon territories. Over that time period, water clarity fell by about 16%, and chicks lost about 10% of their weight. Adult loons have also dropped weight each year since 1995.

The findings suggest that a decline in water clarity hurts loon reproductive success. Since loons are visual predators, they depend on high water clarity to hunt fish underwater and feed their chicks. With a reduced diet, chicks have lower survival rates.

Could. Suggests. They’re looking at things that happened and making assumptions without the facts. Typical climate cult science.

Read: Your Fault: Ants Are On the Move, Loons Are In Trouble »

Biden Expected To Spend At Least $180 Million On Gaza Pier To Help Out Hamas

Imagine what $180 million could be used for to help Americans. To secure the border. To deport all the Islamists imported by the federal government who hate the U.S. just like Hamas and their Palestinian backers do

Cost of US effort to build humanitarian aid pier off Gaza expected to top $180M

President Joe Biden’s plan to build a humanitarian pier floating off the coast of Gaza that could enable delivery of food, water and medicine into the devastated region is expect to cost at least $180 million and could top $200 million, ABC News has learned.

The price tag was described by two people familiar with the initial estimate, which has not been released by U.S. Central Command.

The tally is expected to fluctuate as U.S. officials scramble to finalize key details on the project, including which humanitarian relief organizations and foreign governments are willing to help carry the shipments to shore and distribute them to ease the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Officials also continue to discuss how to protect service members who will be operating three miles offshore of Gaza, where Hamas is believed to still operate.

So, let me get this straight: we’re paying a boatload to build a pier to deliver food and aid to people who may well attack US military members? In what world does that make sense?

The project — which triggered the deployment of six Army and Navy ships and will involve some 1,000 U.S. military troops — is on track to become operational in early May, enabling the delivery of some 2 million meals a day.

This would all be unnecessary if Hamas hadn’t attacked Israeli/Jewish civilians, breaking the ceasefire. Since that did happen, if they would simply release the hostages, lay down their arms, and surrender it could make it easy to deliver aid to people who…..hate the United States.

Biden Says He’s Watching Netanyahu After Their ‘Blunt’ Talk

President Joe Biden said he delivered a “blunt and straightforward” message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on improving civilian conditions in Gaza.

“We’ll see what he does in terms of meeting the commitments he made to me,” Biden said Wednesday during a White House news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Biden has spent more time criticizing Netanyahu and Israel than Hamas, a US State Department designated terrorist organization, and all the Gaza residents who support them. Or Iran, which backs Hamas.

Read: Biden Expected To Spend At Least $180 Million On Gaza Pier To Help Out Hamas »

Good News: UN Climate Chief Says We Have Two Years To Stop Doom

Which happens more, me writing “practice what you preach” or Warmists coming out with end of world SOON! predictions (via The First Street Journal)

U.N. climate chief says two years to save the planet

Governments, business leaders and development banks have two years to take action to avert far worse climate change, the U.N.’s climate chief said on Wednesday, in a speech that warned global warming is slipping down politicians’ agendas.

Scientists say halving climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is crucial to stop a rise in temperatures of more than 1.5 Celsius that would unleash more extreme weather and heat.

Yet last year, the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions increased to a record high. Current commitments to fight climate change would barely cut global emissions at all by 2030.

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said the next two years are “essential in saving our planet”.
“We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need these stronger plans, now,” he said.

He made this proclamation in London. How many of the attendees took fossil fueled trips? Stiell is from Grenada: how did he get there? Looking through his Twitter and news reports, he sure seems to travel around a lot. And, funny how this comes down to money and increasing the size of government, along with DEI

Let’s see a few things

(Dropzone) “We don’t have 12 years to save the climate. We have 14 months,” the now-defunct ThinkProgress predicted 43 months ago.

Former French prime minister Laurent Fabius warned 3,239 days ago (WT-the article is from June 6, 2023) that the international community had only “500 days to avoid climate chaos.”

Earlier, in 2009, Gordon Brown, the U.K.’s prime minister at the time, said we had “fewer than fifty days to save our planet from catastrophe.”

In 2006, Gore claimed that unless world leaders took “drastic measures” to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Earth would surpass the “point of no return” in ten years — a “true planetary emergency,” he called it.

Those are just a smattering

(NRO) A new article in a scientific journal claims that we have just six years left to save the planet from global warming, a claim that environmentalists masquerading as scientists have been regurgitating for at least the past 50 years.

“Scientists used to avoid phrases like ‘climate emergency’ and ‘climate crisis.’ No longer,” wrote the Washington Post on X. “Escalating rhetoric comes as a new study shows there’s just six years left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions rate.” The claim is comical given that such catastrophist language has been common in the environmental movement for decades, and it hasn’t let up.

The cultists keep throwing this prognostications of doom out, and then take a fossil fueled flight to a climate (cult) conference

Harvard biologist George Wald warned shortly before the first Earth Day in 1970 that civilization would end within 15 to 30 years “unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”

And, yet, no one is fired or forced to resign or apologize. No one pays the price for their failed doom

Read: Good News: UN Climate Chief Says We Have Two Years To Stop Doom »

If All You See…

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

The blog of the day is 90Ninety Miles From Tyranny, with a post on quick hits of wisdom, knowledge, and snark.

Read: If All You See… »

Pirate's Cove